THIS IS KMBC NINE NEWS AT NOON. KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI IS AT A CROSSROADS, AND TODAY THE MAYOR LAYS OUT HIS VISION FOR WHAT COMES NEXT. MAYOR QUINTON LUCAS IS ABOUT TO DELIVER HIS SEVENTH STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS. GOOD AFTERNOON. I’M BRYA BARRY IN FOR KELLY FOR WORLD CUP PREPARATIONS TO CRIME AND THE FUTURE OF THE ROYALS. THE MAYOR IS EXPECTED TO TALK ABOUT SOME BIGGEST PROBLEMS FACING THE CITY RIGHT NOW, AS SPEECH IS SET TO BEGIN ANY MOMENT. AND OF COURSE, WE’LL CARRY IT LI
Kansas City, Missouri Mayor Quinton Lucas to address city’s 2025 achievements, 2026 priorities in State of the City address
Updated: 3:31 PM CST Feb 11, 2026
Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor Quinton Lucas gave his seventh State of the City Address Wednesday afternoon. Last year came with amazing highs and low lows for the city. A global sports phenomenon is on its way to the city in 2026, while we begin preparing to lose a major sports franchise. Lucas went over some of the city’s achievements over the past year, and priorities for the year ahead.Items on the agenda for Lucas’s big speech included how the city is preparing for the World Cup, along with crime in KC and the future of the Kansas City Royals. Here are some of the big takeaways:Lucas on housing and homelessness: KMBC 9 News anchor Lara Moritz reported earlier this month that Kansas City, Missouri, has the highest rate of unsheltered homelessness per capita. In Wednesday’s speech, Lucas said housing investments are coming in 2026 to help people on the streets find new, stable housing opportunities. In addition, investments are coming for year-round emergency shelter improvement and homelessness prevention.”Housing investments in our next fiscal year also will come as investments in helping our sisters and brothers on the streets find new stable housing opportunities—something I got to recognize this morning with Mayor Pro Tem Ryana Parks-Shaw and Councilman Jonathan Duncan, along with business and philanthropic leaders as we launched our Housing Gateway Program to provide rapid rehousing to over 600 Kansas Citians on the streets, to require coordination among dozens of siloed housing providers and City Hall, and to raise private dollars to maximize our impact. In addition, our next budget provides over $5 million for year-round emergency shelter investments and homelessness prevention; and $2.6 million to support the right to counsel program for tenants facing eviction—America’s most successful tenants’ counsel program, having saved over 3,000 Kansas Citians from eviction since its creation.”Lucas on keeping the Royals:Lucas, Jackson County Executive Phil LeVota, and Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe recently met to discuss a major priority not just for the city, but for the region and state: keeping the Kansas City Royals in Kansas City. Lucas said in Wednesday’s speech that retaining the Royals is not just about sports, it’s about economic development for the area, keeping jobs here, and enhancing activity in the city’s urban center with the addition of a downtown ballpark. “We will get a deal done in 2026 that’s fair and transparent for our taxpayers, our future, and our team,” Lucas said. “As part of our growth, our retention of the Kansas City Royals in the only home they’ve ever known, Kansas City, is a must. The Royals have shared their interest in being Downtown and we welcome them bringing 81 nights of home game activation a year to Downtown Kansas City, hundreds more days and nights per year of events, conferences, tours, millions of visitors downtown, and forming a key part of the River-Crown-Plaza redevelopment efforts we have seen in Kansas City since the 1990s. Retaining the Royals is not about sports, it’s about economic development for our city, retaining thousands of union jobs in Kansas City, enhancing activity in our urban center, and ensuring Downtown Kansas City is forever a place people, businesses, and visitors want to be and want to invest. We will get a deal done in 2026 that’s fair and transparent for our taxpayers, our future, and our team. Successful cities must remain centers of activity and Kansas City will continue its progress from the past generation to ensure downtown remains a center of commerce, residential growth, and investment activity supporting the entire city and region.”Lucas on hopes for neighborhood near Truman Sports Complex:Lucas also stated that with the Chiefs moving to Kansas, and the Royals turning their attention to downtown, that the city wants to ensure the Leeds area, which houses the Truman Sports Complex, continues to see development.Acknowledging the city has work to do in the area, Lucas said, “The Leeds area and surrounding communities are a proud working-class and affordable community with good schools, good neighborhoods, and good people, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.””As I have shared before, however, investing in one area should not mean we forget another. The Leeds area, the current home of the Royals, the Chiefs, and the 2026 World Cup, has known too many years without planning for its future, with too many content to have millions of people come in and out without spending dollars or time in the community. The area is worthy of our time, our energy, and our investment. Over the next year, we will continue our work with the owners of the Truman Sports Complex, Jackson County, neighboring communities in Independence, Raytown, and the eastern edge of our city to ensure we bolster our neighborhoods, the Blue River valley, and workforce development opportunity in an area that has known greatness, crowned champions, and will see rebirth again. We have work to do, but the Leeds area and surrounding communities are a proud working-class and affordable community with good schools, good neighborhoods, and good people, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.On competing with Kansas, and the loss of the Chiefs:On the loss of the Chiefs to Kansas, Lucas