Kansas City News Blog

Photo by Angela C. Bond

Terry Riley

​Fifth District Councilman Terry Riley led the resistance against Mayor Mark Funkhouser's takedown of City Manager Wayne Cauthen at City Hall on Thursday.

Before the chaotic, tedious legislative session began, Riley worked the room, huddling with reporters and the community activists who had come to support Cauthen. Once the suspension came up, he frequently asked for the floor in order to criticize the decision to remove Cauthen and the manner in which the mayor had made it happen. "I was totally ambushed today," he said.

Race was never far from the surface. Riley complained that he and the other two African-Americans on the council -- Melba Curls and Sharon Sanders Brooks -- had not known of the mayor's intent to terminate Cauthen until Funkhouser put it in motion. "Do I count?" Riley asked Funkhouser.

Defending Cauthen, Riley spoke for a segment of the black community. ("If this isn't racism, I don't know what is," an African-American man in the gallery said as he left the council chamber.) He was also representing the interests of downtown business leaders.

​This week's Martin column describes neighborhood groups' frustration with Go Invest Wisely, a Utah company that gobbled up dozens of foreclosed homes in Kansas City.

Last month, Legal Aid of Western Missouri sent Go Invest Wisely a letter asking the company to sell or repair of its inventory of houses, many of which were bought for $7,000 and less. Legal Aid asked the company to respond by November 13, but the deadline passed without action. 

I took a look at some of the vacant houses Go Invest Wisely owns. The images aren't pretty. Click here for a slideshow.

​A Missouri appeals court recently took up an interesting question: Does the use of a Whizzinator constitute forgery?

Robert Smothers of Moberly, Missouri, was subject to drug testing as a condition of his bond. Smothers was submitting a sample when a police officer administering the test heard a snapping noise. Asked about the suspicious ruckus, Smith allegedly admitted to using a Whizzinator device.

Randolph County charged Smothers with forgery and possession of forging instrumentality. Bogus, said Smith's lawyer, who argued that the state's forgery laws did not apply to urine samples. A circuit court agreed, and the charges were dismissed in 2008.

The prosecutor appealed, asserting that Smothers acted with a purpose to defraud.

​Kansas City, Missouri, does not lack for sad-looking houses. So when the city orders one of them to be demolished, you can be certain it's a real dump.

Go Invest Wisely, the subject of this week's Martin column, owns a house in the Northeast that's slated for demolition. The Utah-based company bought the Cypress Avenue house in the summer of 2008 for $6,125.

A player in the "bulk foreclosure" business, Go Invest Wisely buys homes on the cheap in the hopes of renting them or selling them to another investor. But only a bulldozer would see the potential in some of these places.

The Cypress house was a nuisance before Go Invest Wisely added it to its collection. A few weeks before Go Invest Wisely made the purchase, the city hired a contractor to board up its front door.

Power & Light security escorted a man in a white T-shirt out of the district's St. Patrick's Day party earlier this year.

​Acknowledging that its dress code was a public-relations debacle, Power & Light District officials announced their intention to form an oversight board.

Standing in front of the predominantly African-American workers who enforce the dress code in the district's Kansas City Live! block, Zed Smith, the district's managing partner, invited the NAACP, the Urban League, the Kansas City Police Department, elected officials and others to serve on the board. Smith said the board would meet in public and have authority over an independent contractor hired to enforce the dress code.

Smith said the "unprecedented" step was being taken in spite of the district's confidence that its dress code is color-blind. "Our objective here is transparency," Smith said. "We want to assure the community of Kansas City that the dress code is being implemented without bias, without regard to race."

Last year, city leaders complained that the Cordish Company, the district's developer, was using the dress code to exclude African-Americans. Denying the policy was racist, Cordish officials unsuccessfully resisted the city's attempt to rewrite the standards of acceptable dress.

Burrell Mohler Sr.

