Is the Barnes TIF Tax-Give-Away Train About to Leave the Station?
One of the fascinating aspects of this mayoral contest is the inability of Mayor Kay Barnes to cope with the fact that she is finished. She is twisted up inside about the fact that Mark Funkhouser is likely to win, instead of her chosen Mayor pro tem, Alvin Brooks. She's ranting to anyone who will listen, and rumor has it that she is willing to say or do absolutely anything to prevent a new voice in City Hall.
Tony's Kansas City reports on what must have been one of the oddest scenes in Kansas City's strange political history. Kay Barnes held a secret gathering of "her people" to warn them that the gravy train for TIF pigs would end if Mark Funkhouser wins the election. Tony reports (apparently via the KC Prime Buzz, where the Star puts the material it doesn't believe Star subscribers deserve),
Mayor Kay Barnes endorsed Alvin Brooks for mayor at a private meeting she held last Thursday with a select group of KC business leaders.What kind of panicked insanity is this? Each of those lawyers is a TIF tax give-away lawyer - each of those lawyers makes hundreds of thousands of dollars by shifting tax dollars from our potholes and police into the pockets of wealthy developers.
Barnes secretively arranged the 8 a.m. breakfast at the Downtown Marriott, which Brooks attended.
In her invitation on Feb. 28 to about two dozen people, Barnes wrote:
"I wish to discuss with you my thoughts on the general election which will be held only 27 days from now. I am concerned that the progress we have achieved, in large part because of your efforts, is now in jeopardy."
Among the persons invited by Barnes: Lawyers Herb Kohn, Jack Craft, David Fenley, Jerry Riffel, Michael T. White and Mike Burke.
Why are all these TIF tax give-away lawyers so excited to have Alvin Brooks step into Barnes' shoes? Because Alvin Brooks, in his 8 years as council person and Mayor pro tem, has never, ever voted against a single TIF give-away. Not a single one. Every time that some developer came to him and said "Rather than having tax money go toward helping Kansas Citians, I want you to give that money to me," Alvin was there to say "Yes". When 88% of tax dollars were going to the wealthiest districts, Alvin was there to ignore the East side in favor of the wealthy.
Did Alvin Brooks stand up for the poor when the Briarcliff zillionaires wanted tax dollars to line their pockets? Of course not. Instead, he stood up at breakfast with Kay to ask those TIF lawyers for campaign contributions.
Labels: funkhouser, kansas city, mayor, TIF
posted by Dan at 3/07/2007 08:53:00 PM
5 Comments:
Not directly related, but did you see where someone broke into Funk's doublewide and wrote grafitti on the walls?
Odd political stuff too according to 41's news report.
"And it makes me wonder...."
I think the Funk-n-fluffers need to get the peanut butter out of the poodle's mouth and use it to keep their volunteers locked out of their HQ when it's closed.
Anyone word if Diamond Joe Miller is going to offer an apology to Funk's former opponents after he slandered them as potential suspects to the Star?
"TIF pigs" Mwuhahaha! From this day forward, my vocabulary has been permanently altered.
I did a freedom of information request and got a copy of the real letter Kay B sent to her friends the day after the primary. I don't know where the Pitch got their bogus copy. Here is the real letter:
Attention passengers:
Regularly scheduled gravy train service will end shortly. As your conductor, I have guided the train through downtown and the blighted west Plaza. I established ferry service to the Northland, adding stops in needy Briarcliff and the edge of the golden doughnut, Zona
Rosa. We have maintained a 24-hour club car where you could grab a quick TIF snack or a satisfying SuperTIF entree.
Sadly, future service will likely be, at best, sporadic and involve
really icky neighborhoods.
I write you from a state of near hysteria as I realize the effects of this service reduction will become most noticeable to you as I begin fund raising in earnest for my next endeavor. Hopefully the sixth district won't notice the cessation of train service until 2009.
Alvin B is a capable conductor. While he's got little to show for his eight years on the council and is prone to quoting Dickens, he understands what really matters - your happiness.
I expect all who owe their employment to the train to vilify that smarty pants auditor. Between the 20 of you and the 88 jobs you've created, we can ensure gravy train service for another four years.
We're in this together.
BFF,
Kay
P.S. I know some of you are real estate savvy... tips on making an
unoccupied 18,000 seat arena look lived in should go to Steve.
Briiliant work, "Left at the Station"!
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