An All-Amateur Vote
One demographic we didn’t hear much about during the stadium tax debate was pro ballplayers. After all, members of the Royals and Chiefs stand to gain directly from stadium upgrades, but the players themselves seemed conspicuously absent from the whole campaign.
That may be because not one Royals player or Chiefs starter is registered to vote in Jackson County.
Chiefs spokesman Bob Moore says the likely explanation is that many players maintain dual residencies. Others live elsewhere in the metro; quarterback Trent Green, who grew up in St. Louis, lives in Kansas, Moore says. The Chiefs organization was apparently unaware that none of its players were eligible to vote on the stadium upgrade. Moore says the front office sent each player a flier encouraging him to vote yes: “We wanted every vote.”
Royals players are Kansas City residents for the summer only, says team spokesman Dave Holtzman.
So don’t think of our pro ballplayers as slackers. They just don’t live here.
Eminent Error
The high-priced law firm of Bryan Cave has earned millions in fees by pushing paperwork in the redevelopment of downtown Kansas City. But big legal bills can’t keep a firm from losing a case over something as simple as missing a deadline.
The case was an eminent-domain lawsuit filed by the Tax Increment Finance Commission, a city agency that had sought to seize a pay-to-park lot at the southwest corner of 12th Street and Broadway.
The City Council had authorized a redevelopment plan for the parking lot’s neighborhood on September 2, 1999, and awarded the contract to developer DST Realty. The plan was to put a five-story office building on the site. Under state law, seized property must be acquired within five years of a development plan’s adoption. Bryan Cave filed a condemnation petition on behalf of the TIF Commission on September 13, 2004 — 11 days late.
Oops.
Last month, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that the TIF Commission had no right to the land because five years had passed. “They just waited too long to even try to take it,” says Rhonda Smiley, the attorney for the parking lot’s owner, 78-year-old California rancher Theodora Carpenter.
Bryan Cave partner Steve Mauer tells the Pitch that the TIF Commission tried to strike a deal with the owners of the lot. “They just wouldn’t talk about it,” he says.
The parking lot debacle is not the first time that the TIF Commission has had its wrists slapped when trying to seize land. Last year, a Jackson County judge would not allow the agency to condemn Gigi’s Wigs because the store wasn’t in an official redevelopment plan.
Bryan Cave billed the city $43,373 in the failed attempt to take the wig shop. The TIF Commission has paid the firm more than $105,000 since November 2004 to acquire the parking lot.
As for the office building DST Realty proposed, the worth of such a project seems questionable. Nearly 20 percent of downtown office space was vacant at year’s end.
Of course, an idea doesn’t have to make sense for the lawyers to get paid.
Puking: It’s Patriotic
It’s no secret that reporters like free crap. So when Worlds of Fun invited the media last Thursday for a gratis ride on its new roller coaster, more than 100 press hounds flooded the place. Scribes from Lawrence to Jefferson City showed up.
The reporters shamelessly took their free rides, scored free crystal paperweights and cotton candy. Joining them on the coaster were some off-duty Kansas City cops who had joined the media circus. Officer Jim Frank of traffic enforcement had taken the day off and showed up as soon as the gates opened at 5:30 a.m. He rode with friend Sgt. Joe McHale, of Central Patrol’s SWAT team.
At the end of the press conference, Frank walked through turnstiles and down the plank to the coaster. He admitted, “This is my 30th time.”
After the heart-pounding, stomach-wrenching trip, McHale looked calm and ready for another go. He and Frank stayed seated as the next group piled on the coaster. “That’s a stress reliever,” McHale said, who was dressed in his SWAT gear so that he could go straight to work later in the afternoon. Now that’s an environment of real adrenaline.
After the ride, it was off to lunch for the two officers. They filled up on beans, potato salad, coleslaw and barbecue. After stuffing their bellies full of the saucy delight, the officers said they weren’t ready to leave.
Finally, the press smelled something real to cover: the possibility that two thrill-seeking officers might lose their lunch while the cameras rolled. That’s American spirit. Unfortunately for the media horde, the two officers kept from barfing.