​The sickening allegations against Burrell Mohler Sr. and four of his sons have brought unwelcome attention to the Community of Christ, a church that's headquartered in Independence. Mohler and two of his sons, David Mohler and Jared Mohler, are lay ministers in the church. (Saying the allegations were being taken seriously, the church suspended the individuals' "priesthood licenses.")

At times like these, it's perhaps helpful to remind ourselves what the Community of Christ is and is not. When the story broke, NBC Action News referred to the church as "a cross between Christian Orthodox" -- huh? -- "and Mormonism."

The Community of Christ and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or the Mormon Church, share the teachings of Joseph Smith. But they are not the same. The fork developed after Smith, the movement's original prophet, was killed by a mob in Illinois in 1844. Brigham Young led a group of followers to Utah. Smith's widow, Emma Smith, meanwhile, remained with her family in Illinois. Eventually, her eldest son, Joseph Smith III, reported receiving a calling from God to head a new church, which in 1872 became known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The church moved to Independence in 1920.

Deb Hermann

​Frustrated by the lack of activity at Antioch Center, Northland representatives want to put pressure on the shopping center's erstwhile redeveloper.

Eastbourne Investments, the aging mall's Canadian owner, put forward a plan in 2004 to remake the mall with taxpayer assistance. The City Council approved a deal in which tax-increment financing (TIF) and other public sources would cover half of the $80 million project's costs.

Yet today Antioch Center remains an outdated, salmon-colored facility with few tenants. And city officials are getting impatient. "Nothing has happened," says Kansas City Councilwoman Deb Hermann.

Hermann sits on a committee that advises the Antioch TIF plan. Last month, the committee discussed Eastbourne's inability to make things happen. The committee passed a motion asking the TIF Commission to review the redevelopment agreement.

Kit Bond

​A new book written by Missouri Senator and inveterate head tilter Kit Bond held Jon Stewart's interest for three-and-a-half minutes before the Daily Show host moved on to a more interesting subject.

Yesterday Bond sat across the table from Stewart to discuss the tome he's written with former Time reporter Lewis Simons, The Next Front: Southeast Asia and the Road to Global Peace With Islam. Bond advocates the use of "smart power," which sounds a little like the foreign-policy equivalent of saying you're a social liberal and a fiscal conservative.

In the edited interview, Bond talked about terrorism and nation building before Stewart shifted the discussion to health care. The two giggled about the lower house of Congress' scruffier elements. Stewart compared the U.S. House to the Delta Tau Chi fraternity house immortalized in Animal House.

"I went to Washington 23 years ago thinking I didn't understand the House of Representatives," Bond quipped. "Now I know I don't."

Cindy Circo

​A city committee exploring the development of a 1,000-room convention hotel decided that it needed to hire a communications professional. The choice? The committee chair's campaign manager.

On Tuesday, the Kansas City Convention Center Hotel Development Steering Committee awarded KC Consulting a contract "to educate and inform constituents regarding the potential development" of the hotel. KC Consulting is run by Kim Carlos, an attorney and political consultant. Carlos, a former aide to former Third District Councilman Troy Nash and the co-author of a book about living with breast cancer, formed KC Consulting in 2003.

Councilwoman Cindy Circo chairs the steering committee. Campaign records indicate that her campaign paid KC Consulting five payments of $4,000 over the first five months of 2007, the year Circo won her seat.

J.D. Bell (center) and kin the night they were allegedly denied admittance to Mosaic

​Debate about the Power & Light District's controversial dress code is moving from City Hall to the Jackson County courthouse.

Standing near the entrance to the KC Live! block, members of an extended African-American family described the discrimination they felt they encountered on a visit to the downtown entertainment district in August. The family is represented by superlawyer Arthur Benson, who says venues inside the district monitor racial composition in an effort to prevent the clientele mix from getting "too dark."

On Tuesday, Benson sent a letter to the Missouri Commission on Human Rights on behalf of Khiana Leapheart, a 34-year-old Kansas City, Missouri, resident. The letter states that Leapheart and six relatives celebrating a family reunion were prevented from entering Mosaic Lounge because the much-debated dress code was unfairly enforced.

