Coming up, your views now wanted on a new Kansas City streetcar line.

It won't go to the stadiums, but it will take you over into Kansas.

Is it worth the $650 million price tag?

And will you be on the hook for paying it just one week after you voted yes to retain the bus tax?

Transit leaders now weighing whether to reinstate bus fares as they worry over $11 million deficit.

If Kansas City retailers don't already have enough to worry about multiple shootings at shopping malls on both sides of state line ratcheting up just ahead of the busy holiday season.

Plus, a new fight over a popular Kansas City attraction.

And, you know, two governors just solve the country's biggest political divisions over a plate to barbecue.

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.

Johnny H Mize and Bank of Americ NA co trustees.

The restaurant at 1900 and by viewers like you.

Thank you.

Welcome.

I'm Nick Haines.

Glad to have you with us on our weekly journey through the local news of our week, dissecting our most interesting and puzzling stories of the week.

Former Kansas City star reporter and editorial writer Dave Helling at the helm of City Scene , KC.

Kevin Collison from our metro's newest newspaper.

Next page, KC Eric Wesson and Channel Nine political analyst Michael Mahoney.

Now, if you thought the ongoing Royals stadium saga couldn't get more perplexing, think again.

Almost six months after John Sherman announced he had narrowed down the location of the team's new home to two sites, he's now considering a third.

According to the star, the royals have spent recent weeks quietly analyzing the possibility of building its new ballpark on the site of the former Kansas City Star Printing Press Building.

That's the impressive glass structure the newspaper vacated two years ago.

Michael Mahoney put us out of our misery.

Is this just clickbait or have the Royals truly had a major change of heart and a major change in strategy?

It seems like this far into the pressure, the proceedings here to have this kind of come up in at least the seventh inning of this.

I'm not sure.

It certainly speaks to the fact that there are some issues with both the Jackson County downtown site and the Clay County site in north down.

So they're having perhaps the second second thoughts about that.

But, you know, it is another twist on this and how serious it is.

I'm not sure yet.

And this right next to that South Loop project put in a concrete lead over the highway that crisscrosses downtown.

And I do remember Kevin Carlson on this program when I asked you whether the royals would be rethinking their strategy as a result of that project and you said no.

I don't really think there was many legs to the story that the star put out.

I mean, you know, this idea of locating a ballpark there was floated a year ago and the royals shut it down for multiple reasons.

One is the difficulty of assembling all the land they'd need to build it, and also the fact that it would displace a lot of businesses in an already thriving East Crossroads area.

And should they go there, they would not be able to develop the entertainment district.

And that, they say, is a big part of how they want to get revenues for this thing.

That's why I just really don't put much credence in this ninth inning change.

So what's the motivation then for bringing it up now, Dave?

Well, I think one of the big motivations is I think the royals and to a certain degree, the Chiefs neck now understand that Jackson County alone can't bear the burden of two stadium complex.

And so talks with Kansas City, Missouri have increased and with the mayor Remember, Kansas City is just barely involved in the current stadiums.

They cost a couple of million dollars a year in for maintenance, but they're not involved in the construction yet.

But I do think in in conversations with the mayor and others, they're exploring every option to make it palatable for the city of Kansas City to become strongly involved in the construction costs.

And that printing plan, I must say, as a former star reporter, is in danger of being quite an eyesore.

I mean, it's not what re-use there is isn't clear.

And if it just stands there for another 20 years, it might not be the best thing for downtown.

So I think the city's involvement is behind some of it.

It's also interesting to me, Eric, even after last week's show, I had a Jackson County lawmaker text me directly to say, Why aren't you talking about the fact that the royals are secretly also looking to move to Kansas?

I've never seen so much ill will discontent all boiling up into public views on this issue.

Yeah, it is getting a lot of attention and I think that was another matter to throw Frank White under the bus.

But I think there's a real serious issue that came up.

That's probably the elephant in the room and that was this last tax in Jackson County that got soundly defeated.

And I think they might be looking at how will we get a tax passed in Jackson County to extend it.

So I think that might have been some of the kick back to move into Kansas City and let Kansas City be involved in it as well.

Piggybacking on what?

Erickson I think a huge vote of no confidence in Jackson County.

And to be honest, see, I can't blame people.

