KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Both supporters and opponents of the streetcar expansion made up the 19 candidates in Saturday’s special election.
The 7 people elected are all strong supporters and a team that has the support of Mayor Sly James.
“We’re all enthusiastic streetcar supporters and we’re also a diverse group. I think that’s really important to the mayor and the political team backing the streetcar,” said David Johnson, who received 1,807 votes.
Johnson is joined by Jeff Krum, who received 1,774 votes; Ruben Alonso, who received 1,810 votes; Leonard Graham, who received 1,688 votes; Crissy Dastrup, who received 1,773 votes and former city council members Jan Marcason, who received 1,974 votes and Cindy Circo who received 1,942 votes.
The team is jumping right in as they have a lot of work to do, said Circo.
The former councilmember says the first few meetings will be about getting the basics done, like creating bylaws. After that, they will get into exactly how to achieve the goal of the streetcar expansion.
"Start looking into how we address the expansion. It’s wanted and needed and I think it’s a great leadership team to be the problem solvers for that," said Circo.
The members stress that while they may be the elected representatives, this is a project they want to do with the community.
"70% of this community voted to extend the streetcar and then they came out and voted us in to represent them. So we really want to do it with them," said Dastrup.
This special election, the second step in the process of extending the streetcar. Next year, voters will be asked to weigh in on how to fund the expansion.
