KC tries crowdfunding a streetcar

[CHamilton]

Kansas City Citizens Fund Civic Project with Donations

After being denied a federal grant, Kansas City, MO intends to raise the money for a new streetcar system by passing around a hat. The idea is that instead of demanding more tax to fund projects, cities ask the public to donate whatever they want, in return for rewards or perks....The bigger the donation, the bigger the perk. Right now, he’s working on getting local businesses involved in raising $75 million for the new streetcar system....

“If they’re located near the line, then they can pre-buy rides for all of their workforce,” Wilson says, “and when you talk about a company that has a thousand people, and they can pre-buy rides for say five years, they can write that off in five different ways off of their taxes and get golden PR while doing a world of good.”

 

[Anderson]

While this might not get to 100% of funding, it'll be interesting to see how much this can bring in. I suspect it could cover the 10-15% local match with some projects and/or cover an operating grant, but I'm not sure about the whole $75m.