Why was the KC streetcar shut down during the No Kings rally on Saturday? | Opinion
The Kansas City streetcar line extension ran straight into its first real stress test this past weekend. It didn’t pass.
Saturday’s No Kings protest — the third so far — was also the first since the streetcar line pushed south to the Country Club Plaza last October. Thousands of people showed up and marched along a short route that funneled into Mill Creek Park, just steps from the streetcar’s Plaza stop.
For some riders, the trouble started before they even reached the protest.
Candace Livers walked from her Brookside home to the UMKC stop to take a short ride north to Mill Creek Park. She was, like so many others headed to the protest, carrying a cheeky sign (“This faux king sucks”). When she went to board, a streetcar employee standing on the platform told her that she and others nearby had to put away their signs.
“He was like, ‘You can’t get on, there’s no protesting allowed on the streetcar,’” Livers said. “He said we had to conceal our signs. I offered to sit on my sign while I rode, but he said that wouldn’t work. I ended up taking off my coat and hiding the sign in my coat. But I thought, there’s no way that could be a policy, could it? I mean, it just seems so silly to try to police that.”
Livers made it to the protest. But when it was over and she walked back to the streetcar stop, she learned that service was down. She ended up walking home.
Further north, in Midtown, Emily Farris had a similar experience. She was trying to take her kids to their first protest and was running late, hoping to catch the tail end. They waited at a stop for about 30 minutes before a KC Streetcar truck pulled up and told them service was down due to a “safety issue.”
“It was very disappointing,” Farris said.
KC Streetcar Authority response
Tom Gerend, executive director of the Kansas City Streetcar Authority, said Monday that service was suspended at the request of the Kansas City Police Department due to high pedestrian activity in the Plaza area.
“This brief service interruption was not related to any safety or traffic incident but a precautionary measure at KCPD’s request,” Gerend said.
A KCPD spokesperson confirmed that the department made the request because protesters “moved to the eastern Plaza corridor near the streetcar system and we wanted to ensure the safety of all.”
As for riders being told they couldn’t bring signs onboard, Gerend said passengers were asked by security staff to roll up, fold or store signs to allow more people to board and to avoid potential injury.
“This request was strictly related to capacity constraints and safety, and not connected to the content of any signage,” Gerend said.
But that doesn’t square with what Livers experienced.
“It wasn’t a space issue where people were bringing too much stuff onto the streetcar,” she said. “It wasn’t some packed car. My sign was like 12 by 18 inches or something.”
Gerend said that as a result of hearing from confused and upset riders, the Streetcar Authority will be retraining staff on policies and procedures “to ensure consistency in our team’s approach going forward.”
Good. We do have that whole World Cup thing happening in a few months, and those folks tend to travel in groups, carry signs, and occasionally get rowdy. It would be nice to know the city is ready for it.
