The Star article I posted in the Funkhouser post has a few South KC residents talking in it. They're wanting this thing passed, and the fact that Funkhouser seems to be dragging his feet looks to them as though Funkhouser cares nothing about the South side of town. This seems to be the feelings of most of the residents of this area. They're tired of the area being deserted except for a few stores.
The few naysayers on the South side continue to come from the "Save Bannister Mall" group. Specifically William Woodruff, who made his feelings known publicly again today. You remember Woody right? He's the guy that had an editorial posted in the Star back in October that I completely tore apart in one of my blog entries. Here's his quote this time, same tune, different words:
Woody, Woody, Woody, we've been through this before. Reopening the mall is not going to bring back enough business to make it worth while. The owner of the mall said that there was not enough business to keep it open, that's why it closed in the first place. None of the local stores are big enough to fill all those big box style buildings that currently sit empty in that area. Is that really going to change just by reopening it? Is the area really going to become even half of what it was in the 80's and early 90's without some major redevelopment? Unlikely.
"We're against it, but we're for opening the Bannister Mall and giving the mall back to the people," said William Woodruff. "It's the people who are being hurt here."
Yes a plan needs to be made to have some of the stores in the new development be for local businesses to come back in and begin again, it'd be a nice compromise. For those that don't get in, why not go to Loma Vista or other areas on Blue Ridge Boulevard. And stop this whole "people's mall" thing. You sound like a joke, like you're "doing it for the Rock, you're doing it for the People." (Sorry for the old wrestling reference.) Seriously the majority of the South KC area, residents and elected officials seem to be in favor of this. According to one person who was able to watch the broadcast of the meeting online, the finance committed didn't seem to interested in your side.
Should something be done about Bannister Mall? Certainly, no doubt about it; but there is no reason these guys should get every tax break under the sun to do it. They want a TIF, a super TIF, a state TIF, a TDD, and tax credits for the developer. All of that so they can also turn the green space along Bannister Road into asphalt and office buildings. All that so they can tear down Benjamin Ranch, a SKC tradition, and turn it into asphalt and office buildings. They are, however, leaving the car dealership on 87th street. Thanks a lot. This is the Chastain Plan for SKC. The people want to see something done and you can't blame them for that. The problem is, they don't undertand all the ramifications. They haven't seen the traffic projections that were done by an outside group. They haven't considered the impact on already overloaded emergency services, police in particular. There is a lot more to this than simply putting in a stadium and some retail shops where a boarded up mall now stands and I applaud Funkhouser for looking at the big picture.
ReplyDeleteSo do city council members who HAVE seen all that stuff not understand it either?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.kansascity.com/273/story/394635.html
Have you heard anybody talk about anything except Bannister Mall? The other council members don't know anything about this area. All they know is what the sixth district reps tell them.
ReplyDeleteJP Morgan was interested in doing something in the same area, but this city is too backward for them, no alternative forms of transportation and only lipservice to a green policy.
There are two other TIFed areas within a couple of miles of Bannister Mall. Both were supposed to be the salvation of SKC, so pardon me if I'm a little skeptical of this latest proposal, especially when other developers have looked at the possiblity of a soccer stadium and decided it wouldn't work.
what other developers have decided that a stadium wouldn't work, and in what locations?
ReplyDelete