TKC BREAKING AND EXCLUSIVE NEWS!!! KANSAS CITY TAX FIGHTERS REVEAL PLAZA MERCHANTS DON'T WANT TOY TRAIN STREETCAR EXTENSION AND NEW ART FAIR COULD BE A COUNTRY CLUB THREAT!!!
The latest word from the Citizen For Responsible Government offers quite a bit of insight into the recent mixed bag of City Hall votes and corporate welfare trends in Kansas City.
First and foremost . . .
KANSAS CITY TAX FIGHTERS TELL US THAT PLAZA MERCHANTS OPPOSE THE TOY TRAIN STREETCAR EXTENSION!!!
Here's insight into this statement along with a supporting theory:
"CFRG thinks this is nothing but a bluff from the Mayor. The Plaza Merchants are not openly supporting the Mayor’s streetcar expansion and thus the Mayor sets up an Art Festival to compete with the Plaza’s Annual Art Festival. The Plaza Festival is a huge event for the Plaza and a competing festival around the same time of year could take away from participation. If the Plaza gets behind the streetcar expansion, CFRG believes this new festival will disappear. We hope the Plaza holds the line on this one. Many voters feel there are better places to spend these funds; we don’t need another Arts Festival. "
And the update in full . . .
City Hall got sold out again by certain council members: The Mayor worked his bluff and the TIF's and other CID give-aways keep on rolling
Councilman Lucas’ TIF reform gets approved:
We compliment Councilman Lucas and his supporters on the council for their perseverance in this matter. Now all developers will pay some property taxes instead of getting a free ride. This is a small start on a process that needs a major overhaul. Thank you Councilman Lucas and supporters…
The City Council approved the CID for the Intercontinental Hotel by a vote of 11 to 2.
The only two Council members using sound judgment, Heather Hall and Dan Fowler, voted against the proposal. The remaining sold out for a promise of $250,000 pay off from the IC Hotel over the next seven years to help fix up truly blighted homes and provide jobs specifically for Kansas City residents. $100,000 will be paid the first year and $25,000 per year for the next six. This is supposedly to be spread over 40 properties. So the first year, each property will get $2,500 and then $625 for each of the remaining years. This won’t do much if the properties are truly blighted and does not include any of the job creation mentioned.
CFRG thinks 11 members of our City Council got played. IC gets $5,000,000 from taxpayers for a $250,000 payment, pretty good deal for them. This creates a terrible precedent and asks .."Are CID’ s now for Sale at City Hall”? We applaud Councilpersons Barnes and Canady for their attempt to get something for the City, at least they tried. We call on them to advise the local media and ourselves when they see the first check and subsequent checks. MAKE A LIST! we would like to see a listing of the properties receiving the funds so we can interview them. Again thanks to Heather Hall and Dan Fowler for their dissension.
The Mayor puts forth his bluff and received approval 11 - 2:
The Mayor pushed for $250,000 for an Arts Festival. The funds are slated to come from “neighborhood tourism dollars” and the proceeds from the festival will go to MARC???? The only two councilmen objecting to this expenditure were Lucas and Reed. At least there was a brief hint of sanity in the chamber.
CFRG thinks this is nothing but a bluff from the Mayor. The Plaza Merchants are not openly supporting the Mayor’s streetcar expansion and thus the Mayor sets up an Art Festival to compete with the Plaza’s Annual Art Festival. The Plaza Festival is a huge event for the Plaza and a competing festival around the same time of year could take away from participation. If the Plaza gets behind the streetcar expansion, CFRG believes this new festival will disappear. We hope the Plaza holds the line on this one. Many voters feel there are better places to spend these funds; we don’t need another Arts Festival.
CID’s Stacked:
The hotel and mixed use project North of the Plaza was able to stack two CID’s on top of one another this week. This project will now enjoy a 2 percent sales tax in their CIDs instead of the customary 1 percent. Who will be the first developer to stack 4 or 5 CIDs on top of one another?
What’s Next:
While the Plaza continues to crash and burn on weekends and Westport and Martini Corner experience major problems on the weekends, Councilperson Justus continues her push for the single terminal airport. She just doesn’t get it or has been promised something in return for riding a dead horse . . .
We fully expect the developers of the Hyatt Downtown Hotel to come back to the City for a guarantee of their bond issue. The bond issue is now up to $200,000,000, $40,000,000 more than originally planned and there is speculation that the bonding companies won’t sell the bonds unless Kansas City guarantees them. Remember, the Mayor promised the taxpayers would not be on the hook for any liabilities on the Hyatt Hotel. We really never understood this since the LCRA will own the hotel and the LCRA is a City entity. Stay tuned and remember we’re still paying off the last deal the City got involved with this same developer. We will be paying that off for several years to come.
