Mayor Lucas and the Kansas City City Council have allotted 600 million dollars of taxpayer money to the building of the Baseball Stadium at Washington Park, across from Crown Center and next to Union Station. It has done so without the consent of the citizens of Kansas City or Jackson County, who will bear the additional taxes this endeavor will create. It has done so without giving the people of Kansas City and Jackson County a voice in the location and costs of the stadium, without listening to concerns of the citizens. In fact, in a recent City Council Meeting a man tried to voice his opinion and was arrested, manhandled and removed from the meeting by force.
If you did not believe that the Mayor and the City Council are NOT working for the people of Kansas City, this should be your wake up call.
Location
The broader 35-acre mixed-use ballpark district spans roughly between 22nd Street, 27th Street, Main Street, and Gillham Road, sitting near Washington Square Park and Crown Center. And while there are a number of parking spaces there at the moment, all of the former Hallmark Cards employee parking will be destroyed for the complex to be placed.
Access
So, Grand Avenue will be your main thorough-fare to the stadium from the 670 bypass through downtown. There is nearby Interstate 35 to the west, which would have to be modified to add exit and entrance ramps giving access the area. Getting in and out of the area is going to be difficult and making it easier is going to be VERY costly as road work will be required.
Parking
Parking is going to be another major issue. There is already a limited amount of public parking in the area, well, so-called public parking. Most of the parking areas are owned by Standard Parking which already has a history of driving up prices when there is an event near their lots (aka Price Gouging). They call it Special Events or Event parking and prices are in the minds of many … outrageous.
And we can’t really fall back on Public Transportation. The public transportation system in Kansas City is dismal. Special benefits given to the homeless and impoverished have put people on the buses that have given riding public transportation a negative reputation. People don’t see riding the buses as being a safe option for travelling around the Kansas City area, and there is a limited amount of public transportation to areas outside of downtown Kansas City that travel into downtown Kansas City.
The Street Car is an option as well, but it suffers the same problems as the KCATA Bus services. And if these two means of Public transportation were utilized and improved, where would people park? Not in downtown Kansas City. Standard parking would raise parking prices for events (aka Price Gouging) and continue to not provide ample protection of the vehicles parked in their lots from the problematic homeless that plague downtown Kansas City and the ‘bottoms’.
Remember Municipal Stadium?
Located at the intersection of 22nd and Brooklyn, Municipal Stadium was the home of the Kansas City Athletics (A’s) and the Kansas City Chiefs. When Charles Finley purchased the Kansas City A’s, he immediately started looking for options outside of the area. He fought with Kansas City leadership about needing a sports complex where the baseball and football teams would have separate stadiums. He would end up moving the team to Oakland, citing poor attendance and better facilities. The A’s had a losing record 10 of 12 years of their time in Kansas City. The result of losing the A’s would be the development of the current Kansas City Sports Complex.
The location of the Kansas City Sports Complex was chosen for several reasons. First, it was easily accessible, being at the intersection of Interstates 70 and 435. It had room for lots of parking, enough to handle sold out games for either team. And it had room for economic development, which the City and County failed to properly implement, managing to kill off the hotel that was already located there and other local businesses in the immediate area.
Now our City leaders want to put the stadium in an area where there is no room for improvements, for more economic development. Will it manage to be the death of Crown Center? Will it throw a shadow over Union Station that could take away all the work that they have done to revitalize it?
And is this nothing more than a knee jerk reaction to the loss of the Kansas City Chiefs to Kansas? Did they not get the hint, the proposed site for the new Arrowhead project is in an area where development is thriving AND has great accessibility as it sits very near the western intersection of Interstates 70 and 435.
Taxpayer Dollars without a Voice
There are a lot of people who do not want this stadium at Crown Center or in the Downtown Region. There are a lot of people who do not want the City throwing taxpayer dollars at a stadium that they fear will cost the citizens of Kansas City and Jackson County more money than it will bring in in revenue. They fear the problems that the stadium will bring into the area, which so many people have fought to improve.
Has the leadership of Kansas City listened to their concerns? Apparently not. Not allowing the people to have a voice in the decision making process. Not letting the people have a voice in their tax dollars being spent on this proposed stadium. Voting to throw 600 million in tax dollars at this project … despite public objections. No, the Kansas City leadership is NOT listening to it’s citizens, but those who stand to profit from this stadium and it’s proposed location.
And what about me? What about the average citizen who cannot afford to attend major sporting events because while I pay the taxes to keep these stadiums up and running, I don’t get any break on ticket prices over those with no investment. I can’t afford to park at the stadiums when the Chiefs are playing, let alone buy tickets to the nose bleed section of the stadium. I should have a say in how my tax dollars are being given to a billionaire so that he can have a new stadium to profit from. I should have a say in where this stadium is built so that I can feel more confident that my tax dollars aren’t going to be wasted.
