LIVESTRONG Sporting Park

[kcmo]

And I posted this here so we can try to get the sporting KC thread back on track...


I'll save everybody the trouble and quote the post:

Originally Posted by kcmo

They got money to build a free stadium in a far flung greenfiled and will probably get enough PEAK (Pre-Emptively Attacking Kcmo) money in addition to STAR bond money and other incentives to build the cerner office complex (also in a greenfield, miles from anything) with little private money all while they tore down the bannister mall prematurely and basically said FU to south kansas city which had tens of thousands of people (not cows) really hoping they that project would go through.

The least they can do is a PR move like this that will probably give them a bigger net profit because they can write off that "donation" that is probably going to be much more than a standard stadium sponsorship would have been, so no real loss for cerner there, but great pub.

So, I think it's just a PR move and it worked. But at least it does help a good cause in the end.

But I will always see the project as exactly what is wrong with how metro KC uses massive amounts of incentives to subsidize suburban sprawl, making those same incentives essentially worthless for redevelopment projects and making redeveloping areas infinitely more difficult.

I mean if you can use such aggressive incentives to build on wheat fields in the middle of nowhere, what is the incentive to even think of using them to redevelop an urban (or aging suburban) area that has far more costs and challenges to overcome?

KC has so much blight and abandonment (and the crime that comes with it) throughout the metro with a handful of suburban corners that shine like everything is fine and dandy and this is just one of the many reasons why that is the case.

If you really love KC, I don't see how you can possibly not agree with some of what I was saying and continue to say. I would have said the EXACT same thing had they done a similar project in Lee's Summit, Blue Springs, Liberty etc and I would have FULLY SUPPORTED the project in KCK if it were actually a part of a redevelopment project that actually did something for metro KC besides subsidize sprawl. Every time I visit KC and the more time I spend in other cities, the more I realize just how sprawled out and how widespread blight is there. So much of the metro outside of parts of Downtown and the Plaza and the outer ring of suburban sprawl is a total mess yet everybody there is okay with projects like Village West, Prariefire, Summit Woods etc that are subsidized by taxpayers. There is ZERO incentive to do anything buy walk away from existing built up areas in metro KC and let them rot away. Even my kids notice that KC is just not right. It's still one of the most "donut effect" cities in the country and that includes vast parts of the inner suburbs such as most of KCK. The city has turned into the JoCo metro area and considering that most of what's in JoCo is subsidized sprawl or even poached from KCK/KCMO, how is that ultimately good for KC? It's not. But everybody in KC is fine with all of KC's economy moving across state line into subsidized office parks along 435. JoCo and Kansas have zero interest in maintain the zoo, or the sports complex or the nelson. Only if they move or build new in JoC would they take an interest. How is that good for the metro? All you have to do is look at what places like Denver and Minneapolis do as metro and how the suburbs actually support the urban cities rather than destroy them for there own short term and short sighted benefits.

But the stadium was built where it is and it is what it is now. I simply congratulated Sporting for winning as a KC sports team. And there is nothing wrong with clarifying to people that the urban center and the vast majority of KC's attractions are in Missouri. Most people I know from the Kansas side do it too. Explaining the geography of KC is simply part of living in greater KC.

Now, I'm sorry if you don't like what I say, but I'm going to defend myself in these threads because I have done nothing wrong. I don't even post in this forum much anymore. KC is my hometown and I don't like watching it continue to self destruct as a metro, but I have thrown in the towel for the most part. KC can sprawl and decay into oblivion. Maybe they can move Kauffman Stadium to Oak Grove and the Nelson to Gardner.

But you will find very few people that have put as much effort into marketing and promoting KC as I have and I have found few if any since I left.

KC is home and is generally underrated, but this is the reason I don't miss it it all. It's not just this forum. Metro KC couldn't get on the same page if its future depended on it and it has been proven over and over again.

[PVPete]

Sporting Park will be the host of the 2015 NCAA Mens' Soccer Championship and the 2014-2017 NCAA Division II Football Championship