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Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Where KC's mayor travels isn't the problem. It's who pays, and what they stand to gain
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas delivers his State of the City address in February 2024 (photo courtesy of the City of Kansas City). How honest should elected officials be with the public? It's not a rhetorical question. In Kansas City, recent decisions by the mayor suggest a level of opacity that warrants closer scrutiny — not outrage, necessarily, but concern. Mayor Quinton Lucas has sidestepped ethics rules, not by breaking them outright, but by rerouting gifts through a nonprofit shielded from disclosure. His lavish trips, funded by interests with business before the city, now appear routine. The problem isn't where he travels. It's who pays, and what they stand to gain. A series of reports by The Missouri Independent outlined a troubling pattern in the mayor's conduct — one centered on secrecy, donor influence and potential retaliation against a whistleblower. At issue: his ties to politically-connected contractors, campaign finance maneuvering and the use of a nonprofit to obscure gift-giving — all while pushing a publicly subsidized downtown stadium. Kansas City mayor accused of skirting city gift ban by using nonprofit to pay for travel At the center is the Mayors Corps of Progress for a Greater Kansas City Inc., a 501(c)(4) nonprofit with a vague mission. During Lucas's first term, the organization covered more than $35,000 in travel, lodging, meals and tickets — including a $23,518 trip to the 2023 Super Bowl for Lucas, his then–chief of staff, and two police officers. The day after the game, the Heavy Constructors Association (commonly called the Heavies), a major construction lobbying group, wired $24,000 to the nonprofit. City ethics rules prohibit gifts over $1,000 to elected officials. Lucas claims these were work-related trips, yet he sought no city reimbursement and offered no public accounting. Instead, his team accepted dark-money donations from entities with business before the city, then kept the details quiet. We only know of them because a whistleblower came forward. The pattern repeated in 2024 and 2025, when Lucas again hit the Super Bowl circuit — without a whistleblower to reveal who paid the bill. In the following months, an anonymous investigation request was made to the Kansas City Municipal Ethics Commission, which just recently refused to engage, finding 'no justification' warranting it. Lucas, just back from a junket to Qatar, spoke about the issue with Kansas City radio host Pete Mundo. 'Big business exists around sports,' he told Mundo, 'it is the reason that so many of us are spinning our wheels to see where the teams play.' Lucas went on to say: 'I will be in any room where I can share what is happening with Kansas City… with a bunch of rich people who have money to invest in Kansas City.' The problem is not what room, or rather owner's box, the mayor is in. Nor is the problem his rubbing elbows with wealthy people. The problem isn't money from afar; it's money in the mayor's back yard. Lucas isn't accepting gifts from people who want to invest in Kansas City; he (or rather his nonprofit, but that's a distinction without much ethical difference here) is taking checks from businesses that want Kansas City to invest in them. Specifically, the Royals, which donated $15,000 to the Mayors Corps in 2022, and the Heavies, with its $24,000 donation around the Super Bowl, benefit mightily from any taxpayer funding. Lucas has presented himself as the man to make it happen — while refusing to disclose the terms of any deal. It's a huge potential conflict of interest that could be addressed with a little disclosure. Despite that, the mayor has doubled down on concealment, not transparency. A cynic would say none of this is surprising, probably least of all to Lucas himself, who said: 'I think the ethics commission got it right, I always knew they would.' Kansas City mayor accused of retaliating against whistleblower who revealed nonprofit spending The commission currently has five members, all appointed by Lucas. To its credit, the commission recommended changes to the city's code of ethics to clear up reporting requirements. But disregarding the complaint demonstrates the problem with dark money contributions. Because the Mayors Corps does not have any business before the city, the commission reasoned, there is no reporting requirement. But the Mayors Corp got the money from people with business before the city. That starts to look like the nonprofit functions as a vehicle to launder donations — something that, again, could be addressed with a little disclosure and that, you'd think, the group would be eager to clear up. Mark Funkhouser, Kansas City's mayor from 2007 through 2011, said when he entered office that the Mayors Corp, 'was explained to me as a slush fund that mayors had been using for many years to do just this sort of thing. Needless to say, I didn't have any fat cats willing to set up and contribute to such a fund for me.' Lucas does. In the radio interview, Lucas argued that by getting donations to pay for his trips, he was being a good steward of the city's finances. He called the idea that the city should cover his expenses, 'preposterous.' Taxpayers take note: If you're not paying for what your elected officials are up to, then there's a pretty good chance you're the product, not the customer. Advocating for taxpayer-funded development is one thing. Accepting undisclosed corporate gifts while doing so is another. It's not just a bad look; it undermines the city's ethics framework and public trust. The public deserves transparency, not evasive answers and twisted reasoning. And they deserve a mayor who respects rules, and the spirit of them.
