Sensible people at City Hall have looked at the numbers and determined that the decision to build a funporium in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, will ding taxpayers for years to come.
The news/non-news in today's Kansas City Star is that the Power & Light District will require an ongoing $10 million to $15 million annual subsidy. The city issued $295 million in bonds for the project in 2006 in the hope that visitors would buy enough burgers and vodka tonics to pay off the creditors. But faulty assumptions and the economic downtown have trashed that theory.
City Manager Troy Schulte says he believes that Power & Light District will never be able to support itself. He encourages taxpayers to come on down and enjoy the district, "because you're paying for it."
Two of the ribbon cutters, meanwhile, accuse Schulte -- the city's former chief budget officer -- of being a Debbie Downer.
Former Mayor Kay Barnes, who worked to make the Power & Light District happen, told Star writer Kevin Collison that reality may come into line with the projections down the road. The man Schulte replaced, Wayne Cauthen, thinks city officials should speak to the people who put the expectations together, presumably to give them a chance to be wrong twice.
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Two of the ribbon cutters, meanwhile, accuse Schulte -- the city's former chief budget officer -- of being a Debbie Downer
Sorta like the way they accused anybody who wasn't rah-rah-rah in favor of the P&L in the first place of being a "Debbie Downer" or lacking civic spirit.
Unfortunately for them, it certainly appears the "Debbie Downers" were 100% correct and the rah-rah P&L crowd was entirely full of shit.
The Kansas City Power and Light district was the worst thing to happen to this city in the last 10 years...closing down local bars and restaurants, driving up drink costs all over the city, causing unrest between the citizens liveing in different parts of the city, and finally if all of that wasn't enough now they are going to take our money to keep open a place of recreation while we are closing schools and fireing teachers. You have got wonder at what point are people elected to take care of the city going to take a long hard look at the way they make choices?
Take the dress code away, let whoever wants a beer have one, reduce drink prices, and provide no subsidy. What is the worst that could happen? Cordish goes out of business. Big deal. Certainly, as a city we can survive that. A few bars close. Big deal.
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