Hold on to your hats.

A new plan to keep the royals and chiefs in town.

Two weeks after the failed stadium vote, Kansas City announces it will take over from Jackson County in leading negotiations with the teams.

And get this, they think they can strike a deal without ever taking it to voters.

How would that work?

Confused.

So are we.

That's why this week we're bringing Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas in to explain.

And is this a slap in the face to Jackson County?

One of the county's top leaders joins us straight ahead.

Week in review is made possible through the generous support of AARP, Kansas City, RSM Dave and Jamie Cummings, Bob and Marlese Gourley.

The Courtney S Turner Charitable Trust, John H. Mize and Bank of America NA co trustees.

The restaurant at 1900 and viewers like you.

Thank you.

Hello, I'm Nick Haines.

We love the news reporters who sit around our weekend review table, but sometimes we don't have all the answers.

That's when we turn to the decision makers.

This week we go to the top of the mountain as Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas joins us.

I know you've got a lot on your plate, but could you put us out of our misery this week?

Mayor, we are seeing that story about the city taking over negotiations with the teams, over the stadiums, taking over a role that Jackson County has is basically had an historic connection to.

Did the teams ask you to do that or did you volunteer to take over that?

You know, I would probably say it a little bit differently.

I don't know if it's the city taking over negotiations.

It's the city filling an important gap with both of our teams to say first that the voters, while rejecting the proposal before them and the process before them, I believe, are still interested in keeping the Kansas City Chiefs and the Kansas City Royals in Kansas City.

So we are doing all the work that we can in connection with making sure that, one, there's a responsible deal for taxpayers, that there's a good discussion about the land use and where the stadiums might go.

And the Kansas City government plays a key and central role in so doing.

So you're not doing it instead of Jackson County, you're doing it in addition to.

Well, you know, I'll let Jackson County speak for themselves.

My understanding from your reporting and others is that there haven't really been many conversations between the teams and Jackson County, particularly their leadership.

We will make sure that we do all we can to make sure that we have the economic activity that comes from the teams here for generations to come.

Your city manager did give an interesting component to all of this, and that was a deal.

The next deal could actually all take place with no public vote whatsoever.

How would that work?

I would also look at a different focus on that.

I don't think the interest in any way or the engagement is to not have a public vote is to see how can you help support the teams remaining without raising taxes.

What I heard from a lot of people were a few different issues, and I said this on your show before.

There were some who are very against taxes that are subsidizing the teams and the entities themselves.

There were others who had issues of location.

We're trying to say, how can we address all of those?

So I don't think it is avoiding a vote.

It is instead saying, is there a way to get this done without looking to levy more taxes?

We have seen that done at the riverfront with our new women's soccer stadium.

We see that being done at Bartle Hall with a $100 million new garage construction, Bartle Hall improvements and beyond.

And so Kansas City figures out these things a lot.

We're looking to see how we could do so.

Now the negotiations, though are underway with the teams.

The negotiations never quite end with the teams and so it's our view that we will continue to work with them to get a few things.

One, we need to understand from them what is the cost they anticipate with the stadium.

We have some differences in the ride to the election on how big and where an entertainment district needs to be.

Those are all important things that I think Kansas City wants to understand in Kansas City and deserve to know as we look to take these future steps.

What we are not simply doing is saying, hey, here's a boatload of cash and have a stadium and good luck and we'll check in in a few years.

We're looking to do all the responsible steps we can, and that is ongoing was one of the lessons of the election that putting a downtown ballpark in the East Crossroads where that Star printing press building was, that was the mistake and that needs to move.

Are we still set on having that be the location for a for a downtown ballpark?

When a vote gets blanked by about 18 or 19 points?

I think that it is hard to say what is an individual cause for it.

What I have seen is that people said in a totality, we don't understand everything about the finances.

We may not like the tax increase or actually the tax renewal, and we may not like the location.

And so I think it is important for everyone involved, including the Kansas City Royals and probably centrally the royals, to tell the story of why why they think any location in the different spots that have been identified downtown are important and positive.

And I think that's a conversation we should have going ahead.

But, you know, most of us, our viewers, maybe we don't get to speak to the royals and the team owners at all.

Basically, you were in the room with them.

Are they interested in other locations at this point in time or do they still have their heart set on that east crossroads location?

You know, like I said before in Jackson County, I'll let the royals speak for themselves.

As I have said previously, and I watch your show religiously every week and there all these people that say conspiracy theory, this or that.

I actually am pretty quite open about everything I say.

I said from the beginning I understood and did.

And in many ways, like the crossroads side, the challenge was the size of the crossroads side.

