Tomorrow Kirkwood will hold an election that has not garnered much interest. But you should vote if you can. Because tomorrow you have a chance to vote to make Kirkwood better. I speak, of course of Prop 1.
Prop 1 would institute a one-cent sales tax in a city-wide transportation development district (TDD) for 40 years. The revenue garnered by that sales tax would mostly fund road and sidewalk repairs in the short term with the worst city streets (those with a pavement condition below the score of 60) each being replaced within two years.
This is pretty good on its own. Local politicians’ main job is to make sure the snow gets plowed and potholes get filled and this proposition accomplishes that. Sales taxes perhaps aren’t the most ideal way to raise the money (an over-reliance on sales tax is what has led to the TIF wars in St. Louis County as each municipality attempts to lure big box stores away from their neighbors and inside their own boundaries) but local governments have pretty limited tools for fundraising and fears of increased property taxes in Kirkwood have killed enough recent efforts to make me think the sales tax vehicle is generally fine. The proposal becomes even more than generally fine when we take a look under the hood at what else the TDD is allowed to fund.
According to the Missouri statute that permits TDDs, the funds have to be used for transportation but what defines transportation is broad. Included are bus stops and shelters, multi-use, and bike paths. While in the short term I’m sure Prop 1 gets us better wider sidewalks, narrower lanes, and fewer potholes, it’s not inconceivable that after a couple of years this thing is printing more money than we have streets for. And when that happens, things like the Grant’s Trail extension to Downtown Kirkwood, my proposed Frisco Trail linking Kirkwood to Webster, and a whole host of new and improved bus stops and shelters becomes possible a lot sooner than was originally thought.
So get excited and vote yes on Prop 1 tomorrow; it’s exciting!
Dreaming that this will provide bike paths and other amenities is not realistic.
Most likely will be high rise garages and additional parking lots coming long before your wish list. The city has not published a clear plan. The plan you have used from the city has not one penny towards sidewalks nor bus stop shelters.
The other obvious result will be a lack of seeking and winning FHWA Transportation Grants because this tax will provide addressing what is their priority as demonstrated in their plan.
I think this critique is fair, and 5 years ago I would have agreed, but I think kirkwood has turned the corner on transportation in a way that makes it more likely the money will go to good projects rather than auto-oriented ones. If I had to guess, our future looks more like a seaside-esque utopia closed off to all but STL’s richest families than a sort of chesterfield-esque highway hellscape. But maybe I’m wrong! I do know that my dad has been bitching about potholes for about the last five years and he’ll be pretty happy to see them go away. I think a lot of Kirkwood feels the same, now it’s up to us to make sure after they get filled, the rest of the money goes to bike lanes rather than parking garages. And I think you’ve been pretty successful in making sure that’s the case so far! I’m optimistic you’ll keep getting the job done!
We fought hard for bus stop shelters this year when federal grants were available.
The city said they did not see the need nor did they have the time.
The city continues to be car centric driven over other transportation venues.
We asked the city to tie in a complete streets program and the new FHWA cost benefit program.
They refused to consider these best practices.
Nothing has changed in their car centric view since 2014, too many missed opportunities to claim otherwise.
I’m with you that not enough has changed and not nearly fast enough, but I really truly think that some things really are better. Woodbine, Essex, multiple raised intersections, new crosswalks, and lower speed limits. None of that happens without your (and a handful of others’) hard work. We still have a long way to go, but to say nothing has changed since 2014 seems awfully defeatist when strives have been made. You got the ball rolling and I could be wrong, but I think it will begin to snowball.
Auditor Galloway finds unaccountable tax districts rack up $1 billion in taxpayer debt
https://auditor.mo.gov/news/item/auditor-galloway-finds-unaccountable-tax-districts-rack-1-billion-taxpayer-debt
St Audit on TDD’s
https://auditor.mo.gov/Repository/Press/2017020228917.pdf