Never noticed this before but there's a double-decker bus behind the bikini cash hotties and THAT bit of social commentary why this fair use tribute makes sense to start our newsworthy and educational discussion. . . But more importantly . . .
READ BETWIXT THE LINES & NOTICE KANSAS CITY POLITICOS SILENT WHEN TALKING ABOUT HOW TAXPAYERS WILL FINANCE THE FREEBIE BUS FOREVER!!!
Yes, finding $8-million during one of the longest economic expansions in American history isn't so hard. But with harsh times ahead the money might be just a bit harder to justify or find without another tax increase.
And so, we share these local links on the topic of cash and a clandestine tax rolling ahead sooner than locals might suspect . . .
Rolling Price-Tag
Free bus service estimated to cost Kansas City $8 million
Kansas City estimates that it will cost $8 million to start free city bus service. The $8 million is the amount of money from Kansas City bus fares. City Hall has been told to find the money in the next budget."We can't just look at this as a robbing Peter to pay Paul thing," said Robbie Makinen, president of the Area Transportation Authority.
Don't Worry, These Reporters And Politicos Don't Know Either
The cost of free bus fares: How will KCMO pay for it?
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The wheels are spinning on bringing free public transportation to Kansas City, Missouri. On Thursday, the Kansas City Council that would eliminate bus fares completely - but free bus fares come with a price. For people using the bus, those rides will eventually be free.
Developing . . .
The answer is easy but it sucks.
ReplyDeleteMore taxes for free buses. That's all they really passed.
^^^^ Winner, winner. Really nothing else to be said. More taxes.
ReplyDeleteNo one is talking to the drivers to see how they feel. They already deal with a ton of BS from riders, imagine the stories about to come.
ReplyDelete"READ BETWIXT THE LINES & NOTICE KANSAS CITY POLITICOS SILENT WHEN TALKING ABOUT HOW TAXPAYERS WILL FINANCE THE FREEBIE BUS FOREVER!!!"
ReplyDeleteAnd yet no one seems to be willing to discuss how we pay for all the incentives to developers--Waddell and Reed's corporate welfare being just the latest example. Weird.
^^^^^
ReplyDeleteFinally @ 8:01 your comment makes sense and I have to agree with you.
It's obvious how the city will pay for it. HIGHER TAXES. Higher sales taxes or higher property taxes. The mayor and council don't want to say
ReplyDeletethat right now because voters won't like it.
None of this is really very complicated.
ReplyDeleteOnly a certain amount of tax money comes in.
And when "incentives" are approved. less comes in than would have or even did before.
So when a new "free" service is breathlessly announced, either the companies that provide fuel for the buses have agreed to give it away, maintenance on the vehicles is either done for free or not at all, and the drivers all work for nothing, OR the money comes from somewhere else in the budget.
Just like PIAC funds for street repair were raided for studies for THE streetcar, free bus service for a very small minority of KCMO residents will come by siphoning the money from services like streets and police, which are needed by a much larger number of people.
Instead of making believe that their job is "to make history", the clowns at 12th and Oak should just try to operate a reasonably efficient and competent basic services organization.
Watching what passes for government in KCMO operate is like observing a playground with short-attention-span third graders playing make-believe.
What an embarrassment!
"Free bus service will cost $8 million"
ReplyDeleteWhat an inane headline.
Let me guess the city and unelecteds that make transportation policy they are in bed with with just went....
ReplyDeleteLet's make it free, it looks good on television and we will worry about how we will pay for it later?
Well why we are it it let's shovel even more tax cuts and breaks and exemptions to developers and speculators and we'll worry about how to pay for that later too!
ReplyDeleteLike food, the money will magically appear on the table the same way it does in Hogwarts.
ReplyDeleteRobbery and assaults will sky rocket on the bus once the the thugs start riding the free crime mobile. Flash mobs will be an everyday occurrence all over the city . No need to expand the toy train !
ReplyDeleteWell we all know the transportation gig call Ride KC isn't paid for by those who use it. In short the taxpayers have been supporting it for decades. Just how much more will be needed is the big question. If I was a driver I'd be really concerned because now the rider counts will go through the roof. Hey it's free lets all go ride around town all day on the busses for something to do. Mark my words a shoot out will soon take place on a bus. Fights are going to break out because in the past by charging to ride it did keep some of the losers off the busses. Now it will turn into a free for all sort of like free night at Worlds of Fun and we all know how those turn out. This is another thing in Kansas City that will very quickly be abused and ruined. Maybe a few KC Ride Vigilantes will keep things in check but doubtful.
ReplyDelete^^^^ Right on the $$$$.
ReplyDeleteNo need for free toy train!
When is the next free day at the zoo?
When you live in KC and are a taxpayer who gets fucked in the ass with stuff like this,everyday is free day at the Zoo
DeleteIts currently illegal for a law abiding citizen to carry a gun on a bus not so for a thug.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the council should require white people to pay and just let the black people ride free. The black expect everything to be free. The white people are used to paying their own way.
ReplyDeleteMayor Smiling Selfies Q is going to do some serious bus ridin' I betcha.
ReplyDelete"And when "incentives" are approved. less comes in than would have or even did before." Not necessarily. You assume that the project or a similar project would have gone forward without the incentives, which is not likely to be the case.
ReplyDeleteMayor Q and the selfie; one and the same. He cannot interrupt the parade of selfies long enough to answer a question. Regardless, bus ridership will actually decrease. The individuals with a need for transportation will pursue other options, oddly enough. The buses are an unpleasant experience with the homeless people riding the bus day and night panhandling.
ReplyDeletePaying for something instills a bit of responsibility to the rider to be a good customer, not that it always works. Without it passagers become bums with no accountability. Drivers will need those bullet proof cubicals around them.
ReplyDelete10:29: So it's OK for a law-abiding citizen to carry a thug on the bus?
ReplyDeletethe same way we have always paid for it
ReplyDeleteEight million is just the initial cost from the next budget. Over the next twelve years, that's nearly $100 million!
ReplyDeleteWhy to I have to pay for other people's bus rides? You will regret it if I start stealing things to make up for it.
ReplyDeleteEight million is just the initial cost from the next budget.
ReplyDeleteOf course we all know that's a low estimate and it will probably end up costing us twice as much.
^^^^And yet that would still make it less than KC's yearly obligation to the P&L District. Weird.
ReplyDelete4:18 PM Right so let's just get deeper in debt real smart money management there sport.
ReplyDeleteI'm a pretty giving person and support several worthy organizations, some local and some national, but FREE bus service??? Are you kidding me? Does any sane person who has been paying attention to the crap our so-called city leaders have shoved down our throats in the past few years think the taxpayers of this city won't end up footing the bill for this nonsense? Oh, and not every person who lives in KCMO pays taxes, they live off the rest of us. This free bus stuff needs to be watched very carefully.
ReplyDelete^^^^True. Most of the developers we subsidize don't live in Kansas City.
ReplyDeleteMaybe our 25 million “anal” tourists will leave a nickel on the nightstand if we ask nicely?
ReplyDelete