Price Development: Yet more corporate blackmail

There's a story in last week's Pitch Magazine ("Unhappy Meals", see link below), telling of one Price Development Group that wants to build a 4-story retail, commercial building at the corner of 39th Street and Stateline Road but to do it, they'll need "a tax break of $2.76 million." Sound familiar? It should. It's just one more example of a development group who hands out their hat to some local government--in this case, the suckers over at KCMO City Hall--wanting a handout so they can build what will likely be a profitable building anyway. As I've written here before, it's just corporate blackmail and there's far too much of it. Forget that it's near KU Med Center and that a big development of yet more offices and business is already being put in, as we speak. Forget that they bought the building in 2007, boarded it up, didn't get a tenant in and then let the building go to heck. Forget all that. All that's important now is that they need the city's tax money to make yet more money. They say they need the handout help. You know what's additionally sick--really sick--about this, too? Two things. First, they'll likely get it and second? I bet all the bigwigs at this company--Price Development--are "Conservatives" and Republicans--maybe even Libertarians--who are all for "small government" and not giving handouts to people who need it. Wanna' bet? How long are we going to let people and groups do this stuff to us? Let's stop being suckers for this nonsense. Let's give them the "free market Capitalism" they're always bitching about. Whaddya' say? Link: http://www.pitch.com/plog/archives/2011/09/07/request-for-tax-break-comes-with-threat-of-french-fries