OFFICIAL - Main Street Streetcar Extension

[normalthings]

You can prove it with the city budget. The council approved the budget so Loar should know what's in it.
https://data.kcmo.org/Budget/FY-2016-17 ... /jkcu-25gm

the streetcar is getting money from the capital improvements fund (page 238) and PIAC funding (page 299).

Piac is general funds (see page 321)

So the entire city is literally helping pay for the streetcar

I am confused though as page vi, clearly states:

Finally, the KC Streetcar will kick off this spring around the time this budget is adopted. The
Submitted Budget fully incorporates the operations and debt service of the streetcar program into
one comprehensive program of $9.2 million annually. The Submitted Budget adds three new
parking control officers for the streetcar line parking enforcement. It again should be noted that
the Streetcar is fully funded by its Transportation Development District (TDD). It receives no
General Fund support from the City.

Is it just clever wordsmithing?

Personally, whether she is right or not, the way she handled herself was unprofessional. She did this quite often through the single-terminal airport hearings.

Loar tried to tell the other council members she knew more about airplanes then the airlines did.I remember during one of the discussions she talked about how many years ago she worked with an airline or something and they were using small regional jets, and that the airline coalition was lying when they said airplanes are getting bigger now. We need city councilors who know actually know what they talk about, and as a north lander im dispointed to say she represents us.

[flyingember]

It can be confusing. Going through the budget is not for a novice.

I would like to see an open data source that takes the budget and gives actual expenditure and where the money comes from in a connected manner.

The city could keep realtime data of income by source and one can see what's allocated to where. Or vice versa, look at an expense and see the money sources.p

I'm not saying it would be easy, I know for a fact that's a very big project, but it would add a lot of transparency to the process.

Which is something that document could never reasonably do.

This way it's possible for anyone to see where the money comes from for something like the streetcar and there's no guessing.
I could see this kind of visualization working particularly well in council sessions, public meetings and outreach.

[aknowledgeableperson]

I think for the most part the information you would be seeking is in there. The problem is how to find it. One, you have to know what you are looking for and two, where to find it. Much of the detail can be found towards the back of the budget book, the information there has more details. At the same time if a project involves more than one department, let's say my previous example of a street widening project, some of the funds being spent may not be identified as being a direct part of the project. There could be a bond issue that pays for upgrades to the water lines, and this particular project for the street widening is just one of many projects approved for the bond issue. And that could apply also to the sewer bond issue. So this street widening project could be found in three different parts of the budget.
It has been quite a few years but I believe there is a capital improvements budget/document that may contain information like the street widening project.

Maybe I can explore the budget and see how this particular operation works.

[DaveKCMO]

it should be noted that the scrutiny on this project far exceeds anything i've ever seen. is there a dedicated sprint center page in the budget?

[aknowledgeableperson]

Since the Sprint Center is not operated by the City it's operation would not be in the budget. Most of the info will be found in the Convention and Entertainment Facilities portion of the budget.
There is also a fund established for the Sprint Center called the Downtown Area Project Fund.

[DaveKCMO]

Since the Sprint Center is not operated by the City it's operation would not be in the budget. Most of the info will be found in the Convention and Entertainment Facilities portion of the budget.
There is also a fund established for the Sprint Center called the Downtown Area Project Fund.

streetcar is not operated by the city.

[DaveKCMO]

one less hurdle: http://kcrta.org/2016/08/24/16th-circui ... tcar-case/

[Pork Chop]

This is going quicker that I thought it would:

Court hearing on streetcar extension set for Thursday

The public will get a chance to weigh in on the proposed 3.5-mile extension of Kansas City’s streetcar line during a hearing scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Thursday in the sixth-floor circuit courtroom at the Jackson County Courthouse, 415 E. 12th St.

If the judge decides to advance the TDD, as many as three elections related to the streetcar extension would be held...

The first streetcar-related vote would determine whether to create the TDD, which generally would run from the Missouri River to 53rd Street between State Line and Campbell Street. The petitioners have asked for a mail-in election, with ballots to be mailed on Dec. 27 and due by Feb. 7.

If a majority of registered voters within the proposed district vote to create it, a second vote would be conducted at a polling place, as required by state law, to elect a board of directors to govern the district.

A third election then would be conducted for approval of a 1-cent sales tax and special assessments within the district to help finance the streetcar extension and operations. The transit authority has proposed a mail-in funding election, with ballots to be mailed on June 27 and due Aug. 8.

http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/n ... t-for.html

[ULCajun]

Yikes didn't realize it would take a year at best case before it is approved.

[Pork Chop]

Yikes didn't realize it would take a year at best case before it is approved.

I didn't even think it would be on the ballot next year due to the large infrastructure vote that may happen next year. It just shows that I have been living under a rock for the past several months.

[JBmidtown]

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=9488&start=4660

[flyingember]

Yikes didn't realize it would take a year at best case before it is approved.

