the message all along has been that our project should be further along (i.e. local funding approved and engineering complete... we'll have both of those by early fall), but was competitive. i was still very hopeful, of course.

the important thing is whether this changes anyone's vote. i doubt that.

list might be public by friday.

I don't think there's a full list out. Looks like most of the reports on winners are coming from congressional and mayoral offices rather than USDOT. If you search Google News you'll see a bunch of stories starting to break. Here are some of the urban/intracity-transit winners:

• $15MM to Memphis for pedestrian and streetscape improvements downtown
• $10MM to Birmingham for pedestrian, bike, and road improvements downtown
• $10MM to Tampa for its Riverwalk
• $15MM to Pittsburgh for a transit plaza
• $15MM to Rochester for a train and bus station
• $10MM to North Spokane (Wa.) for pedestrian and bike trails along a big freeway project

Mobile (Ala.) and Sacramento also got money for improvements to intermodal transport facilities. The Detroit press is also now reporting that Detroit will not receive any TIGER money.

The Star's story reporting that KC will get no TIGER money is now out:

I worry that it'll shift momentum. Hope I'm wrong.

That's a good reason due to the limited funds that were available. I will still vote for the TDD.

So...what's Plan B? What's the next step here? Vote, hope it gets approved, re-apply next year? Can they go ahead and begin the process without federal funds?

project can continue without federal funding if TDD is approved.

Any chance Connect-KC sends out a letter explaining to voters how the project moves forward? I worry that people simply won't return their ballots now. Or, worse, vote no.

I suppose I'm acting a little like the sky is falling.

EDIT: Mayor James' release is a good start!

There's a good chance there won't be TIGER grants next year and even if there are, there's a significant chance that mass transit infrastructure will be shunned.

A press release from a pro-streetcar group is definitely in order.

Another proposal from Clay Chastain.

17th time's the charm, right?

Scale it down to six blocks and make it a bus!

Something tells me they spent more on that domain name than they're going to raise in donations. ...

Depends. If this thing gets legs, which it could, you never know.

Thanks, I caught that shortly after I posted. Well said. He will need to repeat this over the next week or two as the anti-streetcar folks say "Told you so". Along with all the other salient points you have made throughout this process, (worst case funding scenarios, etc.)

He's also going to have to explain where the additional $25MM is going to come from. Is the plan to (a) raise 33% more money than planned from the TDD, (b) pay for the streetcar through bond issues or additional local taxes or (c) wait to see what we can get from the FTA's Small Starts program or other federal programs?

It seems like the plan is (c), but is there any reason to think federal money will be any more forthcoming through another program? And how long is the wait-and-see-what-we-can-get-out-of-the-Feds approach going to set everything back? You can't hold a TDD election to set tax rates until you know the local cost of the project, so do you try to convince everybody that it's still a good plan and move forward with a proposal for tax rates a third higher than advertised?

It would be nice to see some evidence that there really is a Plan B in the coming days and weeks. ...