http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kcur/local-kcur-868207.mp3
Kansas City, MO – Kansas City Aviation Director Mark VanLoh gave the city council a report on American Airlines' planned closing of its overhaul base at KCI yesterday.
VanLoh said there are no immediately pressing environmental clean-up issues, and that the airline assured city officials it will continue to pay its rent and environmental monitoring costs.
As for the future of the base, VanLoh told the group,"I can assure you that we are around the world working on filling this facility with tenants, and our hope, the dream of all dreams, is to have someone come in and hire all these furloughed mechanics to come to work at the base."
Mayor Mark Funkhouser says airline officials told him 88 percent of the mechanics at the base will be eligible for retirement or can take early retirement. The rest would have to transfer to another city or lose their jobs.
At its legislative session, the council created a Planned Industrial Expansion Area south and east of the Big Blue River at its bend, and extending roughly to 43rd street on the south and I-435 on the east.
It also approved a petition for a Greenway Fields Community Improvement District between 61st and 65th, Wornall to Summit. The plan is for residents to levy a $172 per lot tax on themselves to pay for neighborhood services, security and improvements.