had stern words on cross-state competition. “Selective truces with entire industry exceptions, historically large incentives in adjacent communities to develop empty fields, and debasing tax revenues across the region for wins realized only by a few and rarely experienced by our schools, our taxpayers, or our public services will not form the basis of regional cooperation,” Lucas said. He said Kansas City will continue to work cooperatively within the region, “where we are proud to create opportunities for all.”On development in a town once called, Kansas, Missouri, our City will continue to compete for every business retention or relocation, mindful of competition across a street called state line or across the country. Selective truces with entire industry exceptions, historically large incentives in adjacent communities to develop empty fields, and debasing tax revenues across the region for wins realized only by a few and rarely experienced by our schools, our taxpayers, or our public services will not form the basis of regional cooperation. Instead, we will continue to work cooperatively as the heart of the region and the heart of America to show the best in American cities: a place where affordable housing creation is core to economic development—not another city’s problem; where we are proud to create opportunities for all, including unabashedly continuing programs to support business and employment growth and success for historically underrepresented Black and brown Kansas Citians; where we will work to get people off the streets, not just moved to another community; and a place where we will continue to enhance our safety for our residents, visitors, for large events, and for shops and neighborhoods looking to thrive each day.On funding public safety:The overall theme of the State of the City was Kansas City, and its people. Lucas said the city will be investigating in public safety for the community, and the people behind public safety. “As with past years, public safety investments will form the core of our general fund expenses, constituting 75 percent of our general fund budget,” Lucas said. “At the Kansas City Fire Department, we will continue our strong support with regular pay increases for the women and men of the fire service. At KCPD, our expenditures will include a $17.8 million or 5 percent budget increase in a year most other most other City departments are seeing cuts and exceeding the state-mandated 25 percent threshold.”RELATED: Kansas City Council grills KCPD chief over budget shortfall, settlement costs”As with past years, public safety investments will form the core of our general fund expenses, constituting 75 percent of our general fund budget. At the Kansas City Fire Department, we will continue our strong support with regular pay increases for the women and men of the fire service. At KCPD, our expenditures will include a $17.8 million or 5 percent budget increase in a year most other City departments are seeing cuts and exceeding the state-mandated 25 percent threshold. Our hope is that the State Board of Police Commissioners will fulfill their pledge to hire 50 additional law enforcement officers and 20 new call takers and dispatchers and deliver on officer pay increases with a proposed $363 million budget. As we have recently discussed, we also ask the Police Board to craft ways to reduce the millions of dollars in liabilities that are straining the police budget and public safety delivery in our community. The current trajectory in litigation costs is unsustainable for the police department’s budget. The City continues to support our officers and the hard work they do each day.”On Kansas City’s recent reduction in violence: Lucas spoke about how city leaders, from KCPD Chief Stacey Graves to Jackson County Prosecutor Melesa Johnson, are focused on putting safety first. Lucas emphasized that crime, including violent crimes, reduced across several categories. Police reported in their end-of-the-year wrap-up that crime fell “significantly” in 2025, with a drop in offenses like homicides, robberies, property damage reports and car thefts. “Recent efforts to build a safer city have yielded strong results. In the year just concluded, homicides fell by 5 percent; non-fatal shootings were down by 31 percent; and robberies were down by 27 percent. The Department hired its largest recruiting class since 2007 and Chief Stacey Graves has built a robust cooperative relationship with the many stakeholders who help us realize greater community safety, like our local prosecutors, including new Jackson County Prosecutor Melesa Johnson.” On developing Kansas City’s streetcar east to west:”Ensuring Kansas Citians have more ways to get around was also a key success of our last year and an investment for our next. The streetcar’s south extension to UMKC and the Country Club Plaza has transported hundreds of thousands of riders in mere months of operation. The riverfront extension is set to open before this summer’s World Cup, connecting venues, housing, and entertainment for Kansas Citians and our guests. Kansas City will not stop at north-south connections, but also will continue funded study work already underway with east-west connections from the Crossroads to 18th and Vine and connecting the main line across the state line to the University of Kansas Health System.”On Kansas City’s bus system, KCATA: “Our bus system at KCATA also will receive steady support over the year ahead, ensuring continuous operations over the year ahead. Long-term financial health for the regional system supported primarily by the tax dollars of Kansas Citians calls for expanded regional support. We will continue to work with KCATA leadership to find ways to maintain quality service that supports our people throughout the region. As we transition to functionally free fare bus transit, we also look forward to supporting KCATA and institutions who, like before, ensured riders of school age, leaving shelters, and of moderate means have access to transit and movement through our city.”
