June Open Thread
Posted by Transit Action Network on June 24, 2010
Got a thought about transit? Maybe it’s a new idea or a question or just a beef about some transit situation. Post it here. Please limit your comment to about 200 words — but if you write something really good — whether we agree or not — we might tolerate more. And, of course, we reserve the right to refuse your post if it’s abusive or too far off the (transit) topic. Make it about substantive issues not personalities.
Transit Action Network (TAN) 
RM said
Steve Klika, Chairman of the Johnson County Transportation Council, was recognized today by Mid-America Regional Council for his leadership. Steve has been on the JCTC since 2004 and its chairman since 2005.
RM said
BTW, I apologize for the avatar. I’ll change it as soon as I figure out where it resides.
Ron McLinden said
Jackson County, Kansas City, and KCATA are teaming up to apply for a $2 million grant for a rail transit alternatives analysis. The money would come from a $25 million program that the FTA announced recently, and $2 million is the maximum to a single grantee. The application, to be developed in cooperation with MARC, would ask for $1.4 million for further study of regional rapid rail, and $600,000 for a downtown streetcar. If funded, the study would presumably bring a fresh perspective to the commuter rail concept (which I believe has serious flaws, at least as it has been presented), and would re-start planning for a downtown streetcar line that many people consider desirable, whether we have commuter rail or not.
Ron McLinden said
Mark and Ron of Transit Action Network met today with Lisa of MoDOT and Alan and Doug of Kansas City Convention and Visitors Association to discuss promoting tourism to Kansas City, building ridership on Amtrak’s state-supported Missouri River Runner trains, and using MAX for local travel. Very positive meeting. http://www.morail.org http://www.amtrak.com http://www.visitkc.com