KANSAS CITY TOY TRAIN STREETCAR SCHEME STARTS TODAY!!!



Here's the way Democracy died in Kansas City . . .

Ballot applications for streetcar vote due TODAY.

Just a few things to remember . . .

- THIS VOTE WAS STOLEN!!! A GERRYMANDERED DISTRICT WAS CREATED USING A MISSOURI TAX LOOPHOLE TO AVOID LOSING A CITY-WIDE ELECTION!!!

- There is still NOT ONE BUSINESS that has declared they're moving to Downtown Kansas City because of the upcoming streetcar.

- This isn't mass transit: The Toy Train only travels less than 2 mi which is less than a brisk walk.

- Politicos are selling the sizzle on this toy train . . . Alone, this EXPENSIVE effort won't cost much but there are clearly plans to keep throwing good money after bad for a train scheme that hasn't provided one bit of empirical evidence that it'll work. 

- Kansas City Streetcar Toy Train Rides Won't Last Long.  Expect The City To Start Charging Once It's Clear That They'll Be Losing Money Hand Over Fist For ANOTHER DEVELOPMENT SCHEME THAT'S NOT REALLY RELATED TO TRANSIT AT ALL!!!

Now, I'm exaggerating a bit with the "Democracy Is Dead In Kansas City" tag. While City Hall politicos have proven that they aren't accountable to voters. The reality is that (over the long term) so many people simply vote with their feet and have decided to leave this city for surrounding suburban areas with politicos who aren't as corrupt and beholden to special interests. Sadly, this effort to lure back suburbanites by railroading residents and taxpayers doesn't speak well of local civic interests.

DEVELOPING . . .

Comments

  1. Last night one of the stations discussed the property tax increases that will result from the train. They were significant, and those property taxes will be passed on to renters, so there's not gonna be a free ride on this one, and it may well convince downtowners to move out.

    This city knows how to turn a great thing into a disaster.

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  2. For the property owners it is taxation withour representation.

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  3. Jobs for Jackson County laid off office workers!

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  4. 1. Property doesn't vote, people do.

    2. The property "owners" are well represented...WHERE THEY FUCKING LIVE.

    3.Not only that but "property owners" already have a huge voice in this, and every other, city's political process in the form of lobbying, donations, political groups like the chamber of commerce and business associations.

    Bottom Line:

    Owning property doesn't give you the right to vote, you ignorant, unamerican, regressive, shill. That's what the original "taxation without representation" argument was about, moron. The people who owned property in the colonies BUT DID NOT LIVE THERE made all the political decision. Take your corporate ass-kissing back to the 18th century where it belongs, douchebag.

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  5. Actually a lot of people and businesses are already "voting with their feet". That's why downtown is one of the fastest growing, densest census tracts in the metro. And improving transit will only accelerate that growth. Look at StL. Everywhere in the city lost population except along the metro line...

    And business follows people, as evidence by the volume of businesses (both local and chain, both organic and subsidized) downtown. You people seem to forget that almost every business in the suburbs is subsidized by development policy, tax breaks, bonds, infrastructure construction and poaching.

    What's more, the fastest growing suburbs are actually in KCMO.

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  6. Would the last person to leave downtown KCMO please turn out the lights and then yell "fixed guideway sysem" at the top of their lungs.
    Out of a total metro population of 2.3 million, there is a grnd total of 19,000 people who live downtown. And by far, most of the jobs downtown (only 10% of the metro total) are with one level of government or another. All of which is fine, but all the breathless rah rah is just a bit much and, given the amount of money the taxpayers have dumped into downtown KCMO, the cost/benefit ratio sucks by any measure.
    The way the streetcar proposal has been handled from the start is a great example of the bait-and-switch under-the-table way KCMO has used to hoodwink the public for decades. That's why no other jurisdiction in the metro wants to have anything to do with them.
    The streetcar will become an enormous expense that KCMO will have to fund out of the general fund, even if they pay no attention to maintenance, repair, and operations, which they won't, and ALL THE RESIDENTS IN KCMO will end up paying for it forever.
    And then you'll be told taht there are budget crises and more money is needed for fire, police, parks, streets, and all the other things you thought you had already gotten a commitment from the city to provide.
    What a sad excuse for a city government.

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  7. Blatantly crooked scheme.
    I'd like to see a graphic with the names and faces of the main people behind it.

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  8. I registered yesterday. My problem with this is why can't every registered vote vote on this? Why must I go through a hassle so my vote counts?

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  9. Same reason every voter didn't get to vote on the Plaza's "free" parking garages that everyone in the city and every plaza patron pays for, or for taxpayer subsidized upgrades to Oak Park Mall, Olathe's subsidized and underperforming Bass Pro development.

    Where were Tony and the Culdesac Chad's when those TDDs where "rigged" and "democracy died in Johnson County"????

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  10. @11:15 They don't want everyone voting on this. They set up the vote this way so only 200 or so streetcar advocates will dump these costs and taxes on the rest of us in perpetuity.
    They knew if it was on the ballot in November and all of the qualified voters had a say it would not pass.

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  11. I invite any of you fat-ass TKC readers to prove when/where you last walked two miles in this town.

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  12. They didn't walk and they won't take the train. And your hipster ass is fat too!

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  13. I walk more than two miles every day. How about you, 2:08?

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