I don't think you needed to take over businesses that were on the east side of Oak.

I don't think that that conversation was a productive one, and I think ultimately was detrimental to the campaign.

Are there other ways that you look to build a stadium, look at economic development activities that are not necessarily a block adjacent and closing down streets and businesses?

I think that is possible.

That is work that needs to be done.

I look for the royals to be the lead on that, but Kansas City downtown is an exciting place to be.

We continue to get new businesses and new residents, and I think that's why the royals want to be part of it as well.

You look at you mentioned the whole conspiracy theories and there are certainly plenty of rumors, too, about Kansas wanting to take one or both of these teams.

You're a good friend of Kansas Governor Laura Kelly.

Have you been on the phone with her, asking her what's going on and is she come back to you and said, Quinton, you have nothing to worry about?

I have not bothered her with an issue like this because she has a lot of other things to do in governing, as do I.

Sometimes there's this focus that people think this is all we talk about.

Indeed, we're talking about just about everything else.

The stadiums will get the situation figured out.

As I've said time and again, I think the Royals and the Chiefs will be playing here in 20 years.

The royals downtown, the chiefs out of Arrowhead.

Now, you didn't mention you haven't bothered Governor Laura Kelly, but you did have a meeting last week, didn't you, with the Missouri governor, Mike Parson.

Was he promising millions of dollars in new state cash to help keep the royals in Kansas City with a new downtown ballpark?

I have heard no such thing from Governor Parson.

I think Governor Parson shares the view that a lot of us do, which is that we want to be responsible.

We want to listen to what the teams actually are saying rather clearly in terms of what they're trying to do.

But more than anything, duty one is to the taxpayers and the residents of Missouri and Kansas City.

And that's what we will try to do in connection with this.

I happen to believe that Kansas City and Missouri are better with the royals and the chiefs here.

I think that activity is good.

I think that activity downtown could be very helpful.

However, things like parking need to be figured out, things like how much the teams are putting in need to not just be slightly known, but but frankly, a little more concretely known before we're looking to anything, whether it be a vote ordinance activity or anything in between.

And that's a conversation I expect us to have going forward.

I know recently the governor may have a new issue with the Saint Louis Cardinals looking at $500 million of taxpayer support or requested support over in Saint Louis.

So this is an interesting moment.

I think the voters are saying maybe we don't want to support new taxes or new taxes on this.

There may be other ways to figure this out.

That's what Kansas City will do.

What do you think the biggest lesson was from that election?

You know, I got a chance to get involved with you some years ago during the transition of Madison tax, if you remember that, that was where you got to.

You have your shining star people, you know, who is that?

Right.

And that was something I was opposed to.

And ultimately, 86% of Jackson County has agreed with me.

I think that these tax questions, sometimes people think you can just throw them out.

If you have enough official support, then everybody will fall in line.

I think the voters are smart, they are wise, and they understood a few different and important things.

One was that you need clear plans, that you need clear processes throughout.

And I think probably the most important thing that I would hope people learn from this going going forward.

One is the official you need to let people know what's happening.

Let them understand.

Let them question, let them have that understanding.

The other purely in politics, whenever you have a growing number of negatives, you need to try to figure out a way to get rid of some of them.

And in this one, I think that you saw the sort of thing and you were in many conversations, as was I, where people said, well, I don't believe in the parking, I don't like the location, I don't like the money.

I don't like the team right now.

I don't think they're winning enough, although the royals are this summer.

I think that there were enough things there where any person could go in and say, you know, I'm not quite sure what all of us who are involved in this conversation over the months and years ahead need to do is to say, this is the clear plan, This is why it works and hopefully we can open it like we did the women's soccer stadium with great fanfare and not so much angst.

One of the big complaints over the years in Kansas City is that Kansas City residents are paying for the are getting away scot free for Missouri side jewels and assets that they don't pay for the upkeep on.

Wouldn't it make sense regionally if Kansas were to have a cheap stadium over there that they helped pay for?

And the royals remain in Missouri and you have more of a shared responsibility for these assets.

Wouldn't that be a positive thing for the region?

Absolutely not.

And I say this as someone I like to go to CU Basketball and Kansas City and surround your Twitter feed.

I mean, you know, I love every thing in Missouri and Kansas.

I go to sporting games, Jayhawks games and beyond.

I'm still on the faculty at the University of Kansas.

I think that the teams are best in the places that they identified wanting to be.

I think Arrowhead Stadium and the Truman Sports Complex is the best place for tailgating and the best place to watch football.

I think the Royals have made clear they want to be downtown and there are many very nice, quaint kind of small town downtowns throughout our region.

