Even Kansans don't want a Royals ballpark.

According to a new survey.

And the steamboat Arabia calls it quits.

Anger on the Plaza over plans for huge high rises and a big ask for tax breaks.

Plus, did these scenes look familiar?

The rash.

Of property crime.

14 car break.

Ins.

I replace the windows on my truck.

Six times this week we push aside our reporters to bring you the decision makers.

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas and top prosecutor Millicent Johnson are with us in this newsmaker edition of Weekend Review.

Weekend review is made possible through the generous support of Dave and Jamie Cummings.

Bob and Marlese Gourley, the Courtney S Turner Charitable Trust, John H. Mize, and Bank of America Na Co trustees, the Francis Family Foundation through the discretionary fund of David and Janice Francis and by viewers like you.

Thank you.

Hello, I'm Nick Haines.

Glad to have you with us.

This week we track the most impactful, confusing, and downright head scratching local news stories with the top echelon of power in Kansas City.

Why talk to our reporters when we can go straight to the top and prod and poke our decision makers?

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, thank you so much for being with us.

Now you're also, I see, advising the new mayor of New York City as well, the New York Times, picking four mayors to advise him.

What were your pearls of wisdom?

You know my pearls of wisdom.

Finding sustainable sources of funds for some of the aggressive ideas that he has.

Zero fare transit.

Yes, one of them, of course, in Kansas City.

I think it's misinterpreted.

We still do have zero fare transit.

That's the streetcar line that everyone is celebrating with the new extension.

That was one of them.

And then a few bit more personal.

Keeping your family off social media, making sure that you have a good balance in life.

Has that been a problem?

you know what?

Every now and then it can be primarily my mother, a good Southeast High School grad, and all of her friends maybe get in trouble every now and then.

But I know I wish the mayor elect Mister Mamdani, well.

And New York will continue to be a great city.

Well, some of us were very surprised to see the headlines that Kansas City had run out of cash.

There's now a hiring freeze as the city faces a $100 million budget deficit.

What went so terribly wrong, Mayor Lucas?

You know, I was, thinking about that before I came in today, and really, nothing has gone wrong.

We have always had what you call a structural imbalance.

Expenses outpaced revenues, and we're seeing that trend continue.

But, frankly, Kansas City sits on we're estimating by year end a $270 million rainy day fund and outstanding fund reserves, something that has increased precipitously since I became mayor of Kansas City about six and a half years ago.

So what you see is some belt tightening.

I think that's important will largely look to eliminate positions that may be vacant already, making sure that we're doing all the things to be fiscally responsible.

But Kansas City will continue to be in a good bond rating and credit rating position and continue to be very well-run fiscally.

So we are not hitting the brakes on some of these big projects.

We've been hearing about, like the South Loop project, putting a concrete lid over the downtown highway.

You know, we're not hitting the brakes on any of them, first of all, because a lot of the special projects and investments we have are actually funded through special revenue funds.

I'll use the streetcar already mentioned as one example, a transportation development district.

We're looking at capital improvements and other infrastructure funds on the 670 bridge cap, even if there aren't discussions about other big projects to come in the future, that is largely not general fund.

General fund dollars will pay for our employees or operations each and every day.

That will be a stable fund source.

We're just making sure that we're ready to sustain whatever challenges exist in the future of this economy, which has changed a lot since the inauguration of President Trump.

Well, some of our viewers have ideas for you and how you can save money.

Your fellow Kansas City resident and we can review what Robert just emailed us to ask.

How is it even remotely possible that most of the top 15 city hall salaries are fire chiefs?

He's referencing a new Business Journal story that shows that 13 of the top 15 highest employees are in the fire department and making nearly 400,000 a year, more than twice your salaries, Mr.

Mayor.

It is it.

You know what?

Being a firefighter in Kansas City, I think is a noble profession, and it's also a well-compensated one.

A goal of mine since I became mayor was to make sure that all of our employees saw pay increases.

