News & Issues
City Manager Praises Downtown Development Ripple Effect, Says Potential Ballpark Cost Now $800M
By Kevin Collison City Manager Troy Schulte was unapologetic about reinvestment along Troost and the city’s support for luxury downtown residential projects during a wide-ranging talk Wednesday that also included the latest on a potential new ballpark. In a luncheon speech to the Downtowners group, Schulte said the city’s investment in revitalizing downtown over the…
Scientologists Proclaim Downtown Arrival, Welcome ‘Xenu Light?’
By Kevin Collison For more than a year, the Church of Scientology has been quietly renovating the historic City Bank Building at 1801 Grand into its new regional headquarters. Few people noticed. There was nothing posted on the building identifying the new tenant and the project looked pretty much like any other historic rehab job…
Regional Effort Aims to Improve Health and Education of Native Americans
If you want to know how many American Indians live in the United States, the Census Bureau will tell you — sort of. That’s because its count of approximately 2.6 million Native Americans, or about 0.8 percent of the population, mostly groups them together with indigenous Alaskans. The same goes for federal health and education…
City Survey Reveals Rising Worries About Affordable Housing
By Kevin Collison The number of Kansas City residents concerned about the availability of affordable housing rose slightly last year, according to new city data, with the greater downtown area reporting the greatest increase. The analysis prepared by KCStat revealed that citywide, 55 percent of the respondents to the latest Resident Survey conducted last spring…
Streetcar Ridership Up 2.6 Percent Last Year, Fed Shutdown May Delay Word on Expansion
By Kevin Collison The Kansas City streetcar rolled out of 2018 with ridership up 2.6 percent over the previous year and looking for signals early in the new year about its planned expansions to the riverfront and UMKC. The downtown streetcar attracted 2,114,886 rides last year compared to 2,060,327 in 2017. Overall, more than 5.5…