JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC

I heard from a mildly pissed off Mike Burke this morning.

If you read my last post, you know that I applauded the recent announcement of a deal between the city and a Burke-led development group to build a new $300-million convention hotel at 16th and Wyandotte, cater-corner from the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.

In that post, I also speculated that Burke — whom I supported to the tune of $5,000 in the 2011 mayor’s race — may have known he was going to lose that race against Sly James and went out of his way to keep the campaign clean in order to leave the door open for future business opportunities with the James administration.

Burke objected to that, as well as to my criticism of part of the hotel deal that would give Hyatt — the prospective hotel operator — an exclusive, 15-year catering contract with the Kansas City Convention Center’s Grand Ballroom. Currently eight caterers service the convention center.

Let’s take these points in order…

On his kid-glove treatment of James in the mayor’s race, Burke said he resented the implication that he went easy on James with an eye toward future business opportunities, such as the hotel deal that is in the works.

The clean-campaign pledge, Burke said, was a “pre-primary, mutual agreement” between him and James, in which both candidates agreed to stay out of the mud.

“He kept his word, and I kept mine,” Burke said.

Burke also said he campaigned vigorously right through election eve and expected to win the election. He didn’t have enough money for any pre-election polling, he said.

In addition, Burke said, he and James had agreed that whichever of them emerged victorious “would use the other in some productive capacity” in his administration.

It was that agreement, apparently, that led to James appointing Burke to head a city committee aimed at turning the Google Fiber network into business opportunities benefitting the Kansas City area.

On the proposed exclusive catering contract at the convention center, Burke said Ronnie Burt, president of the Kansas City convention and visitors bureau, had told him that Bartle Hall is the only major convention center he knew of that did not have an exclusive catering contract. (I’ve got a call in to Burt on that point.)

Granting one hotel operator an exclusive contract, Burke said, serves to significantly reduce the city’s “direct-cash” subsidy of the hotel deal.

One of Kansas City’s “extremely tough parameters,” Burke said, was its determination to commit no General Fund money to the project. (The city wanted to avoid a situation like that with the Power & Light District, where the city has ended up with multi-million-dollar-annual payments to retire bonds issued to finance the project.)

With an exclusive caterer, then, the city saves money at the expense of higher prices at the convention center’s Grand Ballroom. (The exclusive contract applies only to the Grand Ballroom, not the other convention center elements, like Bartle Hall’s exhibition area.)

**

Here’s my response to those two points…

First, I was aware all along that Burke and James had agreed to run a clean campaign and probably overstated the situation when I said in my earlier post that Burke “was careful to stay in Sly’s good offices.” I accept that both men complied with a “gentlemen’s agreement.”

I still believe, however, that Burke — a very smart man — probably was operating with the idea that, if he lost, it would behoove him down the road to not alienate James in any way during the campaign. As a development attorney, Burke had brought business before the City Council for many years, and he certainly did not want to jeopardize that.

Second, I still don’t like the idea of giving Hyatt an exclusive catering contract. As I said in the earlier post, the higher food prices that will result from such a contract could cost the city some big conventions. Convention planners are smart shoppers, you know, and have very sharp pencils.

And, again, what if food provided by the Hyatt sucks? The convention center — and those attending conventions — could be stuck, at least until the situation got remedied. Burke said the contract will include “safeguards” protecting the convention center’s interests, but, nevertheless, I see significant risks in the convention center’s lack of options.

I still believe that if this deal gets traction with the City Council, which it should, changes could be made to the catering deal without the development group walking away. Like I said, there’s way too much money on the table. The developers want to get as much out of it as they can, and the city has to be careful not to give away too much.

When the Cordish Co. came along with the P&L deal during the Kay Barnes administration, the city was desperate: Downtown was a certifiable disaster, and the city was not in a strong position to get concessions.

It’s different now: Downtown is humming; the Sprint Center is one of the most successful arenas in the country; and the PAC, with its shell design and angled glass face, is a beckoning jewel.

It’s a new day in Kansas City, and it’s plain to see we have a lot to offer convention planners.