Mayoral candidates differ on issues at forum

by Mary Rupert

With about a week to go until Election Day, Nov. 2, mayoral candidates Tyrone Garner and David Alvey are hitting the campaign trail and attending forums, encouraging voter turnout.

Garner won the primary by a close 60 votes over incumbent Mayor David Alvey. The two candidates offer different approaches to the challenges of Kansas City, Kansas, and Wyandotte County.

At an online candidate forum sponsored by Business West and KCKCC on Wednesday, Oct. 20, issues including property taxes, police department and community relationships, and development of the northeast area were discussed.

Mayor Alvey, a former educator, said at the forum that he has been focused on neighborhood improvement infill housing as a strategy for economic development. It is a way to redevelop areas that have experienced disinvestment over the years, he added. With infill housing, vacant houses or empty lots where houses once stood are redeveloped in existing neighborhoods.

“I’m very proud of what our community did during COVID,” Alvey said. Although there was opposition to some of the measures, he believes they have done what they could do to prevent the spread of COVID. Alvey has made a number of videos on his campaign issues, available online at www.alveyformayor.com/.

Garner, former KCK deputy chief of police, said, “I’m running because I was asked by people in Wyandotte County.” People cited politics as usual, broken promises, and no development in disinvested areas, he said.

He said he could find real solutions to problems in the community. He believes in strong relationships and collaboration to get things done, he added. His platform, online at www.garnerformayor.com/, is from the concerns of people in the community, he said.

He said he was for streamlining government, equitable development, investing in disinvested areas, public safety reforms and enhancements, infrastructure improvements and a strategic COVID-19 recovery plan.

Candidates’ positions on taxes and PILOT fees

Alvey said traditionally high property taxes have been reduced a total of 6 mills over recent years, and Kansas City, Kansas, has gone from being the highest property tax in Kansas first-class cities to 15th out of 25, which is an improvement.

The economic downturn in 2008 resulted in an increase in the PILOT fee, found on Board of Public Utilities bills, because the Unified Government already did furloughs and layoffs, cut services and did not want to make more cuts, Alvey said. The UG then turned to an increase in the PILOT fee to provide basic services.

“The strategy has got to be more economic development,” he said.

More development is needed throughout the community, including the east side, he said, mentioned new businesses on 5th and 6th Street, a new Menards on I-35 and the Rock Island bridge development.

“The long-term strategy has got to be to continue to grow the tax base,” he said.

Garner said there were four years of promises that have not been kept in this area.

The adverse effects that property taxes and BPU bills have on seniors and hard-working families that are trying to make ends meet are heartbreaking, he said.

“We can do a better job lowering the BPU PILOT,” Garner said. “My proposal is to lower it 2 percent every year for the first four years, and take it off the BPU bill, so the BPU bill can be a more reflective and adequate utility bill.”

This year, property values have increased, with millions more coming in from property taxes, not including extra federal ARPA funds that came into the UG, Garner said. The mill levy was left the same as last year. The opportunity to lower property taxes was there, and it was not done, he said. He said it was a failure of leadership.

“We’ve given tax abatements to huge corporations that paid zero property taxes and have gotten huge infrastructure giveaways on the back of hard-working taxpayers and our kids who go to school,” Garner said. He agreed the tax base needs to be broadened and bring in business, but they need to have responsible incentives and developments, where everyone can share and broaden the tax base responsibly.

Economic segregation continues to occur in disinvested areas of Wyandotte County, Garner said.

On the investigation into KCK police

On the topic of police investigations, Garner cited his five years of work in the internal affairs department of the KCK Police Department as a young officer.

“I didn’t give accused officers a pass,” he said. A lot of officers were disciplined as a result of his work, he added.

He said he stood firm with District Attorney Mark Dupree’s call for a conviction integrity unit, and Garner also supported the 21st century policing initiative, against a culture that fought against it. He said he had total confidence in Police Chief Karl Oakman, and believes he will bring in reforms.

There is mistrust of police in communities of color, and there’s a lot of work to be done, Garner said. There are a lot of good police officers, and there is a need to get the 1 percent of bad officers out of there, he said. He said he would support the chief, the DA and the sheriff if elected.

Alvey said it is important to continue to build trust between the police and the community. If people have a bad experience with one part of the criminal justice system, it carries over to other parts of it, he added.

He cited his task force on police and community relations, which took an in-depth look at police and criminal justice system policies and procedures. Most of the recommendations of 21st century policing were already implemented here, he said. Seven out of eight demands from an advocacy group had already been implemented, and the eighth one was implemented this past year, Alvey said.

They need to continue to work on diversity on the police force, Alvey said, and Chief Oakman has added a Hispanic liaison officer to help the community feel comfortable about coming to the police about problems.

“This is a continuing thing,” Alvey said about the task force. The next task force topic will be restorative justice, with the goal of healing the criminal and the victim, he said.

Investing in the northeast area

Alvey said the problem with redlining and disinvestment was that property values were declining. If a property was bought for $100,000, and the property value declined, it would be hard to get a loan to do repairs, he said. Blight followed as they couldn’t borrow the money to make the repairs, he said.

