Here's the Mayor's latest PR Stunt . . . Tending bar for yuppies in order to convince them that the po'folk of KC Proper should spend ONE BILLION DOLLARS ON LIGHT RAIL DURING AN ECONOMIC COLLAPSE.
Check it:
Mayor Mark Funkhouser will work the tap during happy hour at 4:30 p.m. today at River Market Brewing Company, 500 Walnut, to promote Light Rail.I'm wondering if any newsie is going to ask him:
"Kansas City is a fun place to live and work," Mayor Funkhouser said.
"By building light rail we'll be enhancing our quality of life by making it easier to come downtown on a Friday and enjoy the night life."
The Mayor will be joined by young urban professionals who support light rail.
"Kansas City is in a competition to attract and retain young talent," said Kerrie Tyndall, business development officer for the Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City. "This pool of workers is critical to the economic future and sustainability of our community. Light rail is an essential amenity Kansas City needs to provide the quality of life these professionals demand."
Tyndall we be available for on-camera interviews at the event, along with the Mayor, a representative from River Market Brewing and happy hour customers.
I don't expect anything more substantive than the average bar room chatter but I'm hoping that the local media will ask some tough questions since the Mayor is putting off any serious answers with his joke PR strategy concerning one of the biggest financial decisions to ever face Kansas City.
burp
ReplyDeleteLight Rail is still RACIST.
ReplyDeleteThats just what we need is a bunch of poor blacks invading the new Power and Light district!
ReplyDeleteHe should have picked a bar that wasn't about to go under. The Brewery is for sale. The listing says the seller has other interests, but a regular told me they are losing money and about to call it quits. http://www.blockandco.com/businesses/Confidential_Brew_Pub.pdf
ReplyDeleteheard he was looking for another job... wow what a step down from Mayor but I guess Gloria will be the drunk at the end of the bar....
ReplyDeleteIf Cauthen wanted to give him a good fucking, he'd send the Regulated Industries investigator over to check his "Bar Card". Can't server alcoholic beverages in KC without it! And if Funky really wanted to experience "a city that works" he'd go through the hell that is the current bar car application process.
ReplyDeleteFuck all of these clowns, I'm moving to Fairway!
What a sorry excuse for a leader.
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid I have to agree. I don't live in KC and I was surprised he won the election. Did he have more yard signs?
ReplyDeleteWas he the most qualified? I have to tell you, when inqualified candidates win elections, then you have a media that's not doing its job, which is presenting the choices well to voters.
Elections aren't 'contests' to be covered like sporting events to build ratings. Not 'point-counterpoint'. Lets have some more INVESTIGATIVE and not just the easy "LIVE" part in front of police tape!
How do you poor people even know the economy is slowing?
ReplyDeleteIf times are good, you have nothing; if times are bad, you have nothing. How can you tell the difference?
Light rail will be good for the poor and the minimum wage worker. They will get to ride those shinny light rail trains on Main Street. Of course they will have to transfer from bus to train and back to bus just to get to work.
ReplyDeleteThe city council doesn't really care about the bus rider. They evidently don't care about the flooded basements or they would have handled the sewer tax issue before the light rail. Who are they fooling? You, if you let them.
They are raising parking fees so much in KC that the bus looks like a decent option. Light rail - too expensive for right now.
ReplyDeleteSmall minds worry about the future. Small minds jumped out of buildings when the stockmarket crashed 1929. Small minds never saw that the future would be bright. Small minds invest in 401 k plans. Small minds worry about taxes. Small minds just don't see that the future is as big as you care to risk. The election may not go to the bold and the risk takers, but that's the way to bet. I am placing my bet on light rail and leaving the future generation to decide whether to use and how to pay for it. The mayor sees the big picture. We need leaders like Mayor Funkhouser. We need Pendergast again.
ReplyDeleteLight Rail Exorbitant Cost to Public Treasury:
ReplyDeleteCosts per new rider is greater than if we rented each of them a Jaguar for their working careers. Now public transit in this country is publically subsidized. So shouldn't responsible public officials be proposing efficent methods of transportation.
But then, light rail is not about transportation, is it? It is about a shinny train going 18 per hour down Main Street or is it Grand. It is a developer's tool at public expense. Lets stop this Wall Street style denial or madness. 1.1 billion dollars for a 14 mile route is reckless.
18 miles per hour??!!
ReplyDeletePortland's light rail MAX trains hit 55, and even above 35 mph in the downtown areas.
We're just never going to be as progressive and hip as Portland!!
This town could find a way to fuck up a ham sandwich.
That last remark is not kosher. We are a town that does much right. But the politicans try to get you to vote for things by saying we are second rate without this or that. It is the city council and mayor that perpetuate the second class image. And KC voters keep buy it. Now they want you to feel so bad that you vote for a 25 year sales tax to pay for a train that will be 180 feet long way in at over 200,000 pounds and run down the middle of the street at only 17 miles an hour.
ReplyDeleteGive me Bus Rapid Transit like the nationally acclaimed MAX Bus route on Main Street. Yes, you heard it right, our bus rapid transit system has received national recognition for its service and impact on the transit system. A yes vote will distroy the MAX line on Main Steet.
Anoy 9:56 is claiming that light rail will not run faster than 17 miles an hour. Surely, that can not be true. I have read that light rail will go 55 to 60 miles per hour.
ReplyDeleteAnoy 7:58 pm and Petey....
ReplyDeleteThe speed figures for light rail on the proposed 12 mile line (council added two extra miles later) put the average speed at 17 to 19 miles per hour. Reason is that this is a light rail line run in traffic. It is flush with the payment. Cars will be right in there with the 109,000 pound train. The light rail will be stationed based with stations every .6 of a mile apart. Some further. The train being 180 feet (two train cars) in length and weighting nearly 200, 000 pounds can not get up to any fast speed without having to immediately brake for the next stop or stop light or the speed limit, which is 35 mph. There will be streetlights that control the traffic including the train. So believe it or not the average speed will be less than 20 miles and hour. Source is HNTB engineers. I have the speed tables. The train can't run any faster on Main street than the current MAX buses. Now figure this out. It will cost 91 million dollars a mile to construct the light rail line. The MAX bus route cost less than 25 million for 8 or 9 miles. You do the math. Bus rapid transit is about 87 million dollars a mile less than the shinny train. And it still can not move faster than traffic.
This is not about transportation, believe me. This is about development rights around stations and that will involve condemnation rights being assigned to developers. You find this hard to believe? Well you just crossed over; you are now in the kcmo twilight zone. We are some where between daylight and darkness, reality and illusion. Brought here by Clay Chastain, Mayor Funkhouser, Rus Johnson, Deb Hermann, Bill Skaggs, Ed Ford, Melba Curls, Beth Gottstein, Jan Marcason, Cindy Circo, Terry Riley, John Sharp and Cathy Jolly. It is a place inhabited gy outlandish people.
It is a place where strange things happen.
ReplyDeletepetey wigglesworth said, "...This town could find a way to fuck up a ham sandwich." 10/26/2008 12:26:00 AM
ReplyDeleteLMAO at this. Kudos to you, petey!