Pitch Offers Kansas City Airport Roundup

A nice summary of some of the top issues so far but with a bit too much emphasis on Burns & Mac talking points from the late Summer . . . Still, the sense of exasperation with the already convoluted process is something that most KCMO political watchers will appreciate. Checkit:

What's happening with the Kansas City airport is astonishing, but not for the reasons you probably think

If you are the type of person who has casually followed this year's most dramatic local news story - that would be Kansas City's grueling civic march to build itself a new airport - you could be forgiven for getting the impression that, over the past five days, something very bad has transpired.

Comments

  1. Little or no financial information on the project, little or no information on the hotel deal... anyone see a pattern?

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  2. Astonishing that the KC (Falling) Star has degenerated to the point that it gets out-reported and humiliated by the PEEYOTCH, isn't it?

    Not sure which amazed me the most, the Star's failures on this issue or the Pitch's actually taking time and space away from kissing up to the latest "Artists", "Musicians" and "hot-spot" Bars and Eateries to publish something that really relates to the KC Area.

    Hey, KC Star Editorial Board, your asses just got owned!

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  3. Only the Pitch could look at this bungled mess of incompetence and think it's a positive.

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  4. Hey 8:09AM, If the Star is failing as you assert, why are you reading it? You sure seem to eat their shit. Hate to break it to you...the Star owns you!

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    1. Mary, Fence, or Stink Rose, 'zat you? Mebbe some of us read the free rag laying around in the breakroom, at the coffee spot, or by the office recycler bin, just for small amusements. Hey, some days we may glance the skimpy local interest items, but those sales ads and coupons are usually the primary use of the global and national wire services wrapper.

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    2. Jenee...wtf, Fence?

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  5. The STAR seems insistent on proving it's irrelevance to most discussions on an ongoing basis.

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  6. The Pitch article is an interesting read -- but wildly inaccurate!

    The City staff (of which I am often critical) and the City's retained counsel (whose work had already shaved $300 MILLION of the original cost estimates) negotiated a proposed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in which Edgemoor essentially met everything the City requested. If there were other things the councilmembers wanted, they should have made that clearer to THEIR staff and lawyer -- or directly to Edgemoor. When problems arise on an MOU, the rational thing to do is to postpone action and work out the kinks, not try to scrap the winning bidder that you have used to sell the KCI approval to the voters a month earlier!

    Some Councilmembers who NEVER reconciled themselves to the results of the bid process -- and who would never take "yes" as an answer from Edgemoor -- did their colleagues no favor when they convinced them to vote down the MOU. Fortunately, many balked at any action that would shut the door entirely and are now working to get the matter back on track.

    When AECOM announced its new "partnership" with Burns & Mac, the little "wizards" behind the curtain became visible. They were trying to engineer a political coup d'état against the bid process -- and The Star (of whom I am also often critical) saw right through it.

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  7. I guess Phil's comment goes a long way toward explaining why Katheryn Shields-Cardarella switched sides and jumped on board with the Mayor so soon after she grabbed some publicity by joining two other Councilwomen in questioning a shady City Deal, doesn't it?

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  8. Yes, 8:08 a.m. poster, we do see a pattern. We're the "Bait & Switch" capitol of the world. Promise anything and everything and then come back and deny everything.

    By the way, has anyone seen the list of projects that will be paid for by the $800 million dollar GO Bonds?

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  9. There is a Sly Dog in this deal. Any time you get Reed on a side he is just following the alpha leader. Shields is the Big Dogs handler. That is who Sylman will endorse for new Mayor.

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  10. We were promised an NBA or NHL team if we approved the Sprint Center then we were promised a free airport and the gullible voters believed all of it. What phony promise is next?

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  11. Perhaps Reardon should acknowledge the incredibly wrong minded role the Chamber has had in the course of events leading up to this debacle. Does anyone really think the Chamber was not plugged into the Burns and Mac fix all along. Yeah right, expect this story to unravel, but it was self evident that no quality plan or process could take place in the force fed one month cluster that Sly orchestrated. The business leaders acting like that is good form, well they have lost the plot as a quality process that people can believe in with a well sorted plan, that is what needed to happen and didn't, note the Chamber didn't say boo then.

    You want to know how things got to this stage, well go back to the days of enthrall with Burns and Mac at the Chamber, even prior to Reardon, this is what a Rockhurst mafia fix looks like.

    https://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/blog/2011/08/james-reardon-kansas-city-area.html

    Now we get the puffed up rhetoric of we are shocked, shocked that things are not perfect. This unfortunately is the fall out from the fall out of the failed and found out fix. It is high comedy that now Sly and Reardon are talking about transparency, communications, integrity. They were the key players in the genesis of the fix all along.

    A line was crossed, from positive networking and alignment, to something that took on the purpose of an advantaged fix for inside interests. This will now be peeled back, but if the business players want to pressure urgency on moving a mess forward, then get ready to have push back and to have this whole debacle undressed like you have not seen before.

    I don't think the Chamber wants subpoenas and discovery, of their involvement all along, now Reardon acts like he needs to send a public letter, do you really think he doesn't talk to Sly regularly, please.

    Want to consider some coincidences, Reardon, Sly, Marcuse, Mark 1, Burns and Mac leadership when this began, Greg Graves, Merriman (the financing)all of Rockhurst. If you think this wasn't cooked up and purposely foisted to capture with fait accompli the billion dollar plus revenue stream we have a bridge to sell you. Note how the water carriers for the Airport fix have all been posturing as independent entities just aligned coincidentally. Bullfrog.

    Now the hounds of hell will start peeling the Onion. Sly and Reardon have been actors in this theatre for a long time, as have a great number of Rockhurst Mafia players, stay tuned. The Chamber should go back to business networking and not setting fixes, or rushing sloppy processes they actually had a hand in causing. The Area Economic development authority should go back to doing work supporting the growth of area businesses and attracting new ones. There will be an improved airport, the Rockhurst mafia should quiet down, and recuse themselves or get ready for real examination of their methods.

    Simply a coincidence, yeah right, but then Rockhurst gave Sly an ethics award right when this was all falling apart as a failed fix. This was purposeful strategy of the Rockhurst mafia, and it time to call it what it was. The Chamber acting like a one month slam period was adequate for the development of a plan to vote on was high comedy, and to now be pressuring the Council, perhaps Chamber you should get your own house in order.

    Any business entity that goes along with a one month rush for a billion dollar plus plan, when the effort is lead by admitted amateurs is lacking an intellectual rudder.

    Pretty sure the Rockhurst mafia doesn't want to slug out the details in the court of public opinion. This is the result of an insider quest for a billion dollar revenue stream, and it is not nearly over. Perhaps Chamber house cleaning is in order, at least they should refrain from blaming others for the mistakes they in fact caused, and then reinforced in recommending the rush. Rockhurst gave Sly the ethics award while he was engaged in all this, now the chickens have come home to roost. This might be a good case study for the business school at Rockhurst

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