KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Bill George, the CEO of Kansas City Transportation Group, is sending a challenge to elected officials in the metro.
“As another election season approaches, many of you have reached out requesting support for your campaigns,” George wrote in an open letter to Kansas City Mayor Sly James and Kansas City Council members. “I’ve decided I will not spend another dime for a candidate’s campaign until a real and credible homicide reduction plan is implemented.”
George, who owns 10/10 Taxi and several other ride companies, said he’s been a frequent donor to many political campaigns and causes over the years. But the metro transportation mogul said the deadly shooting of 23-year-old Johnathon Porter on Tuesday morning, as Porter worked a construction job at 9th Street and Brooklyn, put him over the edge.
“So my letter today was simply designed to say, ‘This is a crisis. I’m not going to let up on it,” George said. “I think it’s time the community say, ‘We’re going to take back our streets. We are going to hold our politicians accountable.’”
FOX4 reached out to members of the Kansas City Council for reaction to George’s letter but received no response.
“I want a city that my daughters want to live in,” George said. “Right now, I’m not sure I could tell them, ‘Don’t go to Scottsdale. Don’t go to New York.’ They’re safer cities than Kansas City.”
