CURRENT PRESS RELEASES

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9/30/2008--NEW COMMITTEE QUESTIONS LIGHT RAIL EXPERIMENT
10/7/2008--COMMITTEE FOR SENSIBLE TRANSIT ANNOUNCES YARD SIGN HOTLINE
10/10/2008--NORTH KANSAS CITY LEVELS WITH VOTERS ON LIGHT RAIL
10/13/2008--NO LIGHT RAIL AT UNION STATION
10/15/2008--COMMITTEE FILES SUIT AGAINST CITY HALL
10/17/2008--KC'S BROADWAY MORE TAXED THAN NYC'S BROADWAY

Kansas City, Missouri--September 30, 2008--Members of the Committee for Sensible Transit announced today their opposition to the light rail ballot measure placed on the November 4 ballot by Mayor Mark Funkhouser and the City Council.

The Committee is an ad hoc group of civic, business and neighborhood interests representing differing political philosophies, a multitude of professional backgrounds and decades of working to make Kansas City the best, most responsible and livable city it can be. The Committee is unified in its opposition to the Mayor and Council's egregiously expensive and short-sighted light rail experiment.

"The ballot language leaves too many questions unanswered, said Bob Lewellen, former city councilor and Committee member. "The City has not given voters the information they need to make an informed decision."

Committee member Greg Allen also shared his concern that Kansas City's specific needs are not addressed by the rush to build a billion-dollar light rail system. "We have not scratched the surface in implementing cost-effective and truly innovative strategies to provide better public and personal transportation. Kansas City deserves much better-something truly thoughtful and something consistent with our traditions of green and spacious development."

Among the Committee's other concerns are that the sales tax used to pay for the light rail development will deplete funds that could otherwise be used to repair and maintain the city's infrastructure such as streets and sidewalks. "Let's not forget all the compelling infrastructure needs to which we could devote one billion dollars," Allen noted.

The Committee will spend the next few weeks presenting Kansas City voters with other examples of the concerns that remain unaddressed by the November 4 ballot question:

• While the ballot language is explicit in how the city will collect taxes, it does not describe the route the light rail will take or where the stations will be built. This leaves residents and business owners unsure of what they are being asked to support, though it is clear that the proposed light rail will not go to the airport.
• Proponents describe the light rail plan as regional, yet none of the neighboring communities have committed to extending the rail beyond its current 14-mile course.
• The exact cost and funding mechanisms remain unclear. If the federal government does not provide funding, will the city build the light rail anyway? Will that additional funding come from additional taxes or from shortchanged bus service?

The Committee encourages all Kansas Citians to ask these important billion-dollar questions. "This proposal is long on expense and short on details," Lewellen said.

Kansas City, Missouri--October 7, 2008--Members of the Committee for Sensible Transit announced today that campaign yard signs are available. Those who want the City to answer the many questions about the light rail proposal can show solidarity with the Committee by displaying a yard sign. Yard signs can be requested by calling (816) 276-5688 and leaving one's name, number and address.

The Committee has produced two different signs. One reads, "Too Many Questions? No Light Rail" on both sides. The other sign reads, "Costs How Much?" on one side and "Only Goes Where?" on the other.

"These distinctive red and white yard signs are an excellent way for Kansas Citians to show that they want the City to provide real answers regarding light rail costs and construction, route and ridership," said committee spokesman Patrick Tuohey.

The recorded message callers will hear is as follows:

Hi, you've reached the answer line for Committee for Sensible Transit.

While we all believe that efficient public transportation is vital to Kansas City's future, we feel the billion dollar light rail starter plan put forth by Mayor Funkhouser and the City Council is an irresponsible use of our tax dollars.

If you, too, have concerns about the city's latest light rail plan, and would like an opposition yard sign, please leave your name, the address where you would like the sign placed, and a phone number for verification. Someone will call you back right away.

Thanks for calling. For more information, log onto KCrailquestions.com

This message and phone line paid for by Committee for Sensible Transit, Michelle Rebman, Treasurer.

Kansas City, Missouri--October 10, 2008--A Clay County judge has approved of the language that will go on North Kansas City's November 4 ballot regarding light rail. The approved language is included below. In addition to approving a half-cent sales tax over and above the 3/8-cent sales tax in Kansas City, the NKC ballot language actually provides some some speculative information about a possible rail route and number of stations to be built. This is in stark contrast to the ballot language in Kansas City, where no specifics are given other than how the City will raise taxes.

Committee spokesman Bob Lewellen said, "North Kansas City leaders are being as forthcoming as they can with their ballot question. Unfortunately, way too many questions remain unanswered about this hugely expensive light rail experiment. Light rail could be a good thing, but Kansas City's billion dollar starter plan is frighteningly vague and extremely risky."