I mean, they've had a problem putting together a jail deal.

This assessment thing has been an absolute disaster.

I think a lot of people are pretty fed up with Jackson County.

And I think it's becoming extremely clear that the negotiations between the county and Mr. White and the royals are going sideways and that's being positive.

But it's an unfair, though, to make him Frank White, the only person who is giving pushback to this plan.

He is sort of being demonized here.

I'm sure there are plenty of other elected officials who are saying that hitting the brakes on this behind the scenes.

It isn't clear how politically popular this is.

And politicians sort of go where the voters are.

And I think that's what Frank White and others may be doing.

Let's be clear, though, this is a generational decision.

It's the biggest construction project, if you count the chiefs in Kansas City history.

It's a 50 year decision in terms of where both franchises end up.

You should expect politics and disagreements to surface before the final decision is made.

One thing we do know, the royals are not going to Las Vegas.

That's where the former Kansas City A's are going.

The major league owners voting to do that today.

And by the way, stadium controversies can escalate pretty quickly.

Oakland is a good example.

But Nashville, Indianapolis, Orlando all would love one of these teams, too.

Yeah.

And the other thing to remember and just in terms of the Jackson County politics on this, renewing this 3 to 3% sales tax is going to be a heavy lift in independence in Lee's Summit in blue Springs, where there are a lot lots of voters.

They like that stadium where it is now.

In fact, there's a petition drive to keep the royals at Kauffman Stadium.

It's not guaranteed that by any stretch of the imagination that a tax to put to put the stadium downtown and in Jackson County is going to have any Eastern jack support seriously support.

It looks like Kansas City has abandoned plans to connect the streetcar line to the current sports stadiums.

But transit leaders aren't giving up on expanding the system.

The city has just released a proposal for a new east west rail line that stops three miles short of Arrowhead Stadium, but would feature 16 streetcar stops along a six mile route from the University of Kansas Hospital to Van Brandt Boulevard, which would connect the line to the VA hospital.

Now, they want you to weigh in.

We want people to weigh in on this comment and kind of truth check that we have put out there.

And what our data is telling us is correct to this point.

Now, you can go on to the Kansas City streetcar dot org site to fill in a survey about the new route and answer questions like should the streetcar share the same road as other traffic or have its own designated lane?

And if you live in the area, would you be willing to raise your taxes to pay for it?

Is there enough federal cash sloshing around Kevin Collison to make this work without local taxpayers spending a dime on it?

Oh, there's well, that little caveat.

It was quite a bus deal.

But our buzzkill, you know there is money.

The feds are definitely particularly under a Democratic administration, more willing to help fund mass transit programs around the country.

And I think if the Kansas City was to get together a reasonable proposal that had strong local funding to match federal funding, they might be able to go somewhere.

But the price tag is such that the existing way of building streetcars that we've used for Main Street just doesn't work.

You have to have a citywide vote.

But they didn't do a citywide vote when they extended it down to you.

MKC in the Plaza, the.

T d on Main Street puts a property tax surcharge on some of the most highly developed property in the in the city, and it also imposes a $0.01 sales tax on the core of our retail.

You do not have that going east of Main Street.

You do not have the property values and the sales tax revenues that could support a TDI.

That's why you need a citywide.

Vote when when this was floated before it was going to be, you can have a chance to tailgate over.

How do I head stadium by taking this east West street streetcar line now that the stadiums has been removed, how attractive is it to go from the University of Kansas Hospital to the VA hospital?

A lot of people go to the VA hospital, by the way, and then you get back to the property taxing before when this guy defeated in a black community, it was people didn't want to pay the tax on having it on the streetcar line.

So people voted it down and they never got it.

Where you got the same thing, you got the same issue is, is property tax increases.

And right now people are paying.

They feel way too much for their property tax.

So now you're going to put another tax on top of it.

It's not going to fly.

Dave, one other quick note.

North of the river is going to say, well, now wait a minute.

Why should we be be on the hook citywide, four tracks for Streetcar that are exclusively south of the river.

That's going to be a tough sell.

Now, the issue of public transit is heating up in our metro.

Johnson County has decided to eliminate several of its bus routes due to low ridership and funding issues.

And in Kansas City, a week after voters renewed the bus tax, transit leaders said they may now be forced to bring back bus fares.

