Light Rail and Gondola Trams
In November 2006 voters in Kansas City, MO approved a ballot measure, which extends a 3/8 cent sales tax for 25 years to construct and operate a 27-mile (43 km) light rail line that would run from Kansas City International Airport in the north to the Kansas City Zoo in Swope Park in the south, with at least 13 stations encompassing the Plaza, Midtown-Westport, Downtown, and North Kansas City. In addition, this measure calls for a fleet of 60 electric buses serving light rail stops and an aerial gondola tram system in Penn Valley Park. Following voter approval there have been discussions about the plan and surrounding issues by the Kansas City Council, Kansas City's Washington DC lobbying firm, Kansas City's Assistant City Attorney, Clay & Valerie Chastain, Kansas City April 2007 mayoral candidates, and the KCATA. On November 9, 2007 KCATA announced it would repeal the light rail plan approved by the voters a year earlier on financial grounds, and in a statement said it would develop a less expensive alternate plan by 2008.
In November 2008, a ballot measure approving a 3/8 cent sales tax was again put before the voters, and this time it was defeated.
Read more about this topic: Kansas City Area Transportation Authority
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