And so while there are some in our fire unions that certainly are making a good deal, everyone at Kansas City has seen strong pay increases over recent years, outstanding benefits, which is part of why we have that expense category that continues to increase.

But I am proud to have government workers making good money.

I frankly think more government workers should make more.

I would like to improve it and sanitation, particularly our folks on garbage trucks and public works all throughout.

We will continue to do this work and we are estimating pay increases this year in Kansas City as well.

Frankly, we're just trying to make sure we have everything ready to balance with the economic challenges that may come our way.

Well, a new survey out this week shows even Kansans don't have much of an appetite for bringing a stadium closer to where they live.

This survey USA poll finds only 26% of Overland Park and Leawood residents think the area campus at 119th and Knowle is the best place for a new Royals ballpark.

While 40% say the Royals should stay at Kauffman Stadium and only 13% prefer a downtown Kansas City location.

Since that survey was released, are you now rethinking a downtown Royals ballpark, Mr.

Mayor?

Not at all.

I have the fortune of going to the Chapel Rone concert this year.

For those who don't know, this outstanding young singer from southwest Missouri, she brought tens of thousands of people for two straight nights in the downtown Kansas City.

Throughout the weekend, we welcomed 100,000 people, basically to the same location.

That would be a downtown baseball park, and frankly, everybody raved about it.

Security was great ingress egress, outstanding downtown works for major events, and big cities do things like this where we can all come together.

I share the view of many of my Johnson County friends and saying that I like Kauffman Stadium and Arrowhead Stadium, too.

I happen to believe the Chiefs will continue to play in Arrowhead Stadium, and we're keeping up that work.

But I think it is the time for downtown baseball, and we'll keep up that pursuit going.

And on this show, just between me and our videographer here, you're going to tell us what the final location of that ball park is.

You know, I have made predictions to you on this show for years.

I realize it's probably our second straight year, and I hope there isn't a third straight where we talk about where the stadium will go.

I think downtown makes a lot of sense.

I hear the rumors on talk radio and everything else every two hours about what's happening.

What I will say is this Kansas City has always been in the conversation.

It's steady.

We don't report our most recent discussions, but we're proud of where we are with both of our teams, and I expect us to have more to share with you here in short order.

And in fact, even though we never seem to know anything new about that issue is the thing we hear most about from our viewers.

And we also heard about it this week, like from Chris, who wants to know how come you're willing to do anything to keep the Royals and Chiefs in town?

But turning your back on the Steamboat Arabia museum, which announced it's finally closing, I said.

I adore the Steamboat Arabia museum.

And what I do want to remind people, part of why I come talk to you.

Most of what we do has nothing to do with stadiums or sports teams.

1st May think if they read the wrong headlines, that all we talk about are the Chiefs and Royals, that is not the case.

The city has had conversations with Steamboat Arabia over the years.

I have also had conversations with them.

I went to the museum both as a young child and have been back since.

But I think what they have been doing is looking for some new locations.

They had a flirtation with Saint Charles, Missouri.

I've heard rumors with Leavenworth, Kansas.

We continue to say that we would love to have them working with us, but if they look to go a different way, we understand it.

We always look to do business retention, whether it's big global reinsurance firms, sports teams, anything under the sun, we want them to stay in Kansas City and we'll try to make sure we're as attractive as possible and doing so well.

Bill wrote to us this week to ask, is there any money you're not willing to give to the new owners of the Country Club Plaza?

Now, if you missed that news, there's a new wave of sort of outrage as the Plaza's new owners reveal plans to build a string of new high rises around the shopping center, including more than 700 apartments.

And to fund it, they don't want to have to pay property taxes for the next 30 years.

In addition to asking City Hall for more than $200 million in incentive help.

Now they're not going to move to Kansas.

So do you need to provide that type of money to the plaza?

I think what we need to do is look at what the future of the plaza is.

It is obvious that the plaza in recent years has not been operating at the level many of us who grew up in Kansas City, or who have known this community for a long time, expect we always knew there was going to be a substantial incentive ask and a substantial zoning ask.

I think what we will have in a conversation over the weeks ahead is how to right size all of it.