A member of Leapheart's party, J.D. Bell III, said today that a door attendant at Mosaic asked him to tuck in his shirt. Bell says he complied but was still denied entrance, even as similarly dressed whites were allowed in the club. 

​A committee studying the notion of a downtown convention hotel is beginning to spend its $500,000 allowance.

On Tuesday, the committee selected a consultant who will endeavor to find the City of Kansas City, Missouri, a developer and a hotelier. The proposal that's brought back will then be examined by a third party to determine the size of the crater it will make in the city budget. A "convention headquarters" hotel will require substantial taxpayer assistance if it's to be built.

Councilwoman Cindy Circo, who chairs the Kansas City Convention Center Hotel Development Steering Committee, says the third-party review will serve as a "reality check" against the typically lofty promises of developers. "Whoever wants to do the deal is going to bring you whatever it is you want to hear, is going to bring you all the numbers to say, 'Yes, this is the right thing to do.' We wanted to make sure we had a stopgap."

The committee chose Convention Center Hotel Advisors, a Minnesota company that in July completed an analysis of the key planning issues for a prospective convention hotel. Apparently, the keys include hiring Minnesota consultants.

MoDOT

Pete Rahn: Mad governing skills

​Governing magazine looks at Missouri and sees competence.

Pete Rahn, the state's transportation director, has made the magazine's list of Public Officials of the Year. Kansas City Mayor Mark Funkhouser made the list in 2003, when he was city auditor.

Rahn received praise for the Department of Transportation's reconstruction of a 10-mile stretch of Interstate 64. MoDOT shut down five-mile segments instead of going the orange-barrel route. The project will be completed in less time and for less money than was anticipated originally.

Interstate 64 doesn't do us a lot of good, but Kansas City residents can see Rahn's influence in MoDOT's use of social media. The Christopher S. Bond bridge project is on Facebook. "You have to over-inform the public," Rahn told Governing.

Southmoreland.org

​Kansas City, Missouri's tax-increment financing (TIF) program gets criticized for enriching developers. TIF's defenders point to projects like the "Glover plan," which, in addition to delivering a Costco and a Home Depot, provided money for midtown homeowners to fix up their property.

Housing programs have become a popular add-on to various TIF plans. The TIF plan featured in this week's Martin column has made grants to residents in the Southmoreland neighborhood.

Eighty-nine homeowners in Southmoreland have taken part in the program. An additional $585,000 will become available. "I'm a big proponent of these housing programs," says Kate Corwin, a Southmoreland resident who serves on a committee that advises the TIF plan. "I think they're great."

To be sure, it's nice to see regular folks benefiting a program that developers and attorneys have used to trim their business cards in gold leaf. The community benefits, as well, because the money helps homeowners keep their exteriors looking nice.

But are TIF housing programs really fair?

Steve Phillips

​Steve Phillips, the baseball analyst ESPN fired after his sexual encounters with a 22-year-old production assistant became public, was considered for the general manager's position that Dayton Moore filled in 2006.

News reports linked Phillips to the Royals job after it became evident that team owner David Glass was fixing to can Allard Baird, the beleaguered G.M. who struggled to field a competent team under the Glass family's chiseling ownership.

Glass reportedly approached Phillips about the job. The rumors were so strong, Phillips called Baird to apologize for the distraction.

​When the Cordish Co. officials want to impress, they say the Power & Light District represents an $850 million investment. But when the time comes for the company to pay taxes on the downtown development, its value falls off a cliff.

For the second consecutive year, Cordish has fought Jackson County's determination of the worth of the Power & Light District. In 2008, Cordish sued the county, arguing that a segment of the district appraised at $61 million was really worth $12 million. The two sides settled on an $18 million value.

Last week, Joe Miller at KCDowntowner.com reported Cordish and the county had again come to very different conclusions about P&L's value. For 2009, the county appraised the district at $88 million. An appraiser hired by Cordish said a four-block portion of the district was worth only $18.5 million.

