City leaders, making final pitch for KCI single terminal, face persistent questions

With Election Day less than a week away, Kansas City officials began their closing arguments in support of a new single-terminal KCI, telling a town hall at Union Station Wednesday evening that the 40-plus year old airport is a VCR in a digital age.

The closing arguments sound much like those that opened the fall campaign for the $1 billion privately-financed project: that the city’s continued maturation as a center for business and culture depends on a better airport; that renovation of the existing horseshoe design is not feasible; and that no tax dollars will be used to build or operate the new facility.

“What’s at stake is the ability of this city to grow....What’s at stake is recognition of the fact that things change,” Mayor Sly James told the audience of about 75 who passed up the early innings of the seventh game of the World Series to attend the forum sponsored by the Kansas City Star editorial board. He was joined by Council members Jolie Justus and Jermaine Reed and Geoffrey Stricker, managing director of Edgemoor Infrastructure and Real Estate, the city’s selection to lead the project.

Colleen McCain Nelson, The Star’s editorial page editor, moderated.

The notes of skepticism and opposition sounded by some audience members remain the same as well. Chris Muller, 48, a software developer, said KCI’s “iconic and distinctive” design would give way to a bland, generic vision outlined in Edgemoor’s early drawings.

“The [current] airport is not all you believe it to be,” said James, who said he could name plenty of people who think the existing design is dreary and uncomfortable.

Applause rippled through the room as audience members and Facebook viewers asked why they won’t see finished design drawings from Edgemoor before the election, or why will the new terminal shrink the number of available gates from more than 70 down to 35.

James said finished drawings are never available this early in the process and that those who “want to see the color of the bathrooms” will have to wait. As for the gates, officials said there were too many of them and they were not properly configured for modern air service.

Bill Drummond, 64, an artist, said this was “the Show-Me State,” and demanded specifics of what community benefits Edgemoor would offer disadvantaged areas. Reed explained that many of the benefits were covered in an ordinance passed by the council.

One Facebook viewer asked why new airports had to resemble shopping malls, loaded with food and retail offerings. James said it was about tax revenue. He added: “It would be nice to be able to eat something that’s not wrapped in cellophane.”

This story was originally published November 1, 2017 at 9:45 PM.