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Taxpayers to cover $4 million P&L deficit. What else could that money buy?

November 12, 2008 |

Back in 2006 BlogKC reported on the massive size of the Power & Light District’s public subsidy, its minuscule 4% profit margin, and the fact that KCMO taxpayers would be on the hook to cover any deficits. So it’s no surprise that the P&L District will lose money this year, and KC taxpayers must cover the $4 million gap. Just to put that in perspective, here are a few other things that the city could do with $4 million…

Public Safety

  • Hire 48 more firefighters
  • Hire 68 more new police patrol officers or 60  new detectives
  • Double the staff of the Municipal Court system
  • Paint 26,000 crosswalks

Transportation

  • Buy 8 new buses for the Metro
  • Replace 25 traffic signals
  • Build 9 miles of sidewalks
  • Double the length of the Trolley Track Trail
  • Strip 800 miles of bike lanes

Neighborhood Livability

  • Double the snow plowing budget
  • Double the number of property code inspectors
  • Quadruple the number of illegal dump sites cleaned up
  • Expand curb-side recycling to the many lofts/condos being built Downtown or the apartment complexes going up in the Northland

Infrastructure

  • Resurface 113 miles of city streets
  • Reduce metal plates by increasing water pipe maintenance by 50% or sewer maintenance by a third.
  • Expand the leaf and brush collection/drop-off by eight times over

All statistics are estimates based on the city’s 2008-2009 budget.


Comments

6 Comments so far

  1. brent on November 12, 2008 5:44 pm

    Certainly seems odd given that the district was supposed to have been completed over a year ago. And then again 9 months ago. Of COURSE it’s not making as much money as projected with it sitting less than 1/2 open at this point.

    And yes, there was a very thin margin for this — too thin of one for Cordish to not meet timelines.

  2. locomotivebreath1901 on November 13, 2008 1:28 pm

    Be sure to thank Kay Barnes(D).

    And tell us again, Kay, how much did the Cordish Company contribute to your congressional campaign?

  3. alwaysfiredup on November 13, 2008 6:02 pm

    I don’t get it: The place is constantly busy and crowded full on weekend nights. Why in the world isn’t it making a good profit? Is it because of outsize management fees being claimed by Cordish and/or others? (Don’t know this to be true, just guessing)

  4. inafunkaboutthefunk on November 14, 2008 1:45 pm

    Or we could buy 1/4 mile of light rail track and start it right in front of Mayor Smart With Nothinghouser’s ramshackle mortgaged for more than it’s market value house :)

  5. Joe Medley on November 14, 2008 4:11 pm

    “Be sure to thank Kay Barnes(D).

    And tell us again, Kay, how much did the Cordish Company contribute to your congressional campaign?”

    I’m not a Kay Barnes fan by any stretch of the imagination. We’re in a world-wide economic downturn and you jump to the conclusion that the problem is a Mayor who has been out of office for two years? Could you share your logic please. It escapes me.

  6. Dave on November 27, 2008 11:04 pm

    Having lived in cities beside Kansas City I’m always amazed when people throw money at ideas and expect them to work.

    This part of town was dead for a reason, and there were certainly more subtle ways of bringing it back to life. This city needed light rail as a way to connect different ‘business’ and ‘entertainment’ corridors that already existed in KC. Most nightlife in other parts of the world are seamlessly connected through public transit, it makes for a more vibrant reality. P&L just looks like Disneyworld for drunk adults.

    Instead of being a city that attracts intelligent professionals, it repels them…

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