Is Cauthen for real or just more hot air?

trailerkid · Post by **trailerkid** » Wed Oct 29, 2003 12:27 am

I realize city manager Wayne Cauthen has only been here 6 months, but it seems he gets his name in the paper for doing literally nothing. He just talks about things like landing a hub at KCI, how he lives downtown, and building an arena and a downtown stadium and gets press for it. All I'm really hearing is talk....where are the plans? Oh wait, his first plan is to pass a $300 million sales tax for basic infrastructure (streets and pavement). I may be stupid, but shouldn't basic infrastructure be paid for by existing taxes? When people need to pay an extra $300 million tax for street maintanence and repair...some heads need to role at city hall.

Posted on Tue, Oct. 28, 2003

DEVELOPMENT: Cauthen sees pieces falling in place downtown

By KEVIN COLLISON
Columnist

City Manager Wayne Cauthen believes prospects for a new downtown arena at 14th Street and Grand Boulevard depend on how successful Kansas City is revitalizing the nearby South Loop.

Stabilizing downtown and landing a couple of key office tenants are the keys in building momentum for an arena, Cauthen said in a recent interview about his first six months on the job.

"We need to say, `This is happening and this is happening and now this (arena) is going to happen,' " Cauthen said.

It is an open secret that the major tenants being pursued for downtown are H&R Block and Waddell & Reed. The city, with the help of DST Realty, would like to have a new headquarters for H&R Block as the anchor of an entertainment district in the South Loop. Developer Larry Bridges is trying to bring Waddell & Reed to the nearby One Kansas City Place office tower.

In the meantime, the Cordish Co., a big Baltimore-based developer, has a $500,000 city contract to plan the entertainment district and line up prospective tenants.

Right now, the South Loop is the poster child of downtown blight.

"Having major companies commit to downtown would be a significant step in the right direction," Cauthen said. "That would go ahead and let the Cordish group start outlining what that (entertainment district) is going to be. The third step would be looking at how that arena would be financed."

Cauthen said he thinks a new arena would work without a major sports franchise, but it should be designed to accommodate that possibility down the road.

"Once you build it, the probability of a franchise coming is greater," he said. "We have to make certain the venue has the standards to meet NHL or NBA requirements."

How confident is Cauthen that the city will be able to land H&R Block, which is expected to decide from among Missouri-side and Kansas-side options this fall?

"I think we have a real good chance," he said. "The problem is the waiting game. The more we wait for a decision, the less momentum we get."

Cauthen, 48, came to Kansas City after 10 years as an executive in Denver government, based his optimism on his feeling the planets finally are aligning downtown.

"I just think that since I've been here, everybody is talking the same about how downtown needs to be addressed," he said. "People are sensing it has to happen. The fact I live downtown and actually see it -- I can see things occurring.

"I've attended a few First Fridays (the monthly Crossroads district art event), and I see people wanting to be downtown. The situation is they've got to have an excuse to do it more frequently."

That firsthand experience living downtown also shocked Cauthen about how far Kansas City has allowed its basic infrastructure -- streets, sidewalks, water lines and such -- to deteriorate. Not just downtown, but in many other areas, as well. That is why Cauthen is pushing for a $300 million bond issue to be put before city voters next spring.

"The situation here in Kansas City didn't happen overnight," he said. "There's been neglect for at least 20 or 30 years of the basic infrastructure. I can't really put a hand print on what happened. I just know it happened. It'll be my job to rectify it."

Cauthen also has picked up on the complaint that City Hall, despite a propensity to offer tax breaks, is a tough place for developers to do business. He has gotten a sneak peek at an upcoming report by the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce that he said is very critical of the city's performance in administering the development process.

"The mind-set needs to be changed that the developer is the enemy," he said. "The developer is providing an opportunity for the city to prosper. There are requirements the developer has to follow and we need to be consistent about telling developers what the requirements are. That's some of the knock people have. They go to one department and have it approved, and the next person says no."

For Cauthen, that means the buck will stop in his office.

"I don't want decisions made at a department level when they should be decisions that I need to broker....That's going to be a fundamental change many department heads are going to have to adjust to."

