For this beautiful Sunday autumn afternoon we're rounding up a few Kansas City transit topics that have been on the mind our TKC readers.
Take a look:
KANSAS CITY STREETCAR INSIDERS REMIND US THAT AUSTIN SMACKED DOWN THEIR TOY TRAIN!!!
Reference . . .
Bloomberg: Clogged Austin Rejects $1.4 Billion Light-Railway Project
Of course this is important because of the transit connection but let's not forget that earlier this year there was a great deal of discussion about Kansas City vs. Austin and how our metro hoped to mimic the rise of a far more successful hipster town.
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Another perspective on the toy train in the overall scheme of things . . .
Reader Quote Regarding Recent Kansas City Transit Moves And Sunday Faith Or Lack Thereof In City Hall: "From the “will miracles never cease” category comes news of a responsible financial deal between Johnson County and the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority.
"Here is a miracle that will never happen - a responsible financial deal between the Kansas City Streetcar Authority and the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority. Eliminating the Streetcar Authority and letting KCATA mange the trolley would have obvious financial benefits."
Finally . . . Here's the big picture from a KC INSIDER regarding out overall place in the world:
TKC Reader Quote: "TIFFs and tax-abatement type structures, ultimately are a race to the bottom with neighboring jurisdictions (ala Detroit)."
All three topics are worthy of contemplation on this Sunday as Kansas City contends with another week of toy train boosterism.
Developing . . .
Every time the streetcar discussion comes up the merry hypesters say if we want to keep up with "everyone else," we just have to build a streetcar.
ReplyDeleteI wondered who "everyone else" is, and this is what I found:
According to Wikipedia, these are the US cities with streetcars. Keep in mind some of these are non-transit streetcar lines that operate only on limited dates, usually not year-round, for tourism or educational purposes.
Phoenix, Little Rock, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Jose, Sacramento, Denver, Tampa, Savannah, New Orleans, Baltimore, Boston, Minneapolis-St. Paul, St. Louis, Hudson-Bergen (NJ), Newark, Camden-Trenton (NJ), Buffalo, Charlotte (NC), Portland (OR), Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Memphis, Dallas, Houston, Salt Lake City, Norfolk (VA), Seattle-Tacoma, and Kenosha (WI).
To paraphrase Molly Ivins’ comment about Tom Delay, I won’t say the merry hypesters are dishonest when they say every city comparable to Kansas City has a streetcar, but let’s just say some of them are ethically challenged. Especially those who stand to gain from streetcar construction in one way or another.
>TIFFs and tax-abatement type structures, ultimately are a race to the bottom with neighboring jurisdictions (ala Detroit)
ReplyDeleteGross Pointe is fine. it is the place with all the niggers that sucks.
Texans are rock stupid. So no big deal.
ReplyDeleteAs for the constant Detroit comparisons, Detroit had a nonstop loss of middle-class jobs for twenty years because it was all automobile-based. Has that happened here? No.
It's not going away. It will only expand. Get used to it. Progress, that is.
Could we bring back Packards to go with the streetcars?
ReplyDeletePhoto #2
ReplyDeleteJordan Carver surrenders to the Sheriff for the crime of "cock rustling."
Packards, now there was a real car, grandpa had several of those, it was built like a fucking tank.
ReplyDeleteKC Mayor Sly James = Detroit
ReplyDeleteCan KCMO learn from Austin how to stop the streetcar? I am afraid not. In Austin the public voted and the trolley was stopped. In KCMO the politicians don't care what the voters want, they want it their way. I suggest we get the form of government they have in Austin here. It is called democracy.
ReplyDeleteHurf derf! Toy ternz streetcars killed te boobrs! I want democrazy! Myers sly James = detroipoopycacabuttpaste
ReplyDeleteHahhahhrhehehahahhar!
And Mensa boy greets another day.
ReplyDeleteIn Sacramento traffic has to stop at street corners --all four directions-- to let the streetcars turn the corner. So much for a quick transit alternative. Now they are tearing down a downtown shopping block to build a stadium and the engineers say that gridlock will be the norm once a game takes place, unless they spend millions to build new four lane highways through the center of the business district.
ReplyDeleteOmg! Traffic stops at all 4 corners! What a travesty! This is just like slavery an probably the jolocaust too!
DeleteNo streetcars without Packards. And Studebakers. And Hudsons.
ReplyDeleteAnd Kaisers. And Fraziers. And Henry Js and Allstates. And Nashes--especially Nash Metropolitans.
ReplyDeleteWhy just go halfway back to the 1940s?