A downtown streetcar proposal which supporters have called “the hope for mass transit” was approved today by downtown voters.
The two-mile streetcar system between the River Market and Crown Center is part of a larger plan to link eastern and southern suburbs to Downtown via commuter rail, with streetcars and buses carrying riders to destinations to the south.
The Regional Transit Alliance pushed for the transportation development district. Chairman Kite Singleton says, “I’m elated that the citizens of Kansas City will now begin to realize the reality of an enhanced transit system.”
In order to create the district that will fund the streetcars, voters were asked to approve a sales tax and a property tax. Of 6449 registered voters in the area from Downtown the Crown Center, 697 asked for ballots and 551 turned in qualified ballots. Of those 551 voters, 351 voted yes and 198 voted no on the sale tax; 344 voted yes and 206 voted no on the property tax.
Singleton says the design and planning phase will take until 2015.
The Midtown KC Post will have additional reaction to the election shortly.
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