The city interacts with developers primarily through the Economic Development Corp., a city-supported outside agency, and the City Planning and Development Department. Here is Cauthen's take on both:

The EDC may be getting too far out in front of the city when it comes to pursuing development deals.

"A project that's going to happen needs to be presented an earlier stage so the city and EDC can walk along together," Cauthen said.

A recent critical audit of how the agency has managed the tax-increment financing program indicates a need for much better financial controls.

"I would like to give them the benefit of the doubt, but some of the things the auditor brought up were serious," he said.

As to whether the EDC should be brought within the fold of City Hall, Cauthen said he was more comfortable with Denver's approach, which had all economic development services within city government. But, he added, "I don't want to come in my first year and try to deal with power plays. I want to make sure agencies are performing at maximum level."

Planning Director Vicki Noteis, who has not always been a favorite with developers, will continue her job in Cauthen's administration, but she will not be as close as she was to former City Manager Bob Collins.

"Vicki is one of those people I think still adds value," Cauthen said. "The planning department has the ability to shape the city. But I would tell you this, decisions that were made at the planning department level will be elevated to the city manager level when it comes to development."

Cauthen said that the chamber's upcoming review of development did give the planning department a better grade than other city departments, "but there's room for improvement."

A quick tour of the rest of the urban core of Kansas City constantly comes back to the topic of improving mass transit. Denver built a light-rail system while Cauthen was an official there, but Cauthen said he think the planned bus rapid-transit line can achieve similar goals here.

"Our biggest problem is connecting the dots and making certain we've got flow," he said. "That has been our Achilles heel in the past.

"I think the rapid bus is going to be something that heads us in the right direction. It will take us from the river to the Plaza. That will show the connectivity we really need to have."
To reach Kevin Collison, development reporter, call (816) 234-4289 or send e-mail to kcollison@kcstar.com.

Â© 2003 Kansas City Star and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.kansascity.com

KCPowercat · Post by **KCPowercat** » Wed Oct 29, 2003 12:48 am

if you would ask him, he would say because of the backlog and deferred maintence of infrastructure...that's why the bond issue needs passed....that's what he would say.

I like him so far...has good plans...now if within a year we still see nothing, I get more skeptical.

Post by **dangerboy** » Wed Oct 29, 2003 12:58 am

trailerkid wrote:I realize city manager Wayne Cauthen has only been here 6 months, but it seems he gets his name in the paper for doing literally nothing. He just talks about things like landing a hub at KCI, how he lives downtown, and building an arena and a downtown stadium and gets press for it. All I'm really hearing is talk....where are the plans? Oh wait, his first plan is to pass a $300 million sales tax for basic infrastructure (streets and pavement). I may be stupid, but shouldn't basic infrastructure be paid for by existing taxes? When people need to pay an extra $300 million tax for street maintanence and repair...some heads need to role at city hall.

Like you said, most of his press mentions are downtown-related. It's good anytime downtown gets positive press. The $300M is needed regardless of who has that job. The existing taxes are just not enough to pay for our infrastructure needs. KC is unique because it has to fund both aging urban infrastructure and sprawling suburban infrastructure. We barely have enough money to tread water.

Heads already rolled, specifically Bob Collins, Cauthen's predecessor.

tat2kc · Post by **tat2kc** » Wed Oct 29, 2003 7:55 am

Yep, heads should roll. We should not have to do this bond thing. Its the same situation we got into with the Liberty memorial, and even with Union Station. The Parks and Rec department allowed the maintanence of Liberty memorial to be put off until it had to be closed, and then the cost was huge. Union Station was supposed to be renovated when the city gave huge tax breaks to an out of town company to build the office building directly east of the station. They got the tax breaks, and did nothing to the station, forcing the city to ask for help again. Same thing with the 300 million plus in deferred maintainence. City leaders, including former mayor Cleaver, allowed the deferred maintainece backlog to continue to balloon past all reason. Cauthen has inherited a big mess, and it will take years to fix it.

nota · Post by **nota** » Wed Oct 29, 2003 8:48 am

I think all city leaders should put a dollar into a box earmarked for some project each time they say "Denver does XXXX"

Even if they do, I'm tired of hearing it. Let's do what we do for KC not because Denver does it.

trailerkid · Post by **trailerkid** » Wed Oct 29, 2003 5:30 pm

The point I'm trying to make is that taxpayers should not have to pay $300 million extra for streets, sewers and sidewalks. Call me old-fashioned, but I believe these things are why we pay taxes to begin with.

