TKC SUNDAY SPECIAL!!! KANSAS CITY ADVOCATES FLUMMOXED AS MAYOR SLY JAMES ANSWERS TAX ABATEMENT CRITICISM ADDRESSED TO GREATER KC CHAMBER OF COMMERCE!!!
On this Sunday we want to share a powerful bit of testimony offering DOCUMENTATION of a conflicted economic relationship in Kansas City that continues to siphon local funds from residents.
To wit . . .
CHECK THIS NOTE FROM A LOCAL ADVOCATE WHO IS CURIOUS ABOUT WHY MAYOR SLY TAKES UP THE CAUSE OF THE GREATER KANSAS CITY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND HAS BEEN TASKED WITH ANSWERING THEIR MAIL!?!?!
Here's the word . . .
Mayor Sly's Mail Bag . . .
If you have not seen this yet, you might be interested in what I attached. Representatives of Schools for low income kids, the KC library, mental health services, etc. wrote to the KC Chamber of Commerce asking to express our concerns with the impact of KC's penchant for tax abatement on working families.
Tax abatement in moderation is OK. However, Kansas City 's unbridled TIFs and other tax incentives have build a lot of luxury apartments and reduce public services. We wrote to the Chamber because many Chamber Board members are abatement lawyers and real estate developers who benefit financially from these deals.
So who replied?
Mayor James, who "invited" us to express our issues to the EDC. Looks like Sly took the Chamber's assignment to respond to the unwashed masses. Many people are concerned that abatement lawyers and developers are an unelected shadow government in KC. Look at these letters.
As you might say, TKC: You decide.
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And so . . .
Voters want to think of Mayor Sly as a powerful guy, a leader and the champion of Kansas City but exchange makes his work seem like that of a PR rep or, even worse, a public official sent on errands by far more powerful men.
You decide . . .
Sad situation that our city keeps getting looted.
ReplyDeleteWill our next mayor do anything differently?
Sure hope so!
This is a much needed presentation and we should also have it in City Hall as well. The public needs to know how much is being stolen from working families for the sake of developers who rarely live within city limits.
ReplyDeleteKC = Corruption
ReplyDeleteWe haven't had NON-corrupt city govt since Charlie Wheeler was mayor, that's for damn sure.
ReplyDeleteDo you realize how long ago that was? Jesus, we're just fucked.
The Taxpayer are getting looted by the city.
ReplyDeleteWhats the latest on the public schools? Did they get their accreditation back?
ReplyDeleteKC's Elephant in the room: Chamber of Commerce, the Abatement Lawyers, the EDC and City Hall Staff are the same entity. This middleman cabal artificially inflates real estate prices and profits all along the way.
ReplyDelete^^^ +1
ReplyDeleteAbatement lawyers get paid Hundreds of Dollars an hour to lobby city officials for exceptions to zoning and taxes. The cost is built into abatement deals. That means We Citizens are the ones paying for these scoundrels' lavish incomes
ReplyDeleteLOOKIE, WE WROTE A LETTER!!!
ReplyDeleteNext maybe an ONLINE PETITION!!!
What a BUNCH OF WILD REBELS!!!
What do you really want?
ReplyDeleteThree more years of Lyin Sly at the helm and the urban core will be an unrecognizable hell hole with the rich secluded in their taxpayer subsidized compounds.
ReplyDeleteI still want to know how do I get one of those downtown trolley line area $280,000 pads where you pay $600 a year in property taxes?
ReplyDeleteIs there some backroom at City Hall where these deals are cut?
That Sly is a shill for the wealthy is not news.
ReplyDeleteLyin Sly is indeed fact.
ReplyDeleteSly this shill. More people need to know.
ReplyDeleteHave all your questions answered!
ReplyDeleteDiscover who Mayor Sylvester James really works for!
FOLLOW THE MONEY TRAIL!!
http://mec.mo.gov/MEC/Campaign_Finance/CF11_CommInfo.aspx
C091019: Sly James For Mayor
Committee Type: Candidate
Po Box 10058 Party Affiliation: Non-Partisan
Kansas City Mo 64171 Established Date: 01/21/2009
(816) 472-6800 Termination Date: 08/10/2015
Electronic Reports
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
You don't have to spend much time on this, unless you find it interesting. But, pretty quickly you'll begin to recognize names and relationships. Those who have donated generously have been generously rewarded. Those whom you've seen cheerleading for Mayor James have donated to his campaign and/or received contracts from the city or affiliates.
Send a message to Sly. VOTE NO on EVERYTHING!! If he is going to give the money away and be the apologist for the money grubbers, then he needs to be shown our ire.
ReplyDeletewhat a joke of a mayor. I expected better.
ReplyDeleteShame on me.
SLY= Kawamie Kilrpatrick. EX- Mayor of Detroit. In Fed Pen for MULTIPLE crimes. He was also a lawyer wanting a trip to D.C.
ReplyDeleteI did not vote for him, with the nick-name Sly that alone made him suspect for my support. Everything he has done while at City Hall has been in the best instrest of his behind the curtain supporters. We are paying the bills. Mayor Cleaver was a great Mayor, as was Mayor Wheeler. I use my vote to say NO to anything supported by Mayor James.
ReplyDeleteWhere were you guys when the city lost 100s f thousands of dollars a year killing 2 projects on the plaza that had NO TAX ABATEMENTS, because the neighbors were worried about "traffic" using the streets and "too much density"?
ReplyDelete^^^^9:51
ReplyDeleteHealthy, self-sustaining projects are a threat to the future profitability of the TIF, subsidized projects. The proliferation of new hotels in vicinity of convention center has made Mike Burke's deal less profitable and desirable. Every Killa City drug gang understands you need to kill the competition.
The developers have been sticking it to the City for decades because the twits elected have no guts
ReplyDelete