KC Light Rail

Fact: KCATA will be issuing its own debt for light rail construction financing and that debt will have no impact on the city's current debt load or it's bond rating. Period.

Don't believe us? See it in print here (Article III, Section 7).

Don't be fooled by salacious blog posts prompted by whispers from the opposition. The City is NOT on the hook for any light rail debt. It's no different than KCI having its own bond rating.

In fact, the city's bond rating is still doing very well. Any many are touting bonds as a recession-proof investment.

Did that catch your attention? Good.

More old money joins the Committee for Sensitive Transfers — or whatever they're calling themselves now — with a big contribution: Tom McDonnell of DST.

According to Prime Buzz, McDonnell and his company also helped bankroll the 2001 opposition group (it's all the same people now… surprised?). While acting as a mostly positive force in urban core development, DST is the recipient of lots of public subsidies and incentives. This begs the question: Why would McDonnell oppose a project that improves the infrastructure along 14-mile swath of the city?

Your guess is as good as ours, especially when you read this Business Journal quote from 2004:

"For several years, I have envisioned a downtown Kansas City enriched by the cultural and residential presence that I have encountered in other cities in the United States, Canada and Europe."

Yeah, that Europe. It's no coincidence that Europe had roads first and rail later. Why should KC be any different?

By way of Blog KC, we bring you the current polling results for the KC light rail question:

46% leaning yes
35% leaning no
19% don't lean

Since there was no polling done before the 2006 vote, it's impossible to predict which way the undecideds (non-leaners?) will break, except that the 675 people polled are "likely voters", which means old and reliable — not exactly the picture of what's expected this time around considering Barack Obama's massive ground operation in Jackson County.

While the idea of another economic stimulus package is floating around Washintgon (socialism! gasp!) some lawmakers are trying to focus the discussion on killing two birds — failing infrastructure and potentially high unemployment — with one stone: a federally-funded infrastructure push similar to the Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression. After all, if we're going to spend billions bailing out the economy we might as well get something for it besides toxic paper and $600 Treasury checks that no one will spend.

Keep in mind that not only do we have a transit backlog, but both sides of the state line have road and bridge repair backlogs, as well as KC's much-discussed Combined Sewer Overflow replacement project.

Seriously, as if their argument wasn't callous or transparent enough, the lone opposition to light rail in KC is being uncovered for what they really are. The Pitch makes it clear again that we're not dealing with Mom and Pop on Main Street. Some key highlights:

- One business owner is bankrolling the entire campaign.
- Their new car wash, which will take up a half-block of what should be store fronts on one of our busiest commercial corridors, will be totally automated (Are Mom and Pop behind some curtain? Will it breed crime? How do more car washes address KC's goal of becoming a green mecca?).
- Their "campaign's" last ditch effort is to throw out the ballot question on a technicality.

Do they have what it takes to make a compelling case against light rail when the electorate has proven — both at the ballot box in 2006 and in polling earlier this year — that they're tired of talk and want action. The answer is NO. Vote YES on Nov. 4.

The Kansas City Star endorsed the KCMO and NKC light rail questions on its editorial page today, a move that was expected given the broad consensus between elected officials and the business community.

Unlike the 2001 city-backed plan — or any one of the Chastain-backed petition initiatives — the current plan takes the best ideas and distills them down to an easy-to-understand starter route that connects to two major freeways on both ends, crosses the river, and serves KC's top three job centers. In short, it makes sense to all but the most stalwart anti-transit curmudgeons.

Couple all of that with an expected makeover of federal transportation funding, the rapid rise in environmental awareness, and an increase in local transit demand and you've got a great setup for victory on November 4.