There is only a miserable, afterthought Eastside light rail "extension" that was thrown in to the proposal at the last minute . . . The overwhelming bulk of the route runs North to South and not East to West . . . Still, Sharon Sanders Brooks is proving herself to be Mayor Funky's umbrella holder from the Eastside by endorsing light rail while the majority of the council remains silent . . . Doing her best to find favor with Kansas City's marginalized Mayor in his last big gamble.
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If light rail passes, and that is a big if, it will not run on Prospect. We were told it would run on the right-away of Bruce R. Watkins Drive. So no real impact on prospect until 63rd Street. Source is Mark Huffer (General Manager of KCATA) at the Monday night sham public meeting on the westside.
ReplyDeleteI suppose that was said to make the three or four Hispancis at the meeting feel better, since nothing is in the light rail plan for the westside.
Councilwoman Brooks is selling out. But the Westside gets nothing.
Westside Meeting Too Little and Way too Late.
ReplyDeleteMayor failed to go into Hispanic community for the public meeting on Light Rail Monday evening. But then the Public didn't show up eather. Evidently, the Hispanic community knows they are going to be lied to, so they stayed home.
There were 13 people in the room. Two were from the group opposing the light rail plan and they were there to monitor. There were two city councilpersons present. The General Manager of the ATA. There was the President of the KCATA who lives in Kansas, there were four functionaries from the Light Rail Campaign and just four from the community. Three appeared to be there to ask softball questions. Total 13.
But here is the point, it is one week before the election. No public hearing was held for the westside area during the Citizens Light Rail Taskforce meetings in the Fall of 2007 when the plan was being prepared for the city council. That plan was submitted in late November of 2007. Why no public meetings durning the planning process's? Answer: the City didn't want to deal with the hispanic community since the rail line was not going to go to the west side. Now the city council and KCATA need all the votes they can get, so the a rigged campaign meeting was held in the westside.
Westsiders should not feel alone. The KCATA and the hired consultants did not go into south Kansas City until May 15th. And then they did so without any publicity. And what was the turnout? Fourteen people were there. Of the fourteen, only six were from the general public. The rest were HNTB engineers and planners, paid consultants, two reporters, the owner of the local paper, and two currious citizens. At least south kansas city had a reporter. Councilman John Sharp critized the KCATA and HNTB for not informing the public of the meeting.
Last night it was a rigged meeting, not a real community meeting. Did the two council persons present complain that it was poorly advertised. The answer is NO. Councilman Johnson and Councilwoman Marcason voiced no disappointment that the meeting was poorly advertised. They went right along with the sham. Evidently, they think westsiders will buy there double speak about improved bus service to get to light rail stations.
Well it seems that the same old game is being played. Sham meetings so that the City Council can say that they gave the minorities a chance to have their say.
ReplyDeleteJan and Russ probably had the whole idea under control. Lite Rail is good Lite Rail will get you jobs, of course that didn't work so well with the H&R Block deal but we promise it will be better this time.