Where should new KC Mayor Quinton Lucas start? With crime, housing and tax breaks
Quinton Lucas takes the oath of office Thursday as Kansas City’s 55th mayor.
Public enthusiasm for the new mayor is real, and expectations are high. Lucas understands this: Like every new mayor, he’ll enter office at full speed, with a complicated agenda in hand.
“I think I’m ready,” he told The Kansas City Star Editorial Board Wednesday. “I’m excited. I think the energy that I have is something that will help us.”
Yet patience will also be important for the new mayor, his City Council colleagues and the public. Lucas was elected as a change agent to tackle some of the city’s stickiest issues, but they won’t be solved overnight.
In his first term, the mayor should focus his considerable enthusiasm on three critical areas: violent crime, affordable housing and incentive reform. He should do so in the spirit of openness and transparency that marked most of his decisions on the City Council and his campaign.
▪ Violent crime. Nothing damages Kansas City’s quality of life — and its national image — more than its disastrously high murder rate. Lucas must take a leadership role in offering original solutions to the problem.
The new mayor will have to pursue intensely focused, block-by-block efforts to reduce violence. Providing additional resources to the police is just part of the answer.
On Wednesday, he pledged to disrupt what he called a “violent crime industrial complex” in the city — groups which seek funding for anti-crime efforts without clear goals or measurable outcomes.
“I won’t say (those groups) profit off of it, but live off it, yes. Absolutely,” he said.
Lucas has promised to pardon low-level municipal marijuana offenders, and he said Wednesday he would make good on that promise.
▪ Housing. Lucas pledged to pursue affordable housing during his first term. That means fully funding a $75 million housing fund (Google’s proposed data center could provide up to $4 million a year in new utility tax revenue; housing would be a good place to park that money.)
Lucas must make sure the Healthy Homes inspection initiative is fully implemented. During the campaign, he endorsed a tenants’ bill of rights, a measure that would give real protections to renters facing eviction.
He must insist on redoubled efforts to rebuild aging homes and put vacant lots to use.
▪ Incentive reform. In a tweet Wednesday, Lucas said several civic groups are studying ways to better use tax abatements and other development incentives.
“Maybe we don’t need more study as much as more conversation+collaboration on priorities,” Lucas wrote. He’s right.
Too often, incentives are considered for projects that don’t need or deserve them. Lucas must put an end to that. He must appoint members to boards and commissioners who share his skepticism about goodies for luxury hotels and event spaces downtown.
▪ Transparency. To his credit, Lucas says he’s committed to openness and collaboration at City Hall. He’s promised to work with council members, neighborhood groups and other interested parties to make government accessible to everyone.
That approach is critical. Kansas Citians are ready to embrace a mayor who shows a real commitment to listening to every voice — and involving those people in finding solutions.
Like all mayors, Lucas will have ups and downs in the years ahead. There will be unforeseen challenges and mistakes. Not everyone will like everything he does.
But if the new mayor focuses on what’s important — and does so openly, with energy and visibility — he will earn the support of the community he clearly loves. Congratulations, Mayor Lucas, and good luck.
This story was originally published August 1, 2019 at 5:00 AM.