Tonight, let's liven up a really boring post regarding the KCI Airport Single-Terminal Scheme and make it plain . . .
For starters, and I didn't know this . . .
"Kansas City is borrowing money from the airport, with interest, to cover losses it incurred in tax abatements to things such as the Power & Light District."
This means that the fancy new airport that Mayor Sly, Russ Johnson and the aviation dude want is going to risk one of the last remaining Kansas City cash cows.
Conclusion . . .
"Not only is building a new terminal a bad idea on its merits, but it puts at risk a source of money the city is using to cover losses on all its other bad ideas."
Accordingly . . .
WHEN THEY FINALLY RAM THROUGH THE SINGLE-TERMINAL AIRPORT . . . IT'S GOING TO DRY UP EVEN MORE KANSAS CITY RESOURCES!!!
That means:
- The Toy Train will have to pay for itself by moving riders from one coffee shop to the next.
- Union Station Office Space will have to generate revenue from other sources besides political donations.
- P&L District drink prices might go as high as $12 a beer because it's totally worth it to hang out with 31 year-old Northland chicks.
For these reasons and so many more, this new airport scheme is a bad idea BUT don't count on Mayor or Council to answer any questions on it UNLESS it is in the form of sexting.
The new terminal will open up pots of money that will allow Aviation to forgive all the bad paper City Hall has hung on them.
ReplyDeleteAgree. Tarmac will be paved with gold.
ReplyDeletethe people who will suffer is the retires when the city starts cutting into there retirement checks & stop paying other benfits.
ReplyDeletethe people who will suffer is the retires when the city starts cutting into there retirement checks & stop paying other benfits.
ReplyDeleteStart cutting into their retirement checks? The fucking government local, state, and federal has been killing most peoples retirements for the past ten years with surgical precision.
ReplyDeleteI have posted this before, lemme have at it again, I think, in my opinion, that it is relevant.
ReplyDeletehttp://savekci.org/cincinnatis-lesson-to-kansas-city-kci-is-better-without-a-hub/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SaveKCI+%28The+Latest+From+SaveKCI.org%29
Above is a link to the story of the same initiative that did pass in Cincy.
ReplyDeletePretty interesting.
The standard, "If we build it they will come" paradigm for cities all over the US is changing.
Kansas City in no way needs a streetcar, a new airport or a new tax that is supposed to bring researchers to KC.
This city, as are many cities, is in desperate need of more law enforcement on the streets, better streets, better sewers, better infrastructure in general in a city that is family friendly and safe.
These new vanity projects are glorious and fun to talk about, but we need to put our noses to the grindstone, come back from the debt now incurred and prepare for the next 50 years. Saddling our city with debt for the aforementioned projects, will cover us in a patina of false success.
Broke ass folks, should not go buy new Escalades, they should get an extra job, pay off the credit cards and put a few bucks away for emergencies.
It will not be fun and there will be no parties.
That beats a 50 year long hangover.
By the way, don't bother blowing smoke up our collective asses about how we won't have to pay for it.
ReplyDeleteJesus...
Sly will be long gone and we are stuck with the debt, same thing Kay Barnes did to us poor taxpayers. There seems to be some sort of pattern here.
ReplyDeleteHow is it a city can disregard a vote that passed for mass transit (I'm not argueing one way or another for it, just that a vote of the people passed) and ramrod an airport nobody wants? At this point a new airport is a luxury the city can't afford. The sewers are a way higher priority. Not too mention, it will not bring new business around it. There would already be stuff around it if so. As for there is nothing to do there, Ok fine. What do you go there to hang out or party? You go there to leave and come into town. This must be stopped.
ReplyDeleteBanks don't care about sewers
ReplyDeleteYes, the new KCI (if it goes through) will be an albatross around this city's neck for many a year. But just imagine, after the economy grinds to a halt, more airlines declare bankruptcy, and few people still fly, we can turn the airport runways into drag strips.
ReplyDeleteKCI = car racing, not airport
Doesn't anyone want the roof that slides between Arrowhead and the K? Ads could be sold on BOTH sides! Make it look like a typical NASCAR vehicle. Logos, logos, logos!
ReplyDeleteThe message?
We've Given up. We've sold out!
Since neither facility has sold the naming right, sell everything!
I grew up in Houston, lived in KC for 21 years and recently escaped back home to Texas and am living in
ReplyDeleteDallas. When I was a kid KC was bigger than either San Antonio and Austin - now both are bigger and much more dynamic and growing. After 21 years in KC my primary goal is to never return, even for a visit. The chasm between KC's potential and KC's reality is as vast as the Palo Duro Canyon. If KC seriously thinks that a couple hundred million for a two mile trolley and spending a billion plus on the airport is somehow going to improve the schools, the crime and the overall unorganized, grabasstic state of the city they are sorely mistaken. Kudos to Tony for writing this blog and seemingly being the only person in KC asking the right questions.
Gov. Perry said I should move to Texas.
ReplyDeleteIn response to "I grew up in Houston's" comment, I moved here a couple of year before you from Dallas, and I can't wait to get back home. Kansas City is fun for a few years, hanging on the Plaza before the Negro’s took over, hitting Westport before the Negro’s took over, hitting downtown bars before the Negro’s took over.....wait....there seems to be a common denominator here...it seems everywhere the Negro’s go, trouble follows. That's the case at City Hall too. Hmmmmmm. Dallas here I come !
ReplyDeleteWhitey from Dallas, so you're saying if you move back to Dallas all the negroes will go with you? I'm sure you're a fine person and all but see ya. Now I'm waitin for all the negroes to follow you. It will be great. As for Houston, and I've lived there, it is a total shithole. Dallas is cool but full of thirty-thousand dollaraires who won't be able to keep up the charade. Austin kicks ass.
ReplyDeleteHouston - fourth biggest metro in the country. Dallas - fifth biggest metro in the country. KC...shithole...with no opportunity, idiot leadership, and a citizenry largely made up of assholes. Funny thatt some douche from KC would rip on Dallas money - you do realize the wealth difference between Dallas and KC is incredibly vast, correct? If the USA needed an enema they'd stick it in KC...
ReplyDelete