Usually, developers will start by asking for a good deal, a good deal of change.

I think it's up to us not just at city government, but also the Port Authority.

Certainly the city Planning Commission boards, both of which I get to appoint the entirety where I think they'll ask real questions about what's necessary for the future of the Plaza.

We will never lose sight of our friends at Kansas City Public Schools, our other taxing jurisdictions, to make sure that this is a good balance.

We want the Plaza to succeed, but we want our children to succeed as well.

I think there's a way to get to a good balance there.

Well, this weekend marks the 200 day mark for the biggest event in Kansas City history.

The new FIFA World Cup center opened this week inside Union Station, and hundreds of Kansas City fans took part in a World Cup crash course to list their homes for the World Cup.

Now that the city is relaxing its rules and fees so you can legally rent out your home for 50 bucks.

650,000 visitors coming.

And we have, what, 65,000 rooms available?

I would not be surprised if throughout the month of the festivities, that someone can bring in about $10,000 per bedroom.

Our viewer Tracy writes.

They making alcohol available almost 24 over seven during the World Cup, and now we're going to have drunken and angry loser soccer fans in all our neighborhoods.

What could possibly go wrong?

Are we asking for trouble, Mr.

Mayor?

Rubbish.

Okay.

All right.

He told me when I was in South Africa.

no, I don't think that we're asking for all type of trouble.

First of all, I know that soccer fans can be enthusiastic.

They have lots of energy.

Perhaps there have been challenges elsewhere in the past, although I do not start with the belief that it's just going to be anarchy or something.

For a set of six weeks in Kansas City, we are looking at ways that we can be responsible hosts, understanding that there will be lots of people socializing, lots of people who are looking for spirits, and lots of people who are looking to spend money, and Kansas City in this entire region.

These are all good things for our region.

And this is going to be good for Kansas City.

Long term.

And so while we've relaxed short term rental standards, were relaxed, some bar and tavern standards, we think that it still has robust public safety as part of it.

Every Kansas City, Missouri police officer is going to be working overtime during this period.

Almost no Off-Duty will be allowed.

We have wonderful mutual aid.

I expect an outstanding set of weeks one that will be safe and more than anything, one that people are going to have great memories of what Kansas City was all about.

We've never done it before though.

So what?

What is the biggest thing that keeps you up at night thinking about that 200 days from now?

You know, public safety is.

And the thing that gives me the biggest concern is public transportation.

As someone who has spent a lot of time at the Truman Sports Complex and importantly, getting back and forth from the Truman Sports Complex, I think making sure that we have adequate bus network, other ways to ride share for people to get to the stadiums is a thing.

And I will note I was overseas once, walked seven miles with everyone else to the soccer stadium and back and that is a normal thing people do.

So we do need to tell our friends before you start walking down 40 highway or what have you to get there.

We have a lot of other means to get folks there.

So that's all.

Marching on I-70 to get to our stadium, which we would see, you know, those places you.

Absolutely would see in other places.

And I think that is something we have to understand.

I am someone who once jogged from my former home at 18th and Vine to Arrowhead Stadium before a game.

So understanding that people think of different ways to get there is going to be an important part of what we do.

In 17 months, the voters in Kansas City are going to be picking your replacement as mayor of Kansas City.

you must be thinking about what happens next for you.

What is Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas his next job?

You know, I hear a lot of different thoughts on it.

I was in Springfield, Missouri the other day getting a chance to visit with folks in southwest Missouri.

I have enjoyed and appreciated public service in this community and importantly in this region.

So do I think I've seen my last ballot?

No.

Have I seen my last Nick Haynes moderated debate?

No.

Not necessarily.

That being said, my focus is making sure we deliver what we need to in 2026.

In Kansas City, we have public safety declines in terms of what are the challenges on shootings, on robberies, on thefts.

We're proud of that.

We're going to deliver a great World Cup.

And so that's the primary focus now.

But I know the politics will take care of themselves.

When Missouri recently voted to change its political map, you teased a congressional run against Mark Alford, who, because you would be now living in his district.

