TKC BREAKING AND EXCLUSIVE NEWS!!! KANSAS CITY TAX FIGHTERS TARGET MAYOR SLY PROPERTY TAX TROUBLES AMID LAST DESPERATE DAYS BEFORE GO BOND VOTE!!!
This time the conversation about Kansas City GO BONDS is getting personal.
Accordingly . . .
THE MAYOR'S HISTORY OF DELINQUENT PROPERTY TAX PAYMENTS AND LINGERING RESIDENCY QUESTIONS ARE THE LATEST ARGUMENT IN PLAY BEFORE THE APRIL 4TH VOTE!!!
Here's the word behind the scenes . . .
"Are the Mayor and most of the Council going to suffer the same property tax increases as homeowners in Kansas City? At least half of them are renting and nobody is quite sure where Sly James lives since he was nearly disqualified from running for office last time around!"
Like it or not, this homespun criticism is based in fact . . .
Remember that our KICK-ASS BLOG COMMUNITY BROKE NEWS OF SLY JAMES AND HIS PROPERTY TAX TROUBLE not so long ago. Nothing came of the drama except a major embarrassment for the City Hall honcho which was good enough for the entertainment of local voters given that the election was pretty much a rigged joke.
Here's a look at most MSM excused the Mayor for his property tax problems . . .
"There's an argument to be made that James, as the titular leader of the city, has an obligation to pay his taxes on time and set an example for the rest of the city. But sometimes taxes get paid late. People get busy. Responsibilities slip through the cracks. Going to the DMV is a drag."
Fair enough given that most local media stopped asking tough question about ten years ago . . . As for the renter class on the City Council . . . Over time even people who don't own houses are still going to feel the pinch of a property tax increase given that landlords will have to price the cost increase into higher rents. But for now, what's really apparent is that tax fighters are going for the jugular when they speak against GO BONDS in community forums and public meetings. Meanwhile, the only argument to this political hardball gambit has been an endless litany of empty promises and guilt trips from the local political elite who would rather most people avoid the ballot box and politics altogether on April 4th.
Developing . . .
Make this question even simpler TKC, If Sly didn't pay his property taxes, what business does he have raising the rates on everyone else?
ReplyDeleteSly is above the law. He doesn't have to pay taxes or obey the same rules as voters. He makes the rules. So pay up or he will start a twitter war with you.
DeleteLike our President, Sly James can be a very polarizing figure. I find there are people who just love him and think he can do no wrong. And of course there are those who think the opposite is true and do not trust him. In general, Sly has a great reputation because he has always been willing to lend corporations and media a hand in their promotions. He really is a world-class salesman for Kansas City. Still, people just don't like taxes and have shown that they don't want to make their lives harder no matter who is doing the asking. Freedom opposing this tax issue makes things harder. Like our Presidential election, it's all going to come down to turnout and the big question is: Will the marijuana reform law supporters also want to increase taxes? That's a tough sell but their answer is going to determine the election, those and the dog shelter people are the only groups who are going to go out and vote. Most other people don't even care about this election.
DeleteSly has always been a sleaze. Can't wait until he is shut down running for congress.
ReplyDeleteYou constantly hear that Sly is a "great salesman for the city".
ReplyDeleteBut who is he selling the city to?
There are economic and tourist departments at both the state and city level and highly-paid executives whose jobs are to sell companies and tourists on moving to or visiting Missouri and KCMO.
Sly's the MAYOR, and elected municipal officials have very specific responsibilities.
Are the eco devo people providing leadership and oversight for issues like public safety, street maintenance, operation of utilities, and all the other departments and operations that residents actually depend on?
Not hardly.
EVERYBODY'S out with a smile and a shoeshine, glad-handing and telling hyped-up stories and no one is minding the store.
If Sly wants to be a salesman, he's in the wrong job.
Of course, he does spend lots of time down at the Chamber offices, so that counts for something.
7:40 is dead on the money
ReplyDelete7:21 is one of Sly's boy's anyone with half a brain can see what a fool James is and how he is bad for Kansas City. Al Capone loved Chicago but was he good for Chicago?
We all have to remember that S'lie is a LAWYER by trade. He's about as slick as they come. As mentioned, if he and members of the council along with all the corporations around town suckling at the money teat don't have to pay property taxes, then why the hell is it fair for normal folks to have to?
ReplyDeleteRepost Super Dave's story on the street car here right before the election to remind all just how Sly and the gang burdens us with costs we can't afford and then comes along with this crock of crap that will burden us even more.
