Stompin' On The Savoy

Imagine letting your house go to Hell- then getting tax abatement from the City to fix it up.

I know- that ain't going to happen in 4 lifetimes.

Yet the owner of the Savoy Hotel and restaurant Downtown not only let the place slide- but had the audacity back in the 1990's to ask for developer welfare (TIF) to fix the place.

Even more incredible- that owner doesn't do anything for more than 10 years- wants to sell the unimproved property to another developer who immediately came to the public feeding trough.

Rather than RE-NEGOTIATE the TIF to be more taxpayer-friendly- the KC-MO City Council- who's about to cut the legs off of citizen programs and services to alleviate a $85-million budget shortfall- approves the EARLIER TIF that the original owner never used.

Mayor Mark Funkhouser and Councilman John Sharp voted AGAINST the old-new TIF- the ONLY ones voting no.

Confused yet?

Let's make it simple: The City Council continues to give away questionable TIF/Corporate Welfare projects in the face of $85-million in city service cuts.

Mark Forsythe's The KANSAS CITY POST blog and BLOG KC covers this incredible development better than I can- and Mr. Forsythe includes Councilpeople telephone numbers that you can use to express your own outrage.

I think the efforts to recall Mayor Funkhouser are badly misplaced.

We should be recalling EVERY member of the KC-MO City Council that approved this dreck and put each and EVERY TIF project on hold until the local economy and finances improve.

Mayor Funkhouser SHOULD veto this Savoy corporate welfare scheme.

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