Still no money for Citadel Plaza

For the Citadel Plaza development, it appears the Wednesday night curveball is now par for the course.

Last week, the day before the Kansas City City Council was set to hand over $20.5 million in taxpayer dollars to the developers of a proposed $90-million shopping center at 63rd Street and Prospect Avenue, city finance director Jeffrey Yates recommended the city raid the capital improvements pot to find the cash.

That didn’t go over well.

This week, another idea surfaced from the finance department less than 24 hours before the money vote. The proposal prompted Mayor Mark Funkhouser to tell Yates, in a tone drenched in sarcasm: “You have an awful lot of courage.”

And it, once again, kept Citadel Plaza in a holding pattern.