The update on The Kansas City Museum breaking free isn't as sweet as some might have imagined:
KCUR: City Takes Back Management Of Kansas City Museum
Money line . . .
"It's estimated at least $20 million more is needed to complete restoration for exhibition and education programming.
According the proposed agreement, the current museum advisory board will be disbanded, and a new 501 (c) 3 called the Kansas City Museum Foundation will advocate and fundraise on the museum's behalf."
Accordingly . . .
KANSAS CITY INSIDERS CONTEND THAT MUSEUM SUPPORTERS AREN'T GOING TO BE ABLE TO RAISE THE CASH TO RESTORE THE KC MUSEUM AND IT WILL REMAIN CLOSED INDEFINITELY!!!
The Mill Levy is now basically out of reach in this debate and makes for nothing more than a nice talking point. Meanwhile look for yet another kickstarter to hit the Northeast as the neighborhood gets another lost cause to compliment the political career of Will Royster.
Developing . . .
What they're doing to the mill levy money is illegal. That's something people need to know TKC.
ReplyDeleteWhy it's in that location, I'll never know. Talk about off the beaten path. I bet most KC residents don't know where it is, let alone tourists. I like the building itself and all, but the location is awful.
ReplyDeleteThere's nothing that gives you quite so much hope as hearing that "the city will be taking over managment" of much of anything.
ReplyDeleteAbandon hope all ye who enter here!
There's nothing wrong with the location. It's five minutes east of downtown in one of Kansas City's most historic neighborhoods. Prior the closing it for renovations/Union Station hogging the funds, EVERYONE in Kansas City knew where it was and it was an incredibly popular spot for school field trips from school districts as far out as Kearney and Bonner Springs.
ReplyDeleteR.A. Long isn't alive to move it, anyway, so I guess supporters, surrounding residents, and city hall will just have to invest in Northeast. Bummer.
None of the info here is news to me (other than the mil levy being illegal. What's that in reference to?) The museum renovations will be costly, and very likely, some things on the wish list will not be done. The mil levy raises about $1M per year, and The Museum is now free to raise money on it's own. It actually reopened to the public last April, but the point is, it closed seven years ago, so that's potentially $7M that was imbezzled before The Museum ever saw it.
This George Gustello (sp) is a real piece of work. He's paid in excess of $200K, to run Union Station? How ridiculous is this?? Also, why does Union Station need a CFO? It's not a product producing company, by any measure. This is just another give away of tax dollars, to a group of "insiders" and it's high time it was looked at in the "glaring light of day"!!
ReplyDeleteCombining Union Station/Science City has always been about one thing: money.
ReplyDeleteThe movers and shakers (yeah, Chamber of Commerce types who are presently tenants in Union Station) bought David Ucko's snake oil of an interactive, world class science museum that would spew forth oodles of money to support the operation of a Union Station. Then they hired the good old boy and totally incompetent Turner White to run the thing, which he did- right into the ground. Scrambling for money to keep their egos afloat, a scheme was hatched that would allow them to both skim tax revenues to keep Union Station open and to steal the prodigious collections of the KC Museum. What you're seeing now with the City Hall takeover is just the latest phase of the slow con perpetrated by the big money, big ego promoters who were wrong wrong wrong from the get-go. Not to mention that the whole BiState tax was so horribly mismanaged it effectively killed metropolitan cooperation for the ensuing 4 decades. Are you happy boys!
It's a Hugh mistake to let the City take it over it will die now.
ReplyDeleteRoyster needs to take charge his board.
ReplyDelete0759... you're absolutely right...to that, I say, FUCK HUGH
ReplyDeleteNot sure it's such a huge mistake. It's parks that will run the show. Far better than water. The 20 million figure is pure in the sky and includes such things as an interpretive center. The real travesty is the storage fees that they will pay to Union Station. Considerably higher than cave storage fees for inferior conditions.
ReplyDeleteBeing thrown in with Parks means you compete for the City dollars with all other projects. It's a mistake
ReplyDeleteDon't worry the Feds will print an infinite supply of free money to hand out to everyone in need.
ReplyDeleteCity Hall should call D.C. and say hey we need some more free money!
Market Rate Apartments!
ReplyDeleteWASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. developers received approval in October to build apartments at the fastest pace in five years, a trend that could boost economic growth in the final three months of the year.
ReplyDeleteThere you go turn it into APARTMENTS!!!!!
GOD BLESS THE APARTMENT BUBBLE!!!!