There is one major downtown and that's in Kansas City, Missouri.

That's why I expect both teams to remain in Kansas City, Missouri.

Will it be a deal struck by the end of the year?

You know, I can't speak to that.

I think it would be worthwhile for a deal to be struck by that point for a few different reasons.

Note that the governor of Missouri is changing in January of 2025.

I do think when Governor Parson leaves, that opens a lot of questions about state support.

I think they also would be preferred to be answered prior thereto.

I know that I'm very sensitive to your time, but there are a couple of things I wanted to ask you about.

One.

Last week, if you watched the show, was the spotlight on this safety on the plaza became a big issue.

Again.

A spray of bullets takes out the Shake Shack window again.

Vehicles are damaged.

Last fall, we were told a Dallas company was going to save the plaza after its current owners went into financial default.

Yet we've never heard anything about that since.

Have all of these issues left them with cold feet?

I don't believe they have.

I have had meetings with those plaza owners, the potential plaza owners.

I know the council members from that part of Kansas City have gone down to Dallas to meet with them as well.

They remain interested in the project.

I think what we are seeing is a real estate deal closing bit of issues, but it is not something that suggests they are on an interested.

Is the delay, though, about the fact that they want to get a lot of tax incentives to even come here?

By the way, also this is the this week is the second anniversary of Nordstrom's decision to say, no, we're not going to come to the plaza after all.

And you still have that big hole on the west side of the plaza.

I have had issues and concerns with that Nordstrom hole for some time.

I think they related more to Nordstrom than issues on the Country Club Plaza itself.

I do think a deal gets done.

They continue to remain interested and I'll be fair with you.

I think they do have a conversation with the city about tax incentives, the sorts of things they can do to support security and importantly, public works, transportation and infrastructure.

That will be the area where I think you see the strongest government ask not classic, just if it was a week that once again so homicide's back in the news.

Among the latest victims, an 11 year old girl hit by a bullet while she was inside a home.

I think about an 11 year old who lost her life just this past week.

You could compare a killing in Kansas City to a commercial.

You guaranteed one.

When you look at the faces of the family and without a word being said and you can see the hurt, you know, it just don't measure up.

It don't add up.

Gun violence is killing is a leading cause of death among our young people.

And so I raise the question, if not now, when?

By the way, the girl, Courtney Freeman, was the 42nd murder in Kansas City this year and the sixth child.

It comes as the Wall Street Journal reports, homicides in big cities across the country are plummeting.

Boston reporting just two homicides so far this year.

What are they doing that we're not, Matt Lucas?

Well, they have responsible gun laws in Massachusetts.

In fact, if you ever drive into Massachusetts or Boston on I-93, they have a sign about it.

So I think the presence, the number of firearms does make a difference.

But I'm not running for governor in this interview.

I'm not announcing that.

So let me look to what Kansas City is doing.

As you as you saw this week, we had a meeting where we were recognizing homicide victims who have been children.

And we continue to work on a few key steps, a 30% pay increase, three 0% pay increase for Casey P.D.

We recognize we need more officers.

We're investing in more intervention programs.

And ever before you will see us roll out more summer jobs programs and activities.

So we are doing all that we can throw in and be the kitchen sink at violence prevention Solutions at law enforcement solutions will likely have a vote on a jail later this year in Kansas City.

So we're looking at the enforcement intervention and prevention.

I do think that when you look at the the fact that we are flooded in firearms, particularly semi-automatic guns in this community, that presents a challenge.

I think a lot of the nexus between drug trafficking and firearms is an issue that we need to work with.

Working more closely with our federal partners is important.

Something the city likes, something the state of Missouri doesn't do as much of.

But this is a key issue about how we can make Kansas City better long term and we'll stay committed to it.

Matt Lucas, thank you for joining us on Week in Review.

So are we any of the wiser about what Matt Lucas wants two weeks after the stadium tax election, are we still in a foggy haze?

Well, if the truth be known, no one seems to be offering up any concrete plans you can touch and feel.

For all the talk of Kansas stealing away one or both teams.

No specifics have been shared.

We reached out to Kansas Governor Laura Kelly's office and were told she was unavailable to talk about stadium issues.

The former speaker of the Kansas House, Ron Reichman, who news reports claim he has been privately working with funders to lure one of the teams to Kansas, didn't return any calls or emails.

And with talk that a stadium could go up near the Kansas Speedway, the mayor of Wyandotte County, Tyrone Garner, is still not up to doing any interviews as he recovers from a medical surgery.

He won't be formally returning to his mayoral role until the beginning of May.

