Training Wheels
The cover of David Martin’s “Crazy Train” is already a caricatural attack on light-rail promoter Clay Chastain. Then follows endless criticism of the “man of clay.” We lose sight of the issue: light rail for Kansas City. Link the KC Zoo (with a tremendous amount of unused parking during the week) with Kansas City International Airport (where parking is expensive and requires expansions), and everything in between makes sense.
Kansas City, Missouri, put its own light-rail proposal (without much effort or conviction) before the voters in 2001. The plan was defeated. It seems unfortunate that political leaders are pushing aside the light-rail option. Smart Moves’s Bus Rapid Transit, using conventional diesel buses, will create pollution and more latex dust from tires. Furthermore, the buses share the same roads and will add to traffic congestion. It may work only in a dedicated right of way. The example of the Brazilian city of Curitiba, where 70 percent of the population rides buses, is totally irrelevant to our automobile-dominated city. These Brazilians riders have a moped or a bicycle as the only bus alternative. As their middle class is emerging, people drive more and ridership decreases.
I’m thrilled that the ATA increased ridership thanks to the MAX (47,880 weekly boardings but still 1.2 percent of total commuters). I’m one of the bus riders, too, hoping for frequent light-rail service! New MAX lines will thrive with “choice riders” if they link to light rail. Kansas City, Question 2 is your chance to cement this city together!
Michel Seignette de Kerobert,
Lee’s Summit
Sister Speaks
For the past 20 years, I have been reading the Pitch. In my opinion, it has deteriorated from being an upbeat, informative alternative paper to a crude, negative tabloid that uses character assassinations to sell papers — my brother, Clay, being your latest victim,
Before reading the article, I expected to be informed about a ballot question that will be in the upcoming election. Aside from a few comments about the light-rail plan, most of the article dredged up dirt from the past.
It would have been more appropriate to have Dick Jarrod and Kite Singleton on the cover, since their plans seemed to be gaining all the support. I had not even heard of these two men prior to this publication. Where have their plans been while we have been riding polluting, gas-guzzling diesel buses?
Clay may have exhausted the light-rail issue, but at least he does not have an apathetic cowtown mentality. Not many people in this city have been willing to step up to the plate with their own time and money for any cause.
The Pitch, of all papers, should be the last to judge anyone or anything, considering this paper and its publishers have never come up with any of their own solutions to the inefficient and antiquated public transportation system that now exists.
Karen D. Chastain,
Kansas City, Missouri
Make Tracks
Let’s all hope Clay Chastain is over and done for in this city. Doesn’t anyone grasp the concept that light rail is for moving people 20 miles, not 20 blocks? We have city buses to move people about downtown. What we need is a system to move people from the suburbs to downtown. Wake up, people!
Don Lyons,
Independence
Best of Kansas City, October 5
Best Bet
I want to thank you for publishing a Best of Kansas City issue annually, despite the fact that each year you receive letters from folks complaining of all the categories you got wrong (best Chief, worst Chief, no soul-food restaurant, best mall, best construction site, etc.). It’s enough to make you not want to construct a best-of issue at all, I’d imagine. If you came up with a hundred restaurant categories and missed onion rings, some dumbass would be sure to write in, “Where was the Best Onion Rings category?”
Your best-of issues are fun, a little fickle and imaginative. As a longtime KC resident, I find them interesting and always look forward to them. To the complainers, I say, it is what it is — quit whining.
Jay Hart,
Kansas City, Missouri
Pop Life
In my 40-odd years of working, I have never received responses like the ones to the “Best Granddad” write-up you gave me. Specifically, I received 10 phone calls, eight e-mails and an estimated 30 in-person kudos.
Two things: One, I didn’t know the Pitch had such a wide readership; two, I never knew that so many folks cared about children. Most of the remarks were tributes from people who had great grandparents and those who did not. All made reference to having been helped to “grow up,” which the best-of item alluded to.
Thanks so much for recognizing me. More important, thanks for telling your readership that our children and grandchildren need us.
Jim Nunnelly,
Kansas City, Missouri
