After years of discussion, we’ve now reached the eve of a public vote on whether to build a new, single terminal at KCI.
I intend to vote “yes,” of course and I feel pretty good about the outcome, although I realize victory is by no means assured.
I believe the key to the outcome could be the Northland — that part of the city that lies in Clay and Platte counties.
South of the Missouri River I foresee a big, “yes” vote on Question 1, especially along the heavy-voting Ward Parkway. In my neighborhood, Romanelli West, south of Meyer Circle Fountain, indications of support for Question 1 abound. There are lots of “A Better KCI” yard signs out, and I hear virtually no one speaking against the proposal.
On Tuesday, Oct. 24, the homes association sponsored an airport-election meeting, and more than 50 people attended. City Manager Troy Schulte and Councilman Quinton Lucas spoke and answered questions, and, overall, they got an enthusiastic response. To my surprise, the enthusiasm was only slightly muted by the fact that Geoff Stricker, managing partner of Edgemoor, the Maryland firm that would build the new terminal, failed to appear as scheduled. (The campaign committee informed me the next morning he had been taken ill.)
But back to the Northland…Even though KCI has been a strong economic engine for the Northland, many Northland residents don’t always share their southern counterparts’ views of what constitutes progress. Part of that is due to the fact that many Northland residents simply don’t feel a close connection to City Hall, and part of it is the Northland tends to be more conservative than the area south of the river, which is much more diverse.
Another factor has been political leadership. U.S. Rep. Sam Graves, whose district is mostly rural but takes in the Clay and Platte sections of Kansas City, is decidedly anti-city. Once, in a political debate, I heard him denounce former Mayor Kay Barnes — who was seeking to replace him in the House of Representatives — for advocating development of the Kansas City Power & Light District. Speaking about the millions of dollars in city subsidies for the entertainment district, he said something like, “That might be the way you do things down in the city, but it’s not how we operate up here.”
I realized then that he had absolutely no interest in what happens in Missouri’s largest city, a significant part of which lies in his district.
Graves has generally been cool and non-communicative about the prospect of a new KCI, but he warmed up six months ago, after the engineering firm Burns & McConnell. Interestingly, Burns and Mac has been a major contributor to Graves’ congressional campaigns.
Graves issued a statement, saying: “I like this new concept and it’s a step in the right direction. But a lot remains to be seen, especially the final costs and how convenience is going to be preserved. That’s what matters to people in this region and in the Northland.”
After the City Council decided to open the project up to competing proposals, Burns and Mac’s proposal was shown to be outrageously overpriced, and the firm was quickly dropped from consideration by a city selection committee.
Now, Graves has re-buried his head in the sand. When I called his local office today, an aide who took the call said, “Congressman Graves has not made a public comment about Question 1.”
Another Northland representative, City Councilwoman Teresa Loar, has generally opposed a new, single terminal, but she did join nine other City Council members in voting for Edgemoor as contractor. I sent her an email this morning, asking if she intends to vote for Question 1 tomorrow, but as of publication time I hadn’t heard back.
One Northland officeholder who does favor Question 1 is City Councilman Dan Fowler. In an Op-Ed piece in Sunday’s Kansas City Star, Fowler wrote:
“I used to love KCI — and my old bell-bottom jeans — but that was years ago. I’ve since decided it’s time to let go of those once-popular pants, and our outdated KCI as well. Neither meets today’s expectations, and frankly, neither fits comfortably anymore. Some changes are good.”
In addition to Fowler, several Northland business groups are supporting Question 1, including the Northland Chamber of Commerce.
Jim Rice, a chamber board member and a longtime Clay County resident, said he has heard very little talk about the election and has seen very few yard signs. He said the committee running the campaign seems to have focused on identifying “frequent, positive voters and getting a good turnout from those folks,” while avoiding those the campaign has identified as opposed.
Rice said he believed a “yes” vote was more doubtful in the Platte County part of Kansas City than the Clay County segment, mainly because “Platte County is a little more conservative.”
Overall, Rice expects a close vote but predicted that, in the end, Kansas City voters will approve Question 1.
For whatever reason, the official election-night “watch party” will be held in the Northland. I will be there.
I urge you, Kansas City residents, to join me in voting “Yes.” Let’s get on with building a first-class airport!
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
Nope; not gonna do it…
Will: As W.C. Fields would say: “Don’t be a luddy duddy, don’t be a moon calf, don’t be a jabbernowl…You don’t want to be any of those, do you?”
sigh….
Jim, I think your analysis is spot on the best I can tell from 2,000 miles away. In this kind of campaign — low turnout– getting your voters to the polls makes or breaks a campaign. With the yes side raising close to $2 million last I looked, that should be plenty of money for an effective ground operation.
One variable you did not mention was I am under the impression that plenty of pilots, and other workers associated with the airport lived in the Northland. Could these be conservative voters or infrequent voters that might vote for improvements to their workplace and also make a point of getting to the polls?
Just a thought. Turnout this November off-cycle ballot measure might tell the tale in the end.
You make a good point regarding Northland residents who work or worked at the airport. I asked Jim Rice about former employees at the former TWA/American Overhaul Base, and he agreed many of them probably would be inclined to vote “yes.”
Would I be cynical if I said that buying off Freedom Inc. will give them enough votes from all of the mail in ballots from the dozens of housing projects they control in the east end to put the measure over the top? The Pitch described the process quite well a few years back regarding school board elections.
I rolled out my own modest mail-in campaign this time: I have a friend who’s been at Research Med Center for six weeks, and I got her an absentee ballot application, and she mailed the completed ballot in last week. I wonder if I’m now qualified to become a Freedom foot soldier? I hear the job pays pretty good…
Already voted here (Yes) in the Northland this morning. Usually I don’t get to the polls until between 9 and 10 am, but voted shortly after 7 am this morning and the machine that ingested my paper ballot indicated I was vote #65. Turnout was steady (2 or 3 people per minute or so). My past experience is that in special elections my polling place is trying to push past 50 voters by 10 am, so the turnout is higher than normal.
I still received no mailers, flyers, knocks on the door, etc. No yard signs visible in the Kansas City part of Platte County one way or another. If the vote in the end depends on the Northland, there wasn’t much of a visible push. We’ll see if this was a mistake.
Glad to hear how you voted, Bill…From what I’ve heard from you and Jim Rice, it sounds like one goal of the campaign was to slide the election by the Northland, hoping it didn’t notice. It appears they focused on the corridor and other pro-airport areas and voters and inundated them with mailers. Speaking before the votes are counted, of course, it seems like a good strategy to me. I don’t know how the campaign could have broken through the sound barrier in much of the Northland.
Just cast my ballot in Westport over lunch break-was in and out very quickly-but all 6 booths were full at the time I walked in. Maybe I’m naive, but I would like to think most people who showed up to vote today did it in support of a new terminal. Only other questions on the ballot were about removing vacant property from the park system.
My polling place, Wornall Road Baptist Church, was very busy, too, and like you, Patrick, I think most of those voters were casting in the affirmative. I’m feeling very good about passage. I think it would take a very, very strong “no” vote in the Northland to bring it down. And maybe the Northland will surprise us and give it a majority there, too.
According to news reports, it is passing rather convincingly in the Northland with south of the river votes yet to come in. If true, I am pleasantly shocked.