KCRag Forum

NKC council punts funding their portion of the study to their april 16 meeting. also: incumbent NKC mayor loses reelection bid, likely a result of the hospital debacle.

DaveKCMO wrote:NKC council punts funding their portion of the study to their april 16 meeting. also: incumbent NKC mayor loses reelection bid, likely a result of the hospital debacle.

What do your tea leaves tell you about the new Mayor?

This race happened in a vacuum. Or I have been in one.

nothing.

all i know is a mere 848 votes were cast in the mayoral election (only 738 for ward elections). we'll see what happens on april 16. i predict more delays, especially if this hospital thing consumes most of the spotlight.

DaveKCMO wrote:nothing.

all i know is a mere 848 votes were cast in the mayoral election (only 738 for ward elections). we'll see what happens on april 16. i predict more delays, especially if this hospital thing consumes most of the spotlight.

Only 848 votes? That doesn't sound legal to me.

loftguy wrote:

DaveKCMO wrote:nothing.

all i know is a mere 848 votes were cast in the mayoral election (only 738 for ward elections). we'll see what happens on april 16. i predict more delays, especially if this hospital thing consumes most of the spotlight.

Only 848 votes? That doesn't sound legal to me.

i KNOW! and nonresident property owners didn't get to vote!

Don't let Yael find out.

I voted. The problem with NKC is you have a lot of old, blue collar types who are resistant to change. I think the street car deal will get done. The light rail deal passed a few years ago and this will pass in time. Nkc city hall has just made some bad bets with city money and now people are wary of any major project. They also picked the wrong council meeting to bring it up as I'm sure the cranky old folks just walked across the street after voting to attend the council meeting.

Biggerstaff stood no chance. He made huge bets with city money on buying and tearing down blighted property. Sure the city looks better without them, but there has been no redevelopment as promised. Right or wrong, the hospital deal came across as his attempt to paper over the losses of failed redevelopment projects.

I'm still intrigued over the 1-2 line idea in NKC.

Legally mandate building one line followed by the other in that city. Like Houston put 5 additional light rail lines onto a ballot and they're building the three they can fund. NKC could put together a ballot item that brings transit to the old mill site but only as a second phase

Maybe make it so $0 goes to the second line until the first line is fully funded.

Or do it in phases. Like each funding threshold means a line will get built so much further. Like there will be a line to Armour with $A, a line to 32nd with $B, a second line down to Howell with $C and so on.

Or sell this as a shovel ready project with local requirements. Like does a certain percentage of jobs have to go to NKC companies? Does the local builders training school get to involve their students?

What about giving NKC business free advertising somehow as a sweetener? Some generic ad about shopping in Northtown in downtown KC

From the April Briarcliff meeting:

for the potential terminus of the line, that big lot at 32nd and Swift, the KC and NKC parks are working together on a dog park there

while that means spending a little extra money to move it should the streetcar need that lot, it does mean the lot will be tied up with a use that's easy to move somewhere else.

the NKC council approved their study funding this evening!

DaveKCMO wrote:the NKC council approved their study funding this evening!

will it be done by the same group studying the other expansion lines or will it be separate?

I'm assuming if will be a separate contract, but the same firms will probably compete.

KCMO council approved their resolution for half of the study cost yesterday. both council votes were unanimous (NKC 8-0, KCMO 13-0) in support of the effort.

MoDOT and MARC have committed $100,000 towards the cost of studying this extension.

RFP published for the study. responses due july 3.

http://www.marc.org/rfp.htm

the north of the river extension will not be part of the aug. 8 public meeting. it's on a slightly later timeline.

With the planned land swap, I think I saw that KC passed it but I haven't checked on NKC, NKC will fully control the best pieces of land to serve as a transit center/park and ride. No more NKC land ownership and KC zoning to contend with.

That would way simplify use changes down the line. The parks dept already knows they may need to abandon the land someday (the future dog park).