Northeast News
May 13, 2015

While the glitzy, new taxpayer subsidized downtown hotel boondoggle may be grabbing headlines and wallets this week, this lil’ pooch wants to take a look at some of the funny math in the so called “food desert” at Linwood Boulevard and Prospect Avenue.

Last week, the mayor stood at the mostly abandoned shopping center at Linwood and Prospect to announce a $12 million plan for a shiny, new grocery store, subsidized by your tax dollars, of course. This opinionated news pooch is callin’ out the mayor and community activist Teola Powell in a big way due to the funny math and the so called “food desert” where this store is allegedly filling the void. Ms. Powell proclaims that she shouldn’t have to go to Westport or to Walmart for groceries. Here’s a little geography lesson. You don’t! Bill Rosser Sr. has operated Happy Foods for over 50 years at 31st and Myrtle, a scant 1.1 miles away from Linwood and Prospect. German grocery mega-chain Aldi just dropped a couple million dollars on a shining new urban core store at 38th and Prospect, that’s less than a mile down the road. We’re sure those two business entities are just tickled pink you chose to throw them under the bus just so you could play to your base. Way to shop local there Ms. Powell.

On a funding note, this math stinks to high heaven and those grand-standing this project know it. Where else but in Kansas City’s corrupt urban core could you sell a property to the city for twice its appraised value? The mayor and city manager were quick to start the smoke and mirrors spin machine on that one. The mayor was also quick to point out that payback for the project’s financing will come from tax revenues generated by the store and an additional one cent tax levied by stores in this development. Well Mr. Mayor, that’s just dandy, but the detail you conveniently left out is that roughly 60 to 70 percent of purchases from urban grocery outlets are made through WIC or EBT. That’s food stamps for the low information crowd. For the record, no sales tax is levied on those purchases making the financial foundation for this whole payback structure specious, at best. All this for a paltry $10 per year rent.

Also interesting is that the centers named owner Don Maxwell was mute on his “management fees” for the new center. But those details are conveniently left out of the public discussion. The bottom line is that this deal stinks bigger than a Norwegian lutefisk picnic on a hot summer day. Rest assured, this whole thing will come crashing down in five or so years and the city, aka the taxpayers, will be left holding the bag on this white elephant of a shopping center. Again.