On Saturday night it was important to us to break a bit of news about an upcoming report on Kansas City Strip.
Now it turns out, once again I've been right all along.
THE KANSAS CITY STRIP TROLLEY IS AN OVERPRICED TAXPAYER RIP-OFF THAT OFFERS LITTLE BENEFIT TO ANYBODY BUT BAR OWNERS AND THE OPERATORS OF THIS FAILED TAXPAYER SUBSIDIZED SCHEME!!!
Actually, my "discussion" with KC Strip Idea Man Bill Nigro as a lot more entertaining than the Star reporting but I did pick out this important tid bit:
City-subsidized nightlife trolleys trail expectations
The ($200k TAX FREE) loan was to be paid back in monthly installments, beginning in May 2011, with the city receiving $50,000 annually over four years . . . The city has received only $18,332 in the first 10 payments, and annual ridership will likely be under 25,000.
To wit . . .
I CAN TAKE IT IN STRIDE THAT BILL NIGRO WAS RESOUNDINGLY DISINGENUOUS ABOUT THE LOAN PAYMENTS THE KANSAS CITY STRIP HAS FAILED TO PAY IN FULL SO FAR . . . PROBABLY BECAUSE TKC AND JUST ABOUT EVERYBODY WHO ISN'T ON THE TAKE HAS KNOWN THIS WESTPORT DRUNK TRUCK IDEA IS A TAXPAYER SUBSIDIZED LOSER!!!
But it gets worse . . .
BILL NIGRO AND COMPANY ARE NOW PLAYING A PUBLIC SAFETY ANGLE BY CLAIMING THEY'RE MAKING KANSAS CITY A SAFER PLACE BY TAKING DRUNKS OFF THE STREET . . . OR SOMETHING!!!
So after years of disappointment at the expense of Kansas City taxpayers subsidizing an INTEREST FREE LOAN that never would have met with approval from a real bank . . . This FAILED Kansas City experiment still stubbornly has a hand out for more cash.
The Kansas City Strip is white privilege for bar owners at its very worst and one of the lamest local party ideas this cowtown has ever seen.
Unfortunately, Mayor Sly and the City Council are soon to repeat the same mistake and DOUBLE DOWN with an even more expensive Downtown Toy Train.
DEVELOPING . . .
Have you ever even been on the Trolley Tony?
ReplyDeleteDidn't think so.
Ouch.
ReplyDeleteTony is kickin your ass Nigro.
Bill George has a shit load of money, I have been to his house.
He has probably has 200K in his pocket for emergencies, like, I don't know, maybe his ashtrays get full in his Mercedes and he has to buy a new car.
Lynn really dug deep for that article.
ReplyDeleteQuoting Oscar McCaskey saying nice things about the trolley is totally insider baseball.
I wonder how much BG is charging for the trolley service? Think it's competitive?
And did the City competitively bid this funding opportunity for transportation service? Or did they just hand over the "loan" which, in reality, is a giveaway of tens of thousands of dollars in interest income?
Let's all head down to city hall with half-baked ideas and no money and see how we can do.
ReplyDeleteApparently they have lots of money. Oh wait; it's our money.
Not just tax-free, Tony, but interest-free too!
Just have to know the right folks. Maybe Jason Parson can help with his new consulting firm!
How does the trolley keep drunks from driving?
ReplyDeleteLet's say that they drive to the Plaza and get on the trolley to P&L. They get get all drunked up in P&L and take the trolley back to the Plaza and then get in their car and drive home. Guess what? You still have a drunk behind the wheel.
That's what they do sucking each others cocks and slobbering over each others balls....then putting the dollars in their pockets! Welcome to Kansas City!!!
ReplyDeleteBill George is a master at changing the story on the fly.
ReplyDeleteFirst Story: Trolley will be a HUGE SUCCESS (as heard at Westport Rally with CC at rollout)
Second Version: Trolley is WILDLY POPULAR (as heard on Ch2 at CC Finance Committee hearing)and is on line to PAY BACK on schedule.
Third Version: now spouts that in spite of slow payments the system is WORTHY OF SUBSIDY (implied in this mornings story).
The idiots at the STAR always buy into the guy but you can bet the City Council won't again.
Of course the council will buy into something new from the same folks. In fact, they do every day. Would you think they'd raid the Neighborhood Tourism Funds for a failed TIF project or the bigger failure of the Convention Bureau? There's no accountability for actual results from anybody, just the typical insider deals.
ReplyDeleteNo wonder there weren't comments from the City Council or Convention Bureau.
