Downtown KC Royals Stadium Doomed By Mayor Q's Hubris?!?

Mayor Q had two years to learn from the 2024 stadium defeat and the only lesson he seems to have learned is that voters are to be avoided rather than engaged. 

Moreover . . . 

THE WASHINGTON SQUARE PARK STADIUM PROPOSAL & DEARTH OF VOTER PARTICIPATION SEEMS DOOMED TO FAIL!!!

 Our main takeaway . . .

With BILLIONS of dollars at stake it's strange that neither the Royals nor Mayor Q looked outside of their small civic circle of acolytes in order to talk with local biz, fans and so many other stakeholders to form consensus . . . Rather than building a coalition, this plan looks like nothing more than a closed-door behind the scenes ripoff scheme. 

We'll see if the home team and Mayor Q can bounce back and suppress so much preliminary resistance but from the outset of this latest effort . . . There seems to be absolutely no grassroots support other than the social media bot accounts the city's PR team has already placed into action. 

And so . . . 

Here's a quote and more follow-up links . . . 

Unlike the 2024 public vote, this year’s was limited to the city government, and the result was almost unanimous. There were only two exceptions: a ‘No’ from Willett, while 1st district council member-at-large Crispin Rea presently abstained. All that’s left for the proposal is for the City Council and Royals to agree on final arrangements.

In the crowd: a laugh, shaking heads, and complaints that rose to a roar just outside of the chamber. Rather than a stadium, they believed, the City should put more funds towards improvements to public transportation, roads, and affordable housing.

“Today, they seem focused on billionaires’ playgrounds and economic development over our people, and that ain’t right,” says organizer Terrance Wise. “If you leave this space, you have the right to be angry. You have the right to be frustrated. But you don’t have the right to give up and quit.”

Wise declared another action to take place on May 1, on the grounds of Washington Square Park.

Missouri House candidate Hartzell Gray also showed in support of the Missouri Workers Center . . .

############# 

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com links . . .

A Royals stadium ordinance just steamrolled through city government. The public has a few small critiques.

The Missouri Workers Center brings an anti-stadium protest to the city council meeting // Photo by Kylie Volavongsa At the beginning of Kansas City's April 26 city council meeting, Pastor David McDaniel's opening prayer seemed to foreshadow a foregone yet historic decision in the minutes to come.

Inside Kansas City's $600 million bet on a downtown Royals ballpark

If everything goes right, new taxes generated by a $1.9 billion ballpark will help pay off a $600 million city loan to help finance the deal. But if it goes wrong, that money could be drained from city services.

Kansas City Council approves next step for potential downtown Royals stadium

The Kansas City Council on Thursday approved an ordinance that keeps the city moving forward on a potential new downtown ballpark for the Kansas City Royals.

Kansas City Council passes plan for new Royals stadium downtown. The team still needs to agree

The city will now start to finalize the ballpark deal with the Royals, even though the team has not announced Washington Square Park as its preferred location. Kansas City would be on the hook for about $600 million of the $1.9 billion stadium.

Developing . . .