Crossroads survey shows opposition to Royals stadium proposal
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Two days after a closed-door meeting of community members, the Crossroads Community Association has released survey results of how people in the neighborhood feel about the Kansas City Royals building a new ballpark there.
Of 145 surveys returned, 59% of respondents oppose the stadium proposal, 32% were in favor of it, and 9% were undecided.
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“That’s the first glance at, sort of, neighborhood support,” board member David Johnson said in an interview with FOX4 Thursday. “We did try to keep that survey within the Crossroads. It didn’t go out to the broader public.”
Johnson said this is the best sense his group has of what neighborhood members are thinking right now.
“That survey also allowed people to put additional comments in on the five areas that we talked about in case they weren’t able to make it or if they had additional thoughts they had on Tuesday,” Johnson said, talking about his meeting with Crossroads members and Royals representatives Brooks Sherman and Sarah Tourville.
The five priorities discussed during Tuesday night’s meeting dealt with small business, safety and a community improvement district, infrastructure and parking, the cultural fit of a stadium, and the street presence.
To see more of the community association’s report, click here.
Johnson’s comments come a day after the Committee Against New Royals Stadium Taxes held its first news conference. They’re urging people to vote no on the April 2 ballot measure.
If the measure’s approved though, the Royals would use money generated from the county sales tax to help pay for their new ballpark. The Chiefs have said they’d use their half of the money to pay for some sort of renovation to Arrowhead Stadium.
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Some Crossroads business owners have come out in support of this opposition campaign, claiming they haven’t been kept in the loop of a ballpark going in the Crossroads.
“Our interactions with the city, they’ve been as much in the dark as we have, at least according to staff and our council people for the 4th district where we’re at,” Johnson said Thursday.
Johnson spoke personally when FOX4 asked him how he plans to vote on the stadium issue. Johnson, who lives in the Crossroads, said he plans to vote no.
“That is just completely an emotional decision,” he said. “People do vote with their emotions often. It’s very much the case here for me.”
The Royals wouldn’t comment Thursday on the survey results in the Crossroads.
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Before the Business Session meeting of the city council Thursday, 4th District At-Large Councilmember Crispin Rea spoke to FOX4.
“I thought the Star location was a good location for a number of reasons,” Rea said.
“However, we’ve seen now how that’s going to impact businesses, and so we need to listen to that, and we need to honor that. And you know my goal will be if this is approved by the voters in April, we find a way to make sure that not just the property owners but the tenants there have support.”
On Thursday, via the Missouri Ethics Commission, FOX4 learned the Committee to Keep the Chiefs and Royals in Jackson County spent $79,200 on a media buy Feb. 8, for commercials that ran on TV before and after the Super Bowl.
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That same day the Royals donated $500,000 to that committee. A week later, the Chiefs matched the Royals’ donation with another $500,000.
The two teams want voters to say yes in the upcoming April 2 election, approving a 3/8th-cent sales tax in Jackson County for another 40 years.
