Tuesday question with Emma Frain hotness . . .
ARE SO MANY BIG BIZ TAX INCENTIVES AND CORPORATE GIVEAWAYS KILLING SMALL BIZ IN KANSAS CITY?!?!?
Small biz week in Kansas City kicked off yesterday at . . . Wait for it . . . BURNS & MAC of all places. I can only hope they offered lessons in how to get $41 Million worth of tax breaks with just a few innocuous threats.
Still . . . Kansas City is focused on big companies and the elite while locals complain about regulatory crackdown and a basic lack of regard for small biz from City Hall.
Recently, a conversation with Kansas City Westport Power Broker Bill Nigro elicited this quote . . .
Not so long ago, Bill Nigro said: "Kansas City is very unfriendly to small business. Regulated Industries shut me down over a simple doorway infraction. I like our Mayor but he hasn't really helped make life easier for small business people like he promised when he was running for office."
Now, we got that quote from Bill a couple of months ago but we're sure it still stands as Kansas City continues to pay only lip-service to small biz while focusing all of their attention on corporate giveaways and a toy train battle that threatens to destroy any small biz person who gets in the way.
Developing . . .
Sly made lots of promises to lots of people about focusing on how KCMO government actually works for its residents and businesses, but all that has been long forgotten and abandoned in favor of subsidizing developers, making ridiculous speeches and claims, pandering to the "creative class", and pouring money out the door to insiders and usual suspects.
ReplyDeleteSmall business issues are not a priority, but neither are crime, street repair, a decent water department, or much of anything else that most cities work hard to provide.
And all of those basics form the foundation of pretty much anything else in a community.
It's really a shame.
Washington Post published a study recently that found U.S. businesses are being destroyed faster than they’re being created.
ReplyDeleteIronically this is one thing KC (CK)is doing better then the city's it seeks to imitate in the post Funk era.
It's really hard to be a Mecca for eco-dev grifters and be small business friendly at the same time. Someone has to pay the bills and that usually falls on the small business owner.
ReplyDeleteCorruption is so infused into CK politics now it's probably hopeless. Leaving the Urban Core is probably the only hope for survival and a chance to advance. Unless being a debt serf and shooting statistic is something one aspires to.
ReplyDeleteThat Nigro guy is the best example TKC could get?
ReplyDeleteThe City is a corrupt nest of shit, but calling Nigro a 'Power Broker' is the dumbest comment on this dumb site.
ReplyDeleteDoes nobody else see the irony in Tony, of all people, calling the newspaper a mouthpiece for propaganda?
ReplyDeleteGet that man a mirror, please.
Doesn't help working peoples incomes have remained flat for the past 20 years while the cost of living had doubled and tripled either.
ReplyDeleteWell, how those Bush Jr. tax rebates work out for everybody way back yonder?
ReplyDeleteNot to well 11:03 since the Dems are going to bankrupt the country just to keep it afloat from the damage another ten years. Of course they don't mind or anything as long as their bank accounts prosper.
ReplyDeleteSmall business in KCMO must withhold E tax from their employees, pay E tax on their profits, pay an occupation license based on revenue, not profit and deal with the ever more incompetent Finance Dept just to pay their taxes. They will usually get several letters each year demanding more simply because the morons at the city cannot properly process tax returns. Add to that the high property taxes that are never abated for anyone not politically connected and you have every reason to locate outside KCMO.
ReplyDeleteYou see this system of government in Central America
ReplyDeleteWhat Bill meant was his pay offs was higher
ReplyDeleteBureaucrats and taxes are today’s biggest business killers and KC has plenty of both.
ReplyDeleteAnd Sly likes to talk about KCMO becoming "the most innovative city in the country".
ReplyDeleteAnd what kinds of businesses might that be? Banks, insurance companies, entertainment districts, hotels, and law firms?
The small employers, who by the way generate around 80%+ of all the local jobs, are completely ignored and, as a previous commentator noted, are totally screwed by what passes for local government in KCMO.
The Sly hot air balloon is about to deflate big time. Hope all the swells, insiders, grifters, and urban futurists have been paid off.
So does this mean that Nigro is a nigger lover?
ReplyDeleteOr does this mean Nigro speaks highly of the Mayor for doing as he wants?
And why does Nigro always looks so gay in all his pictures?
Wonder how many in KC get fuck over by his cabs today?
Back when Tom ran this town we didn't have whinny people like Nigro opening their mouths to the press. Least not if they wanted to stay in business.
ReplyDeleteWas no damn gay football players either!
ReplyDeleteAs long as KC is run by Democrats it will be unfriendly to small business. Period.
ReplyDeleteNiggers were in their place. If they caused trouble, they were strung from trees.
ReplyDeleteNigro, negro, niger, nigor.......hmmmmmm
ReplyDeleteso many ways to go with this one......
11:07 Incomes have been flat double that amount of time, from the early 1970's till present.
ReplyDeleteDamn, hold the pressed.....the bear dude goes primal over race.
ReplyDeleteAbout as new as Tony on the light rail.
Yawn.
He is very white looking for a negro.
ReplyDeleteIf he is a power broker than this city is broker than I ever imagined.
ReplyDeleteFun Fact -- Life is much better in JOCO than KCMO.
ReplyDelete