Medary.com

Former KC resident and current KC gadfly Clay Chastain has made a name for himself by doggedly standing on the political table and holding his breath until the residents of Kansas City finally gave in and voted for a light rail system last year.

Then, the Kansas City City Council realized that there was no way to make it work financially, and spiked it.  Hilarity, of course, ensued.

Maybe the parties to this little episode should read this discussion with a real urban transit guru, Wendell Cox, at Townhall.com:

Q: What's the best transit system in the United States -- or is there one?

A: Boy.... Oh, San Diego. I would not call it the best. I'd call it the least worst. San Diego has done some wonderful things. They started contracting out transit service in 1979. Their costs are much lower than other systems as a result. More than 40 percent of their system is contracted out now. They carry a huge increase in ridership compared to what they had in 1980 -- a ridership increase that's far greater than the population increase. Everybody likes to talk about the San Diego Trolley, the light rail line. It is, again, the least worst trolley in the country. It is less unsuccessful as a result of its first line that went to the Mexican border. For example, if those Port Authority tunnels under the Allegheny River in Pittsburgh were ending up at the Mexican border, they might make some sense. But in the early years, this San Diego line covered 90 percent of its operating cost; it never covered any capital. As the system has expanded, it’s been decimated. There’s no other destination like the Mexican border.    When you talk about transit in the United States, you have to be talking about best prisoner awards. These systems are a scourge on taxpayers. There are some that do some wonderful things, but nobody does it all right.

I keep arguing in my own mind, who is more responsible for the abject failure of transit in the United States? And mind you -- transit expenditures have gone up more than 300 percent adjusted for inflation since 1970 and ridership has gone up less than 20 percent. There is no other sector of the economy, including health care, where I can find escalation even close to that. Transit holds the record. It is a damned outrage how bad transit has been.

Generally, when things like new arenas, stadiums, and light rail systems come before city voters and politicians, their collective eyes glaze over and they turn into two-year-olds:  "Oh, Pretty!  We want!!!"