Where the mayoral candidates stand on the new KCMO Bike Master Plan

As you may have seen over the past few weeks, the updated KCMO Bike Plan has been stalled at City Hall because of concerns about the price tag and the trade offs of investing in safer places for people who bike versus other city services.

Both of those concerns are due to misinformation about the bike plan. In a recent report on KSHB-TV 41, we saw firsthand where the mayoral candidates stand on the issue.

Councilmember Quinton Lucas expressed support for multimodal transportation, but repeated the misperception that the bike plan diminishes other city services:

“While I support efforts to expand access to different modes of transportation, the proposed $400 million plan would take focus and funding away from the major issues in our city — crime, education and basic services like picking up the trash and fixing potholes. We need to focus on these core issues first.”

As we mentioned in this recent blog post, we believe transportation and mobility are basic services, that the $400 million price tag is a red herring, and that investments in bike lanes do not have to come at the expense of other services.

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During the primaries, we asked all of the mayoral candidates to respond to our candidate questionnaire. You can read Councilmember Justus’s answers here. Councilmember Lucas did not respond.

More about the June 18th election for KCMO Mayor and City Council.