fyi: re: fussell’s column about the “dozens” who showed up at TSC for the open house and tour? the correct number was FORTY. jackson county lists 654,000 residents on its website. do you suppose each of those FORTY visitors got a $1.50 cup of coffee for their trouble?

It is incredible that you would force me to obtain copies of Mr. Andrew Zimbalist’s memo’s, etal. pertaining to his consultation for The Jackson County Sports Authority regarding Truman Sports Complex, through the Missouri Sunshine process. That response is irrespnsible when you have a copy of those documents. We paid for his work and we are entitled to see what we paid for.

The public has a right to know the contents of those documents over and above what you have written last sunday. WhiteGoss paid the intitial bill and was reimbured by the JCSCA, using taxpayer money.

Therefore, via this e-mail, I am making a direct request of you to provide me with copies of any and all information you have in your possession from Mr. Zimbalist regarding the consultation at Truman sports complex that the taxpayers of Jackson County paid for.

You may leave those copies at your front desk at 1729 Grand and I will pick them up. I would like to do that today, Thursday, March 30, 2006. I am sending you this mail at 6:40am today. If there is any charge for making the copies, I will pay it.

I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Craig Davis
Kansas City, MO

Ladies and Gentlemen:

I have been less than timely in reading my Kansas City Star of the last few days, but having caught up I have some questions. I am sending this to DeAnn Smith because she has been the lead journalist covering the stadium issue; the rest of you are copied in light of contributions or articles of your own. I am also sending this mail to the “stadiums” e-mail address you have set up specifically to receive reader feedback.

Each of my inquiries will be preceded in boldface by who should be most able to answer my query and will reference the issue date and page. I may make some errors, and if so I apologize.

I don’t expect instant responses as I know each of you are on almost constant deadline with your assignments and those come first. Here we go.

Thursday, March 23, 2006.

Ms. Smith: On page A-8, middle column, 4th paragraph, you state that “roughly $15.3 million of the Chief’s $75 million would go for suites.” Five paragraphs down you quote Jack Steadman as saying “the Chiefs would spend $48 million on the suites….a team store, a hall of fame and administrative offices.” That is a little fuzzy, please explain.

On Exhibit B of the Development Agreement released last Friday, there is no listing for a hall of fame or administrative offices, per se. The only reference to offices appears in Item #21 as “Training Facility and Offices – 80,000 sf @ $22,650,000.” The last appearance of the HOF was on Exhibit E dated 1/19/06 as Item 25 “Hall of Fame, Team Store & Commissary @ $40,295,000.” The HOF disappeared five days later on a similar document dated 1/24/06. Please explain.

As an aside, this is the fifth incarnation of a so-called “Conceptual Estimate” for the Chiefs dating back to May, 2004 The Royals have four incarnations. Each document has items appearing, disappearing, numbers changing, rejiggered, etc., etal. I have created a spreasheet. There are inconsistencies in each of the incarnations, yet the total is always the same.

While were here, let’s also note the reference to “HOK drawings” dated 8/2/01 for Kauffman and 2/27/02 for Arrowhead. Are we to believe that the Development Agreements released last Friday were prepared using drawings from HOK that are four or five years old?

Earlier you continue to state that the tax will “raise $425 million toward….” What you don’t EVER say it that a 3/8-cent tax over 25 years using historical sales revenue figures in Jackson County will raise $1 Billion. It’s simple algebra. Add to that the $8.5 million = $212.5 million. Total: $1.2 Billion. Didn’t we reject that amount in Bistate II? You are not giving your reader the full story of how much the tax will cost them over 25 years.

Mr Dutton: Your page D-6 column is simply so laughable in its premise that it defies belief. If it wasn’t so sad, it would be hilarious. Buddy Bell has it correct when he says “I felt dirty” and “I don’t understand why money motivates you.” The stupidity of the Royals business model in this regard is put into sharp relief at the fact that they paid Jose Lima, arguably the worst pitcher in the history of the Royals, and perhaps one of the worst pitchers in baseball ever, $1.25 million in bonuses. For what? What did we get in return for that “bonus?” A record of 5-16-9. 30 starts…25 losses or no decisions…5 wins. That is charity. Pathetic. Spare me the baloney from Baird about “protecting” younger pitchers.

Mr. Abouhalkah: Your B-7 column touts the leases as “2006 leases.” That is wrong and it always has been. They are 2006 AMENDMENTS to the still existing 1990 documents to which Ms. Smith referred last Sunday (A-12) as “universally derided.” You have to wonder what actually happened when Bill Waris was involved with the negotiation process. Given his noteriety in connection with Katheryn Shields it shouldn’t be suprising that these are, and continue to be horrible leases. They literally gave away the store including, most recently, naming rights.

As an aside, in a public forum at Blue Springs High School tonight, Sly James pointedly referred to the documents signed on January 24, 2006 as “new” leases. I have the documents in front of me as i type this; the first line is “2006 LEASE AMENDMENT.” The “Recitials” section corroborates the 1990 document reference. Another lie from the paid shills at the SOS group.

The responsibility for this mess falls squarely on the shoulders of the County Executive and every member of the Legislature who has served since 1990. It happened on her watch and she is entirely to blame.