But after we mentioned his absence last week, he did record a Facebook video over the weekend to say he was still alive.

Share with you my sadness.

Let you know that, yes, I'm still alive.

I'm in the land of the living.

I just thank God for blessing me.

I'm not 100%.

So please keep me in your prayers.

I'm still navigating through my recovery, but I know I couldn't be gone forever.

Well, we wish you well with your recovery, Meghan.

Which leaves us, by the way, to the only other big entity that's still part of the equation, and that's Jackson County.

Now, we did invite Jackson County executive Frank White to join us, but he respectfully declined.

But you.

Joining us now is the vice chair of the Jackson County Legislature, Megan Marshall, who, by the way, was the only lawmaker to oppose placing the stadium tax on the April ballot.

You're also the chair of the Finance Committee, which is the purse strings, the all important money of Jackson County.

One interesting thing happened this week, the numbers of rain.

We saw that the we now know that the Chiefs and the royals spent nearly $6 million on that failed stadium tax push.

That was about $105 per yes vote.

When that came out, you quote you put out on social media the following quote, Listening is a lot cheaper.

Do you feel the teams didn't listen?

Meghan Marshall.

The teams and the county didn't listen.

They didn't listen to who matters.

And that's the community.

Now, of course, I'm part of the county, so I do have some of the blame to share, even though, like you said, I was one of the no votes who was adamantly opposed to this being on the ballot to begin with.

But, yes, listening is a whole lot cheaper.

Well, talking about listening, Brian Platt was on KC while radio this week, the city manager of Kansas City, saying they are now going to take a lead at the city level to negotiate directly with the teams.

That is a role, of course, that Jackson County has historically played.

How did that go down at the Jackson County courthouse this week?

Well, as it stands now, the county and the teams are still in negotiations.

Negotiations haven't ceased.

It's last week we had a quote from Frank White, the executive who said he hadn't spoken to the teams since Election Day.

Is that still the case?

Well, I mean, we're in a cooling off period.

Everybody saw what happened on April the second.

And so, you know, realistically, do we really think that, you know, the very next day everybody will be back at the table?

No, I don't think that's realistic.

Now, as far as, you know, the city manager, I have no idea what that means taking the lead, because as I said at the stands right now, the county is the owners of the Truman Sports complex.

If an employee from the city wants to speak on behalf of the elected officials.

That just raises more questions that we still don't have answers.

My head is spinning, and I think our viewers head spinning, because we just heard from the mayor saying, well, you know, he was trying to walk back a little bit about them taking the lead.

And yet, you know, if we thought that they that the Jackson County was being held off from this and they were going to be on the sidelines, he said you had to speak to the Jackson County executive about this, but he's not really talking about it.

But he says he has his own plan.

What is that plan before the election?

Jackson County executive Frank White did talk about having a separate ballot measure just for the chiefs that would go on the ballot this August.

Is that still the plan that hasn't been shared with me?

And to the best of my knowledge, none of my colleagues.

What to you is the biggest lesson that we learned from that election.

I think putting the cart before the horse is a huge, I guess, kind of a jolt and not listening to the voters.

Putting this on the ballot without the, you know, legal ramifications in place, without the lease being in place, you know, that had been in place inside before, you know, when we put this on the ballot.

So putting that on the ballot before lease was very, very irresponsible of the legislature.

And then also, when you talk about the community benefit aspect of it, you know, there were a variety of committee organizations who wanted to be a part of the conversation.

And once that got put on the ballot, you know, they still persisted to have conversations with the teams about their their desires.

You know, they had a great blueprint from Milwaukee, the city of Milwaukee, who, you know, has things in there with, you know, like a wage floor.

That's the bare minimum that we should be able to agree upon.

And it's really disheartening to see a lot of these community organizations walk away from the table, you know, because they feel the teams weren't listening to them.

I know that the community benefit agreement was very important to you, but what kind of community benefit would there be if the Chiefs get up and leave to Kansas?

Well, I know until 2031, that's not even something that is a topic of discussion.

But I will say that, you know, one thing that the county has been very adamant about is being able to receive more of the revenue back from which generated from a sports complex, not just for the season and the games, but for the concerts that are there.

And so I do believe that, you know, the result of April the second was not the voters saying they don't want the teams here.

That's not what that was about.

It was just a lack of information and then being able to make an informed decision.

We all want the teams to stay here, but we want to be good partners to one another.

And the community plays a big role in that.

I mean, they've been good partners for over 50 years and so I think that this isn't 50 years ago.

Times have changed.

People are feeling a lot more of the pinch.

And so we have to be sensitive to that and we have to respond to that appropriately.

