By Tom Bogdon
Andi Udris, CEO of Union Station, does not believe it would be an imposition on future commuter rail passengers to ask them to walk 900 feet—the length of three football fields—twice a day to board the light rail line east of the station on Grand Blvd.
“They’d be willing to walk that far in Europe,” Udris said. Udris flourished a City Council ordinance that had been amended by Councilman Russ Johnson to include the provision, “Section 5. That it is the intention of the City of Kansas City that Union Station will be served by light rail.”
Asked what that meant, Udris acknowledged that it probably meant that Union Station would be accessible to the light rail system by means of a one-way 900-foot walk from Main Street to Grand Blvd.
Councilman Johnson, chairman of the Council’s Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and Mark Huffer, General Manager of the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority, have made it clear that the preferred route is down Grand Blvd. through Hallmark Cards, Inc.’s Crown Center office and retail development.
Hallmark participated actively in the planning process and made a $15,000 contribution to Citizens for Light Rail, which is backing the plan and sales tax.
KCTribune interviewed Udris in connection with a news release issued this week by the Committee for Sensible Transit, which opposes the 3/8-cent light rail sales tax on the Nov. 4 ballot. Committee for Sensible Transit questioned the numerous signs in front of Union Station supporting the light rail initiative, in view of the fact that the light rail line will run on Grand Blvd., 900 feet east of Union Station.
Udris, who said he authorized the numerous yard signs in front of Union Station and also pro-light rail signs at the information counter inside Union Station, said he did so because he was anxious to get light rail started even if the light rail station that would serve Union Station was 900 feet distant from Union Station.
Like many Kansas Citians, Udris sees Union Station as a potential future hub for commuter rail that would run on existing rights-of-way from the station to such suburban destinations as Olathe, Blue Springs, Hickman Mills and Grandview.
However, Many such transit advocates cite the poor connections between suburban trains at Union Station and the proposed new billion-dollar, 14-mile light rail line as one more reason to vote against the proposal.
Therefore, the Committee for Sensible Transit sent out a news release which stated:
“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 (past Union Station). 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.”
Bob Lewellen, a former Kansas City Council member, mayoral contender, and Parks and Recreation commissioner, who is now a member of the Committee for Sensible Transit, had this to say about all the signs: “The signs would communicate to the public that the beloved Union Station is going to be an integral part of the light rail system. That is highly misleading.”
Dennis O’Neill, who was an appointee to the Citizens Light Rail Task Force, which advised HNTB Corp. in the planning process, and now is a member of the Committee for Sensible Transit, said: “The real deception here is using Union Station property for light rail signs when it’s (light rail) is not going to go there. It’s going to be on Grand.
“Udris needs to start riding public transit so he can understand why a working guy wouldn’t want to start walking 900 to 1,000 feet twice a day on top of his usual commute,” O’Neill said.
O’Neill noted that the Country Club streetcar line ran on Main Street until streetcars were removed in the late 1950s. At their peak, streetcars carried 350,000 Kansas City passengers per day. The County Club streetcar line ran immediately adjacent to Union Station, as buses do today. There was no walking 900 feet to catch a streetcar.
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