North Kansas City, Missouri Light Rail Transportation Development District

Shall there be organized within the real property which is co-terminus with the boundaries and corporate limits of The City of North Kansas City, Missouri, within the State of Missouri, a transportation development district, to be known as the "North Kansas City, Missouri Light Rail Transportation Development District" for the purpose of developing the following transportation project: The funding of: (a) a light rail starter line which shall generally travel in the vicinity of Northeast Vivion Road and North Oak Trafficway, in the City of Kansas City, Missouri, on the north, through the City of North Kansas City, Missouri and the District, along either Burlington Avenue or Swift Avenue, as determined by the City of North Kansas City, Missouri, to Emanuel Cleaver II Boulevard in Kansas City, Missouri on the south, and proceeding to Prospect Avenue in Kansas City, Missouri on the east; (b) not more than three light rail stations, all on the starter line and within the City of North Kansas City, and including ancillary improvements thereto; and (c) costs associated with the project, including but not limited to operation and maintenance of the project, land acquisition costs, construction costs, financing costs, and administrative costs, and shall the North Kansas City, Missouri Light Rail Transportation Development District be authorized to impose a transportation development district-wide sales tax at the rate of one half percent (0.50%) for a period of twenty five (25) years from the date on which such tax is first imposed for the purpose of funding the transportation project or projects?

() YES () NO

Kansas City, Missouri--October 13, 2008--Union Station has a lot of trains. There are model trains in the lobby, restored trains in the basement, and working trains in the yard. But there is one train that won't ever come to Union Station-light rail. Despite this, the lawn in front of the Station is littered with pro-light rail campaign signs.

HNTB engineers and the KCATA have explicitly rejected a Main Street route for light rail. You wouldn't guess that by driving past Union Station, which recently underwent a publicly funded $100 million restoration. "Wow. Union Station may itself be the most expensive campaign billboard in the city," reacted Patrick Tuohey, a spokesman for the Committee for Sensible Transit, which opposes the November light rail plan. "Does Union Station know that they aren't on the light rail route? Do they know that their visitors will have to walk a few blocks to get to light rail? Or does [Union Station CEO] Andi Udris know something we don't?"

Inside the station, the Visitors Center kiosk dispayed pro-light rail signs from behind the counter.

"In a campaign where voters aren't being told light rail's cost, route or ridership, these signs give the impression that Union Station is included in light rail. It isn't, and these signs are deceptive" said Tuohey.

Kansas City, Missouri--October 15, 2008--A member of the Committee for Sensible Transit filed a lawsuit today against Kansas City, Missouri alleging that the City Council disregarded the City Charter in voting to add a light rail question to the November ballot. In short, the ordinance declared the measure an emergency, but did not meet the Charter requirements that the emergency be described in the preamble. Furthermore, the matter does not provide for "the immediate preservation of the public peace, property, health, safety or morals" as the Charter defines "emergency."

"This is an embarrassment for Kansas City," said Patrick Tuohey, who brought the suit. "It is bad enough that the Council is putting forward a light rail measure without answering important questions about the details. Now we learn that the Council can't even bother to follow the City Charter."

"Our complaint is simple and straightforward. The Charter sets out clear and easily met requirements that any diligent council could have met. Instead the City Council chose to declare the light rail ordinance an emergency without telling us why. This adds one more question to the light rail campaign: Why is this an emergency and on what grounds?"

The suit asks that the light rail ordinance be declared in violation of the Charter and therefore null and void; it seeks an injunction against the light rail ballot initiative and the resulting sales tax; and it seeks that the plaintiffs be awarded attorney's fees.

A copy of the suit is available at the Committee Web site: http://kcrailquestions.com/

Kansas City, Missouri-October 17, 2008--The Committee for Sensible Transit has reviewed various taxes in Kansas City, Missouri, and concludes that a meal on Broadway in Kansas City is taxed more than the same meal would be taxed on Broadway in New York City.

When you combine the existing Missouri sales tax (4.225%), the Jackson County tax (1.125%), the public mass transit tax (0.5%), the ATA tax (0.375%), the public safety tax (0.25%), the fire safety tax (0.25%), the capital improvements tax (1.0%), and the tax on hotels and restaurants (2.0%), you get an existing tax on meals in Kansas City of 9.725%. The proposed light rail tax would increase the sales tax by 0.375%. This would bring the total Kansas City sales tax on a meal to 10.1%. The same meal in New York City is only taxed 8.375%.

"Proponents of light rail tell us that Kansas City needs to catch up with our peer cities. But in at least one respect, we are leading the way: restaurants in Kansas City must charge more tax than restaurants elsewhere, even New York City," said Greg Allen, a member of Committee for Sensible Transit and a business owner in the Broadway corridor in Kansas City.

"Kansas City citizens and businesses are already bearing a heavy tax burden; increasing that tax and then using the revenue to tear up the streets while the City lays light rail tracks will be too much for many businesses to bear. If the experience of other cities is any indication, businesses will close all along the route. Some businesses will leave the route for better tax and operating conditions elsewhere."

"In a slowing economy such as we see currently, governments need to be very careful about how they spend taxpayer money. Raising taxes and building unnecessary and unproductive light rail is a recipe for further economic disaster. This is absolutely the wrong time to be raising sales taxes that will impact working people for 25 years."