A key barrier in the middle of the Riverfront Heritage Trail is about to be removed with construction of a ramp under the ASB Bridge and BNSF railroad. The ASB Underpass will finally connect Berkley Riverfront Park with the Town of Kansas Bridge and trail to the west. The Port Authority has cobbled together various funding from federal, state, city, and private sources. The last piece comes from the Ameristar Casino.
In other Riverfront Trail news, funding has been secured for a connection to Kaw Point Park in KCK. And by this summer the Missouri and Kansas segments of the trail should finally be connected with a new segment under the Lewis and Clark Viaduct through the West Bottoms.
Posted on Tue, Dec. 05, 2006
Ameristar Casino will donate $2 million for Riverfront Trail
Pledge is part of a new five-year development pact with the KC Port Authority.
By RICK ALM
The Kansas City Star
Ameristar Kansas City Casino and Hotel has agreed to donate $2 million to help complete the Riverfront Heritage Trail bicycle and walking path along the Missouri River.The donation is part of a new five-year development agreement between the casino and the Kansas City Port Authority approved unanimously by the city agency at a special meeting Monday.
The Port Authority and other local backers envision that the estimated $32 million network of trails someday will link Kansas City’s scenic Cliff Drive on the east to points in Kansas City, Kan., on the west.Much of it, including the Port Authority’s river walk in Berkley Park, already is built and is in use.
More than $9 million is still needed to complete the system, said Darby Trotter, president of Kansas City River Trails Inc., which has spearheaded the project.
The casino’s gift to the Port Authority is earmarked for construction of a safe pedestrian passage beneath the ASB Bridge, said Steve Rinne, acting director of the Port Authority.
Rinne said Monday’s special meeting was necessary to approve Ameristar’s $2 million donation to qualify the casino for $1 million in state Transportation Development tax credits that expire this year.
Parts of the casino’s initial 10-year development agreement with the city also expire this year.
The initial agreement was originally signed by Station Casinos Inc., which sold the casino operation to Ameristar in 2000. That agreement complied with the Missouri Gaming Commission’s open-ended licensing requirement that casinos demonstrate positive economic impact on surrounding communities, share revenues with those communities and involve disadvantaged contractors and employees in the operation.
The new five-year deal with Las Vegas-based Ameristar also will:
•Provide up to $100,000 in casino money for a 2007 study of minority and other disadvantaged contractors in the region. The study will help set goals for disadvantaged vendor contracts in line with today’s marketplace.
•End casino contributions to a special Port Authority grant fund to help minority and disadvantaged vendors. Ameristar agreed to negotiate new grants if the revolving fund ever needed more money. Port Authority officials said Monday about $1.8 million remained in the fund.
•Contribute $100,000 annually to a national research fund on problem gambling, with at least $25,000 of the total earmarked for a similar Port Authority fund.
•Give $75,000 a year to the Port Authority’s development fund.
To reach Rick Alm, call (816) 234-4785 or send e-mail to ralm@kcstar.com.
