Russ Johnson cherry-picks data to establish downtown’s awesomeness

City officials are working hard to justify the investment in the Power & Light District in the face of a grim financial outlook, the subject of this week’s column.

Councilwoman Cindy Circo put on her hard hat and described the struggling bond issue on her blog as a $150 million sewer project.”The improvements above ground are just icing on the cake,” she wrote. Opining in The Kansas City Star, Councilman Russ Johnson went the Downtown Comes Alive! route, touting attendance figures at the Sprint Center and Bartle Hall. Johnson noted that convention business from May through July is up 28 percent from last year. What Johnson didn’t say was that 2009, his baseline for comparison, was a pretty lousy year for conventions.