Free bus rides in Kansas City may come with a cost, says advocate for the blind | Opinion

Fare is fair

In November 2019, when the idea of eliminating fares for Kansas City Area Transportation Authority bus rides was first discussed, I wrote a letter to the editor on behalf of the National Federation of the Blind’s Kansas City chapter expressing that regardless of what the City Council chose to do, our most important concern was the level of service.

Mayor Quinton Lucas attended our chapter meeting in January 2020 and assured us that fares constituted only about 7% or 8% of the KCATA budget and that the city would find the money. In July 2023, we learned that Gladstone could no longer contract with the KCATA, and we started wondering how much longer it would be before the fare was brought back. We also became anxious about whether bus service in the region would be cut back, which would impair access to housing, employment, medical care and more.

Although we are not calling for the fare to be brought back, our preoccupation continues to be the level of service, and if the fare has to be brought back to sustain the current level of service or improve it, then we do not oppose this idea. (Jan. 19, 1A, “Free bus rides in Kansas City need more dollars to continue”)

- Daniel Garcia, President, National Federation of the Blind of Kansas City, Kansas City

She taught love

We lost a giant. A hero who cared for the most difficult and needy children and their families. Operation Breakthrough co-founder Sister Berta Sailer has made a difference. (Jan. 27, 1A, “Operation Breakthrough co-founder Sister Berta Sailer dies at 87”)

We met in the 1980s. Sister Berta taught me how to believe. Her children could learn and bring about change. No one could do it better. Sister Berta always spoke the truth with love no matter with whom she was speaking. She enlisted Kansas City’s elite, the business community, elected officials and hundreds of ordinary Kansas Citians to lend a hand, including me.

Sister Berta (and the hand of God) showed us all what could be done. I didn’t always agree with her, but I always listened to what she had to say. Her words always made me think.

My life’s journey has taken me to St. Paul, Minnesota, along with a heart touched by Sister Berta. She never gave up. She is indelibly embedded in my heart. My prayer is that God gives us someone who can replace Sister Berta. Yes, no one can fill her shoes, but someone must speak the truth with love to change-makers.

Thank you, Sister Berta. You were good for the children and for me.

- Jim Caccamo, Retired director, Department of Early Learning, Mid-America Regional Council, St. Paul, Minnesota

Yes, it matters

We are living in a political climate where everything is polarizing. Many people — whether Democratic, Republican or independent — see things as black or white with no gray area. There are several serious issues that are very problematic: the southern border, immigration, the influx of fentanyl, crime, guns, health care, the environment, the economy, the budget deficit, replacing gas cars with electric vehicles, abortion limits, voting rights, women’s rights, transgender rights, antisemitism, Islamophobia, racial discrimination, the Ukraine war, the Israel-Hamas war and China’s threat to Taiwan.

Most people are passionate about one or two issues, and the remaining issues are put on the back burner. If you should confront someone about addressing any secondary issue, they will often respond by saying or implying that “It doesn’t matter” or “I don’t care.”

This lazy attitude is very simplistic and irresponsible when it comes to voting for the next president of the United States of America in 2024.

- Steve Shaw, Kansas City

Buffalo winging

As Patrick Mahomes was making his way to give a young fan his headband last Sunday, he was showered with snowballs. Fortunately this happened in Buffalo, so they all missed wide right.

- Dennis Way, Roeland Park

About the bucks

I said out loud to myself, “I bet you are,” when I read NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell state, “We couldn’t be prouder of our partnership with Peacock.” He would be, considering that the streaming service paid the NFL a reported $110 million for the rights to air the Chiefs-Diolphins wild-card game.

Goodell added, “To best serve our fans, we need to ensure games are available to them as their viewing habits change.” Fans’ viewing habits are changing only because they’re being forced to by Goodell and MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred. The main thing they’re concerned with: how many millions of dollars they can rake in for the sports leagues they oversee from streaming service revenue. The last thing they’re concerned with: the fans who will no longer be able to watch their favorite sport because they either do not have the ability to stream or can’t afford to.

- Tim Bullock, Kansas City

Need to know

Why are taxpayers giving money to billionaires for the Royals and Chiefs? Other stadiums, such as MetLife in New Jersey and SoFi in Los Angeles, have been built without direct public subsidies. How much are we giving now? Why 40 years and not a dollar limit?

People are having a hard time paying bills. We deserve to know how much Clark Hunt and John Sherman are worth and receiving.

- Ben Peffer, Overland Park

No delivery

When, if ever, will the Biden administration stop Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s destruction of the U.S. Postal Service as we have known it? I realize that DeJoy is the poster boy for Biden in converting the USPS fleet to electric vehicles, but he is degrading the operation of the post office, big time.

A couple months ago, we were getting good mail delivery five to six days a week. Now we haven’t received mail at all this week, so I stopped by the local post office and picked up what was on hand Thursday. It seemed as if no deliveries were going to go out the door that day until I intervened.

- Ralph Hile, Merriam

Stay in, Haley

Republican leaders calling for Nikki Haley to abandon her presidential campaign are being ridiculous. There are about 36 million registered Republican voters in the country. So far, 360,000 have voted in two of the smallest states. That is 1% of the total. There are 48 states to go.

Granted, polls show she has a long way to go to catch Donald Trump, but the convention is six months away, and six months in politics is forever. Moreover, polls this far out are notoriously inaccurate.

And, finally, Republicans might wish they had her back if Trump falters in some way.

- Graham Marcott, Fairway

Trump’s real aim

Donald Trump is trying to influence our elected members of Congress to deny assistance to the Ukrainian people as they fight for their country against the Russian invaders. He is doing so by urging Republicans to reject improvements to our southern border security and immigration policy in proposed legislation that found fund all of these initiatives — because they are recommended and supported by a bipartisan group of lawmakers.

It should be clear to anyone who has paid attention to Trump’s words of support and praise for Russian President Vladimir Putin that his real intention is to aid this aggressor in his effort to destroy and absorb a sovereign country in an attempt to build a new Soviet Union, and for Trump to ingratiate himself to a bully he admires.

If you want Ukraine to succeed in its self-defense and for the U.S. to increase its border security now, rather than next year or later, please contact your U.S. representatives and senators to let them know you will not accept them being influenced by someone who hopes to return as president, rather than voting to improve conditions in our country and the world right now.

- Larry Hamman, Kansas City