Alternate way to fund an urban core transit system

Transportation topics in KC
Post Reply
ignatius
Oak Tower
Oak Tower
Posts: 4633
Joined: Wed Feb 19, 2003 2:42 pm
Location: Midtown/Downtown
Contact:

Alternate way to fund an urban core transit system

Post by ignatius »

I'm already not counting on the passing of a tax increase for the next election....

- This is a sprawled out town that is commited to cars.
- Outside the urban core, KCMO is not pedestrian friendly, hence not transit conscious
- This is not a good time to ask for a tax increase from those who don't care about the urban core
- Clay Chastain is back and f'ing everything up by putting his nonsense on the ballot
- Public transit in the suburban parts of sprawled KCMO is simply too expensive per rider.



I'm going to write the ATA and City and propose looking into an urban core tax that funds an urban core specific system. We need to stop asking suburbanites in KCMO to help pay for good public transit in the urban core. The urban core needs to step up and take care of itself.

This is what I propose. Pardon the oversimplification as I have no experience in civic infrastructure or how to lobby for it so this is just conceptual. I'm sure it's a more difficult process. Nevertheless, something like this is what I'd like to pursue...



- Determine the tax base in the zip codes from River Market to the Plaza, State Line to Troost.

- Determine the 5-year cost to maintain a bus system with 5 lines that runs every 10 minutes (rush hour, 15 minutes otherwise) from the Plaza to River Market... one down Troost, Gilham, Main, Broadway and SW Trafficway.

- Determine the 5-year property tax increase needed from businesses and/or sales taxes within those zipcodes to cover the cost.

- Sell/push the idea only to voters in the respective zipcodes and propose the X amount of business property and sales tax in those zip codes to pay for the system. The tax increase would only be on the ballot and apply to those of the core zipcodes, not city wide. A sales tax may make more sense because those who visit those zip codes would help pay for the system by purchasing something in those zip codes. Businesses in those zipcodes could help support the system through a nominal property tax increase - they get the benefit of needing less parking and bringing employees to work.


The key is for the urban core zipcodes to support itself. Taxing by district is possible because the downtown loop/CBD did it for the Community Improvement District initiative and Crown Center has a self-imposed sales tax as well.

To put it another way, instead of balloting a city-wide tax increase for public transit, the ballot should be done per zipcode or zone. Each zone that approves the tax, implements the tax and gets improved service. Trying to ask for a city-wide tax to have city-wide coverage is automatically doomed. The City needs to think outside the box because it has two worlds with radically different interests, urban and suburban. They need to come up with a way for each district or region to fund its own interests. With the computer/information age, it should be easier to tax at a zipcode/district level.



As a montlhy bus pass holder, I'm deeply disturbed by the poor transit system only getting worse. I am seriously considering a condo downtown but if transit is ignored, I'm not about to make that investment. In order for urban living to work, you MUST have good public transit. If settling for poor public transit, you may as well live in the burbs and depend on your car. What really bothers me is that the Downtown organizations don't seem to understand this. They are only interested in building more parking garages and have no understanding of car-free urban, pedestrian living. I will likely move to a larger city that understands urban living and has reasonably good mass transit if public transit does not improve soon.
Last edited by ignatius on Sat Aug 09, 2003 11:49 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
tat2kc
Bryant Building
Bryant Building
Posts: 4196
Joined: Wed Feb 19, 2003 6:32 pm
Location: freighthouse district
Contact:

Alternate way to fund an urban core transit system

Post by tat2kc »

makes sense to me.
Are you sure we're talking about the same God here, because yours sounds kind of like a dick.
tw
Parking Garage
Parking Garage
Posts: 41
Joined: Mon Feb 17, 2003 1:15 pm

Alternate way to fund an urban core transit system

Post by tw »

I agree...look around, all the major cities around KC have fairly good transportation systems and most have light rail!
User avatar
dangerboy
Global Moderator
Global Moderator
Posts: 9029
Joined: Wed Feb 19, 2003 8:28 am
Location: West 39th St. - KCMO

Alternate way to fund an urban core transit system

Post by dangerboy »

Actually the suburban Northland routes would take a really big hit to help preserve some of the routes south of the river. In modern American cities you have to have a connected transportation system that includes urban and suburban, highway and transit. If we focus the system on the urban core how do provide for the thousands of urban dwellers that need to commute to the growing suburban job centers?
carfreekc
New York Life
New York Life
Posts: 345
Joined: Wed Apr 23, 2003 9:59 pm
Location: walking around

Re: Alternate way to fund an urban core transit system

Post by carfreekc »

There are transportation districts that can be formed, but I don't know much about them. The Plaza has one for its parking garages, which, btw, are not free; we're paying an additional half-cent sales tax on the Plaza to pay for those garages. I think there was some noise about possibly creating a district for a shorter light rail line right after the city's proposal failed at the polls. But I don't think that's going to solve the situation we're in right now.

As dangerboy said, people still will need to get to jobs in the suburbs. It's already difficult for people who work at the airport if they don't have cars. Bus routes south of the river to the suburbs will be cut too if the proposed cuts happen. The Red Bridge route would be completely cut on Saturdays (and then no one would have Sunday service), and almost everyone on that route uses it to go to work at places like St Joseph's hospital, a nursing home on Wornall, the restaurants and grocery store at 103rd+State Line, etc. The route from the Landing to JoCo would be eliminated too.

Choices are already limited here if you don't drive. If we limit funding to a narrow urban core area, those choices would shrink even more. Our funding is already on too small a base since most of it is just within KCMO. Restricting it to the urban core would also cut out the growth happening north of the river. Shrinking that base even more will only constrict choices for people who already have too few of them.
ignatius wrote:They are only interested in building more parking garages and have no understanding of car-free urban, pedestrian living. I will likely move to a larger city that understands urban living and has reasonably good mass transit if public transit does not improve soon.
I'm with you there, ignatius. If these cuts happen, I will have a hard time justifying to myself why I'm living here when there are other cities who do get it more and actually work on it. I'd rather wait and see what the election results are though before deciding what the outcome is going to be. Glass half full, I guess. :D
User avatar
bahua
Administrator
Administrator
Posts: 10925
Joined: Thu Jan 23, 2003 7:39 pm
Location: Out of Town
Contact:

Alternate way to fund an urban core transit system

Post by bahua »

It looks like a noble plan, but noble as it may be, nobody's going to vote for a tax increase. And, should a property tax increase somehow pass, it will just chase even more moneyed people out of the urban core, magnifying the problems the city has. It's because of things like this that Home Depot and Costco are occupying 2 square miles of urban land. The city wants tax revenue somehow, and if they can't get it by taxing people's homes and businesses(which is counterproductive anyway), they'll welcome retail monsters in, to collect sales tax for the city.

No, for a transit system to work in Kansas City, anywhere in Kansas City, it's going to take a lot more than an "I feel your pain," attitude. It's going to take a fundamental change in how this city works. Anything else pushes us further in the wrong direction.
User avatar
QueSi2Opie
Bryant Building
Bryant Building
Posts: 3864
Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2002 2:05 pm
Location: Hangin' with the cons, crazies, and crackheads on 11th & Grand.

Alternate way to fund an urban core transit system

Post by QueSi2Opie »

I think we should say,"Vote for this, or we'll stop fixing yours roads for 15 years!" Wait... That's already happened :oops:
The Pendergast Poltergeist Project!

I finally divorced beer and proposed to whiskey, but I occassionally cheat with fine wine.
Post Reply