KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As the Royals plan an “important update on the future of the Royals in Kansas City” Wednesday, groups are already gathering support for potential opposition to a publicly financed downtown stadium.
The Committee Against New Royals Stadium taxes helped defeat funding for a stadium proposal two years ago. They say they are still 10,000 members strong and weighing options as no public vote is planned this time around, at least for now.
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Missouri Workers Center is organizing a rally on May 1 at 5:30 p.m. The event is tentatively planned for Washington Square Park, but may have to relocate after Tuesday’s curveball that the stadium could now go to the other side of Crown Center.
Terrence Wise with the Missouri Workers Center isn’t excited about Wednesday’s joint announcement by the Royals owner John Sherman, Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe and Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas.
“This is a mayor that is still going around the will of the people and still finding a way to fund this baseball team and new stadium,” Wise said.
He was at the table just over two years ago as the team worked on a community benefits agreement ahead of a failed vote of an extension of the Jackson County sales tax that would have funded Arrowhead renovations and a new Royals stadium in the Crossroads.
“I think he thought a community benefits agreement was free tickets and $1 hot dog nights. So when I think about the people sitting at the table in the morning the Mayor, Governor and John Sherman those are folks who have shown us who they truly care about and it’s not taxpayers and Kansas Citians,” Wise said.
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After last week’s vote by Kansas City’s City Council cleared the way for a comprehensive lease and development agreement, Lucas called it “a historic day” finding a way to fund a transformational new stadium and baseball district including the city committing up to $600 million in bonds backed by stadium generated revenues. The state will also contribute to funding for the project expected to include a billion-dollar stadium and billion-dollar surrounding district.
“I think they are sugarcoating to the people they aren’t going to be funding it, yes they are, they are going to be funding it one way or another,” former Kansas City Councilwoman Becky Nace said.
Despite successes on the field, Nace says Jackson County has been losing out on potential revenue from its teams since it gave up revenue sharing in 2006.
“My advice on lessons learned from Jackson County is they should ask for revenue sharing back or those numbers are going to be challenging for their ability to deliver basic services,” Nace said.
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Wise said those basic services he’s concerned about include funding for buses, homeless services and healthcare.
“Somehow we found $600 million which totals out to over a billion dollars. We found that even though this city is facing a budget deficit,” Wise said.
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