Post by **dangerboy** » Wed Oct 29, 2003 6:06 pm

trailerkid wrote:The point I'm trying to make is that taxpayers should not have to pay $300 million extra for streets, sewers and sidewalks. Call me old-fashioned, but I believe these things are why we pay taxes to begin with.

The problem is that the taxes we pay to begin with are too low for what they need to fund. If we move $300M in the existing budget to streets, then something else would suffer. We can use trite lines like "cutting the fat" all we want, but there is no way there is $300M worth of fat in a $700M budget.

QueSi2Opie · Post by **QueSi2Opie** » Wed Oct 29, 2003 9:28 pm

Let's face it, because of KC's poor government decisions and spending in the past, we've managed to get ourselves so deep in a frickin' hole that the money will NEVER come! You're living in a dream world if you think it will! If KC's infrastructure gets worse, they will begin to lose more residents to other suburban towns (Lee's Summit, Blue Springs, Liberty, etc). KCMO will also keep losing businesses to other suburban cities (Overland Park, Leawood, Olathe, etc.) and our downtown will take decades to reach its full potential. So basically, KCMO will be LOSING A TON OF MONEY!!!

Yes, passing a huge bond issue sucks, but what can you do? Seriously? Think about it! I don't believe our new City Manager will make the same damn mistakes our past local leaders have made. Obviously he knows more than we on this forum do about managing a city, that's his job!

Personally, I don't think 6 months is long at all, but he does seem very positive about getting things done in KC. It could be worse, he could step down and say this city is beyond repair because the past government sucked and the people of KC are satisfied with crappy infrastructure.

Give him at least one year to get $hit done. He has his hands absolutely full! We have to want to re-invest in our city financially to dig us out of this hole and put us back on the right track! Nobody loves taxes, but money gets things fixed and keeps KC from losing taxpayers and companies. KCMO has an obstacle that most cities don't have, a State Line.

If Wayne Cauthen gets the job done and isn't full of hot air, he'll be my recommendation for KC mayor in the future. At least he wants this city to live up to its potential instead of jus' sittin' behind his desk earning his paycheck and tellin' us that everything in KC is jus' fine!

tat2kc · Post by **tat2kc** » Wed Oct 29, 2003 9:46 pm

Que, you are right. We should not HAVE to do this bond issue, but sadly we do. Even the 300 million won't completely erase the deferred maintanence problem, but it will move things in the right direction. We would not need it if past city leaders had done the job their were elected/hired to do.

QueSi2Opie · Post by **QueSi2Opie** » Wed Oct 29, 2003 10:04 pm

tat2kc wrote:We should not HAVE to do this bond issue, but sadly we do.

Hopefully the bond issue will get passed. However, people should make their voices heard that the government of KCMO better never get you back in the hole again or you'll torch their houses!

eliphar17 · Post by **eliphar17** » Wed Oct 29, 2003 10:23 pm

I am shadowing Mr. Cauthen for a school project next week. I will be sure to advise him to check this forum out and join the discussions. (Imagine that! Actual contact with a KCMO government official!)

Post by **mean** » Wed Oct 29, 2003 11:48 pm

Wonder how much of it will end up being used to build parking garages on the plaza.

trailerkid · Post by **trailerkid** » Wed Oct 29, 2003 11:56 pm

Obviously he knows more than we on this forum do about managing a city, that's his job!

This statement embodies the reason government on almost every scale has gotten out of control.

Post by **dangerboy** » Thu Oct 30, 2003 8:13 am

Us regular folks share the blame also, since we keep electing people that don't address the problem. We also have ourselves to blame for voting against previous bond issues. Back in the early 1990s we had a chance to get started on the backlog, but we voted down Cleaver's Odyessy 2000 bond program. If we had approved it ten years ago then we wouldn't be in as bad of shape as we are now.

Hopefully in the 10 years since then voters have noticed that City Hall is far less corrupt than it was in 1990, and it is less likely to divert money from its intended use.

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