TKC BREAKING AND EXCLUSIVE NEWS!!! COLLISION COURSE: WESTPORT MOGUL BILL NIGRO SPEAKS OUT AGAINST THE KANSAS CITY TOY TRAIN STREETCAR!!!

The Kansas City business community is now starting to show serious signs of skepticism about the economic development promises made by proponents of streetcar expansion.

To wit . . . And in an EXCLUSIVE telephone interview last night . . .

WESTPORT MOGUL BILL NIGRO BLASTS STREETCAR CHEERLEADERS WHO DON'T HAVE RELIABLE ECONOMIC DATA TO BACK UP THEIR CLAIMS!!!

Mr. Nigro was inspired by recent fact checking from the Show-Me blog regarding the reality of eco-devo promises.

But the Westport club owner speaks from a far more personal and direct perspective and long history of doing business with local government.

"I feel like I'm constantly at war with City Hall and that's not that the way things should be for someone trying to provide jobs," Mr. Nigro said. "The City is often hostile toward business owners and the regulatory maze that we're expected to navigate is unbelievable."

Bill Nigro spoke about his transit experience with the KC Strip Trolley line and uses the venture as a starting point to voice serious skepticism about the viability of toy train streetcar expansion.

"I made the case and had a plan to turn the KC Strip around but there were a lot of bureaucrats who didn't do anything but remind us of all the red tape when it comes to transit in Kansas City," Mr. Nigro said. "We have some very nice people on the City Council but it's also important to remember that very few of them have real world business experience. They simply don't know what it's like to run a business and face the demands that government can create for someone creating jobs . . . That's why I'm skeptical of this streetcar expansion. The price tag alone should give everyone pause."

Additionally, this longtime Westport business-owner offered a rough estimate which calculated the possibility of a local sales tax spike to 11 percent with the addition of another streetcar levy.

"I love Kansas City. But how many of these expensive mistakes can we afford to make? When we get to the point of $30 million+ for a mile of streetcar line, we need to ask: When is this insanity going to stop? I've asked the city if they've done a study about our rate of taxation vs. Kansas with the added streetcar sales tax and I got nothing. The question stumped them. Before we go any further, we need to determine if we're putting ourselves at a competitive disadvantage in the Economic Border War with so many new taxes."

And here's the kicker . . .

BILL NIGRO MIGHT SOON BRING OTHER KANSAS CITY BUSINESS OWNERS AND SPECIAL GUESTS TO DEBATE THE MERITS OF THE TOY TRAIN STREETCAR!!!

The Westport mogul has an impressive list of contacts and his potential opposition to the streetcar represents a serious roadblock for toy train streetcar advocates who have already been met with a bevy of challenges.

Developing . . .