Collison's Top 10 development blunders of 2003

[trailerkid]

Here they are...

DEVELOPMENT
Top 10 goofs of 2003
By KEVIN COLLISON
Columnist

The year gone by was a most worthy one when it came to metropolitan development, particularly with regard to revitalizing downtown Kansas City.

In the suburbs, new houses went up at a record pace and retail construction stayed brisk. As for urban sprawl, at least it was well-rounded, with solid growth in east Jackson County, the Northland and west Wyandotte County, as well as the always-popular south Johnson County.

That being said, there were a few development-related hiccups worthy of note in 2003. Some were simple discourtesies, some merely humorous and some symptomatic of the silly parochial squabbles that dog the area.

So here is my stab at doing a David Letterman-style list of the Top 10 goofs of the recently-departed year:

10. The decision by the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce to visit Pittsburgh to learn about downtown redevelopment. The Steel City has done well on that front, but it's also broke. Pittsburgh ended the year with the state formally declaring it financially distressed. How about Minneapolis this year?

9. Councilwoman Bonnie Sue Cooper's effort to have downtown Kansas City's boundary extended as far north as the Briarcliff West subdivision to qualify for benefits from the new Missouri Downtown Economic Stimulus Act. This is taking loyalty to one's constituents too far, both literally and figuratively.

8. The continuing flip-flops of Bass Pro Shops. Didn't the outdoor mega-retailer learn its lesson when its dallying allowed Cabela's to snag its intended pond by Kansas Speedway? Every corner of the metro has a line in the water, and while it looks like Independence will be the winner, nothing's officially netted yet. When it does, I'll lose a tidal wave of bad puns.

7. Kansas officials who said they were surprised to learn the Internal Revenue Service was going to move 1,200 employees from Overland Park to downtown when the deal was announced last April. Wake up and smell the coffee. The budding proposal was first reported on the front page of The Kansas City Star eight months before, in August 2002.

6. The continuing arena-thon, with Olathe, Edwardsville and Overland Park pursuing a facility at the same time one is being pushed for downtown. You would think all that red ink at Overland Park's new convention center and hotel would give the suburbs pause. There is a reason these big public investments generally go to the central cities of metro areas.

5. A city audit that found the Economic Development Corp. couldn't adequately document almost one-fourth of the reimbursements it made to developers through the tax-increment financing program. While no intentional wrongdoing was alleged, the sloppy bookkeeping gave critics additional ammunition and left TIF officials eating humble pie — at least for a few weeks.

4. The continuing slights to the owner of the downtown Jones Store property. First, developer Larry Bridges wanted to demolish the building as part of a deal to bring Waddell & Reed downtown, ignoring its landlord at the time, the Archon Group of Texas. Later, when Time Equities bought the site, the city failed to give the New Yorkers a heads up before announcing that the property was included in the planned South Loop entertainment district. Talk about no respect.

3. The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City's faux pas when its directors voted May 15 to move the headquarters to a site by Penn Valley Park but didn't bother to tell anyone. For eight days, many of the city's top leaders continued to lobby the bank to stay in the downtown freeway loop laboring under the illusion that there was still time. Fed officials finally let slip their choice during a May 23 meeting with The Star's Editorial Board.

2. The decision to dump dramatically higher property tax bills on artists and gallery owners in the Crossroads area. At the same time the city is proposing to offer tens of millions in tax incentives to subsidize a new downtown entertainment district, the current homegrown one is being mugged by the taxman. Now the city is cracking down on sipping wine at gallery openings. What's next, the vice squad confiscating nude paintings?

1. The approval by Jackson County lawmakers of a $354 million lease renewal package for the Royals and Chiefs at the Truman Sports Complex that depends on a new bistate tax. Even under the best of circumstances, this seriously inflated idea is going to have a monumental battle getting on the metropolitan ballot. When you ignore the other major player in all this, Johnson County, you are all but assuring it will be dead on arrival.

The only silver lining to this sorry situation is that hopefully it will open the way later in 2004 for serious folks to pull together a proposal to build the Royals a new ballpark in downtown. Happy New Year!

To reach Kevin Collison,

development reporter,

call (816) 234-4289 or send e-mail to kcollison@kcstar.com.