Selling Kemper Could Save Millions May 16, 2016

Selling Kemper Arena to the Foutch Brothers Development company could save City Hall millions of dollars, according to City Councilman Scott Taylor.

“Anywhere from five to six million dollars, anywhere up to 10 million dollars, pending upon how it’s torn down,” said Taylor.

The city also spends about a million dollars a year just keeping the building operating.

The Foutch Brothers originally presented a plan to buy Kemper to the City Council. In their plan, Kemper would have a second floor on the second deck and use it has a youth sports facility for basketball, soccer and other sports.

Foutch Athletics already runs two indoor facilities in the Kansas City area and two more in other locations in the Midwest.

Taylor also thinks a revitalized Kemper could help encourage more economic development in the West Bottoms.

Taylor says the facility would draw families who would be dropping off athletes to compete there.

“They’re going to need a place to eat, to shop. This will spur economic activity,” Taylor said.

There will be a special City Council Committee meeting Wednesday night at Kemper area on the proposed sale.

It will be preceded by a tour of Kemper which is open to the public.

Mayor Sky Thinks Old West Had Tougher Gun Control Laws Than Missouri July 31, 2014

Kansas City, Missouri Mayor Sly James said the Old Wild West would have tighter gun control laws than Missouri, if the state permits openly carrying of firearms.

James said that as he and the Kansas City Council voted to ban openly carrying guns within the city limits.

“You used to have to drop your guns off at the sheriff’s office when you got to town,” James said.

Kevin Jamsion of the Western Missouri Shooters Alliance said the Mayor has his history of the Old West wrong.

“If you read the ‘Oxford History of the American West’, you’ll see those laws were selectively enforced,’ said Jamison.

He added, “Doc Holliday had a concealed weapons permit in Tombstone because he was a friend of the marshal’s.

James says citizens openly carrying guns in Kansas City might make the work of police officers more difficult. They would have to determine if someone with a weapon on display had criminal intentions.

Jamison asked the Mayor to cite any example in Kansas City’s history of an advocate of openly carrying a weapon of doing something unsafe.

James also used the small town of lake Ozark, Missouri as an example of an outstate Missouri community that thought open carry was not fitted for that town either.

The city changed another portion of it gun law.

It re-worked laws to comply with the Missouri laws that permit an intoxicated person to have a firearm. Earlier this year, the Council refused to change its local ordinances on the matter even though the Council was told it had no choice.

The latest Kansas City Council move could place the city on the opposite side of the state’s gun laws again.

Missouri legislators may try to override Governor Jay Nixon’s veto of the open carry law lawmakers passed this session. The veto session takes place in September.

Another member of the Kansas City Council also used the comparison to the Old West.

Councilman Scott Taylor told the council of what one citizen said to him.

“That person said, I love to live in the Midwest. I just don’t want to live in the Old West. And that’s what this would be like, with people walking around with guns,” Taylor said.

KC Councilman Scott Taylor Says Cleaver Invited Him to SOTU February 12, 2013

Kansas City City Council Member Scott Taylor says he’ll watch President Obama’s State of the Union speech tonight in person from the House of Represenatives.
“Congressman Cleaver has invited me to be his guest in the House of Representatives tonight during the President’s remarks to recognize our advocacy for small businesses. Our Kansas City Council Small Business Committee work to cut the red tape and streamline the process for small businesses to help them grow continues to be recognized at the national level,” Taylor said in a Tuesday afternoon announcement.
Taylor also sat on a Democratic national Convention Committee that looked into small business issues last summer during the DNC in Charlotte.

KC Mayor’s Race: More Endorsements at Tuesday Primary Approaches February 18, 2011

Jackson County Sports Authority Director Jim Rowland has been endorsed by for Mayor by La Raza, the city’s largest  Hispanic group.

Hispanics are one of the fastest growing  populations in the city. When US Census figures for Kansas City are released soon, the Latino population is expected to show dramatic group.

In its endorsement, La Raza said the group’s top issues are job creation and fighting crime.

But it also mentioned it wants a mayor that would not make “appointments to boards and commissions that includes giving Consideration Only to Persons without ties to Nativist and Racist Groups,”.

That’s a reference to the Frances Semler Parks Board appointment early in incumbent Mayor Mark Funkhouser’s term. Semler belonged to a anti-illegal immigration group. That connection infuriated local Latino leaders.

Here’s the entire La Raza slate:  

Mayor: Jim Rowland

1st District At-Large: Scott Wagner

2nd District In-District Russ Johnson

4th District At Large: John Crawford

6th District At Large: Scott Taylor

6th District At Large: John Sharp

Also, The Kansas City Business Rights Coalition, which is made of of about 200 owners of the city’s bars and restaurants,  is backing Sly James for mayor.

The Coalition screened the candidates recently. A statement said they are supporting James because of “his ability to work cooperatively with the elected city council and his plan to get Kansas City back on track.”

Heavies Endorse Rowland for Mayor February 4, 2011

The Heavy Constructors Association of Kansas City,  and their affiliates (Minority Contractors Association of Greater Kansas City, Kansas City Hispanic Association Contractors and Women Construction Owners and Executives), are endorsing Jackson County Sports Authority Director Jim Rowland for Mayor.

Rowland made that announcement at a Mayor’s Forum hosted by the Kansas City Bar Association this afternoon.

The Heavies endorsement could help Rowland’s campaign with money and support down the final two-and-a-half-weeks of the primary campaign. The election is February 22.

The Heavies also made endorsements in some City Council races.

Scott Wagner – 1st District-at-Large

Ed Ford – 2nd District-at-Large

Michael Fletcher – 3rd District

Melba Curls – 3rd District-at-Large

Jan Marcason – 4th District

Jim Glover and Annie Presley – 4th District-at-Large: (HCA-only Endorsements)

John Crawford, 4th At Large (Minority and Women’s Coalition endorsement only).

Michael Brooks – 5th District

Michael Brown and Scott Taylor – 6th District at large

John Sharp, 6th District