The numbers affect the city's budget. A lower value reduces the amount of property taxes that Cordish pays. The city uses the property taxes to help pay down the $295 million in debt issued to pay for the development. 

KCChiefs.com

Tank Tyler

​The Chiefs have traded defensive lineman and sleep apnea sufferer Tank Tyler for a fifth-round pick.

Tyler's departure brings to 25 the number of players who suited up for final game of the 2008 season but would get turned away by security if they showed up Arrowhead today.

The dizzying number of trades and releases reflect a lack of regard for the talent evaluation skills of the former regime, headed by Carl Peterson and Herm Edwards. Seemingly every week, the new guys, G.M. Scott Pioli and head coach Todd Haley, eject a player from a roster that Edwards laughably declared "85 percent" complete before he coached what turned out to be his final game in Kansas City.

Here's a breakdown of the departed:

Traded players
Tyler Thigpen (Miami)
Tony Gonzalez (Atlanta)
Tyler (Carolina)

This week's Martin column notes the similarities in the arguments for a new convention hotel and past discussions that led to unprofitable investments in Bartle Hall and other tourism bubbles.

The oft-contested surface lot near 12th and Broadway

​One of the sites that's being contemplated for a new hotel sits west of Bartle Hall and south of 12th Street. The property is not much to look at -- surface parking lots rarely are -- but it has a tumultuous history.

A California-based investor named Allan Carpenter and a partner, Dale Fredericks, bought the property in 1985. In the early '90s, they tried to convince the city it was an ideal spot for, yes, a convention hotel.

The Carpenter-Fredericks team had competition in the form of Texas billionaire H. Ross Perot, who controlled a partnership that sought to develop a convention hotel at the south end of Bartle Hall. City officials mulled the Perot proposal for years before concluding that it relied too heavily on taxpayer support.

City Pages

Jared Allen, American

​Former Kansas City Chief Jared Allen leads an active lifestyle.

He sacks quarterbacks. He scores touchdowns. He's sampled the charms of Frank Denning's Bed and Breakfast.

From our sister paper in Minneapolis, we learned last year that Allen supports Republicans who prefer a take-it-to-'em approach to foreign policy.

And, now from Deadspin, we learn that Allen likes to wear big belt buckles and sing.

In other words, he's Toby Keith.

Football power Monmouth College helped lift the Cowboys over the Chiefs

​Following the Chiefs is an education in the consequences of bad management.

Yesterday an undrafted receiver from Monmouth College torched the Chiefs' secondary for 250 yards and two scores. Miles Austin's performance begs a question: When was the last time the Chiefs' front office found such a diamond in the rough? Has there been anyone since Brian Waters? Golly, that was nine years ago.

Fans not done with the pain from yesterday loss should click to today's widely read Monday Morning Quarterback column at SI.com. There Peter King does a back-of-the-envelope analysis of the Carl Peterson-authored trade that sent defensive end Jared Allen to Minnesota.

Allen's been making a bunch of plays for the Vikings. But what Chiefs fans may not know is that the Vikings also received a sixth-round pick in the deal.

Minnesota used the pick to select a center. Who starts. On a 5-0 team.

(Image: Al Fredrickson, via Flickr)

The Next American Dream

​Part history lesson, part infomerical, a 60-minute program about downtown Kansas City's rebirth aired for the first time on KCPT-TV last night.

The Next American Dream is essentially a story about suburban sprawl, peppered with pretty images of the Sprint Center and First Fridays. Funded by the Greater Kansas City Area Development Council, Dream paints a portrait of a city a bit more dynamic and progressive than it really is. But by the end credits, even cynics of the way business gets done in Kansas City will feel excited by what's taken place over the last five to 10 years.

