TKC BREAKING AND EXCLUSIVE NEWS!!! SOUTH KANSAS CITY REAX RAGE OVER PROPOSED KCFD STATION 41 CLOSING FOR CERNER BIG TAX BREAK CAMPUS!!!

This morning there's we want to feature an important bit of Kansas City testimony that has implications for taxpayers throughout the metro.

To wit . . .

HERE'S A LOOK AT MORE REAX TO THE POTENTIAL CLOSING OF A KANSAS CITY FIRE STATION NEAR THE CERNER CAMPUS AT GREAT EXPENSE TO LOCAL TAXPAYERS AND PUBLIC SAFETY!!!



There's a lot of detail in this IMPORTANT 1ST PERSON TESTIMONY that signals the beginning of Kansas City push back against corporate interests dictating local policy.

Check it:

FIRE STATION 41

There is a lot of history on this one – this latest maneuver by Cerner and City Hall to tear down a four million plus facililty that is only eight years old has a lot of precedent to it – the fire department has been manhandled on this station from the very beginning.

Check around and you will discover that the station was never finished -it was supposed to have had a direct access onto a roundabout in the center of which would have been the first fountain in the then 6th District. These were fully funded for approximately one and one half million dollars. In fact it would have been the first fire station in the US to directly connect to a roundabout and the first fire station in the US situated on not one, but three national historic trails (Santa Fe, Oregon and California). The station architecture, with full community involvement, was modeled around the mission style of the Santa FeTrail to further build on the national history associated with this site.

Construction of the roundabout and fountain was abruptly stopped because the Cerner folks back in 2007 decided the roundabout might interfere with their soccer stadium plan. Our validating engineering traffic studies to the contrary were just put in the trash can. Check a little deeper and you will discover that this half built station was never formally dedicated by the fire department for good reasons. I have all of the plans and drawings to fully document my statements should you care to view them. This station was funded from the same 3/8 ‘s sales tax that is now up for a 20 year renewal.

 I have seen no information as to where the funds will come from for a tear down and rebuild – maybe from the same fire tax or other City monies, which means the taxpayers just paid twice for the same thing or the Cerner TIF which means the bulk of the funds will come out of the taxes captured from the Hickman Mills School District which is already going to contribute 340 million to the Cerner project. For the sake of the south Kansas City community this matter should be fully disclosed and a lot of questions answered, especially the proposed funding - before the sales tax election. There just does not seem to be any control over these continuing tax giveaways to well healed developer/business interests – in this case the community is losing a public Hillcrest Road and its signature fire station to a closed private tax subsidized campus for Cerner and so far the only thing it may get in return is a State parole processing center in nearby Loma Vista shopping center. Something is very much out of balance in this picture.
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