KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- For the second time, an agreement with Edgemoor to build a new terminal at Kansas City International Airport will go before the whole City Council.
On Thursday, members voted to pass an ordinance out of the airport committee that would accept the updated memorandum of understanding.
"I feel pretty good, but you know, I don't want to get too excited. Certainly, I am cautiously optimistic as we move forward," Councilman Jermaine Reed said of the vote.
The council rejected a previous version of the agreement, which includes a community benefits agreement. Over recent weeks, Edgemoor Real Estate and Infrastructure has reworked the contract, answering to 43 of the 45 concerns council members compiled last month.
Edgemoor said the updated proposal that went before the airport committee Thursday commits more money to workforce training, transportation to the worksite and child care for workers, among other changes.
While the airport committee voted in favor of accepting the new MOU, others continue to raise doubts about the agreement. On Wednesday the Black Chamber of Commerce released a statement asking the city to reject this version of the contract. The group was also against the first version.
The Black Chamber argued Edgemoor's proposal does not do enough to include minority- and women-owned businesses in the project. It called this project transformative for the construction industry in Kansas City, and it wants to ensure everyone has a fair shake at being part of the construction process.
"Unfortunately as it relates to this matter, I respectfully disagree with their assessment," Reed said in response.
The city has required the proposal to include language forcing Edgemoor to hire a certain number of women- and minority-owned contractors.
As council members work with Edgemoor inside City Hall, a social media campaign targeting the developer continues outside.
Over the weekend seemingly fraudulent Twitter accounts sent out anti-Edgemoor tweets that contain broken links. By Thursday morning all but one of the accounts had been deleted.
Screenshots of tweets from seemingly fraudulent Twitter accounts
We sat down with Frankie Belluci, who owns tech company Frankie on Call, to look at the account still online.
"You'll see that with bots. It's the same thing over and over again," he said while looking at the tweets.
Belluci found a few other telltale signs the account was a Twitter bot, including the fact there were very few followers and broken links were posted on the page. He said you should also look out for misspellings in tweets.
By the end of the day Thursday, the remaining anti-Edgemoor account had been deleted. Belluci said Twitter is keeping a close eye on suspected bots.
"Because of all the propaganda that's been happening and all of the things that are being said, they're purging some of those accounts," he said.
The bots are nearly impossible to trace, and the Edgemoor team said Thursday it has no idea where the virtual opponents are coming from.
"We're just staying focused on the task at hand," Edgemoor Spokesperson Meghan Jansen said after the MOU vote.
At this point it's still unclear who's behind the Twitter campaign. Councilman Reed said he's disappointed by the high jinks but not surprised.
"Some of the sort of deviant behavior that has been taking place throughout this process is a bit unfortunate, but, you know, it's to be expected," he said.
The updated MOU with Edgemoor can go before council as early as next Thursday.
---
