KC Light Rail

Chastain v. City: City wins! The Alternatives Analysis for a revised route continues unabated. Note to Hearne Christopher: Time to remove Chastain from your speed dial to make room for David Cook! Moving on…

Regional v. Starter Line: As an editorial in this week's Business Journal reminds us, this really isn't an either/or proposition. A starter line without a regional vision is dumb and a regional system without a first spike in the ground is impossible. Unfortunately, all of the rhetoric completely ignores the SmartMoves umbrella, even though the lines being drawn on the map are essentially the same. Here's an idea: Create a Plan A and B, then go with Plan B if Plan A fails! May we have our consultant fee now?

Midtown v. Downtown (and everyone else, for that matter): Not much has been made of this topic in the Old School Media, but it just may bubble over soon if 4th District Councilpersons Marcason and Gottstein avoid the tough work of calming down some very animated Hyde Park residents. Fear of encroachment, higher property taxes, and anything else that sounds Super Scary To Neighborhoods may be the thing that unravels the whole project… again. Believe it or not, the East Side "spur" debate is quietly resolving itself through good ol' communication (expect Cleaver, not Linwood). Take heed, Hyde Parkers!

Union Station v. Crown Center: Low on the list to most, but a few vocal proponents insist on the most direct connection possible with the only true bi-state success story (the Station is covering it's own expenses now, thank you very much). Our own informal polling suggests that it's wise to leverage the supposed support of the Hall clan — a first in KC light rail history — versus the symbolic gesture of a shorter walk to another mode of transit. We timed it ourselves and it's a five minute walk through The LINK to the Amtrak ticket counter; future commuter rail operations would likely terminate east of the actual station due to space constraints anyway. Our money's on Crown Center (with good signage pointing the way, never KC's strong point).

Grand v. Walnut v. Main: Oh, those poor parades full of dung-laden horses. Where will they go if light rail steals Grand? Probably the same place they went when we last had light rail (yes, streetcars are light rail… get over it) — it all peacefully co-existed, open-air streetcar-as-parade-float and all. But wait! Downtowners hatched an idea at a recent workshop to use Walnut between Union Station and the River Market as a transit-only corridor. Intended as a way to sway the conversation away from using Main and Walnut as a pair (northbound trains running on one street; southbound on the other — a remarkably dumb idea, but an official "option" nonetheless), it may take on a life of its own. Regardless, our money's on Grand, but expect to see lots of talk on how Walnut might work.

Local:
Ford: KCMO needs a "Plan B" (Kansas City Star)
Bus tax in light rail's shadow (Kansas City Star)
April 8 ballot information (City of Kansas City)
New EPA ozone standard will challenge KC metro (Business Journal)

National:
Tampa gets regional with transit (Tampa Bay Online)
Cincinnati authorizes streetcar study (Business Courier)
Parking gets tight at Denver park-and-rides (Aurora Sentinel)
Light rail "best bet" for getting to Charlotte's ACC tourney (WCNC)
Plans for new light-rail link in Pittsburgh revived (Philly.com)
Ford considers building "Transit Connect" taxi (Reuters)

Next week is a busy one for light rail planning. Workshops will be held in all four "nodes" along the proposed route. The first meeting in each node is really introductory ("Orientation & Goals"), but the second meeting is where each neighborhood will select their preferred street alignment and station locations.

If you live in the affected area, here's your chance to have a say about the specifics. The full calendar is here, but below are the events coming up next week:

East Meeting #1 (east of Main Street)
6-8 p.m.
Monday, March 24
Mohart Multi-Purpose Center
3200 Wayne [map]

North Meeting #1 (north of Missouri River)
5:30-7:30 p.m.
Tuesday, March 25
Northgate Middle School
2117 NE 48 Street [map]

Downtown Meeting #2 (River to Linwood Boulevard)
5:30-7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, March 26
Kansas City Design Center
1018 Baltimore [map]

Midtown Meeting #1 (Linwood to UMKC)
5:30-7:30 p.m.
Thursday, March 27
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
11 E. 40th [map]

Local:

• Missouri pushes regional transit funding, can't wait for Kansas (Prime Buzz)
• Light rail moving 'fast' (Sun Newspapers)
• Council pushes for bus sales tax renewal (Prime Buzz)
• Funkhouser: Make Union Station a rail hub (Biz Journal)

National:

• Government warns of terror threat to trains (NBC)
• Detroit considers Woodward Avenue light rail loop (Crain's)
• Charlotte already working on light rail expansion (Charlotte Observer)
• Millions later, Ft. Lauderdale light rail future murky (Sun-Sentinel)

Behold the power of the intertubes: the official calendar on the KCATA light rail website now shows the scheduled community workshops in your 'hood. If you have an opinion about station locations, which street to use, or how to cross the river… please attend! Seems like they're a little slow to provide actual details on the events, but at least the dates are on the calendar now.

The next downtown workshop is definitely 5:30-7:30 p.m., Wednesday, March 26, at the Kansas City Design Center, 1018 Baltimore [map].

Sorry for the late notice, but whoever planned this first light rail workshop did an awful job communicating it. The details are below, confirmed by a call to the Downtown Council. The meeting announcement did not appear in The Star, or on websites for the Downtown Council, KCATA, or KCDC.

5:30-7:30 pm
Wednesday, March 5
Town Pavilion Conference Center, Marquis Room
1100 Walnut (take low-rise elevators in lobby to 4th floor)
Parking available at Town Center Garage

Here's the entire message, as we received it from another source today:

Please come to a series of 4 workshops on KC's light rail project

You are invited to participate! The KCATA and the City need your input on how light rail will operate downtown. The first of a series of 4 workshops is tonight. The meetings build on each other and you are encouraged to come to all. The meetings are sponsored by the Downtown Council, Downtown Neighborhood Association, and the Kansas City Design Center. Information is available on the Crossroads Community Association's online calendar at kccrossroads.org, as well as below:

March 5, 5:30-7:30 pm Town Pavilion Conference Center, Marquis Room 1100 Walnut (take low-rise elevators in lobby to 4th floor) Parking available at Town Center Garage

March 26th, 5:30-7:30 pm Kansas City Design Center 1018 Baltimore Parking available at Downtown Library Garage

April 9, 5:30-7:30 pm (Location to be announced)

April 23, 5:30-7:30 pm (Location to be announced)