Three years ago, Kansas City left bus fares in the rearview mirror.

Now ride KC may have to bring them back.

You don't want to really take anybody's mobility away, but there is a revenue problem.

Now, the KTA says even if we win the bus tax, they're now running an $11 million budget deficit.

But isn't this interesting timing just after Election Day, did they ever put out, Eric, any voter mailings saying renew the bus tax?

Oh, and by the way, we're going to stop charging you to ride the bus again.

No, but it was always on the bag.

Okay.

They never said it publicly until after the election.

But I think one of the issues that they have, too, is also the bus drivers and and homeless people riding the bus back and forth all day.

And some of the other patrons being very disturbed by it.

I have a lady that calls me every week about homeless people riding the bus all the time.

So it's always been on the back burner.

Was it a little disingenuous to put this out after the election, Michael?

Yeah, I think so.

I think there is going to be some folks that believe it's a bait and switch.

There was talk beforehand that had the the bus taxes, raids and bus tax not be approved, that there could be budget cuts and cut back on it.

But nobody discussed the idea of restoring fares.

And I think the I mean, they did come up with this idea between election day and and this week.

I think they owed the voters to to have that as part of the discussion point.

The one thing you know, I don't think it's a mystery why we were the only major city to dive in the pool of free transit.

Other cities have looked at it and you get the feeling when you look back at how quickly the county and city hall said, oh, let's do free transit.

You don't get a sense that there was much research done before they made that plunge.

And I think now they've got a little buyer's regret.

If Kansas City retailers didn't have enough to worry about multiple shootings, that area, shopping malls are ratcheting up fear.

Just ahead of the busy holiday season.

Oak Park Mall in Johnson County was shut down Sunday after a suspect grabbed an officer's gun and began shooting.

We want to make sure that the citizens able to park in the surrounding areas, if they come to Overland Park, that they feel safe shopping in our.

Mall.

Here, something like this or with regarding firearms, this is unheard of.

It doesn't happen like this all the time.

Meanwhile, a 19 year old pregnant woman has just died after a shooting at Independence Center mall that injured four people, area police say.

These are rare incidents in that shopping at your local mall is safe, But does the public see it that way, Dave?

There is a danger that the public will increasingly not see it that way, that they'll shy away from malls like Oak Park and independents and others that, you know, the Banister Mall collapsed because of a fear of largely because of a fear of danger.

And, you know, eventually that mall was torn down and others.

So once a shopping district gets a reputation as being a dangerous place to go, it's it's hard to shake.

Is that why also now on the Country Club Plaza on a Saturday, for instance, you can now see a police officer right outside of the Apple store, a police officer right outside of the Nike store, your private security outside of these stores to provide the sense of reassurance to people, even if they are rare incidents.

I think in those specific incidents, it's more about shoplifting because they've you know, they've had people rush in there, grab stuff and run away.

But the common denominator throughout everything from the malls to the downtown, whatever.

Immature young men with guns.

I mean, there's no other way to put it.

There's a lot of young men who have very little control of their emotions, who are very, you know, willing to take a gun out and solve their problems, which seems to be the common case with all these incidents.

But Independence Mall and Oak Park Mall both have police stations in the mall.

So that's not creating any security for people to feel safe going in there.

I think independence Myles had enough incidents.

I'm really surprised that it is lasted this long.

Yeah.

The idea of this happening at this time of year, as you brought up at the beginning of this, is very ominous, especially for the Independence Mall.

Now, cancer and heart disease remain America's biggest killers, but overdose deaths are rising and far surpassed the number of homicides in Kansas City.

Mayor Quinton Lucas is responding with a new campaign to fight what the Department of Justice has called the deadliest drug threat our nation has ever faced.

The help wanted sign is now out this week for two investigators to join the city in trying to combat fentanyl.

This is a law enforcement problem.

Is it a health problem?

Is it a hospital issue?

Is it a school issue?

The answer is all of the above.

We talk a lot about homicides, but clearly we have had more than 800 people, according to the Kansas City Star, die of overdoses of fentanyl.

What are these investigators actually going to do to help solve that, Eric?

Probably try to find out where they're coming from, where it's centrally located at and why people are using it.

