Who are these guys?
By Mark Forsythe
The Kansas City Post
Councilman Ed Ford remarked to me that some of the applicants for the light rail task force that got rejected are "really mad." "I don't know if that's good or bad" he mused. I for one think it's a good thing. Over 300 applicants says there are people outside the realm of the usual suspects who want to take part in shaping our city. They're passionate. They're engaged. They care.
I consider myself a fairly well-informed guy but even I have never heard of over half the people selected to staff the 34 member light rail task force. Any time someone asks me about the task force, the question usually centers around someone's background, experience, location, etc. I usually have to answer with "I've never heard of them either."
In the absence of information, people will automatically assume the worst. So why not be completely transparent? I would like for the KCATA to put a webpage together with every one of the task force member's names, a link to our application and a brief bio including our age and council district resided in. Let everyone know who we are and let them develop their own informed opinion about whether any one of us deserves to be there. Isn't that a hallmark of democracy?
There's plenty to work on for the next few months. There are many questions that need to be asked and answered. One of the questions shouldn't be "Who are these guys?"
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welcome to the site, mark!
Mark, I would encourage you to devote as much energy as you and others can expend on targeting one of the starter routes to the east side.
Light rail should serve high density ridership corridors that also serve the people who have the greatest need for mass transit.
Everybody has been talking about corridors that comprise predominatly wealthy, high profile, white and tourist originations/destinations. That’s important, but I think up and down an east side corridor would be an even better move.
I’d like to see somebody combine their enthusiasm for the technology with an enthusaism for serving the needs of those who need mass transit the most.
As a matter of fact, that’s my definition of a light rail superhero.
If we are going to plan a route the people need to know what streets can’t be used because of the grade of the hills or other reasons so as to plan a better route. Yes Troost should be used to get to jobs and hospitals,and colleges.
Some people on the task force don’t seem to have some of the knowledge they should have to be on this board.
mainstream,
East-West routes are key, but not for a starter line in my opinion. Interestingly enough, at the Mohart center the other night people were given maps and told to put stickers where they thought the first stops should go. Even the people who identified themselves as living along the 71 corridor were putting stickers down Main or Broadway. I figured for sure east siders would be putting the majority of their stickers up and down Troost and Prospect but from what I saw that wasn’t the case.
I am open-minded about the starter route. The one thing I am positive about is the starter route must be perceived as a success or the entire rail system will be doomed. What is success? The 25 is in my opinion a very successful route, but it isn’t exactly making headlines or exciting people about buses so maybe ridership isn’t success. The MAX has pretty good ridership and gets favorable press but I myself don’t consider it a success because the ATA insists on calling it BRT when it’s actually just a very good express route. I guess the $64,000 question is “What is a success?”
Okay, I’m rambling and trying to say too much. I’ve got at least three posts in this comment! I’ll break this out later and then everybody can critique. Fair enough?
Sounds good. As you pointed out, it’s not a black or white issue and we need to let the facts guide us.
As a part of the mix I would think considering one of the five highest ridership bus routes would make sense…
Oh, and I forgot, going east doesn’t neccesarily mean east-west, we can go east with a north-south, northwest-south line as well.
I got a head start on the ‘Who Are These People” scheme: last Wed. I Googled the lot of them and posted their public affiliations.
I didn’t get everyone -though folks who posted did- and some of the Google entries may be old, but here’s the list.
Perhaps the task force members will do as Mark SUggests if only to clear up any errs listed in their public vitas…
“Oh, and I forgot, going east doesn’t neccesarily mean east-west, we can go east with a north-south, northwest-south line as well.”
Yeah I noticed what I’d written as I was clicking Submit. Sometimes my fingers outrun my brain.
The feeling I got from the 3rd & 5th district folks at the meeting was they think an initial starter line would probably be most successful somewhere through the center of the urban core. Just not at the expense of the already thin bus service they’re getting.
ANY attempt at cutting existing bus service in the name of finding funds for rail will meet with strong resistance from those areas of town, and well it should.