The program is beautifully photographed and uses an interesting mix of experts. In addition to the ghosts of Kansas City CEOs past (Gary Forsee, Mark Ernst, Peter Brown), the filmmakers interviewed Bob Berkebile, the environmentally conscious architect, and Christopher Leinberger, an urban land strategist affiliated with the Brookings Institute. Leinberger does an excellent job of explaining the postwar suburban flight that left urban centers in decay. At one point, Leinberger chides the U.S. politicians and planners for throwing out the knowledge ("what the ancients knew instinctively") accrued over 8,000 years of city building.

Kevin Klinkenberg, an architect who is passionate about cities, received a Best Thinker award in last week's Best Of Kansas City issue.

One place that's been receptive to Klinkenberg's new urbanist ideas is Blue Springs. Klinkenberg's firm, 180º Design Studio, did a master plan for the suburb's downtown in 2006. A year later, Klinkenberg and his colleagues worked with city officials on a "form-based" code. Form-based codes focus on outcomes -- nice streets, happy people -- rather than soul-killing details, such as minimum parking requirements.

180º Design's efforts preceded the construction of new homes on the edge of downtown Blue Springs. In this short video (which was produced by Jennings Social Media), Klinkenberg takes a look at the fruits of conscientious planning.


Additional video of Klinkenberg is available at his firm's YouTube channel.

​This week's Martin column describes a $421,200 subcontract that a politically connected consultant, Gayle Holliday, received after the City of Kansas City, Missouri, reached an agreement with an Arizona company to install red-light cameras.

Holliday, who is African-American, represents the lone "minority business enterprise" (MBE) that the camera company, American Traffic Solutions, says it intends to use in the course of executing its contract. Through July, Holliday had been paid a mere $8,512.50, according to the city.

The arrangement raises questions. Why did the city approve a plan to use women and minorities that sets aside 13 percent of the value of the contract for a consultant whose expertise is of questionable relevance? And why, 14 months later, had she received only 2 percent of the money?

I complain in the column that city officials did not respond to requests for comment. In fact, Phillip Yelder, the city's director of Human Relations, the department which oversees minority contracting, did respond. But his e-mail arrived after my deadline.

Chris Stigall, thinker

​Art Modell once joked that NFL owners were Republicans who acted like socialists. Yet conservative talk-show host Chris Stigall insists that liberals can't be true football fans.

Dissecting the most recent Chiefs' debacle with play-by-play man Mitch Holthus on KCMO 710-AM, Stigall described spending the weekend in Chicago. Being around so many Bears fans and so many Democrats put Stigall's little brain in motion. He came up with this shiny theory:

"If you're a sports fan, particularly an NFL football fan, you cannot be liberal and look at the model that is the NFL and be a liberal. It doesn't work."

​Downtown Kansas City, Missouri, is having a good week.

Yesterday, the Downtown Council heralded the demolition of Shoppers Parkade, a seedy parking garage at 11th and Grand. Today, Mayor Mark Funkhouser, City Manager Wayne Cauthen and others swung celebratory sledgehammers (they were painted gold) at a wall of the old Greyhound bus depot at 12th and Holmes.

The wall to which city officials put their sledgehammers did not collapse. "It's a stubborn thing, isn't it?" Councilman Ed Ford remarked as he removed his hard hat.

The city condemned the terminal in 2007 in an effort to force a sale. The property's do-nothing owner, quarry operator and tobacco wholesaler Anthony Barber, purchased the site in 1994, after it failed as a sporting good store. Caked in pigeon poop, the building defined urban blight.

AEG Worldwide

The L.A. skyline is adding a 1,000-room convention hotel

​Tim Leiweke, chief executive of the sports and entertainment empire AEG, has been involved in some big deals. But no project compares with the challenge of building a convention hotel, he told a group of city leaders on Tuesday.

"Hardest project I've ever done in my life. Period," Leiweke said.

Standing in the seating bowl of the Sprint Center, which AEG manages, Leiweke talked about the $965-million convention hotel AEG is building in Los Angeles. AEG made the "big bet," as Leiweke called it, in order to maximize its investments in downtown L.A. AEG operates the Staples Center (home of the Lakers), the Nokia Theatre (site of the recent Emmys) and the L.A. Live entertainment district.

