MO: KC Mayor: Shutting down KC streetcar service sent the wrong message | Opinion

Mayor Quinton Lucas is weighing in after the Kansas City streetcar ran into a series of problems Saturday during the No Kings protest on the Country Club Plaza.

If you’re just catching up, some streetcar riders said they were told to conceal their protest signs before boarding, while others encountered suspended service near the demonstration.

Streetcar Authority director Tom Gerend later said the disruptions stemmed from a police-requested shutdown due to heavy pedestrian traffic and that any restrictions on signs were about safety and capacity — though at least one rider disputed that explanation. The ruckus has prompted the agency to promise clearer policies and staff retraining, Gerend said.

Lucas said today that he plans to raise the issue with the Board of Police Commissioners and the Streetcar Authority to figure out what went wrong.

“At a certain point, we just need to decide what type of city we wish to be,” Lucas said in an emailed statement. “With taxpayers investing hundreds of millions of dollars in a fixed public transit system, they need to be able to rely on it. The Streetcar and KCPD should be working together, including with protest organizers when needed, to protect service continuity rather than defaulting to suspension.”

He added: “I understand the cautious instinct. But shutting down service during a peaceful protest sends exactly the wrong message both as a speech matter and undermines the reliable transit system Kansas City deserves.”

He’s right. Saturday was a peaceful protest. I asked KCPD if any incidents precipitated the request to shut down streetcar service, and was told only that some protestors had moved east of the park in the general direction of the streetcar line. No violence, no vandalism.

It sure seems like a handful of well-placed police officers ought to be capable of gently redirecting a few stray rallygoers back toward the park. Especially given that we keep forking over more of our budget to the police. We’re paying for better than this.

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