It is a huge issue all over the country right now, whether the city is the proper place to address it, I think is a big question.

You would think maybe the county health department might be interested.

You think maybe the police department might be interested in working more closely with the FBI, you know, whether the city of Kansas City is going to make a dent in this huge national crisis, I think is a big question.

The next big thing happening in Kansas City is the World Cup.

But when the World Cup comes to town in 2026, one attraction our out-of-town visitors won't be able to go to is the Arabia Steamboat Museum in the city market at least ends in 2026, and the city is now soliciting ideas for what to do with the space.

But are we about to see a massive fight over the issue?

Owners of the museum, which has been a fixture in the city market for 130 years, say they've changed their minds about moving.

People who come to this museum say every day, please don't move.

We come here with our guest from out of town.

Our kids have seen it.

Our grandkids have seen this place.

They've grown up with this for the last 30 some years.

We do not want to see you move.

But that's what he said he wanted to do.

They were going to move to independence at one time.

Then?

No, they were going to go Jesse Charles, Missouri.

What's changed?

What's changed is nobody has the money to fund his vision for the Steamboat Arabia.

I mean, Dave Haley has no question about it.

One of the top tourist attractions in this city he has been agitating for years about, I need more space, I need better parking.

That was the whole nature of the deal.

He's found this other steamboat he wants to dig up, which needs even more space.

And in the meantime, the city market.

There are merchants down there who really think that that space would be better utilized for other purposes.

They say we can't do concerts down here because the reverberation and noise hurts the or damages the artifacts.

So it's David want somebody to drop 50 plus million dollars to build him a home for a collection he still wants to control.

And so far, that has not, you know, gotten any takers.

Could we be at the stage very soon that he's going to be evicted from that space?

Well, we've got three years, so I mean, we've got some time and there have been some I thought, concrete suggestions.

If the American royal eventually moves out to Casey, there's a huge building down in the bottoms.

That would be a perfect location for all this.

We do need to see somebody besides just David talking about the future of this thing.

And I don't know who that somebody could be, but it's going to take more than just him.

I have never been there.

I actually have relatives who say, Oh, my God, every schoolchild in America should go to this museum.

They have such big thoughts about it.

It is couple of people.

Have been and it's a great place to go.

Like most museums, locals will only go once.

There's no sense that you need to go again and again and again.

That's true of the World War One museum, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.

To a degree, unless there are new, refreshed exhibits, locals don't really visit more than once.

But you said he's bringing in another boat, so he will have something more.

Yeah.

Okay.

All right.

But just quickly, the The Hollies have been complaining about their environs in the city market almost since the moment they opened and have been threatening to move and it's leaking in there.

It does seem like there should be a summit and a comprehensive approach to what do we do with this popular destination going forward.

Now we live in incredibly polarized times.

Spit it out.

Two governors just solve America's biggest political divisions.

This week, Kansas Governor Laura Kelly and Missouri Governor Mike Parson got together at 239 barbecue in Midtown to try and heal the political divide in a new campaign launched by the National Governors Association.

We probably don't agree on much.

And that's why I ordered Kansas City, Missouri barbecue.

And I ordered the Good stuff Kansas City.

Kansas Barbecue.

But regardless, we're committed to disagreeing better.

Like in 2019, when we came together to end the Kansas City Economic Water war.

Which at its heart is just a bad policy and wasn't in the best interest of Missourians or Kansans.

And is that correct?

It is.

Well, we'll just call you neighbors.

And like any good neighbor, will continue to disagree on plenty of things.

Like barbecue tax policy.

But who's the bigger cheese.

Fan as the 2024 election cycle heats up, we hope to speak for the entire country and say we.

Don't always have to agree, but we can learn to disagree better.

I'm reaching I'm reaching for a tissue over here because I'm actually filling up.

Could there be a could there be opportunities for them hosting Saturday Live, perhaps their own talk show as a result of that experience?

Eric They look like they were so labored to try to make it look like they were getting along.

But I don't see it going anywhere.

It just look good.

Sounds good.

But they still have their their issues.

On attracting businesses to their states.

Are passing and Kelly poster children for how to get along but all really when the cameras are there.

Both states a couple of years ago did take what I believe to be a substantial move to ending this business swap across the border.

That doesn't happen to that to that extent anymore.

