The Star's biased and bogus Light Rail coverage creates a backlash!!!



A lot of KICKASS TKC Readers have been e-mailing me today in order to complain about obviously biased and twisted coverage and ad placement from The Star in connection with the light rail initiative . . . In order to push this light rail thing, the Star has given up reporting facts anymore but instead cites hopeful circumstances that may or may not happen in the future.

A KICKASS TKC TIPSTER WRITES:
"6-year Federal Transportation Bill?" Who gives a shit?

"Must have its support in place?" Why? Just because we pass (which we won't) a light rail plan is no guarantee the feds will pony up their $$$.

The Federal Transportation Bill that MIGHT be considered in January has nothing to do with funding light rail in Kansas City. NOT A SINGLE THING! It is a nationwide bill that will go primarily to refurbish existing infrastructure so we might avoid bridge collapses like we saw in Minneapolis on I-35W.

"The federal government will pay HALF the total cost....? Oh, no they won't. There's absolutely NO guarantee of that, yet these shitheads make it seem as if their contribution is a certainty.

"Create 35,000 jobs....? Prove it. This isn't a jobs program.

..."hundreds of millions of federal dollars (our fucking dollars!) pumped into our local economy...? Prove it. This is NOT an economic development program.

Even their stupid-ass pie chart is phony. Where are the 18.5% of non-resident sales taxes coming from?
All of these are great points and it is without question that The Star has shown its bias time and time again.

Minority communities in Kansas City have long felt the could shoulder of The Star and now their elitism to push taxes and their favorite candidates is being felt by everyone else in this City (or at least their last remaining subscribers) . . . All of this would be a shame if, luckily, the era of print media wasn't quickly coming to an end and The Star's transition to the digital age has been to cover their eyes and ears and pray that it never really happens given their crappy web revenues that don't even cover the salaries of their top writers.

Comments

  1. Thanks, Tony from one of your kickass tipsters.

    Might be a good idea to do a post on the real questions that should be being asked...the ones we haven't gotten a single answer to.

    The tipster gave you some of those, I'll bet.

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  2. Stop worrying about answers!!! Who cares if the feds give a dime. If the mayor of this city is behind light rail, then the rest of us should follow along. He has promissed us a government that works for ordinary folks. Who am I to question him? Who are you to question him? This town needs a strong mayor like the Funk.

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  3. I am sure the Mayor will be behind this all the way. He started out behind and he has been falling to the rear more and more.

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  4. The 50% guys ought to look at the number of places that have gotten less than 50%. 50% is a high match last year and it will be an astronomical match next year. The problem is we have gotten to used to a crisis and a growth period -- this time it is an interlocked set of circumstances that will keep the spiral going downward until the confidence returns and that will not happen with the 100 people here and 1000 people there layoffs. It is hard to keep any confidence when you are unemployed and the unemployment checks run out that is what we get ot face next year.
    Vote yes on Lite rail and watch the deal go down.

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  5. Vote NO! on light rail and save the government (us, really) all that money.

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  6. Guys, this was a rigged process from beginning to right now. The powers that are promoting this are not concerned about north of the river or over to Prospect at 63rd. This is going to be the 2001 light rail ballot held 2008.

    If the Feds do not give a dime, the city will have collected the sales tax and then build from the downtown to the plaza. And the stations will be right where the 2001 plan had them. Condimnation will follow out from those sites. The Black community will get nothing, and there is real good chance this will not go north of the river.

    Are we all clear on that. Star is a shill for light rail and for who ever pays it. It is not the paper of twenty years ago. That's gone. I regret that shills like Cooper are even called reporters. Spivak was an arrogant pitchman, who had no shame.

    Now if this passes, remember it goes from the downtown to the Plaza.

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  7. Whether it goes from downtown to the Plaza, or anywhere else, taxpayers will get exactly what is inside the borders of the ballot language. Which is:

    No precise start and stop point.

    No precise route.

    No precise cost, including debt service.

    No ridership figures.

    No fare box revenue figures.

    No projections of fare-box shortfall. The best system in the country gets far less than 30% from the fare box.

    No operating costs.

    No station locations.

    No idea where it will cross the river.

    Why would anyne in their right mind vote for this?

    It's like buying a car and being told that:

    Well, we think it might go 75 mph.

    It might get 30 miles per gallon.

    Maintenance costs might be low.

    We're not sure on all that, but will be happy to tell you AFTER you make the purchase.

    Don't be fooled...VOTE NO! ON LIGHT RAIL TOMORROW.

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  8. Now they are calling everyone on the phone. Saying it is a really good deal. Blah Blah
    Do they not realize that people do not like to have their privacy invaded by some inaine voice promishing stuff we will never get.

    ReplyDelete

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