Last week Kansas City public radio reported on the sordid topic of the Port Authority . . . Way before that, The Pitch has started following the flow of local money . . .
Now the newspaper offers this polite and overly cautious bit of coverage:
Port authority offers KC help with tax abatements, and takes heat for it
When old school hacks contend that we can't get along without the daily newspaper . . . Use the murky subject of Port Authority tax break shell game as an example of a story that has been floating around for more than a year until it surfaced in the pages of Kansas City Dead Tree Media.
Meanwhile, the effort to bypass voters on the downtown hotel, upcoming toy train line and the airport continues . . .
Developing . . .
Anything they support should at least have a puddle near it.
ReplyDeleteSURPRISE! When the Luddites abused the referendum process to create a situation where TIF projects could be held up and/killed -- by killing the terrific Helzberg project -- all they actually did was keep their ELECTED officials out of the process. They wanted to exercise a veto, and instead took themselves out of the process entirely.
ReplyDeleteThe message they wanted to send -- "Do what a small, non-elected minority want or do nothing" -- turns out to have been "Do whatever you want, with no say from our elected officials."
I guess that was not quite the "victory" they thought.
Phil,
ReplyDeleteThe "luddites" as you call them exercised a referendum to put it on the ballot. It was as true to democracy as you could possibly get. You are just so far up Helzberg's ass, you can't see the irony in your statement.
Reasonable people can disagree on the merit of the petitioners, but no one could suggest they sought it by non-democratic means.
Grow up
The port with no shipping. Jesus, its this town a goddam joke or is this town a goddam joke?
ReplyDeleteKC Star has been silent on Port Authority because that's where Congressman Carwash's daughter works, as well as it being a Democrat haven for do-nothing workers on government payroll.
ReplyDeletePhil,
ReplyDeleteFuck those citizens for trying to assert control over the conduct of their ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES!
Don't they know their ruling class knows better than they do?
Silly citizens.
Phil, what about those of us that think almost all elected officials are by definition corrupt or corruptible, thus should be kept away from development deals? The downside to the Authority plan is that it still has the mayor of KC as the controlling agent. Anyone that thinks Sly is not calling the shots is a fool (like the writer if the article).
ReplyDeleteDon't forget, Phil is married to Katy "The Con" Shields...
ReplyDeletePhil makes a good point because he understands the process and most people don't.
ReplyDeleteThe protesting might have felt good but in the end it was unproductive because it gave away control to a body with no accountability. At least we can vote for our council, while the port authority operates in secret.
7:01 + 1
ReplyDeleteI agree with a previous poster about WTF about a port authority, after all?
ReplyDeleteGrew up here and remembered when I was a kid there were tugs & barges on the MO river all the time but now, I can't even remember when I saw one in at least 10 years!
So port of what?
The Missouri was once a major river and very navigable. Then the Corps of Engineers demoted it to regional drainage ditch. That's what happened.
ReplyDelete