Kansas City Light Rail proposal passes

After seven failed attempts a proposal to add light rail (and other transit ideas like gondolas and electric buses) has passed a referendum vote in Kansas City by a margin of 54%-46%.

Previous attempts to passed similar measures have failed by similar margins.

Perhaps higher gasoline prices and other factors (such as the fact that Kansas City is lowest in transit usage of 28 major American cities and Kansas Citians are finally feeling the effect in their pocketbooks) are finally having an effect on area residents' feelings about transit and other forms of alternative transportation--like walking and bicycling.

Unfortunately the proposal that just passed has some serious drawbacks. Critics claim it is seriously underfunded and it gets its funding by cannabilizing KC's current bus transit system's funding, starting in 2009.

The KCStar article has some more details.

Passage of the measure may bolster MoBikeFed's efforts to build support for bicycle and pedestrian accommodations on the Paseo Bridge--an effort which has been supported by thousands of community members, the Kansas City Missouri City Council, and the Mid-America Regional Council. The effort has been opposed by MoDOT, however--backed by a relatively small number of powerful politicians and dealmakers who often claim to be backed by Senator Kit Bond on the matter. Bond arranged a $50 million earmark for the Paseo Bridge and some community members maintain this should be used to create a "landmark" bridge. Bond's office maintains that the earmark was not intended for any special purpose and it is up to the community members and the normal decision-making process to come to a conclusion on the matter.