I didn't even think it would be on the ballot next year due to the large infrastructure vote that may happen next year. It just shows that I have been living under a rock for the past several months.

1. it's mail in. So it can be scheduled whenever

2. TDDs can cross city and county lines. The closest example we have to a TDD is a school district. As a result the timing considerations of a specific city is logically irrelevant. I would hope the judge would work with each city/county involved but it's by no means necessary.

[beautyfromashes]

How do they know the names of those for each house and how many valid votes are in each residence?

[TheBigChuckbowski]

Someone else probably knows more than me but I'm sure it would just to go to all registered voters within the TDD.

[Pork Chop]

Yikes didn't realize it would take a year at best case before it is approved.

I didn't even think it would be on the ballot next year due to the large infrastructure vote that may happen next year. It just shows that I have been living under a rock for the past several months.

1. it's mail in. So it can be scheduled whenever

2. TDDs can cross city and county lines. The closest example we have to a TDD is a school district. As a result the timing considerations of a specific city is logically irrelevant. I would hope the judge would work with each city/county involved but it's by no means necessary.

Except for the election for the board according to the article. But you are right the TDD creation vote and the TDD tax vote are mail-in ballots like phase I.

[flyingember]

Someone else probably knows more than me but I'm sure it would just to go to all registered voters within the TDD.

Nope.

rsmo 238.216 (backwards order on purpose)
3. If the election is to be a mail-in election, the circuit court shall mail a ballot to each qualified voter who applied for a ballot pursuant to subsection 2 of this section along with a return addressed envelope directed to the circuit court clerk's office with a sworn affidavit on the reverse side of such envelope for the voter's signature....

2. Application for a ballot shall be conducted as follows:
(1) Only qualified voters shall be entitled to apply for a ballot;
(2) Such persons shall apply with the clerk of the circuit court in which the petition was filed;
(3) Each person applying shall provide:
(a) Such person's name, address, mailing address, and phone number;
(b) An authorized signature; and
(c) Evidence that such person is entitled to vote. Such evidence shall be:
a. For resident individuals, proof of registration from the election authority;
b. For owners of real property, a tax receipt or deed or other document which evidences ownership, and identifies the real property by location;


In terms of strategy a mail-in ballot can pass or not depending on who makes a ballot request. If an anti-streetcar group gets out a team they in theory could upend the election and they'll have time to do so. The key to the process is getting the request submitted, remember that Dave/Matt made a large effort around this for the downtown TDD>

When it comes to submitting votes one also will likely need a strong follow up aspect to be certain it doesn't get lost in a pile of mail and tossed.

And then repeat a second time all over.

This ballot request and return process one of the wildcards in the election. As we've seen the numbers don't need to be that big to swing the election against or assure it passing. One should not be overconfident either way.

[DaveKCMO]

Coverage:
http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/kc ... 96437.html
http://via.fox4kc.com/ekfxF
http://bit.ly/2cYlsFZ
http://bizj.us/1o91xo

[OPIchabod]

Over time, I think this council trends even more cautious on support for projects such as streetcar that move things forward; the olive branch to the City Council to let them pursue their $800-million-ish general obligation infrastructure proposal next Spring without the streetcar TDD on any ballot is risky.

The folks at KCRTA have been exceptionally smart and strategic in their efforts to expand the streetcar, but this had to be an agonizing decision. Would love to know more about the back and forth on the decision?

There has to be some internal polling in the city that indicates support for the $800M election is mediocre, but city leaders fear - even more than the GO bond failing - the public's medium-term response if the city doesn't have money to fund the types of infrastructure improvements/maintenance that keeps citizens satisfied.

Sucks that the possibility of streetcar expansion is being held hostage by the awful planning of previous city administrations.

[Pork Chop]

Coverage:
http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/kc ... 96437.html

From the KCstar link above:

So now, the first streetcar mail-in election process would take place between May and July 2017. If voters approve the new streetcar district, an election would occur in September 2017 at polling places, to elect board members for the new taxing district. And finally, there would be another mail-in election between November 2017 and January 2018 to actually approve the taxes for the new streetcar district. Even if all those approvals occur, an expanded streetcar route isn’t expected to open until 2023 at the earliest.

[JBmidtown]

Coverage:
http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/kc ... 96437.html

From the KCstar link above:

So now, the first streetcar mail-in election process would take place between May and July 2017. If voters approve the new streetcar district, an election would occur in September 2017 at polling places, to elect board members for the new taxing district. And finally, there would be another mail-in election between November 2017 and January 2018 to actually approve the taxes for the new streetcar district. Even if all those approvals occur, an expanded streetcar route isn’t expected to open until 2023 at the earliest.

Nice, I'll be 35 then. I wonder how old I'll need to get to see KC have a comprehensive regional rail system. 85? 90?