KC Light Rail

According to a late report from the Star, the legal challenge to prevent the Nov. 4 vote has been denied. Absentee voting began Sept. 23 — well before the suit was brought — and the City Council followed procedure by unanimously voting to approve the ordinance without being read on three separate occasions (anyone who watches Channel 2 could have predicted the outcome on this one).

If you've already voted absentee in Kansas City or North Kansas City, we'd like to hear from you before Election Day. Drop us a line at [email protected].

From the Sun Gazette.

In the bigger picture, light rail is part of being a thriving metro, something Kansas City struggles to maintain. Light rail also adds to the vitality and life of a city that an extended bus system simply cannot do alone.

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.

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.