How much of the decision by voters do you think was based on the fact that where the royals were planning to go right there in the crossroads, if it was in a different location, would it have would it have succeeded at the polls?

That's a great question.

I think this issue and you know, when I talk to voters, it depends on where they are in the county as far as geographically.

There was an array of issues and challenges that, you know, some out in eastern Jackson County, they couldn't get on board for specific reasons that were completely different from those elsewhere in the county.

So I don't I don't necessarily think location was the one sticking point.

There was a variety of things that led to the ultimate turnout.

So what happens now?

Will we see another vote this year?

Well, I hope now we can start with, like I said, listening.

Right.

Everybody get back.

Everybody's listening, though.

Everybody is in a period of reflection.

How long does that last?

Right.

And I think starting with with assessing what what just happened by the and it wasn't, you know, 16, 16 points is a lot.

You know, I think that's a statement that we we can't just shy away from.

I think that the parties involved, the county and the teams are the ones that need to come back to the table, start negotiations afresh, bring in the community, hear their concerns, and then put together a plan.

There's no need to rush when you rush people, you know, these are freaking out and they're like, Why are we rushing?

But there's time.

There's no need to be rushed in this.

Okay.

What do you think about what we heard also from the city manager this week that the Kansas City may be looking at doing this even without a public vote, bypassing the voters altogether.

They might be too much of a nuisance in this.

We can avoid them altogether and put a package together that we don't even have to go to the ballot with.

Well, I think that's very irresponsible.

I think it muddy the waters.

It creates more confusion, it creates more questions.

And we're where we are right now because of lack of information.

So I think interjecting yourself, especially speaking in the role of, you know, of what you would expect an elected official to speak.

It just it just adds to the muck of stuff.

And so I think the voters said very clearly what they want.

And so to circumvent that, I think that's a slap in the face to the voters.

So to circumvent that and go around what they've clearly said they don't want to do.

That's bad government.

It's not democratic.

And I would I would I would tread very lightly.

Well, this issue of the stadiums is sort of absorbed public attention.

There's also lots of things happening at City Hall, County courthouse, should I say, and including the fact that a lot of major, crucial departments out at the county courthouse have been shut down because of a ransomware attack.

Are you back to normal now?

Well, what a time for that to happen right, is if we don't have other things going on.

Earlier this week, we did go into a soft launch.

And I will say that, you know, ransomware is are unfortunately very common.

Did you have to pay a large ransom to get your data back?

Well, I can't talk about you can't talk about the finance person.

I am.

But no, I can't discuss.

What is it?

You can't just disclose that.

Okay.

I know we've talked about the stadium, but I want to ask Blake Bay quickly on two other issues we told to football that has been the focus of the ballot box that maybe two other issues going to the ballot box coming up that relate to Jackson County.

One we keep hearing about is that the statues of Andrew Jackson outside of both courthouses will be back on the ballot in November.

Is that going to happen?

I haven't heard that going back on the ballot.

Now, this did come up last year with with the legislature.

Two of my colleagues wanted to intercede and and use our legislative authority to go against what the voters had stated in 2020, as I stated then, is the same way that I feel now.

I'm not in favor of going against what the voters said now.

They already voted on it.

Correct.

And there was a plaque that was put outside the statue to give context around all of the deplorable things that Andrew Jackson did and the type of person that he was.

However, the voters have spoken and there's been no substantial change since then.

So I don't think that that's something that we should as we speak in Jefferson City, we have lawmakers trying to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot to make sure that Jackson County has an elected assessor.

After all of the complaints about how a property assessments were happening in Jackson County.

Would you be in favor of having a elected Jackson County assessor or would it not make any difference in your mind?

Well, I think if the voters decide, then I would have to abide by it.

But what I would say, I would caution that when you have an assessor as an elected physician, you throw away the qualifications that are needed for someone to actually conduct and function in that job.

Whereas now the appointed position, you have to have those qualifications.

And so I am more focused on the quality that comes out of that department.

But as a legislator, my job is to provide them with the resources they need to function at high capacity and also to help the residents navigate the system through any challenges they have.

And, you know, regardless of what the outcome is, I intend to continue doing both of those things.

Now, I want to know, when you came in the building today, you created a huge stir and excitement as somebody announced that Meghan Markle was here and we had to say no.

We were talking about Megan Marshall she's also incredibly important, but we have very grateful.

You said yes to coming on the program.

Thank you for that.

It is good to have you.

Next week, our reporters returned with the week's most impactful, confusing and befuddling local news stories.

And tell that I'm Nick Haynes from all of us at Kansas City, PBS.

Be well, keep calm and carry up.