KANSAS CITY, Mo. \u2014 Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas is pledging to strike a deal with the KC Royals to keep them in the city limits.<\/p>\n
That was one of the highlights of his State of the City Address on Wednesday. He\u2019s pledging to get an agreement done on a downtown stadium sometime this year.<\/p>\n
Mayor Lucas says that keeping franchises in the city limits is not about sports, but it\u2019s about economic development.<\/p>\n
Pitcher Kris Bubic wins arbitration case vs. Royals <\/a><\/p>\n \u201cRetaining thousands of union jobs in Kansas City, enhancing activity in our urban center, and ensuring Downtown Kansas City is forever a place that people, businesses, and visitors want to be and want to invest,\u201d he said during his address.<\/p>\n An hour before, union leaders were calling out Port KC, arguing that they\u2019re giving jobs to workers outside of the city when developers go through their entity.<\/p>\n \u201cPort KC has two resolutions being considered by our commission which would be transformative and broadly beneficial to labor, workforce\u00a0and quality jobs in Kansas City,\u201d Port KC President & CEO Jon Stephens said in a statement to FOX4 Tuesday.<\/p>\n \u201cThese resolutions directly address concerns about prevailing wage, project labor agreements, workforce\u00a0and apprenticeship programs. These two incredibly important items were\u00a0specifically\u00a0asked to be held\u00a0for a future vote\u00a0at yesterday\u2019s\u00a0Port KC Board of Commissioners meeting by our Vice-Chair and current Kansas City\u00a0Councilman\u00a0Kevin O\u2019Neill.\u201d<\/p>\n One entity upset with Port KC is the Greater Kansas City Building and Construction Trades Council. They held the bannering event outside city hall on Wednesday.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not speaking for Kevin, but I believe he was afraid that the wrong version would be voted on, and he wasn\u2019t present,\u201d Oropeza said in response to a question about Port KC\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n