Newsroom
2 days ago
- Business
- Newsroom
Drop the ball on innovation, Auckland, and it's everyone's loss
Comment: If Auckland were to tragically pass away tomorrow, the cause of death would likely be listed as transport dysfunction, unaffordable housing, and environmental stress – the city's most visible, immediate ailments. But if it were to fade 50 years from now, the cause would likely be deeper: a long-running failure to invest in innovation, human capital and other core assets. For the past two years, the State of the City international benchmarking report has consistently shown that innovation and skills development are among Auckland's lowest-performing areas – ranking even below transport and housing affordability in both international performance and perception rankings. These deficits don't show up on our rush-hour delays and real estate doldrums and so our news headlines are dominated by the day to day of potholes and property prices rather than how well we're building the capability and solutions to solve these challenges. That's why the announcement during last week's TechWeek by Mayor Wayne Brown of the new Auckland Innovation and Technology Alliance may prove to be one of the most important steps Auckland has taken toward actually solving its most persistent challenges. The alliance, an initiative supported by the Committee for Auckland, the Auckland Tech Council, and the Auckland Council Group, will bring together leaders from business, investment, research, and local and central government. Its mission is to provide strategic leadership, improve coordination, and drive deal making and investment to position Auckland as a globally competitive tech and innovation hub. Importantly, it can help generate the insight, capability and investment needed to solve our headline problems more effectively. It could also help Auckland better align its strengths with the national reforms underway in science and technology. Unless New Zealand begins to seriously address our persistent innovation and skills gaps, we will continue to undercut our capacity to tackle the main issues we fixate on. Auckland has a significant innovation base – including our startup ecosystem, well-regarded universities and advanced technology firms – but it is not being supported, developed, or funded to the level seen in other comparable cities. International city experience Internationally, mayoral leadership has been a defining feature of successful urban innovation efforts. In peer cities like Brisbane, Vancouver, Copenhagen and Helsinki, mayors or city leaders have led or supported innovation alliances that directly link technology development to real urban challenges. In Barcelona, Tel Aviv, Toronto and Boston, mayoral backing of innovation districts and alliances has unlocked national support, attracted private capital, and elevated the global competitiveness of their cities. Take Boston's Innovation District, originally launched by Mayor Tom Menino. By convening universities, startups, real estate developers and the state government, the city turned a neglected waterfront into one of the world's most vibrant innovation hubs. In Barcelona, the 22@ district, led by mayor Joan Clos, attracted more than 4500 companies and over 56,000 new jobs, catalysing a transformation from industrial decay to digital-era growth. The message is clear: cities have the convening power and proximity to act, and mayoral leadership can spark broader action. The benefits of these alliances are now well documented. Cities that align policy, research, entrepreneurship and investment through shared platforms deliver faster precinct development, more targeted capital deployment, better talent retention, and stronger appeal to international investors. They are also more responsive to global shifts in AI, sustainability, and advanced manufacturing. Of course, not all alliances succeed. Some fail due to vague mandates, bureaucratic overreach, or lack of follow-through. Others stall when political momentum fades. The key is focus. Smart alliances are lean, delivery-oriented, and co-governed by the people who actually drive innovation. These will be essential design principles as Auckland builds its new alliance. Another critical factor is central government engagement. In nearly every successful international example, central governments play a supporting role — through infrastructure investment, funding alignment, or enabling regulation. Australia's former City Deals framework helped cities like Brisbane and Townsville align local innovation goals with national priorities. In the UK, Innovate UK co-invests in regional innovation clusters, recognising that cities are where applied R&D meets real-world challenges. New Zealand underperformance By contrast, New Zealand has underperformed. Despite a growing global consensus – from the OECD, World Economic Forum, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and our own Sir Peter Gluckman – that cities must play a central role in driving innovation, we continue to centralise innovation policy and funding in Wellington, with limited regional differentiation. Auckland, despite being home to more than a third of the country's population and its largest concentration of tech companies, startups and universities, has had no formal role in shaping or steering national innovation strategy. This is a missed opportunity. Compared with our peer cities, Auckland's innovation potential is under-supported by national policy, under-developed in terms of coordination and investment, and under-valued in our national narrative. There is now an overwhelming body of international evidence that city-led innovation alliances improve national outcomes. They test solutions faster, adapt more nimbly, and build resilient, place-based innovation ecosystems. A more distributed, city-partnered model is not a threat to national strategy – it's an enabler. The Government should partner with the Auckland Innovation and Technology Alliance. That means engaging, co-investing, and aligning R&D tax, investment attraction, and science funding tools to better reflect city-based strengths. The Government's upcoming science reforms and its new Regional Deals policy – which aims to deliver long-term place-based economic growth – provide an opening to finally embed this approach. Auckland, alongside cities like Wellington and Christchurch and others, could be part of that new approach. The alliance could serve as a model. Aucklanders will continue to wake up worrying about traffic congestion, house prices, or the cost of living. But our innovation and knowledge gaps are quietly limiting our ability to fix those very problems. A better-supported, city-led innovation ecosystem won't just grow our economy. It will shape how Auckland moves, builds, and adapts, and ensure that if the city is ever eulogised, the cause of death won't be neglect. Mark Thomas is a director with the Committee for Auckland, which has been advising Mayor Wayne Brown on the Auckland Innovation and Technology Alliance.
