Royals to Hold Forum on New Stadium
The Kansas City Royals are hosting a community forum to discuss the concept of a new ballpark village which would likely be located in downtown Kansas City. The forum will be held tonight (Feb. 1st) here in Independence. This is significant for Eastern Jackson County and Independence due to the negative economic impact it could have on our service and retail businesses that benefit from Royals fans attending the game. According to a report from the Independence Tourism Department, the Royals are the number one draw for total room nights annually in Independence.
I plan to attend this meeting and I anticipate the Public Policy Committee will also discuss and consider taking a position on the issue. At this time, it isn’t clear how the new project would be funded but it is very likely it will require some type of public tax support in order to make it happen, and ignoring the concerns of Eastern Jackson County will make passage of a tax even more difficult.