Are you considering that campaign?

Absolutely, absolutely.

I think it is, first of all, ridiculous the change that was made and the total disrespect to Missouri voters, both in the city of Kansas City and in other regions, smushing us all together, changing districts, mid-cycle breaking, what have been generational traditions and rules in Missouri?

It was a step back in terms of good government, and I think it was something that hopefully is thrown out in courts and hopefully thrown out at the ballot box.

But to the extent that, Congressman Offord is representing half of us in Kansas City, Missouri, a whole chunk of us in Jackson County, I think we should have a robust challenge.

And that's something that I would consider.

Some say you have even bigger ambitions.

You were out in Springfield this week.

Meet with the mayor and Democrats there in Greene County.

is there something on a statewide basis that you're pursuing?

You know, being governor is something that I think is incredibly exciting, dynamic and interesting.

It's more of a natural follow for someone who's used to being mayor.

But, you know, that's a 2028 decision.

So fortunately, we have some time to do good work in Kansas City, continue to deliver on our public safety goals or economic development goals, which I'm proud of.

And I think I'll keep making more trips around Missouri.

I even do around some around Kansas, I think at the time, because I care about the future of this region, of a child of this region and proud of what it did for me.

What would you like the headline to be when you leave office after your eight year term?

Quinton Lucas fundamentally changed housing in Kansas City.

10,000 more affordable units is what we're striving towards.

We have groundbreaking seemingly every week in that category.

We continue to address how to get workforce level housing for the rest of our community.

I think those are great strides.

It doesn't get attention all the time.

In the same way that perhaps it did 6 or 7 years ago, because we have a lot of progress.

And I also said this when I ran for mayor.

You can walk and chew gum, you can build affordable housing and get great events and build great venues.

We are resurrecting the plaza.

We're making sure we bring a World Cup.

We're also building affordable housing.

I'm proud of the balance that we've had and running a great city.

You have been watching Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas on Weekend Review.

Thank you.

You know, I purposely didn't talk about crime with the mayor because crime is our next guest.

So job and she's got a hands full with triple digit murders that they get most of the media attention.

There's been a surprisingly high number of stories over the last couple of weeks about smashed out windshields, car break ins and vehicle thefts in high profile areas.

The rash of property crimes in the city's West Port area.

This time it involves car break ins.

According to Kcpd, there were 14 car break ins and two vehicle thefts.

You don't really.

Expect that just popping into place in Westport for 20.

Minutes.

I'm not shocked at all.

So, it's an ongoing issue.

I've replaced the windows on my truck six times.

Seven times.

Brett said he didn't report the incident to the police because he's had no success getting help with his broken truck windows.

It definitely hurts the wallet.

Now, you'll remember last week it was 30 hotel guests and downtown's Hampton Inn and Suites.

They were cleaning up the glass.

It came through and just ransacked like 25 or 30 cars.

Very frustrating and, nerve wracking because I got to stay here another night.

Witnesses say it was more than two dozen cars with their windows smashed out, and it was mostly out of state plates.

Irritating.

Mad at myself, I guess, because like I said, the reviews kind of said, don't park here.

But I did anyway.

Jackson County Prosecutor Melesa Johnson I'm fascinated to know when you turn on the news at home, when you see headlines like that, what is your reaction?

Or do you not even turn on the news anymore because it's become so painful because you're in the top job?

No, I definitely watch the news because obviously I want to see how these incidents are impacting real people, real residents of Jackson County.

And of course, like most, I find it extremely frustrating.

But we are allocating resources towards these problems to make sure that we can reduce the amount of property crime and theft, especially car Break-Ins, that we see in our community.

The last time you were on this set was when you were debating your opponent a year ago, and this is what you said back then with a wave of, car thefts and home Break-Ins, one of our viewers, Thomas, wrote to us.

He says whoever is willing to prosecute property crime gets my vote.

Is that you or you definitely me.

Okay.

And tell us actionable, realistic strategies to get us there.