Global News
23-05-2025
- Business
- Global News
Surrey plans to build 10,000-seat arena and entertainment district
The City of Surrey will be home to a new 10,000-seat arena and entertainment district, if all goes according to plan. Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke confirmed during her State of the City address that city councillors are working towards a plan to build the new arena. The city will be searching for a development advisor in the next few weeks to help guide the project and expect to select an operating partner later this year, Locke said. Work on the site is targeted to begin in 2027 and will also include roughly 100,000 square feet of retail and office space and a hotel with conference facilities. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy 'This will become a place for families to enjoy the best sporting and entertainment venues right here in the city of Surrey,' Locke said. Story continues below advertisement 1:16 Surrey council breaks ground on new Cloverdale sports facility Locke did not say if a dollar figure had been attached to the project yet. 'If Surrey wants to move forward they need to be accountable with taxpayer money,' said Carson Binda with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. 'That means proactively releasing things like contracts, proactively and in a timely fashion releasing cost estimates and all the other contracts surrounding this stadium.' City council will also have to approve the project before it can move forward.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
New Monkhouse Drive police substation soon to open
SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – People in west Shreveport can expect their new police substation to open soon. Mayor Arceneaux announces location for third SPD substation Police Chief Wayne Smith said he just met with the contractor, who told him that he is 99% complete with construction. So, in the next couple of weeks, Area Three Patrol will move into the location off Monkhouse Drive near the airport. This includes police captains, assistant chiefs, officers, and their vehicles. Chief Smith said it's a sharp-looking, modern building outfitted for his officers and the neighborhood. Mayor Arceneaux outlines 2024 progress, pain points in State of the City report 'It's truly a government building that the community is going to be proud of, to see this is where their tax dollars went. It's not second-rate or something just thrown together. It's really a marvel of a building,' Chief Smith said. Smith said they will host a grand opening tour once it's ready. The contractor is the same one for the North Market substation, where construction is underway. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Axios
23-05-2025
- Business
- Axios
Hudson's Detroit to host tech entrepreneurs and creatives
An exclusive network of entrepreneurs, artists and executives is coming to Detroit next month for a conference at the new Hudson's Detroit building and other high-profile local venues. Why it matters: The event, known as Summit Detroit, opens a window into Detroit's evolving reputation and the allure of its culture, past and present. It's also one of Hudson's first major events following the mayor's State of the City speech in March. State of play: More than 2,000 people are expected to attend the "immersive ideas festival," taking place June 5-8 at a handful of locales, including Michigan Central, the Detroit Opera House, the Harmonie Club and Hudson's. The lineup of speakers includes Twitter co-founder Ev Williams, Sade Lythcott of the National Black Theatre, artist Shepard Fairey, author and psychotherapist Lori Gottlieb and Mayor Mike Duggan. The talks focus on innovation and storytelling, and they are meant to spark creativity and personal connections between attendees. Context: The Detroit event follows previous Summit Series gatherings, dating back to 2008, in places like Peru, Palm Desert, California, and Aspen, Colorado. At a 2019 conference in Los Angeles that focused on food sustainability, attendees met with Chief Raoni Metuktire to discuss efforts to protect the Amazon rainforest. How it works: Membership in the Summit community, which boasts more than 30,000 members, is by application. Tickets to Summit Detroit start at $4,500. What they're saying: Detroit's renaissance is the ideal backdrop for Summit's business leaders and entrepreneurs to forge new connections, organizers say. "There's a group of people that are operating at a really high level, that are connected by curiosity, that show up to build and dream and create together, which is inherently what the city has always had," Summit CEO Jody Levy tells Axios. Between the lines: Food, music and mental health are also part of the programming, with strong local influences. Chefs from restaurants Barda, Baobab Fare and Takoi will be on hand. Detroit DJ and musician Moodymann and former U of M football player and investor Dhani Jones are on Summit Detroit's advisory board. Jones said he's excited for attendees to experience the city's new Hudson's skyscraper, its "Michelin-quality cuisine" and the spirit of innovation across a wide range of professions and passions.
