Letter To Jackson County Voters

Ever since I can remember the phrase, "we're going to go to the 'City'" it meant only one thing. We were telling each other we were going to Kansas City.

Kansas City has and always will be for many of us the one big city which we are familiar with and visit on a regular basis.

I can remember being very young and going to the old Municipal Airport located just over the river from downtown. I can still see those TWA Constellations with their three tails. In the lobby where we were meeting everyone suddenly was hushed and the crowd spread apart as a famous person walked by. It was one of my childhood cowboy heroes, Andy Devine (Jingles on the '50s television show "Wild Bill Hickok.") I thought I had died and gone to heaven, speechless and trembling.

There have been lots of vivid memories for me as I am sure there are for many of you from our visits to the "City." My family used to make one or two trips each year shopping downtown. Most of those department stores are long gone.

During the years, myself, several members of my family, and quite a few friends have received life rewarding medical treatment in the hospitals in the greater metropolitan area to the north. How many lives have been saved or prolonged by the tremendous care received there? There are so many things we associate with Kansas City, and the relationship I am sure is shared by many of the other smaller towns that spread out from that city. We say we are going up to the "City," I wonder if someone in northern Missouri says they are going down to the "City?"

There has been no greater association with Kansas City for me than that of the major sports teams located there. I was one of those lucky individuals like Kelly Bradham who actually got to see games in the old Municipal Stadium when the A's and later the Royals played there. One time my dad and I went to see the New York Yankees play an afternoon game in 1964. I was once again almost speechless with awe. One problem did show up, however. Our seats about even with first had a large support beam that cut off part of our view. Still, nothing could dampen my memory of that day.

I was in my early 20s when the new stadiums at the Truman Sports Complex were completed. Like many others who visited those wonderful venues that first year, it was a sight to behold. In fact for the past 33 years, those stadiums have stood the test of time pretty well. Now things have changed. All around the country new and luxurious stadiums and arenas have sprung up to challenge for the sporting teams of cities. Cities like Dallas, Houston, Seattle, San Francisco, Atlanta, Detroit, Cleveland, Baltimore, Pittsburgh and New York (Yankee Stadium is being replaced soon) have all built new stadiums.

The day when the Truman Sports Complex was fresh, new, and different is long past.

There is a big battle Tuesday for Kansas City voters.

There is a proposal on the ballot to pass a 3/8 cent sales tax to upgrade and remodel the complex. That question may determine the fate and future of big time sports in Kansas City.

I am not going to argue the merits of the proposal for those voters to the north, there are plenty of people doing that already.

What I hope the voter's of Kansas City would realize about the tax, is that if they pass it they will not be alone in paying for it.

The reason they won't be alone is because of all of us "country hicks," who come to your "City" time after time. When we go there for a doctor's appointment, we don't just see the doctor and turn around and go home.

We usually stop and eat at one of your restaurants.

We go and get gas at one of your convenience stores.

We might go shopping in one of your malls. We might even take in a movie or play in one of your theaters.

Most importantly we spend the hundred plus per ticket to see the Chiefs play year after year in a filled-to-capacity stadium. Before the games and afterwards many of those same fans go to eat and drink in sports bars. All of these places take in the money that the sales tax would come from. I wonder if anyone in the "City" has ever calculated just how much of the daily taxable money spent in the "City," actually is spent by people who don't even live there. Sure some of you are complaining about the tax being just for Kansas City. Nothing could be further from the truth. You live in a city that makes its living from the vast number of people who don't even live in Jackson County. If you want to remain the kind of first class town that I have always known simply as the "City," then you need to pass this tax. Kansas City already lost the NCAA home offices. If you think you can keep the Chiefs and Royals without upgrading the stadiums like these other cities are doing, you are foolish.

Besides you have all of us coming there to help you pay for it.