So we got a $1.8 million profit from the Sprint Center. That's terrific!

Too bad it only covers a fourth of the shortfall for the Power and Light District.

Seriously, the most interesting part of the article was when the AEG official said we wouldn't have gotten that kind of profit if we had a major-league sports tenant. That's because those teams hold strong bargaining power and they demand huge subsidies that cut into those profits.

So, the solution's simple, right? Let's just go without a major-league team.

Except...

We need more folks coming into the area more often so we can come closer to breaking even on Power and Light.

See what happens when cities get hooked on giving subsidies to corporations? It's like being a pill popper. One takes you up. The other brings you down.

It's ironic that a recent column by the Star's Mary Sanchez has the headline "Take a Close Look at Mayor's Appointees," because it does anything but.

In it, Sanchez warns that the mayor shouldn't try to stack this board that decides on tax breaks with "Funkhouser Mini-Me’s: People seemingly perplexed and leery of anyone they perceive as having deep pockets."

Hmm. Let's see. He has already made several appointments to the TIF Commission. Who might those people be?

Well, one of them is Claudia Onate Greim, an attorney with John Ashcroft's firm. That's the John Ashcroft -- former attorney general for George W. Bush and general pal of the rich.

Before taking her job with Ashcroft's firm, she was a development attorney.

Sanchez also cautioned that, "Long term, the only problem with Funkhouser’s goal of putting 'regular folks' on boards and commissions is that too often, regular folks do not have the education or experience to hold those positions. That... [Read More]

The Pitch recently ran an awesome story about prostitution in my neighborhood, the Historic Northeast. Definitely worth a read.

Shortly after I moved here in 2003, I did a ride along with the vice squad while they ran a sting on John's. It was an unforgettable experience. At one point the cars were lined up three deep, like the queue at a fast food drive thru.

I was astonished to know how many people are prowling my neighborhood in search of cheap sex.

It's a vexing problem. I'm not sure the solutions suggested in the article are going to work, or if they're even morally right. I've often thought it might be best just to create a zone for the sex business in one of the desolate areas down by the Sheffield steelyards.

It'll never happen. So... [Read More]

It was a 7-6 vote.

If there was ever proof that the City Council is hopelessly fractured it came in yesterday's vote to move the city's ambulance service into the fire department.

But that's not the worst of it.

Bill Scaggs voted opposite of Deb Hermann. 

I always thought they were a one-two punch.

I'll have to chat with them to find out what's going on. I can't imagine that they're not on amicable terms.

But still. This just shows that there is no core group on the council that can work together and reach consensus.

And that's troubling because it makes the policy process more susceptible to manipulation, hardball tactics and deal making.

If there was ever proof that the City Council is hopelessly fractured it came in yesterday's vote to move the city's ambulance service into the fire department.

The stuff I dug up about the Code of Ethics for the ICMA, and the implication the could have on City Manager Wayne Cauthen, call to mind the excellent article David Martin of the Pitch wrote a couple of years ago.

Martin lays out thousands of dollars in campaign contributions made to former mayoral candidate Alvin Brooks by Coloradans with ties to Cauthen, who worked for Denver's mayor before coming to KC. They were all recorded in succession over the course of a couple of days, leading one to logically suspect that Cauthen might well have solici... [Read More]

Here's my basic gripe: We supposedly can't afford bike paths, dog parks, sidewalks and modern sewer pipes -- all stuff that we who live here desperately want and need.

Yet we're going to sink millions into something we hope will lure people who live here

I mean, come on.

I understand that tourist trade helps a local economy. But does it help it more than basic services?

That is, for the economy to thrive in a city, people have to want to live and work in that city. And if we take even more money away from the stuff that is important to the people who already live here, people are going to move away.

It's simple economics.

I read Tom Bogdon's story about Bill George and the supposded need for a downtown hotel. Bogdon doesn't mention in the article that George co-chairs the committee that's trying to figure out how to... [Read More]

You can read it here.

The big news today is that the KC Parks Board effectively killed a three-year grassroots effort to build a dog park in a neighborhood south of the Plaza.

Buried in the Star's account is an exchange between Parks Commissioner Aggie Stackhaus and Deb Hipp, who spearheaded the dog park campaign:

Hipp was particularly critical of Commissioner Aggie Stackhaus for rolling her eyes and making faces when the Sunnyside advocates spoke. Stackhaus made no apology.

“I’ve worked tirelessly for this city,” she shot back. “I’ve read all the (dog park) documents. If my face conveys my lack of enthusiasm, that’s correct.”

No, Aggie. It's not lack of enthusiasm. It's rolling your eyes and making faces like a teenager with a sever insecurity complex. 

These "documents" she talks about were produced by a task force of citizens appointed by the mayor and members of the City Council. These people volunteered their time for a year -- at the Parks B... [Read More]

I am looking forward to next week's offerings. Will you always be publishing on Mondays?

PIEA’s LADCO Project

This morning’s PIEA meeting was an interesting one, concerning the LADCO project. This project was for a “blighted area” in the River market and will allow a law firm to receive 25 year property tax abatement. The law firm Siegfried Bingham is the proposed main tenant of the new site and the firm would benefit from a maximum abatement.

After much testimony and discussion from the developer, taxing district reps, and PIEA board members, the PIEA board got it right. They agreed to allow the taxing districts to have a real say in the process and have an impact on the project. This seems to make sense considering it is these districts that lose out on the tax dollars that are being abated. This board considered the fact that tax dollars should go toward services for school children and library patrons than in the pockets of law firms and developers.

It was nice to see a group like the PIEA give all interested parties a voice. Isn’t that what the ... [Read More]