Petition trying to stave off changes to KCI without public vote lands at Kansas City clerk’s office

The Friends of KCI, a citizens group largely committed to keeping Kansas City International Airport the way it is, sent a petition to City Hall that would halt any drastic changes to the airport without a public vote.

John Murphy, a Brookside resident who represents Friends of KCI, said his group had fetched a “few hundred more” signatures than the 3,572 needed and dropped it off Tuesday afternoon with the Kansas City Clerk’s Office.

“It was wrapped in a bow, and Santa Claus delivered it,” Murphy says.

The petition, if adopted, would compel a public vote if the city were to, say, replace the current three-terminal KCI design into a one-terminal setup coveted by several Kansas City council members.

“Essentially, it asks that before anything gets done to the Kansas City airport, the citizens of Kansas City, Missouri, get to vote on it first,” Murphy tells The Pitch.

Of course, there’s always that risk that the council nixes the petition or a vote that gets taken as a result of the petition, like it did to transit agitator Clay Chastain when he finally managed to get a light-rail plan passed.

“It would be a big mistake for them to do that,” Murphy responds. “This is an issue people of Kansas City are extremely passionate about. They could do it, but they would do it at their own risk.”