A Kansas City council committee was all set yesterday to consider allocating $20 million to a Royals stadium fund for something unspecified, when Mayor Quinton Lucas abruptly pulled it from the meeting agenda because democracy:
“I believe that even in representative democracy, i.e. going through city council meetings, you have a fair opportunity not just for our review, but for the public’s review on that, which we’re working on,” Lucas said about the agreements with the Royals. “I don’t think that was possible today.”
Councilmember Johnathan Duncan shed a little more light on what “a fair opportunity for review” meant, noting that councilmembers only received a summary of the proposed Royals agreement on Monday night, with finalized agreements still not available. Duncan called the process “a sham and a shame,” and decried rushing to “run a billionaire a $600M welfare check on the backs of City taxpayers for his for profit business.” The reason for the accelerated timetable, he told reporters, is that city lawyers told the council that it needed to finalize the stadium this month in order to avoid being subject to a possible November ballot measure where voters could decide whether to kill the deal.
That deadline looks like it won’t be met, as even the $20 million down payment isn’t scheduled for a hearing until September 1; Lucas said he might call a special session for next week to vote on Royals stadium matters, but also said he doesn’t expect any council action this week or next. The mayor also specifically noted that he “appreciated my chat” with the workers’ group that has submitted petitions to force a vote, which sure sounds like an attempt at an olive branch — one that Missouri Workers Power member Jaeda Roth told KCUR was nice and all, but it wouldn’t dissuade her group from pursuing a public vote:
“Our decision makers can’t keep trying to rush this process without considering what we the people need, and without all of us having the final say when it comes to the question of how our tax dollars are spent,” Roth said. “It’s time for our city to put poor and working people first and address the cost-of-living crisis crushing all of us, not give our money to a billionaire for a ballpark he could pay for himself.”
It’s too early to call Lucas’s proposed Royals deal stalled, but it sure seems like it’s hitting significant headwinds. We’ll know more once the mayor actually submits something for the council to vote on; don’t wait up.
It looks like the mayor is going to try to buy these people off with a large slush fund and a few six figure jobs for its leaders. He may find out that unlike the KC black leadership these people may not be so easily bought.