A lawsuit, a bus tax, and a poll
That pretty much recaps the week in Kansas City's light rail saga.
But don't be dismayed, transit friends, when you hear reporters parrot the naysayers when poll numbers come back bad (New Hampshire? Arena tax? My, what short memories we have!). And don't let the council get you down as they continue sliding down the slippery slope of futzing with petition initiatives. Yes, why be glum when we have Clay Chastain to defend democracy?
At least we've figured out that the bus tax renewal will go on the April ballot. Oh wait! The lawsuit might affect that, too? Shiznit!
Time and the tide of public sentiment are on our side, so maintain your long view. Gas prices are either fluctuating wildly or going up and the supply of oil is going nowhere but down. Workers can't get to far-flung suburban jobs. The price of building highways has far exceeded what the US collects in use taxes. The ATA is woefully underfunded compared to our peer cities and The JO barely squeaks by on spare change found between Overland Park and Olathe’s sofa cushions. A Democrat will rule the roost in 2008 and Jim Nutter is not our mayor. Those moneyed conventioneers we’re shilling for expect transit when they arrive from bigger cities. We've been trumped by Charlotte and Norfolk… yes, Norfolk-freakin'-Virginia.
In short, there are lots of reasons to keep pressure on our elected officials to deliver.
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Wow. You could have written 6 posts on what you covered here. A couple of thoughts:
1) Survey numbers seldom represent what happens at the polls. Survey’s usually try to get equal representation, but demographic groups don’t go to the polls equally. People who support light rail will likely be more motivated to make their voices heard than people who don’t want it…I think the fact that people voted in gondolas reflects that.
2) Isn’t it awesome that Prime Buzz is reporting speculative poll results?
3) Don’t forget that there are going to become even fewer suburban jobs very soon with the way Sprint is heading…which will likely push more people closer to the jobs in our core city.
4) I’ve never seen a group of people chase their tails as much as this council has done in their first year in office…
I don’t know how you can maintain any motivation to document this sad saga….Two years later and we are actually moving backwards…
Has anyone seen a master plan for transit? Don’t we think that should be done first? Overall cost,station locations, who will be in charge,etc.etc.
Charlotte gained 48000 required signatures to put the transit tax back on the ballot. Only 38000 showed up to vote aginst it in November. The citizens of Mecklenburg County voted overwhelmingly 70-30 to keep the tax.