KANSAS CITY, Mo. —
Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor Quinton Lucas gave his seventh State of the City Address Wednesday afternoon.
[Click here to watch the full address]
Last year came with amazing highs and low lows for the city. A global sports phenomenon is on its way to the city in 2026, while we begin preparing to lose a major sports franchise.
Lucas went over some of the city’s achievements over the past year, and priorities for the year ahead.
Items on the agenda for Lucas’s big speech included how the city is preparing for the World Cup, along with crime in KC and the future of the Kansas City Royals.
Here are some of the big takeaways:
Lucas on housing and homelessness:
KMBC 9 News anchor Lara Moritz reported earlier this month that Kansas City, Missouri, has the highest rate of unsheltered homelessness per capita. In Wednesday’s speech, Lucas said housing investments are coming in 2026 to help people on the streets find new, stable housing opportunities. In addition, investments are coming for year-round emergency shelter improvement and homelessness prevention.
“Housing investments in our next fiscal year also will come as investments in helping our sisters and brothers on the streets find new stable housing opportunities—something I got to recognize this morning with Mayor Pro Tem Ryana Parks-Shaw and Councilman Jonathan Duncan, along with business and philanthropic leaders as we launched our Housing Gateway Program to provide rapid rehousing to over 600 Kansas Citians on the streets, to require coordination among dozens of siloed housing providers and City Hall, and to raise private dollars to maximize our impact. In addition, our next budget provides over $5 million for year-round emergency shelter investments and homelessness prevention; and $2.6 million to support the right to counsel program for tenants facing eviction—America’s most successful tenants’ counsel program, having saved over 3,000 Kansas Citians from eviction since its creation.”
Lucas on keeping the Royals:
Lucas, Jackson County Executive Phil LeVota, and Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe recently met to discuss a major priority not just for the city, but for the region and state: keeping the Kansas City Royals in Kansas City.
Lucas said in Wednesday’s speech that retaining the Royals is not just about sports, it’s about economic development for the area, keeping jobs here, and enhancing activity in the city’s urban center with the addition of a downtown ballpark.
“We will get a deal done in 2026 that’s fair and transparent for our taxpayers, our future, and our team,” Lucas said.
“As part of our growth, our retention of the Kansas City Royals in the only home they’ve ever known, Kansas City, is a must. The Royals have shared their interest in being Downtown and we welcome them bringing 81 nights of home game activation a year to Downtown Kansas City, hundreds more days and nights per year of events, conferences, tours, millions of visitors downtown, and forming a key part of the River-Crown-Plaza redevelopment efforts we have seen in Kansas City since the 1990s. Retaining the Royals is not about sports, it’s about economic development for our city, retaining thousands of union jobs in Kansas City, enhancing activity in our urban center, and ensuring Downtown Kansas City is forever a place people, businesses, and visitors want to be and want to invest. We will get a deal done in 2026 that’s fair and transparent for our taxpayers, our future, and our team. Successful cities must remain centers of activity and Kansas City will continue its progress from the past generation to ensure downtown remains a center of commerce, residential growth, and investment activity supporting the entire city and region.”
Lucas on hopes for neighborhood near Truman Sports Complex:
Lucas also stated that with the Chiefs moving to Kansas, and the Royals turning their attention to downtown, that the city wants to ensure the Leeds area, which houses the Truman Sports Complex, continues to see development.
Acknowledging the city has work to do in the area, Lucas said, “The Leeds area and surrounding communities are a proud working-class and affordable community with good schools, good neighborhoods, and good people, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”
“As I have shared before, however, investing in one area should not mean we forget another. The Leeds area, the current home of the Royals, the Chiefs, and the 2026 World Cup, has known too many years without planning for its future, with too many content to have millions of people come in and out without spending dollars or time in the community. The area is worthy of our time, our energy, and our investment. Over the next year, we will continue our work with the owners of the Truman Sports Complex, Jackson County, neighboring communities in Independence, Raytown, and the eastern edge of our city to ensure we bolster our neighborhoods, the Blue River valley, and workforce development opportunity in an area that has known greatness, crowned champions, and will see rebirth again. We have work to do, but the Leeds area and surrounding communities are a proud working-class and affordable community with good schools, good neighborhoods, and good people, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
On competing with Kansas, and the loss of the Chiefs:
On the loss of the Chiefs to Kansas, Lucas had stern words on cross-state competition.