And I will also start a brand new property crimes prosecution division that will be staffed with attorneys and law students so that we can expand our capacity and actually be able to hold more people accountable.

All righty.

Did you open that department and did you hire all those more people.

In March of this year?

Campaign promises made and campaign promises delivered in March, we launched the Crime Strategies Unit, which has a dedicated team of assistant prosecuting attorneys focused on the smaller subset of people that are causing the majority of the crime.

A great example of the work of that unit happened in April, when we were able to charge five out of six individuals believed to be responsible for over 100 of nonresidential burglaries and other property crimes as well.

And yes, that unit does have lawsuits assigned to it.

You know, there's still a lot of social media criticism, though, that you must see yourself.

I got in fact, we got a comment here from Chris, one of our own viewers, who says, should we surprise these things are happening?

Even if the police catch them, the prosecutor just gives them a slap on the wrist.

What is the public not seeing?

The public is not seeing the data that is readily available on our website.

That narrative just simply does not align with the daily work that we undergo on a on a regular basis.

We again have assigned the Crime Strategies Unit to take a hard look at how we can hold more individuals accountable, and we have really strong conviction rates.

But here's the thing, Nick.

We can't prosecute what we never receive, which is why we launched an online, dashboard and search engine where people can type in their police report number and see if it's even been submitted to our office for prosecution.

The Criminal justice system is convoluted and complicated.

Most people think a crime has occurred and then automatically the individual is incarcerated.

It does not quite work like that.

And so we want to make sure that we are equipping people with the information and the education to actually know how the system proceed, and then make sure that we hold their hand every step of the way.

It may not be your lived experience at home, but the Kansas City Police Department is out with new figures.

And guess what?

The Kcpd claims crime is down in pretty much every major category.

Look at these burglaries down 17%, property damage down 36%.

Stealing down 20%.

Homicides 4%.

Non-fatal.

Shootings down 32%.

Now, when crime goes up, there seems to be no clear explanation as to why.

Is there any explanation as to why crime is going down in all these categories?

Or is this just a data blip?

I think there's a couple of explanations.

Number one, we're collaborating better than ever before.

Not only do I tend every Board of Police commissioners to give the board an update, but we also have prosecutors assigned to all of the violent crime squad, assault squad, the homicide squad, etcetera, and even the robbery unit as well to ensure that that real time collaboration is happening even before the case is submitted to my office for prosecution, which just increases the likelihood that we'll be able to levy strong charges based on all of the evidence.

And yes, accountability does play a role in reducing crime.

It is not the exclusive answer, but is absolutely part of the answer.

Why do you think it is, though, that we still see so much fear of crime in Kansas City and why we still hear so much social media chatter from business owners here in Kansas City who say they've had enough.

They're going to move over to Kansas.

Because actual safety and the perception of safety are two different things.

And some of the things that we have been doing under my administration to increase the perception of safety is making sure that we are pushing out data on a regular basis.

The community deserves to know that crime is down in all categories.

It's not a victory lap, but it can provide somebody that just had their car broken into some level of comfort that it won't happen to them again.

Or at least we're working together to ensure that it doesn't.

Noticeably absent from that criteria and those different categories from the kcpd was domestic violence.

We've had studies now showing that actually murders that directly related to domestic violence and now almost a decade high.

Why is that?

If we're seeing so much progress in other areas?

Well, you know, I don't think we ever really rebounded from the domestic violence spike from Covid in 2020.

When everybody's in the home stretch is high, people are out of work, the kids aren't in school.

And we saw a national rise in domestic violence at that time.

And simply we just not have we have not rebounded here locally, but we're charging a lot more cases before they end up with a loss of life, mainly domestic assault cases.

Last year, we charged about 54% of those cases submitted to our office.

This year, we're at a 70% charging rate.

And even more notable, I would argue, the police department has increased their amount of referrals by 13% for domestic assault cases, meaning we're getting more cases and we're also charging more cases.

Now.

In just a few weeks, construction will be complete on a brand new 1000 bed Jackson County Detention Center.