Leiweke addressed the members of the city's Convention Hotel Steering Committee. He encouraged city leaders to find a way to make a 1,000-room convention hotel happen. At the same time, the man who guaranteed the Sprint Center an anchor tenant warned: "This project is not for the faint of heart."

Sam Graves

Last week came word that Missouri Congressman Sam Graves is the subject of an ethics inquiry.

Earlier this year, Graves invited a friend to testify before Congress on renewable fuels. Graves did not mention that his wife and the friend, Brooks Hurst, are partners in a company that invests in renewable fuels.

Democrats are braying about lies and lined pockets. But as Congressional sins go, inviting a northwest Missouri farmer to talk about the uses of glycerin seems a minor crime, even if the farmer also happens to be a business partner.

What's getting less attention is the fact that Graves and his buddies are right-wing fart machines at the same time they participate eagerly in government programs.

Cherokee Investment Partners

An image from the Magnolia master plan

​This week's Pitch feature describes the interest that a J.P. Morgan investment fund showed in redeveloping Bannister Mall at around the time the owners of the Kansas City Wizards were sewing up their deal to remake the site.

Managers of the Urban Renaissance Property Fund, which at the time was targeting "green" redevelopment in inner cities and inner-ring suburbs, visited Kansas City in 2007. By that time, the Wizards had built political support for replacing the mall and surrounding acreage with a soccer-oriented development.

Last week, the Wizards announced they were going to build in western Wyandotte County.

What kind of opportunity did south Kansas City miss? Charleston, South Carolina, may offer a guide.

A new convention hotel could incorporate the Power & Light Building

​Mayor Mark Funkhouser is skeptical that Kansas City can afford to subsidize a 1,000-room conventional hotel. But that didn't stop a group of city officials from sizing up prospective sites for such a behemoth.

On Wednesday, Councilman Ed Ford and HNTB architect Todd Achelpohl led a tour of the blocks surrounding Bartle Hall. Eight potential sites, including Barney Allis Plaza, have been identified as potential sites for the hotel, which tourism officials say is needed to maximize the city's already sizable investment in convention assets.

Hold on to your wallet and click here for a slideshow.

Courtesy of Populous

​Owners of the Kansas City Wizards now want to build a stadium at Village West in Kansas City, Kansas. In this week's feature, I describe how the decision jolted public officials in Kansas City, Missouri, who thought the Wizards were going to kick soccer balls at the site of the old Bannister Mall.

KCK's capture of the Wizards is being credited to Sales Tax and Revenue (STAR) bonds. A state program, STAR bonds essentially created Kansas Speedway and the Village West shopping district, where the Wizards are heading.

Kansas City, Missouri, Councilwoman Cathy Jolly told me last Friday she was "envious" of the incentives the Unified Government was able to offer. Says longtime Kansas City developer Whitney Kerr Sr.: "The STAR bond deal is pretty hard to beat."

So what is a STAR bond?

​Bar owners blame the smoking bans enacted in Kansas City, Missouri, and its suburbs for ruining their business and for starting World War I. (Gavrilo Princip saw a future where Serbian-Americans couldn't light up in midtown bars, so he shot the archduke of Austria.) But a study of communities in Minnesota finds that removing the ashtrays has a negligible effect on employment.

Researchers at Ohio State University and the University of Minnesota used state job data to track bar and restaurant workers over a 45-month period. Cities with comprehensive smoking bans saw a decrease of 9 workers per 10,000 residents when compared to cities with partial bans. But communities with any prohibition in place (full or partial) gained 3 workers per 10,000 residents compared to places with no bans.

Emily Klein, one of the authors, says the lack of a significant economic effect "should give us more support for maintaining the most beneficial public health policies."

Important caveat: A nonprofit group dedicated to "reducing tobacco's harm" funded the study.