Here's an important bit of follow-up coverage that PERFECTLY lays out neighborhood objections to a controversial plan proposed right across from a neighborhood school.
This one is important because coverage and consideration of this neighborhood fight was preceded by a 4-hour-debate over 18th & Vine.
However . . .
CHECK THIS TKC EXCLUSIVE DOCUMENT CIRCULATING AMONG DOZENS OF WESTSIDERS WHO OBJECT TO THIS TAX BREAK GENTRIFICATION SCHEME!!!
Here are the highlights of a letter going to City Council today . . .
17th & Madison - HELP Needed
The City Council will vote this Thursday on whether or not to approve the developer's current proposal for 17th & Madison. (The proposal is for 48 apartments; the size is 50% larger than zoning allows; plus they ask for tax abatement.)
This Project should be held to CURRENT ZONING because that zoning best reflects the character of and best protects the Westside and is the result of an extraordinary effort which was supervised by City Planning Staff. It took over two years to complete; over 400 people participated in the process; with at least 8 large meetings; and small meetings on every block in the neighborhood. This process should be respected.
The Westside underwent this downzoning because the development downtown began to overflow into the Westside and developers began proposing out of scale projects that put pressure on the single-family character of the Westside and threatened dislocation of the local Latino community.
THIS IS ONE OF THOSE OUT OF SCALE PROJECTS ZONING WAS DESIGNED TO STOP.
I oppose this project it because:
- it changes the character of the Westside
- threatens the single-family housing which is vital to the health of downtown and serves the DT goal of diverse housing options;
Tax Abatement for this project makes no sense because THE WESTSIDE IS ONE OF THE MOST EXPENSIVE NEIGHBORHOODS IN KC. Houses close to the proposed development are selling for over $600,000 and I understand there is a contract on a building for almost $1 Mil.
Tax abatement on this project will easily lead to an expensive, and very public referendum, which seems like a bad thing for City government.
I ask that you please deny this application so our zoning will be respected, our tax base will be increased and the Westside will be protected.
Thanks for your time and consideration and I ask that you please vote against the proposed project at 17th & Madison.
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The city subsidizes a high end development then points to it with pride at a grand opening. Meanwhile poor displaced residents go to some other poor area which is completely ignored by the city. That is economic development in KCMO. But the developer makes money, the lawyers make money, the politicians get campaign contributions and the media gush over this "progress".
ReplyDeleteThere is no shortage of people in KCMO who are in fact living in a “more or less continual state of financial peril” – scrabbling around to make ends meet, and mostly failing.
ReplyDeleteKCMO is very pro-family unless families will diminish corporate profits by 0.00002% in which case families and their small single family homes have got to go.
ReplyDeleteCity Hall will ruin the West Side with out of character developments just like they have already done with River Market.
ReplyDeleteThe character of the Westside is mostly vacant lots where there used to be a neighborhood with people living in it.
ReplyDeleteAnd adding residents on the site of a vacant warehouse displaces exactly zero residents
Cities are for people, people.
Meanwhile, actual poor and working class citizens taxes keep going up to pay for maintaining infrastructure built for an urban core of 400,000 people that now only holds 250,000...including on the Westside, which was never a single family home neighborhood, but a mixed neighborhood with apartments, walk up flats and small houses in small lots which historically housed nearly 3 times as many residents as it does now.
ReplyDeleteSmart, KC. Real smart.
12:18 pm Do not forget that the new folks moving into the tax abated apartments and using the same City services are paying zero toward real estate taxes in their rents. AKA- getting a free ride.
ReplyDeleteHow will these developers pay make their yacht payments if people object to subsidies?
ReplyDeleteIt's not about character or displacement--it is about asking whether there is ever an end point to the public subsidy of private development? We live in a world in which the wealthy get socialism, and the poor are forced to scramble in a relentless, heartless capitalism, particularly in housing markets. We suck.
ReplyDeleteNO more tax breaks for anyone. Enough giveaways please.
ReplyDeleteTIFS should only be for development of problem neighborhoods. The West side is hot real estate.
ReplyDeleteAs a life long resident of the West Side, not to mention the fact that both sides of My family have lived here for over 100 years, I welcome anyone who wants to be part of My Beautiful neighborhood. What I do not welcome are those who want to eliminate our history just because they can't see past their billfolds! To Hell with Tax Breaks,We need Tax Fixes!
ReplyDeleteThe Westside needs something besides vacant houses and empty lots. Boulevard Brewing is doing a really good job revitalizing why can't everyone around them do the same. Why do you want to continue to live around falling houses, vacant buildings and empty lots? They need to do whatever is needed to bring some form of life in the west side. Its depressing. Don't we want more or better for our kids and grandkids?
ReplyDelete^^^ We want our grandkids to live in a place they haven't been priced out of thanks to speculative deals funded by the KCMO.
ReplyDeleteIf your against any revitalization projects then you must love living around all the abandoned properties, violence and murders. Really sad that the Westside community cries for,peace, change and growth but are not willing to take the first steps. And then we wonder why the kids in this community act out, are in jail and or catching cases. I think this project is a positive start but the Westside does not deserve it. I would think hard and long about this if you are from the Westside because it won't get much better than this. Like it or not this is it.
ReplyDeleteNo idea what you're talking about. This is one of the safest places to live in Kansas City.
ReplyDeleteThe way you describe our neighborhood proves that you don't live here. If you want to build your condos, you should obey the zoning rules of our neighborhood and not try to change them.
The city should take some of the money that they're pouring into the developers and give it to the Westside residence to remodel their existing homes I had to go to the Eastside to get my loan years ago when I remodeled my home because there were no low interest rates available to the Westside residents
ReplyDelete