That's the new American dream.. Living in some apartment with paper walls, and furniture made of glue and sawdust.
ReplyDeleteMove the building to 18th and Vine and give Cleaver a call!
ReplyDeleteOkay okay next post please.
ReplyDeleteThere's a lot of wealthy people in KC. What has happened to the days when funds were used to save historic areas? The city government is a joke to run this project. Watch those mils or look at becoming another Detroit.
ReplyDeleteTony is sleeping now 9:55. When he wakes up this afternoon he can slap together all the news and content others put together today and then post it.
ReplyDeletePatience is a virtue.
The wealthy are taking advantage of Americans addiction to something for nothing and instant gratification to further their own agenda 9:56. Which is making sure they have more and everyone else has less. Then when it all comes crashing down (again) they will still enjoy the comforts they have become accustomed to.
ReplyDeleteI admire the way City Hall just steals shit from us. Cash and Property seems to be their specialty.
ReplyDeleteI've completely lost all faith and trust in these fuckers.
ReplyDeleteIt's out of control.
Am I the only person in this neck of the woods that think KC has it's fiscal priorities totally screwed up?
ReplyDeleteWhere the hell are the voters in this town?
Why is giving the Museum to the City a good idea.
ReplyDeleteNo not the only one.
ReplyDelete8:44 and 8:54 both make good points, and the hopeful part of me likes to believe that 8:44 is MORE correct.
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine who is closer to this issue than I am recommended a movie called "The Art Of The Steal" which is streaming on Netflix, and it's about how the city of Philadelphia took possession of the world's largest collection of modern art even though it was specifically outlined in the owner's will and Foundation that it should absolutely never happen under any circumstance.
If the Park Board turns into another bureaucracy that shifts money around from one entity to another for their own ambitions rather than the interests of the sites that they manage, I believe the museum's best course would be to pick from a handful of neighborhood advocates to run for city council 4th district with the stated goal of relinquishing city control and finding a funding source to complete the renovations and re-open a completed museum to the public within the decade.
But not even giving the Parks Board a chance, cynical as we may be about the way our city government is currently being run, or the priorities of this administration, is not entirely fair or productive. It's a compromise to be sure, but it's too soon to tell if it's a bad one.
In the meantime, go check out The Art Of The Steal.
Gawd this city is fucked up.
ReplyDeleteYes I'm sure people watching a movie will make all the difference in the world.
ReplyDeleteThe Art Of The Steal.
ReplyDeleteThat the Glazer movie?
So it's taken Union Station station 13 years to admit they can't manage themselves let alone a museum or something like that?
ReplyDeleteCome on Tony wake tf up and post something.
ReplyDeleteI'll do it for him!
ReplyDeleteMother claims flu shot killed son!
Thanksgivukkah is a once-in-a-lifetime event
Man behind Chiefs' KC Wolf mascot hospitalized after stunt gone wrong
Ford to recall Escapes again for oil, fuel leaks
No farm bill passed, milk could reach $7 a gallon
$2M cocaine, heroin bust at traffic stop
Vehicle flips over on K-10 near Woodland
Kan. governor encouraging reconciliation in state
Man injured in rollover crash on I-35 near Southwest Boulevard
2 injured in shooting on KC's northeast side
Thanks, that's some good investigatory journalism 12:56
ReplyDeleteSomeone get Tony some Quicktrip coffee.
ReplyDeleteIf he had a girlfriend she would make a run to McDonald's to get him breakfast.
ReplyDeleteYes these single CK chicks are wonderful cooks. Where's the nearest Wendys or Burger King?
ReplyDeleteHe needs to gather his links lighten up already.
ReplyDeleteYou don't need to look farther than your local slums, crumbling highways and streets, bridges, schools.
ReplyDeleteNothing another Sporting Stadium or Apartment conversion can't fix.
Well I understand why Tony can't find work. He prefers to sleep all day.
ReplyDeleteUnion Station paying George Guestello 200k a year, of taxpayer money, to dress in womens underwear and run about Union Station at night is a joke. The Chamber of Commerce puts one of their own in charge and now they get a sweet rent deal, and will probably own Union Station in a few years with the help of the "Queen of Victoria's Secret" Guestello's help. That ass clown needs to go.
ReplyDeleteThe city should put it up for auction!! The highest bidder could invest private funds and convert it to their liking...although the neighborhood will be a tuff sale...lot of people with ideas but know one in the NE has any money..
ReplyDelete