ReplyDeleteTony your reporting is a little lax on this too. Check out where the $ came from. You'll find it very interesting in light of recent events.
Kick Nigro out of Westport first and the whole problem is solved and Westport can be built into something worth supporting and being proud of.
ReplyDeletetake a ride on the HOOOOOOOOOOOOOO TRAIN!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfQvZw6WChQ
pimpin aint easy.
7:44 is correct. It seems to me that the trolley would encourage even more excessive drinking, not less, by ferrying revelers from watering hole to watering hole, and whatever inhibitions they once held against drunk driving would be long gone by the time they got a gut-full and had to drive home.
ReplyDeleteThe trolley may be a cute idea, kinda like the kiddie train at the zoo, but it now has a track record of two years.
ReplyDeletePerhaps it is time to look over that record, see if it can be improved to increase ridership, and if not, scrapped on the heap of other cute ideas that didn't quite work out.
George/Nigro Revenue - Year 2 (10 months)
ReplyDelete18,332 passengers x $9 = $164,998
Grant income (pro rata) $50,000
Total Revenue $214,988
12 month Conversion $264,988
****** Weekend Rev $5095.92******
City Hall's Pay Back
18,332 x $1 = $18,332 (10 months)
21,998 x $1 = $21,998 (12 mo conv)
****Weekly Payback $423.04******
No wonder the Bill's think this is so great for the City and they're so proud of it.
They're keeping $4672.88 per week while the City only gets $423.04 each week and all INTEREST FREE with GRANT INCOME (from the neighborhood fund) and they PAY LATE.
GOD ALMIGHTY! YOU CAN'T MAKE IT UP!
Bill Nigro does not do a thing that doesn't put money in his pocket directly. That is why no one trusts him, he only looks out for bill.
ReplyDelete$4672.88 then subtract costs. outreach, employment, fuel, ect.
ReplyDeleteKC is so fucked up! I mean really fucked up!I live downtown and my apartment building had two major water main breaks recently. In one break, I was out of water for three days but yet we spend money on this kind of bullshit. What's more fucked up is people know how bad KC's infrastructure is but they continue to seek out money for their half-baked ideas that do nothing for the majority of the citizens of KC. Yet you stupid asses keep voting these same dumb ass people into office each year!
ReplyDeleteThe KC Strips are mostly empty and the drunks they produce are dumped back off at their cars.
ReplyDeleteKC needs no more schemes from the Bills.
As far as them using a "safety" angle thats BS - the trolley is run by KCTG aka Kansas City Transportation Group an entity that also owns yellow cab - so if they want someone to get ALL the way home without drunk driving take a cab, the trolly has nothing to do with safety but a ton to do with how stupid the tax payers are to allow the city government to come up with dumb ass ideas such as the KC Strip trolley.
ReplyDeleteActually, it appears from ordinance 090450 that the original contract is with the Westport Regional Business League, a 501(c)3.
ReplyDeleteThe money came from a street preservation account in the general fund.
And the "costs" cited by 9:34 were more than covered by the $495,000 appropriation.
KCTG - French owned.
ReplyDeleteGood work, Tony.
ReplyDeleteIf anyone needs to be worried, it's Jon Engelman and those who serve on the incestuous boards of the Westport Regional Business League; Wrstport CID I; and Westport CID II.
ReplyDeleteThe WRBL got the appropriation and was authorized to subcontract with WCID-I and WCID-II.
Their books better be damn clean.......
Those french fucks take no prisners. Veiole is all over the web with scandals in various citis and the unions hate them. looks like Bill Gorge has got them into another one.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.simivalleyacorn.com/news/2011-07-15/Front_Page/Members_of_Congress_side_with_Metrolink_train_cras.html
ReplyDeleteHere's who really operates the Trolley (small excerpt prev post).
ReplyDelete"The lives of the survivors were irrevocably altered when, 22 seconds before impact, the locomotive engineer, employed by Veolia, sent the last of five text messages while operating the Metrolink train,” the letter says. “More than six weeks before the disaster, Veolia Transportation’s upper management was warned about—but failed to stop—the engineer’s texting, which ranged from 25 to 180 texts each workday.”
Shut up Tony and quit posting in your own blog. Nigro must have really pissed you off the other night.
ReplyDeleteJust came bar from St Louie, rode a trolley there getting drunk at Mardi Gra.....Loved it!
ReplyDeleteIt needs to be running during the All-Star Game week. Then shut it down.
ReplyDelete