Celisa Calacal

2 weeks ago | kcur.org | Celisa Calacal

Kansas City voters renewed a local sales tax on Tuesday that officials say will help fund the construction of a new municipal jail. Voters passed Question 1 by more than 8,000 votes; 60% to 40%; renewing the public safety sales tax for 20 years. Extension of the tax is a crucial step in the city’s yearslong plan to operate a municipal detention center again. This is the third time Kansas City voters have supported the quarter-cent public safety sales tax.

3 weeks ago | ourcommunitynow.com | Celisa Calacal

ballot Question 1 on April 8 and renew a public safety sales tax, work on another new jail could begin right next to it. “What am I showing my child, my 4-year-old child?” she asks. “Like, ‘hey, your mom is just trying to survive, but down the street there's going to be a new jail by the elementary school that you're gonna go to. That's the future that you're going to have.’” “Nah, I don't want that,” Valdes said.

3 weeks ago | kcur.org | Celisa Calacal

Lizette Valdes loves her east Kansas City neighborhood — where she grew up and where she’s raising a family — and she loves the view it provides of Kansas City from the playground in Blue Valley Park, about a mile away from her home. But she worries how that view might change soon.

1 month ago | thebeaconnews.org | Celisa Calacal

This story was originally published on KCUR 89.3. Kansas City voters will decide on April 8 whether to renew the city’s public safety sales tax, as part of its efforts to fund and build a new municipal jail. Supporters of the tax renewal say the city is long overdue for its own detention and rehabilitation center — for a decade the city has not had its own jail to detain people who commit city offenses.

1 month ago | kcur.org | Celisa Calacal

Read this story in English. El 8 de abril, los votantes de Kansas City decidirán si renuevan el impuesto a las ventas de seguridad pública de la ciudad, como parte de los esfuerzos para financiar y construir una nueva cárcel municipal. Los partidarios de la renovación del impuesto dicen que la ciudad ya está muy atrasada en tener su propio centro de detención y rehabilitación.