The $100 Million Fix is still on track in Kansas City . . .
"A Jackson County judge on Friday dismissed a lawsuit challenging the validity of the Kansas City streetcar district. Judge Peggy McGraw ruled that the property owners who filed suit should have raised their concerns last year in court hearings about the formation of the district."
Sadly, this statement from the judge doesn't really acknowledge that the first streetcar meeting was really nothing more than a pep rally that was noticed only at the last minute . . . Nevertheless, it's clear that with a stunning mandate of less than 500 votes Kansas City is now set to spend HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS on old school technology that loots local bus funds for a smallish 2mi fun line.
You lose TKC.
ReplyDeleteKANSAS CITY IS MOVING FORWARD!
Sure they said that about the schools when they sunk billions into stupid perks no ones used. Kansas City Schools are moving forward!
ReplyDeleteWhy does the city need expensive and fancy "trolleys" to move people when buses already do that? Does it make us feel groovy?
ReplyDeleteWill the streetcars have armed guards?
ReplyDeleteDetroit gets a toy monorail while we get a toy streetcar. There are rewards for mismanagement.
ReplyDeleteSLY WINS.
ReplyDeleteMost of the assumption down at city hall has been akin to Bob Walkup strolling through a cornfield and hearing a disembodied voice whisper, “If you build it, they will ride.”
ReplyDeleteLetting our city decay just to ride a choo-choo train.
ReplyDeleteSame thing in Milwaukee . . "This project is ludicrous on its face, completely defying common sense. $64.6 million, plus another $55 million to relocate utilities, for a 2-mile streetcar line? And that's just the capital costs, not the operating costs. And the capital costs to serve the same 2-mile route with bus service would be...what? I can tell you: a tiny fraction of the cost of the streetcar line."
ReplyDeleteThe Great Streetcar Scam.
What an incredible scam, waste of money, fraud, rip-off or describe it anyway you wish. This project is a farce on it's very face.
ReplyDeleteIf Kansas Ciry Officials were truly concerned about providing affordable transportation options to their residents, they could provide expanded bus service nearly all of which would be covered by fares.
ReplyDeleteKansas City sorry bout the typo
ReplyDeleteKansas City is f*ck'd
ReplyDeleteWe're not the only city getting scammed by the streetcar mafia. Is it just a coincidence all of them are having $100-$125-$135 million “starter lines” shoved down their throats? KC lost part of it's grants because there where no matching funds. Fucking outrageous rip off.
ReplyDeleteSly sounds more like a bought and paid for consigliere than someone looking out for the best interests of the citizen taxpayers.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who was alive when the streetcars last rode the rails I can say that they were NOT missed. Electrical problems, can't pull over to pick up passengers so they block traffic, anything blocking the rails stops the car, ugly overhead wires latitudinally and longitudinally... can't drive around a wreck... I could go on...
ReplyDeleteWay to go Sly. You keep chasing away business in the name of building new business. That sounds like a plan to me.
ReplyDeleteThat's what happens to frivolous anti-democratic lawsuits.
ReplyDeleteSorry, shrieking suburbanites and head-in-the-sand hicks. Mass transit is the single biggest "must" do for this city to even maintain its status in the upcoming decades and this streetcar route is an excellent first step.
If the second line goes to UMKC/Plaza, KC will be on the verge of having a respectable functional mass transit system again.
Its nice to see leadership in this town again. Kudos to Sly and the VAST MAJORITY of downtown voters for leading the way.
100% of new development announced, planned or in any phase is in the streetcar taxing district.
ReplyDeleteGuess that the developers and real estate professionals who actually understand market forces no a little something you cul-de-suckers don't.
@2:15pm
ReplyDeleteA 2 mile streetcar is not mass transit. There won't be a second line. There won't be any Jackson County trains. There will be nothing but a streetcar that goes from nowhere to nowhere.
@ 2:15
ReplyDelete"VAST MAJORITY of downtown voters"
the election was decided on 153 and 138 votes out of 18,000+ downtowners
totally a VAST MAJORITY
@2:21 Care to elaborate? What new development in the streetcar district has been announced, plannned, or is in any phase of development? What new businesses have said they are setting up shop here because of the streetcar?
ReplyDeleteYou can't name one, because there are none.
But there are plenty of businesses that are planning to move out or will be driven out when they lose their customers during 2 years of torn up roads and no access to their businesses during construction. How many will survive?
KC wants to imitate Portland's Epic fail of a Streetcar system?
ReplyDeleteOh boy
new apartments in river market, new 23 story apartment on 14th. New apartment/condos on 20th/main, new YMCA, and 2 condo redos.
ReplyDeleteaka 100%
Every system starts with just a few miles. This 2 miles happens to cover the spine of the fastest growing and one of the densest areas of the metro, both in terms of residents and jobs. There's not a better 2 mile stretch in the city.
ReplyDeleteand phase 2 to the plaza would get the spine of the densest biggest corridor of the city for residents jobs and cultural amenities.
Sorry, suburbanites and crybabies, sucks to pine for the "glory days" of 1980s styl development. We subsidized your sprawl for decades. Now it our turn to invest in the core, which is the keystone of this (and every other) town.
Phase two to the Plaza isn't going to happen. Count on it.
ReplyDeleteI'll bet some cash that it's broke before they even finish this thing.
ReplyDeleteThe real push for streetcars comes from engineering firms that stand to earn millions of dollars planning, designing, and building streetcar lines. Doesn't help that streetcars are obsolete technology either.
ReplyDeleteAh Kansas City has fallen victim to this scam huh? Build the choo choo and they will come! Good luck with that.
ReplyDelete4:00 what kind of drugs you on? Or are your hallucinations caused by a neurological disorder?
ReplyDelete"Fuck you Mom and Dad!" - 4:00
ReplyDeleteIt's more important for 4:00 to have an Internet connection than responsibility.
ReplyDeleteCrying ass suburbanites, fear of future.
ReplyDeleteNobody listens to my good ideas about what not to do that every other city in america does, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
ReplyDeleteWhy won't they listen to me??????
3:57, is that new apartment on 14th the subsidized mess Cordish is building that KCMO will pay for?
ReplyDeletePeggy McGraw is an inept moron.
The Northeast is crumbling, yet we can afford to put a train in? LUDICROUS!
ReplyDelete100% of development is subsidized, moron. Kansas hasn't built anything in 50 years that was backed with taxpayer money.
ReplyDeleteNortheast is crumbling and Bushnell's genius ass shits on the chance to get meaningful permanent transit on Independece Avenue.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, they tear down beautiful historic buildings, replace them with surface parking lots or suburban-style development and can't figure out why they are hemoragging population.
Pro-tip: the suburbs are losing population too, they are just masking it with farther flung growth, corporate welfare and annexation.
Invest in transit or Detroit actually is your future.
It's more important for 553 to sit in his car than to spend time with his family.
ReplyDelete540 dammit mom, watch your mouth! Go fill up your crossover your husband is 30k in debt for and take an ambien, or whatever it is suburbanites do.
ReplyDelete10:29 are you an idiot? Do you read what you write? You just wrote KS has not subsized development in 50 years.
ReplyDeleteNot all development is subsidized. And when it is, there are subsidies and then there are the rapes that Cordish does thanks to lousy deals Give it Away Kay Barnes and her boyfriend Herb Kohn entered into with Cordish.
@3:57 You do not know if those RESIDENTIAL developments would have gone in without the streetcar or not.
ReplyDeleteYou can not name one BUSINESS development that is planned to move into the TDD because of the streetcar.