Combat Tax… CFRG has asked for a published listing of the 80 plus entities who get these funds and what they do with them. So far no response. If no list is forthcoming, people should vote NO on this tax. The voters deserve to know who gets these funds and what they do with them.
$800,000,000 bond issue next year. Again, CFRG has asked for a published list of proposed projects. No list? Vote No! So far all we have is the Water Dept. want’s $486,000,000 of the proceeds. That’s over 50% of the funds which are supposed to be used for infrastructure repair, roads, bridges, parks, sidewalks, etc.. The same Water Dept. which has raised rates substantially in the last year partially to cover costs of relocating water and sewer lines for the streetcar.
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You decide . . .
OF COURSE the plaza doesn't want the streetcar. It'll make the weekends a living hell.
ReplyDelete^^^^ Yeah, why would they want all those customers?
ReplyDeleteYeah, there will be such huge masses of shoppers coming from downtown they'll have to have crowd control.
DeleteStreetcar ruined the parking in the river market, it will devastating the auto situation on the Plaza.
ReplyDeleteThanks Sly!
Wow Tony so are you writing their press releases now? We know you're on their payroll anyway since you rip and run their BS but are you writing it too now?
ReplyDeleteThey're getting as bad as you when it comes to twisting around facts and making totally unsubstantiated allegations.
BUT YOU'RE STILL THE KING, SWEETIE, DON'T WORRY.
^^^ Tell Sly that you did your work today darling. Screen cap it so you can collect your billable hours for Parsons & Co.
ReplyDeleteLast time I checked CFRG didn't make any payouts. But we've seen the MO ethics site and the money the streetcar is spreading around is damn impressive. Keep it up. Maybe you can get that council seat you always dreamed of.
I trust Sly James, he is a good man.
ReplyDeleteI have a bridge for sale in NYC.
DeleteTrolley boy (10:48) reporting in for the first of his hourly herf derfs.
ReplyDeleteListen, the streetcar makes sense going all the way to the Plaza. It is simply too small now and we need to keep momentum going.
ReplyDeleteLook at the weekends and even the harshest critics MUST admit that there is definitely some success getting people downtown and getting them out of their cars and onto the line.
Let's build on that!
Streetcar to the Plaza could really put this city at the next level and push our transit over the top. Then we're talking more development, more growth, higher values for property. A real renaissance and not just hype.
We've got something that works here, don't stop it in its tracks!
Why the hell would you call it a success getting people downtown? If you're not a barhopper, what's the point?
DeleteThe Mayor pays no attention to Tony or CFRG - Cranks Farting Rancid Gas.
ReplyDeleteThey're both geniune laughingstocks in this city and rightfully so. No solutions, just the Internet equivalent of intestinal gas.
ha
ha
ha
^^^ So, see you later this afternoon?
ReplyDeleteObviously, you've been showing up trying to convince nobody of this fact for months. Keep up the great work! Remember 2014 when the streetcar extension was defeated? See you at the next election, kiddo.
CFRG
ReplyDeleteBy Robert Frost
Cranks Farting Rancid Gas
It comes from their brain but leaves straight from our ass.
And Tony is sniffing the moment it's passed!
The smell of Cranks Farting Rancid Gas.
^^^ Back again, I think you're sniffing this blog.
ReplyDeleteBreathe deep. And Vote Yes on Missouri Amendment 4!
@11:01 - Will you please stop drinking the Mayor's kool-aid. It's not working. You're still alive.
ReplyDeleteUm, what? This makes no sense, talk about conspiracy!
ReplyDelete11:03 & 11:12: Columbus Day is not a holiday for city buttlickers. Get to work.
ReplyDeleteThey are probably relying on the experience of the River Market merchants. All the trolley brought was higher taxes & parking problems.
ReplyDeleteBring it on. Can’t wait to park on the Plaza for free and head down to P&L.
ReplyDeleteRemember your vote YES on CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT NO. 4 derails the trolley.
ReplyDeleteBesides developers of apartment buildings, I have not heard one merchant along to starter line say anything favorable about the streetcar. And there are plenty of complaints.
ReplyDeleteYikes, if the trolley track runs all the way to the Plaza; day ridership will be astronomical. It could be as much as 2,000 riders per day!
ReplyDeleteAll the merchants along Main Street I talk to say the streetcar has been a boon for business and a positive thing, probably because they're getting BIG BAGS OF $$ STREETCAR MONEY $$, EVERY DAY!
ReplyDeleteAlso passing Issue 4 will not affect the streetcar. People disproved that vapid argument the moment it came up.