And they should get credit for that.

I will say this.

There is an opportunity for the two states to really work together to do something important, and that is to fund stadium development in Kansas City.

And if Kansas, which by the way, is flush with cash and Missouri flush with cash, were to get together and say, hey, look, we can put forward 300, $400 million for stadium facilities, It might make a difference in the stadium debate and that's where maybe they can make a deal.

But it's been over 20 years since we did a by state tax in Kansas City.

Do you see that happening now?

No, I don't.

But I do agree with Dave.

I mean, you know, there's always been an opportunity to divide the labor of supporting our major pro teams.

I mean, I advocated years ago and got my head handed to me about the Chiefs going out to village West and the royals coming downtown and have a true by state with benefits to all the communities.

I mean, I still think it's a huge shame.

The richest county in the metro is not even being asked to put out a dime for this thing.

But I you know, getting back to the video itself, it's nice in this day where everybody's said each other's throats politically.

I don't care what the motivation is.

It was a nice gesture, let's put it that way.

Where do you put a program like this together every week?

You can't get to every story grabbing the headlines.

What was the big local story?

We missed?

A Kansas City area ammunition plant faces tough questions after a New York Times investigation ties the facility to at least a dozen mass shootings, including producing 80 full rounds used during the Parkland school shooting in Florida.

After weeks of local protests condemning Israel, dozens of Jewish leaders in Kansas City head to Washington for the largest rally in support of the Jewish state in decades.

The public gets its first chance this week to weigh in on a provocative plan to break up Wyandotte County.

Shawnee fired its city manager two weeks after a sex tape scandal.

Taguba's wife says her husband was the victim of revenge porn.

More than 1200 people now signing a petition to pardon convicted Kansas City Police officer Eric Dvorkin here.

Missouri Governor Mike Parson was in town this week, says he has set no timetable to consider his case as negotiations continue over a new Royals phone call.

Could 7000 people sign up to a new group trying to save Kauffman Stadium?

The royals continue to insist the case is too expensive to repair.

And it's the week of the kiss seen around the world as Travis Kelsey heads halfway around the globe to see Taylor Swift in concert in Argentina.

All righty.

Eric, did you pick one of those stories or something completely different?

I picked the governor pass and story.

He was on Pete Mondale's shoulders last week and he said that that the Jackson County prosecutor didn't understand the case.

And I thought that was pretty offensive.

You know.

Eric Dvorkin is the convicted.

Yes.

You know, most people are saying that he'll probably do something by Christmas.

So we'll see.

Michael.

The KCK story and their unified government, I think bears watching.

I'm not sure that there's enough political support to do it, but I'm not sure there's not either.

So I think that is something that we need to keep our eyes on.

Dave.

Republicans in Kansas State legislators have held the dueling news conferences in the past week.

Republicans want a major tax reduction package in Topeka.

They're aiming at an income tax cut, perhaps a flat tax.

Democrats said earlier this week.

No, they'd prefer property tax relief and some sort of permanent property tax relief.

That'll be a major, major topic in Topeka and to a degree in Jeff City next year as well.

Kevin, I've got an anecdotal story that really took off on social media, and that is complaints about how well our new airport is being maintained, traveled through there a couple of times over the past month.

The moving walkways have been broken.

The men's bathrooms are a mess, you know, and I put that out on social media and people just lit up with their own observations about problems maintaining the place.

It's been a big concern that we would have this new facility, but we'd have the same culture running it.

And unfortunately, the city and I have no beef with this particular person, but they promoted from within to put somebody at the top of the aviation department rather than look around the country for somebody who's got a great reputation for running a first class airport, you know, I hope we get this stuff taken care of soon, but it does not leave the kind of impression that billion $1.5 billion airport was supposed to convey.

And on that, we will say our week has been reviewed courtesy of Kevin Collison from City Scene KC and Channel political analyst Michael Mahoney from Next Page, KC Eric Wesson and former star newshound Dave Helling.

And I'm Nick Haines.

We are heading into our holiday membership drive next week so you won't see our bright, smiling faces next Friday night.

But as our truckers like to say, we'll see you on the flipside.

Happy Thanksgiving, by the way, from all of us here at Kansas City, PBS, Be well, keep calm and carry on.