Long-term, they have to focus on people who have “weathered the storm,” including those on fixed incomes and elderly, Alvey said. There is a proposal in the state Legislature that would provide relief to those on fixed incomes affected by rising property values, he added.

With market demand driving up the values of homes, that’s a good thing, he said. But relief is needed for people whose tax bills are going up and are having a difficult time, he added.

They need to make sure the strategies they put in place activate the Northeast Master Plan, he said. The market needs to come in, he said, and developers need to know their investments will pay off.

The process has to be community development, not just dollars, he said. He cited Argentine as an example of people who fixed up their homes and raised property values.

Garner said the concept is good, but it is failing because there isn’t a comprehensive strategy. There should be a strategic plan and not haphazard fill-in housing, he said. He would like to see all income levels addressed for housing. He said he would like to see an expansion of the Neighborhood Revitalization Act, for tax abatements on houses east of I-635.

Developers have told him the problem is bureaucracy, and problems in communicating with staff, Garner said. It takes too long to get something done in Wyandotte County, he said. Developers would like to streamline it, he added.

When it comes to the mayor’s promises, nothing has been realized to the satisfaction of the residents of the northeast area, Garner said.

“People should not have to beg for a grocery store,” Garner said. “They should have swings that work. They should not have a pool that is closed.”

Putting the Parkwood swimming pool in the hands of private management who cannot guarantee the pool will be open is irresponsible, Garner said.

He said the community needs someone who will hold staff accountable to the will of the elected commission and to the values of the people.

“We could do better for Wyandotte County, we could do better for our neighborhoods, and we could do better for our community,” Garner said.

Alvey said through his entire time as mayor, they have taken an honest, straightforward look at every challenge that has confronted them. They have not been able to achieve all the things they would like to achieve, since it is a long-term process, he said. There has been 60 years of disinvestment, and the northeast is coming back and growing, he said.

Alvey said Garner’s plan to reduce the PILOT fee, which will reduce income to the UG by $32 million, was unrealistic.

“You cannot invest in neighborhoods, streets and parks, stormwater and all those services that he says we need to have more of, and reduce by $32 million the amount of revenue our Unified Government has,” Alvey said. He said the UG is developing a strategy, and it will continue to grow the county.

Negative flier went out before election

Much has been made of the candidates’ differences, but there are also similarities. Both candidates are from Wyandotte County. When filing, both listed addresses on the south side of the county, Alvey in the Turner area and Garner in the Rosedale area. Both are Democrats and both had prior experience on local elected boards, Alvey with the BPU and Garner with the KCKCC Board of Trustees. Both have expressed their belief in God publicly. Both had decades of experience at one employer before seeking political office, Garner with the KCK Police Department and Alvey at Rockhurst High School.

Garner, a former deputy police chief in Kansas City, Kansas, has received union support from the local firefighters, police and some other area unions. The firefighters union had supported Alvey when he ran against former Mayor Mark Holland, but the union has since differed with Alvey over issues such as closing the Fairfax fire station and ongoing contract negotiations.

During the Oct. 20 forum, Alvey did not repeat his statement from an Aug. 31 forum when he asked Garner for an explanation of being on the police force at the time of alleged police corruption involving a retired detective. Garner had denied knowledge of the alleged corruption, while also stating he has worked to get corrupt officers off the force. (See previous story at https://wyandotteonline.com/mayoral-candidates-spar-on-question-of-police-department-investigation/)

When a national story broke Oct. 14 about a grand jury investigation already underway into the actions of a retired Kansas City, Kansas, police detective, the candidates offered statements at https://wyandotteonline.com/allegations-against-former-kck-police-detective-getting-national-attention-from-cnn/.

As the election gets closer, the Alvey campaign appears to have gone negative in a mailer, a sign that the campaign could be behind where it wants to be. A negative flier listed as from the Alvey for Mayor campaign went out within the past two weeks to Wyandotte County voters, criticizing Garner for moving to Johnson County after he retired from the police department here. He since has moved back to Wyandotte County, after being asked by residents to run for office, according to the Garner campaign website.

The recent flier also echoed some of the earlier statements from the Aug. 31 forum, stating that Garner “either failed to address allegations of abuse and corruption or he refused to speak up until it was politically convenient.” Garner said at the Oct. 20 forum that he didn’t give any accused officers a pass while he was on the police force, and that a lot of officers were disciplined as a result of his work in the internal affairs unit.

The KCKCC and Business West Oct. 20 forum is expected to be shown on the KCKCC cable television station and on YouTube.

Another mayoral campaign debate is scheduled at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 27, at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas. The campaign forum is sponsored by the Kansas City, Kansas, Area Chamber of Commerce, and reservations are required to https://mailchi.mp/kckchamber/alveygarnerdebate?fbclid=IwAR0WyhYODQjlCxG3Gy8OccZAFTi8bee4OO0e_tSeR0EI9a13jZ84zxm5XhM. The event will be both in person and online.

For more information about the election, visit https://wyandotteonline.com/category/election-2021/.

For information about advance voting and polling places, visit www.wycovotes.org.