But guess what?

It's already out of space.

There are more Jackson County detainees than there are beds.

That's head scratching.

What does that mean for you, though?

Does it mean you have to slow walk prosecutions or not prosecute it all because there's no room for people?

That's not an option.

So we have to get creative.

Listen.

We process we process about 7000 criminal cases on an annual basis in the Jackson County Prosecutor's Office, but the current detention center only has space for 861 people.

The new one will not have a lot more space available at the new facility.

So as the kids say, the math is not math there.

We have to figure out other alternate ways to hold individuals accountable.

That does not mean that they don't get charged.

That does not mean that they do not face consequences.

But that does mean yes, we have to expand diversion programs.

Yes, we have to get creative, creative with the community response, like neighborhood accountability boards and things of that nature to make sure that people actually get the reckoning that they need to understand the severity of their conduct.

But no, jail is not the answer for everybody.

And given our public safety infrastructure, it can't be the answer for everybody.

What has been harder in doing this job than you anticipated than when you were campaigning for this office?

We already talked a little bit about combating misinformation, like, I know what happens in my office on a daily basis, and seeing the disconnect with some of the narratives and conversation out in the community can be a bit frustrating sometimes.

But that's why my director of communications and I are constantly pushing out information and data, and even a social media justice series to help people understand the criminal justice process a lot more.

But probably the most difficult thing, it is sitting down with families and having to explain a charging decision that I know they're not going to be happy with.

That's the work that myself and all of our assistant prosecutors and victim advocates and investigators do behind the scenes in a thankless way on a daily basis.

Sometimes the evidence just simply is not there.

And one of the most frustrating things is knowing that something occurred.

But you simply can't prove it in court.

And I do that a lot.

I think it's important.

I don't get to just do the fun stuff.

As a prosecutor, I have to do the difficult things as well, and that's probably one of the hardest things that the people in my office have to endure on a regular basis.

You know, we had several questions from our viewers about immigration as the Trump administration steps up enforcement actions in Kansas City.

Anita asks with one story after another, of undocumented workers being grabbed off the street and sometimes never heard of again.

Does your office play any role in these efforts, or are you totally removed from immigration related prosecutions?

Well, we're pretty removed because a lot of those go to the federal level and the U.S.

Attorney's office.

But I do want to take this opportunity to message to the community, if you are an immigrant and you are undocumented and you are a victim of crime or you are a witness to crime, we have mechanisms in our office to make sure that you can stay in this country while you cooperate with law enforcement and help the prosecution process.

It is not my interest to penalize somebody for being victimized or witnessing a crime.

I don't care where you come from.

I don't care where you live.

We have a job to do, and we're going to treat every citizen of Jackson County.

Similarly, at the end of the show, when we have our reporters on here, we do our big story.

Miss, what was the big story we missed?

What was the big story the media misses about the Jackson County Prosecutor's Office?

Five Casey, we are making huge inroads with our new focus to turn strategy.

So save Casey is what.

Really Casey is.

They focused deterrence strategy based on the theory that if you identify those most likely to commit violent crime and you give them two options here change your life with all of these resources we have to offer, or we will happily change it for you through robust enforcement and prosecution through this work.

And many people might remember Nova when we had a historic low of homicides back in 2014.

This strategy is very similar.

But most of us, though, just see these as acronyms, these words that mean absolutely nothing to them.

Well, it means a 40% reduction of homicides among five Casey participants and a 62% reduction in nonfatal shootings among five Casey participants.

And remember, these individuals are considered to be some of the most dangerous in our community.

And those drastic decreases amongst that population deserve to be noted.

You have been watching Jackson County Prosecutor Melissa Johnson, thank you for being with us on Weekend Review.

Yes, it took a year to get.

Yes.

Next week.

By the way.

There was no show as we launch into our holiday fundraising drive.

I know you're disappointed, but money has never been more critical around here these days, as the truckers like to say.

We'll see you.

On the flip side, I'm Nick Haines from all of us here at Kansas City PBS.

Be well, keep calm and carry on.