Kansas City streetcar system should connect people not things
I will vote against the planned downtown Kansas City streetcar system because it will connect attractions, not people. The project reminds me of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts; built for sound not people. Yet perhaps because of that contemporary emphasis upon things and not people, this streetcar system may become a not-so-amusing unsustainable reality.
The proposed plan runs north/south, connecting places. I propose it should run east/west to connect people.
Public transportation should serve the public not the just the predominantly Caucasian slice of an already “district’d” city.
I’ll save you the long diatribe here and merely recommend that if you have a vote in this to vote “no”. I live downtown in the taxable bubble of this proposed project and cannot fathom that we would build such an amusement park-like ride in the midst of so many other pressing challenges aching for resources in this city. Then again, there are those interested in connecting things, not people.
Matt Henry
1 year agoIs there any anticipation that actual people will be using these ‘things’ and will therefore be connected?
George Hunsucker
Northland
1 year agoThey will be “connected” to some government teat providing subsidies to coverer the operating and capital losses Matt….
And, they will feel soooooooooooooooooo good because they will think of themselves as being “green” or some other nonsensical reason for having streetcards…
In the end, another lib boondoggele…..
Matt Henry
1 year agoI totally agree in every way, George. Perfectly reasonable reasons to oppose this project. It was the absurdity of the “people” vs “things” notion to which I was trying to point.
Oh, and it wouldn’t be the Star without the author injected a race component into the piece.
Tom Ryan
Crossroads, Kansas City
1 year agoThanks, Matt :-)
Matt Henry
1 year agoIt was most assuredly my pleasure.