KANSAS CITY TOY TRAIN CRITICS: CORPORATE WELFARE STREETCAR SUBSIDY SUBVERTS LOCAL DEMOCRACY!!!



Our blog community shared a couple of great insights this morning and it we wanted to pass along this double play peek at opposition to the current secret streetcar vote underway . . .

And so . . .

CHECK THIS KANSAS CITY SATURDAY STREETCAR DOUBLE TAP!!!

First up . . . The history of the streetcar is actually one of suburban expansion . . .

"This exceptionally informative article in Governing magazine that still resonates today and it reports the recent streetcar resurgence along with questions wondering if new efforts will last as long as the former ones did. I think these two sentences are important however: 

"Overwhelmingly, those tracks were built by private investors. In the late 19th and early 20th century, it was streetcars, not automobiles, that created the first suburbs."

"So should investors do the same and pay for the streetcar to UMKC if they claim it's all about development? 

Let the developers pay!"

And then . . .

A corporate mission statement draws ire . . .

"Through a community-based and data-driven process, the City of Kansas City, Missouri and its project team, led by BNIM, are developing a plan for the expansion of the Downtown Streetcar Starter Line into a citywide network..."

To which a streetcar critics says: "The community has already spoken and streetcar expansion was resoundingly defeated in a 2014 election. That is how the community gives its opinion in a Democracy."

You decide . . .

Comments

  1. streetcar is an albatross across kc.

    A distraction so we can focus on a scheme involving transit rather than the bigger problems facing our city.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Developers paying for streetcar expansion?
    They don't even pay for their own "projects".
    Burke's hotel is going to cost KCMO taxpayers $35 million plus free public land.
    So far.
    Why should these "visionaries" pay for anything themselves when all that tax money is just sitting there doing nothing, even though it could be being used for more cops, fixing streets, or so many other things that residents would actually find helpful in their daily lives?
    And now $800 million more available.
    Thanks for playing.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The City shouldn’t be wasting more money on an obsolete transportation system. The initial system has proven that it is only an expensive tourist attraction.

    ReplyDelete
  4. This City does not need any more tax-exempt apartments or hotels. The people in these units require city services and they are not contributing.

    ReplyDelete
  5. In addition to the TID tax, our sales tax rate is over 11% in River Market. I believe this to be the highest in the US. If the developers want the benefit of an expanded streetcar fiasco, let them pay 100% of the cost.

    ReplyDelete

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