ReplyDeleteVote NO people!
Stop falling for all the lies from City Hall.
If people from Johnson County think the doggie shelter is such a grand deal let them build the damn thing since it appears a good deal of the supporters for the dog shealter live in the as Tony calls it, THE GOLDEN GHETTO.
^^^Not me. I live in KC, and myself, and everyone we know are supporting it. It's going to pass.
ReplyDeleteBig fans of Mayor Bullhorn, who can't wait to give him a blank check.
DeleteTell your pet shelter people the truth--two things. One--nothing promised is "mandated". The City Manager is the Decider, not the weak Council. He spends the money.
ReplyDeleteAnd two: the City borrows money from every ballot approved issue, They do cost shifting. They shovel cash into other accounts. From free trash bags for the E-tax, to the Zoo, where part of the $50 million voters ASSUMED was mandated and earmarked there somehow--somehow--aka Steve Glorioso--when he staffed for Kay Barnes--ended up paying downtown TIF money. So the shelter bond money, while it accumulates, will be immediately SWEPT away for other purposes. The $14 million in that $50 million issue #3 has other strings attached: it requires raising $7 more from the public--BEFORE the first kennel is built. And the City would then have to find $5 million to $6 million a year for maintenance--before they build it.
Naive petlovers think this shelter will pop up like Disneyland, or spring tulips overnight. It won't.
As I've reported here before, Sly James RENTS, and resides in tony Union Hill at 108 E 30th St., a few houses east of Walnut--a block and a half east of Main. Where the yard sign and his bodyguard are on the street. That's open record.
ReplyDeleteHe does not own any home in KCMO --he sold Mannheim, and relocated from a rental north of the river.
Sly's exit strategy got busted when Hillary ran a dreadful campaign, barking like a pit bull, and lost the Presidency. (I used to like her, and once wrote her 7 checks, so back off.) Sly's plan was: Hillary appoints Cleaver to a post, then Sly takes Cleaver's unexpired seat--requires just the votes of the local Democratic Central Committee--those nameless loyal precinct committeemen and women. Sly tells his landlord, do like Senator Pat Roberts does in western Kansas--rent me a back bedroom or just this Union Hill basement-- with a LaZBoy recliner for when I circle back to gladhand.
But instead of 23 Skidoo, now he's peddling 123GO.
Sly is a renter. There is nothing wring with renting but it is my hope that our Mayor would really want to invest in or city. Sly's renting explains a lot about why he is so quick to raise other people's taxes.
ReplyDeleteTony, you need to reread and repost Dave Helling's brave signed editorial, when he opposed the silent unsigned Editorial board endorsement of 123. Dave's post said, "It's OK to vote NO on 123."
ReplyDeleteTony we haven't seen anyone stand up to the STAR Editorial Board since Lee Judge did a cartoon holding his nose and pointing to the STAR's presidential endorsement of a Republican--which had been penned secretly by Publisher Jim Hale in the mid-70's.
Helling--a reporter--got the City Manager to admit that Steve Glorioso's nine brochure bombing of KCMO frequent voter mailboxes contains MUCH disinformation. (You'd call it lies.) It's 40 years, not 20. It's $100 a year compounding, not $8. It's non-binding. The City doesn't have the staff to supervise or build $800 million in improvements. They're gonna trickle this out. The first year just $3.2 million!!!
These pet people think they're getting a new shelter before Christmas. Not.Gonna.Happen. Even if #3 passes, that money will be loaned out while they raise $7 million from the public, and then the city must find $6 million a year to maintain it--so it may never happen, and even if it does, it could be 20 years before they break ground!!! All the puppies will have died of old age!!!!
^^^ Helling had a good column. Not worth reposting because nobody read it.
ReplyDeleteNow that comment, 11:59, exhibits seriously flawed logic. People might not have read it because most folks don't take the STAR!
ReplyDeleteSo, did you read it and not agree?
That's different.
Do you have any curiosity? Or do you just like what you know.
That's called "confirmation bias".
Are you the kinda guy who will consider new facts and be open to changing your mind?
Because in this seriously broken community and country, that is what is needed.
^ did YOU read Helling's column? He is the one that apparently changed his mind - as 11:39 pointed out, Helling said it's okay to oppose the proposed tax increase.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't buy anything that this guy sly said. He looks like a con and sounds like a sleaze. NO on 1 2 and 3
ReplyDelete