“Selective truces with entire industry exceptions, historically large incentives in adjacent communities to develop empty fields, and debasing tax revenues across the region for wins realized only by a few and rarely experienced by our schools, our taxpayers, or our public services will not form the basis of regional cooperation,” Lucas said.
He said Kansas City will continue to work cooperatively within the region, “where we are proud to create opportunities for all.”
On development in a town once called, Kansas, Missouri, our City will continue to compete for every business retention or relocation, mindful of competition across a street called state line or across the country. Selective truces with entire industry exceptions, historically large incentives in adjacent communities to develop empty fields, and debasing tax revenues across the region for wins realized only by a few and rarely experienced by our schools, our taxpayers, or our public services will not form the basis of regional cooperation. Instead, we will continue to work cooperatively as the heart of the region and the heart of America to show the best in American cities: a place where affordable housing creation is core to economic development—not another city’s problem; where we are proud to create opportunities for all, including unabashedly continuing programs to support business and employment growth and success for historically underrepresented Black and brown Kansas Citians; where we will work to get people off the streets, not just moved to another community; and a place where we will continue to enhance our safety for our residents, visitors, for large events, and for shops and neighborhoods looking to thrive each day.
On funding public safety:
The overall theme of the State of the City was Kansas City, and its people. Lucas said the city will be investigating in public safety for the community, and the people behind public safety.
“As with past years, public safety investments will form the core of our general fund expenses, constituting 75 percent of our general fund budget,” Lucas said. “At the Kansas City Fire Department, we will continue our strong support with regular pay increases for the women and men of the fire service. At KCPD, our expenditures will include a $17.8 million or 5 percent budget increase in a year most other most other City departments are seeing cuts and exceeding the state-mandated 25 percent threshold.”
RELATED: Kansas City Council grills KCPD chief over budget shortfall, settlement costs
“As with past years, public safety investments will form the core of our general fund expenses, constituting 75 percent of our general fund budget. At the Kansas City Fire Department, we will continue our strong support with regular pay increases for the women and men of the fire service. At KCPD, our expenditures will include a $17.8 million or 5 percent budget increase in a year most other City departments are seeing cuts and exceeding the state-mandated 25 percent threshold. Our hope is that the State Board of Police Commissioners will fulfill their pledge to hire 50 additional law enforcement officers and 20 new call takers and dispatchers and deliver on officer pay increases with a proposed $363 million budget. As we have recently discussed, we also ask the Police Board to craft ways to reduce the millions of dollars in liabilities that are straining the police budget and public safety delivery in our community. The current trajectory in litigation costs is unsustainable for the police department’s budget. The City continues to support our officers and the hard work they do each day.”
On Kansas City’s recent reduction in violence:
Lucas spoke about how city leaders, from KCPD Chief Stacey Graves to Jackson County Prosecutor Melesa Johnson, are focused on putting safety first. Lucas emphasized that crime, including violent crimes, reduced across several categories.
Police reported in their end-of-the-year wrap-up that crime fell “significantly” in 2025, with a drop in offenses like homicides, robberies, property damage reports and car thefts.
“Recent efforts to build a safer city have yielded strong results. In the year just concluded, homicides fell by 5 percent; non-fatal shootings were down by 31 percent; and robberies were down by 27 percent. The Department hired its largest recruiting class since 2007 and Chief Stacey Graves has built a robust cooperative relationship with the many stakeholders who help us realize greater community safety, like our local prosecutors, including new Jackson County Prosecutor Melesa Johnson.”
On developing Kansas City’s streetcar east to west:
“Ensuring Kansas Citians have more ways to get around was also a key success of our last year and an investment for our next. The streetcar’s south extension to UMKC and the Country Club Plaza has transported hundreds of thousands of riders in mere months of operation. The riverfront extension is set to open before this summer’s World Cup, connecting venues, housing, and entertainment for Kansas Citians and our guests. Kansas City will not stop at north-south connections, but also will continue funded study work already underway with east-west connections from the Crossroads to 18th and Vine and connecting the main line across the state line to the University of Kansas Health System.”
On Kansas City’s bus system, KCATA:
“Our bus system at KCATA also will receive steady support over the year ahead, ensuring continuous operations over the year ahead. Long-term financial health for the regional system supported primarily by the tax dollars of Kansas Citians calls for expanded regional support. We will continue to work with KCATA leadership to find ways to maintain quality service that supports our people throughout the region. As we transition to functionally free fare bus transit, we also look forward to supporting KCATA and institutions who, like before, ensured riders of school age, leaving shelters, and of moderate means have access to transit and movement through our city.”