Sunday March 26, 2006

Ms. Smith: Page A-12. Scenario One. What sort of negotiating power does the County have when the Executive and the Legislature announce in advance that they “would move heaven and earth to keep them (the teams)?” Right from the start the County is at a disadvantage having said they “won’t allow” the teams to leave. Knowing that, the teams can demand anything they want, which is exactly what has happened. A dismal failure at Negotiation 101.

The responsibility for that pitiful performance falls to Mike White, negotiator for the County to the teams. If he is such a brilliant negotiator, and we are to pour $1 Billion into these properties, why didn’t he have the backbone to demand more rent? As in 1990, the rent remains at $450,000 per year for each team…through 2031. That’s about the only thing that is “capped.” He should be fired immediately.

Further down you, and everyone else on the planet, mention the “December 31,” (2006) default deadline. Is there such a deadline? In the January 18 (B-4) and 20, 2005 (A-1) issues of the Star it was reported that the teams and County had considered, then reached an agreement to extend that very deadline to December 31, 2007. If this is so, we have 20 months and five voting cycles to solve this dilemma. Please explain.

Scenario Two. At the bottom of the column you mention a “memo to the JCSCA” from Andrew Zimbalist. A memo indicates a document. Initially, Mr. Zimbalist told me that in his dealings with WhiteGoss were strictly over the phone. He has since stated he wrote “some emails w/ memos and some regression analysis that were backups to the phone conferences.” He thought that this was all public. He made it clear to me that he did not do a written report. I have made inquiries to Jackson County and WhiteGoss law firm requesting these documents which have been unfruitful. Have you spoken with Mr. Zimbalist?

Scenario Three. The Kings and Scouts left town because they were both lousy teams and left because the fans had given up on them, and rightly so. As I recall, there was also some nefarious front office chicanery with the Kings involving David Bezos (?) and simply incredibly incompetent management at the Scouts (some guy named Thompson?).

Mr. Covitz: I put the same question to you regarding the default deadline as I did to Ms. Smith above.

The folks in Los Angeles have the right idea. Let the NFL build whatever they want and then sell it to the owner of the team that (might) locate there. The downside of course is that the price of the team is increased by $600 million due to the cost of the non-publicly financed stadium.

I also chuckle at reading that LA has not had an NFL franchise for 12 years, yet they don’t seem to have turned into a Des Moines or a Wichita as the sky-is-falling SOS people are wont to say.

Mr. Fussell: Page B-3. How many people equal “dozens?” I count eight in the photo. Twelve would be a single dozen, 24 would be two dozen. C’mon, how many showed up? Is this graphic evidence that no one really cares? It is no surprise that a 33-year-old structure would have water seepage that shorts out electrical systems. What is surprising is how the County has been able to dodge a safety inspection that would call for an immediate remedy to such a highly dangerous situation.

Monday, March 27, 2006.

Mssrs Spivak and Horsley: Page A-10. What makes anyone think that this “rigid potato chip” tent would be able to withstand the sort of microburst winds we get here? The roof is exposed to every whim of weather every minute of every day. It does not retract. Comparing the durability of this open sail to the roof in Houston that is retracted and protected is not an accurate comparison. That is like comparing the finish on a car that has been garaged all its life to one that has been parked on the street. We’ll leave discussion of an ice storm or full blown tornado for another time.

What we will have is a 13.5 acre target for every bird that flies over and decides to make its own “contribution” to the teams. The fabric is white! It’ll be filthy within a year. Does the $500,000 annual maintenance cost cover that cleaning? And who does it? Is that where the 200 minority contractor workers are going to get their training…crawling along that thing with a bucket and scrub brush?

The enclosure and climate-control features are wholly unproveable. What outside conditions would have to exist to achieve climate control in “two days?” The “permanent glasslike panels” are new; what will they add to the cost and is their operation and impermeability reliable? Anyone who has camped out can tell you the effectiveness of a drop down “fabric curtain” that will “seal with clamps.” Would these be the standard alligator clamps one would use to glue wood? Home Depot has ‘em on sale!

Businesses will not pay for the roof….customers of those businesses will pay for the roof. The use tax levied will be passed along to customers just like any other cost of doing business. The use tax has no sunset provision…it goes on forever.

Of the 69 rainouts at Kauffman, how many were truly lost? I have been trying to find that out with no success. MBL does not cancel games unless doing so would have absolutely no effect on the standings or a potential pennant race. Of course, with 100+ losses for the past three out of four years, MBL would be wise to cancel the Royals season at the end of May. The point being that rainouts are almost always rescheduled, and of the 69 rainouts I’d be surprised if more than 5 were not played at all. The teams eventually get the attendance and the revenues. $202 million is too much to spend so some fan, local or out-of-town, won’t be “inconvenienced.”

Baseball and football are supposed to be played outside…that is part of the attraction of the games. That rainouts may occur in baseball is an accepted risk, but the rescheduling feature assures that the teams and fans will lose very little.

As for football, what do we have out there at Arrowhead…a bunch of babies? Aren’t these rough, tough football players and isn’t the game supposed to be played in any kind of weather. Take off the diaper! Remember the “frozen tundra” games of the Packers in the early Super Bowls? Are these men or are these wee tots that can’t suffer a little rain, some mud, or snow? The weather is the same for both teams.

That covers it for now. RSVP.

Sincerely,

Craig Davis
Kansas City, MO