Lamar Hunt is STILL ALIVE...
and he still wants our tax money!
Lets back and review, shall we? Mr. Peabody, set the Wayback Machine for November 2004.
The Chiefs and Royals were pushing for a multi-county, multi-state, sales tax that would have paid for upgrades to both stadiums. "Think Big" was the motto of that rush to get into the wealthy pockets of Johnson County Kansas citizens. The KC Star wrote articles and editorials proclaiming that this was the only way to keep Kansas City "Big League", and that losing the teams would have a severe economic impact.
Well, on November 2nd the voters in three Missouri, and two Kansas counties went to the polls and only Jackson County Missouri residents approved the tax. That meant it didn't pass, because Johnson County Kansas and Clay County Missouri had to also pass it for it to take effect. It was no surprise that Jackson County residents approved it... they are going to pay for it all now, and that is as it should be. The stadiums are in Jackson County. Jackson County negotiates the leases with the teams. Leases that are heavily weighted in favor of the team owners.
So, BiState II goes down in flames and everyone wonders what will happen next. Well, about a month ago a group of downtown KC businessmen got together and made a proposal to build a new baseball stadium... downtown of course. It would be a smaller stadium than the current Kaufmann and it wouldn't be located in the middle of nothing. You have to understand, Kaufmann and Arrowhead are at the intersection of 435 and 70 on the eastern side of KC... and there is nothing else for miles! No restaurants, no bars, no stores... nothing. The only reason a person gets off the highway in that area is to go to the Sports Complex. So building a downtown baseball park and moving the Royals downtown made sense. People working downtown would have easy access to attending a game... on the spur of the moment. And business in that area would probably see an increase in foot traffic.
Well, the Chiefs started making waves. The leases of both teams state that whatever one gets, the other gets. The Chiefs stomped their feet and held their breath... and the Royals came out last week and said "we don't want a downtown stadium, just fix up Kaufmann". You think that made the Chiefs happy? No freakin way!
In todays KC Star, the Chiefs are saying they want Arrowhead upgraded, not just maintained... as the leases call for and the Royals have agreed to. “Just sitting back and doing nothing is not the answer for the Chiefs,” Jack Steadman (Chiefs chairman) said. “We're going to continue to push for renovation. We have to. We have no other choice if we're going to be a competitive team.”
How does a stadium make a team competitive? I figure it's players that make a team competitive. Well Jack believes that if the Chiefs have a better stadium, they'll make more money, which will allow them to pay more money to players. Hmmmmm... yeah, sorta makes sense I guess. Unless like me you are a fan of the New England Patriots, a team that doesn't pay top dollar for players yet seems to be competitive (LMAO... they've won 3 of the last 4 Super Bowls, they are the picture in the dictionary next to competitive). Jack Steadman is talking to the KC area folk like a bunch of idiots... and I hope for their sake they aren't. He wants your wallet Jackson County. He knows he won't get tax money from Kansas, so he's going to try and make it sound like the end of the world... but it's not.
If you live in Jackson County Missouri, allow me to make a recommendation. Call your county commissioners. Tell them you think raising the taxes to pay for luxury boxes and other renovations at the Truman Sports Complex is a good idea... with one condition:
The leases get reworked to give the power back to taxpayers, not the billionaires holding the taxpayers hostage every 15 years.
Lets back and review, shall we? Mr. Peabody, set the Wayback Machine for November 2004.
The Chiefs and Royals were pushing for a multi-county, multi-state, sales tax that would have paid for upgrades to both stadiums. "Think Big" was the motto of that rush to get into the wealthy pockets of Johnson County Kansas citizens. The KC Star wrote articles and editorials proclaiming that this was the only way to keep Kansas City "Big League", and that losing the teams would have a severe economic impact.
Well, on November 2nd the voters in three Missouri, and two Kansas counties went to the polls and only Jackson County Missouri residents approved the tax. That meant it didn't pass, because Johnson County Kansas and Clay County Missouri had to also pass it for it to take effect. It was no surprise that Jackson County residents approved it... they are going to pay for it all now, and that is as it should be. The stadiums are in Jackson County. Jackson County negotiates the leases with the teams. Leases that are heavily weighted in favor of the team owners.
So, BiState II goes down in flames and everyone wonders what will happen next. Well, about a month ago a group of downtown KC businessmen got together and made a proposal to build a new baseball stadium... downtown of course. It would be a smaller stadium than the current Kaufmann and it wouldn't be located in the middle of nothing. You have to understand, Kaufmann and Arrowhead are at the intersection of 435 and 70 on the eastern side of KC... and there is nothing else for miles! No restaurants, no bars, no stores... nothing. The only reason a person gets off the highway in that area is to go to the Sports Complex. So building a downtown baseball park and moving the Royals downtown made sense. People working downtown would have easy access to attending a game... on the spur of the moment. And business in that area would probably see an increase in foot traffic.
Well, the Chiefs started making waves. The leases of both teams state that whatever one gets, the other gets. The Chiefs stomped their feet and held their breath... and the Royals came out last week and said "we don't want a downtown stadium, just fix up Kaufmann". You think that made the Chiefs happy? No freakin way!
In todays KC Star, the Chiefs are saying they want Arrowhead upgraded, not just maintained... as the leases call for and the Royals have agreed to. “Just sitting back and doing nothing is not the answer for the Chiefs,” Jack Steadman (Chiefs chairman) said. “We're going to continue to push for renovation. We have to. We have no other choice if we're going to be a competitive team.”
How does a stadium make a team competitive? I figure it's players that make a team competitive. Well Jack believes that if the Chiefs have a better stadium, they'll make more money, which will allow them to pay more money to players. Hmmmmm... yeah, sorta makes sense I guess. Unless like me you are a fan of the New England Patriots, a team that doesn't pay top dollar for players yet seems to be competitive (LMAO... they've won 3 of the last 4 Super Bowls, they are the picture in the dictionary next to competitive). Jack Steadman is talking to the KC area folk like a bunch of idiots... and I hope for their sake they aren't. He wants your wallet Jackson County. He knows he won't get tax money from Kansas, so he's going to try and make it sound like the end of the world... but it's not.
If you live in Jackson County Missouri, allow me to make a recommendation. Call your county commissioners. Tell them you think raising the taxes to pay for luxury boxes and other renovations at the Truman Sports Complex is a good idea... with one condition:
The leases get reworked to give the power back to taxpayers, not the billionaires holding the taxpayers hostage every 15 years.
posted by P. McB. at 5:08 PM
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