But by all means do keeping sniffing the Cranks Farting Rancid Gas!!! Yum!
11:47: Ummmmm. You can park in Waldo free and take the MAX to the P&L for $1.50 if you can afford that much.
ReplyDeleteNo life today, trolley boy?
ReplyDeleteYou guys ever smell the rancid gas negros pump into the atmosphere? One day I noticed this old, blue gummer, buck nigger standing at the end of one of the aisles at Walmart looking up at something. As I approached him, something told me not to get too close (a gut feeling, I guess). Being as how I was in a hurry, I didn't listen to my gut and walked right by him and almost threw up. That old nigger had farted and it was disgusting! I knew it was him. There wasn't anyone else around. It's bad enough to have to smell a nigger but to smell his fart is indescribable. I felt like I'd been violated in some way!
ReplyDelete11:01, if people wanted to take mass transit to the Plaza so badly, why won't they take the Max bus that goes to the Plaza from north and south every day all day long? And with free parking in Plaza garages, would people honestly pay to ride the streetcar to the Plaza?
ReplyDeleteNobody human wants to ride the bus. Black people.
DeleteThe smell consisted of stale BBQ corn chips, cheap hot sauce, deep fried chicken, and sickle cell medication!!!
ReplyDeletePunishing the Plaza with the threat of a competing Art Fair is a classic Glorioso/Machiavellian ploy to intimidate and bully your opponent with an economic threat to force compliance with your will.
ReplyDeleteThe UMB Kempers have been punished by Sly and Gang for opposing the trans medical tax by the City removing KC funds. The Commerce Bank Kempers have similarly been threatened with the removal of KC city funds if they objected to the toy train. Tom Pendergast turns over in his grave at the machinations of Slie and the Clowncil.
Plaza Area property taxes and prices for goods and services will SKY HIGH if the streetcar funding assessment is approved!!! It might be a good thing as the kids that frequent the Plaza on weekends won't be able to afford a movie ticket or a pizza, however that means they will remain on the street instead ...
ReplyDeleteThe nig nogs tainting the Plaza aren't buying pizza or movie tickets, they're just running amok.
DeleteThe era of City Hall using "art" as a way to get what it wants is over.
ReplyDeleteTime to change priorities to more important issues than streetcars.
You find the proof of those bogus ridership numbers yet?
ReplyDeleteStill waitin' Tony...still waitin'!
Because a million riders, like 24 million tourists, is an entirely reasonable number from that storehouse of credibility, City Hall.
DeleteAccountability is coming. :)
Sure, accountability is coming. Right.
DeleteSo! Still waiting.
I see you've got nothing either.
My street is literally crumbling and turning to small, broken pieces of asphalt yet we're funding this fuck-tardery. Where is the criminal investigation or the so-called Media?
ReplyDeleteCertain KC "movers" are mirroring that former FLOTUS who is practiced at being a most artful "spin-meister". Yep, tell slicked and tricked versions of only those supposed, and furiously promoted, favorables on the toy train. Keep it all to a one-sided view while going hard and fast at shutting down opposition, or even sensible queries. Why not put up surveillance along the entire route and prove the rider numbers. Data's cheap. Trust, but verify.
ReplyDeleteWill someone please run to the locker room and grab Sly by the pussy? He is out of control.
ReplyDeleteJust wait until winter! How will autos and delivery truck drivers find the white lines to park within so they don't block the streetcar? I see it coming to a grinding halt a lot during a few months of snow and ice.
ReplyDeleteChiefs personnel don't do "locker room talk". Eddie Kennison says so (that he's ever heard) on 5pm tv5 news!
ReplyDeleteNot to cast stones, but "actions" are worse than "words"...but, both damaging. There's recent domestic violence when a player killed his fiancee at home, then himself at the KC stadium. Plus, a KC player recently drafted while on probation for abusing his girlfriend (now wife).
KC streetcar was an expensive experiment that did not work out.
ReplyDeleteNOTICE
ReplyDeleteI have started construction on an under ground SUBWAY system that'll run thru Kansas city mo.
It will eventually serve all areas of KCMO and other areas , it will run 24/7 365 days a year
The Subway cars will be ultra modern with all kinds of modern perks
Construction started last week at my own expense !!
Problem is, I'm doing it all by myself, and I'm just doing it with a cheap shovel digging.
So far out of all the miles of TUNNELS I've got to Dig,, I've managed to Gig a whopping 2" inches and then I got tired and LAZY and decided to go back inside and have a COLD BEER and watch TV instead.
KC Subway coming soon,,,, Grand Opening Year 3075 !!