thanks to all those who helped me reach out to seemingly every downtowner with a pulse. while i'm a little disheartened to still hear people claim they haven't even heard of the project -- where the fuck do these people hide? -- we did show a dramatic uptick near the end and were able to walk all of those people through the voting process.

it wouldn't have mattered what the final number was, the media still would have attached to the narrative of it being really small. well, hey, the TDD is small! you do the math!

It never ceases to amaze me how ill informed people are of what is going on in their own backyard.



thats for sure. even if every single voter registered and participated, the media still would have complained that DT shouldn't get to do this....

What are some examples of other TDDs being formed say in JOCO. Don't they use those to fund strip malls? or even in suburban KCMO? would be interested to find numbers on how many people voted in the formation of those districts.

From the OPKS Government Website...



http://www.opkansas.org/Resident-Resour ... erty-Taxes

Here's a snippet webpage from the Olathe, KS website:



http://www.olatheks.org/Finance/EconomicDevelopment/TDD

most of the time the boundaries are drawn to exclude voters, in which case voting defaults to the property owners.

- Full TDD list for Missouri http://dor.mo.gov/business/sales/tdd/list/
- List of various special taxing districts in KCMO http://www.kcmo.org/idc/groups/finance/documents/finance/ocs879231-100960.pdf

it's worth noting that the citywide TDD that north kansas city passed in 2008 (but never enacted) was only passed by only 1,012 voters.

if you've got a problem with process, blame the missouri legislature. challenges to the streetcar TDD would need to go the missouri supreme court since the circuit court ruled the formation petition was legal, constitutional, and not an undue burden on any property owner.

What's the feeling about passage given the numbers? My feeling is it passes. Believe more people would make the effort to get a ballot to vote for something than to make the effort to vote against.

I imagine this is quite correct. For one thing, I think sentiment in the corridor is generally favorable anyway. When you couple that with the fact that voters had to make an effort to vote at all, I imagine we'll see what amounts to a landslide, or near it.

I think it will pass. All signs point in that direction. If we could count on people understanding the process, there really wouldn't be any question of it passing: they'd approve the TDD, then see how much cash we get from the feds and how much needs to be raised locally. Then the next election would be the important one, the one in which people decide whether the streetcar is worth its price.

new number of applicants is 628. no explanation yet, but it appears the court clerk's office is still opening mail.

the process allows anyone to see the names of who applied (but not their actual ballot), so we'll know exactly how many are voting yes by the time the ballots are mailed on june 19. just based on our supporters utilizing their existing networks, we've identified two-thirds of a simple majority. if you think that's weird, this is very similar to how a CID election is managed (except those ballots aren't even secret!).

individual opponents generally fall into three camps (let me know if you feel there are more):

1. they hate the tax (these people probably can't be persuaded).
2. they think the route is too short.
3. they can't see a benefit beyond their own self-interest (doesn't come to my front door, i walk everywhere anyway).

2 and 3 can be persuaded, in my experience. i haven't met one downtown resident who opposes a streetcar in principle. there is no organized opposition, unless you count a handful of codgers in santa fe place.

in short, my money is on a sweep.

I believe it will be a sweep, especially if and when it's announced that KC has been awarded the $25 million tiger grant.

The only hiccup that I can see is the vote for how the street car will be paid for. However, I would tend to believe that it will still pass based on past voting for rail service.

4. people who are generally in favor of light rail but aren't convinced the route is in the right place
5. people who aren't convinced that anyone will ride it

I don't think there are a lot of #4--the defined route is pretty obviously the best possible route, imo. Maybe #5, but anyone eligible to vote on it will be so close to it, I can't imagine how they wouldn't find it useful.

So, what is the process here? There are two votes to get this thing into implementation? My apologies for not following the thread more closely.

Yes, one vote to form the TDD and one vote on the taxes that will be levied to pay for the system i.e. special assessment and sales tax. From my understanding the second vote will most likely be done in the fall and this will be well after finding out if KC received the $25 million tiger grant.

You are right about the old codgers in Santa Fe Place. I've talked until I'm blue in the face but all they can see is the tax rate. But then they complain about the value of their property. Somehow, they miss the connection.

And then there is the theory that once we have a tax district, we will have taxes added all the time.

So how is this terminating on the south end? I have see it end at Pershing as if it will be expanded down Main as well as head east on Pershing as if it would catch grand through CC.

East on Pershing was the original concept. The updated concept has it ending on Main under The Link. Keeps options open for future extension (plus is cheaper for this leg).

Sounds like a good idea. It would be nice if it split into two lines there (one grand/main and the other head over the broadway. That way one could go to UMKC via the plaza and the other could go to the plaza via Westport. It would double the frequency of the line in the downtown area too.

Just a thought.

Good idea, but I'm sure it would be too expensive.