Happy Friday, folks!

🌞 Today's weather: Sunny, with highs in the low 90s.

🎶 Sounds like: "Time" by Pink Floyd.

🎂 Happy birthday to our member Michelle Manning!

This newsletter is 999 words — a 4-minute read.

The Royals' downtown stadium is another step closer after City Council approved a package of agreements on community benefits, construction and financing yesterday.

Why it matters: Public documents shed light on what the Royals are promising the city, including funds to address homelessness and benefit public art.

• Opponents say the deal is jeopardizing the city's general fund and should receive a public vote.

Driving the news: City Council voted 11-2, with 6th District Councilmember Johnathan Duncan and 1st District Councilmember Nathan Willett voting no.

What's inside: The Royals agree to $55 million in community investment, including $5 million for KC's Housing Gateway Program, $5 million for the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and $14 million toward the city's One Percent for the Arts Program.

• The remaining $31 million will go toward other initiatives, including youth sports and education programs.
• As part of the surrounding development, the Royals agree to fund improvements to Washington Square Park.
• Construction agreements include prevailing wage requirements. The team and labor union SEIU Local 1 announced a private agreement earlier this week.

Friction point: The city commits to $600 million, most of which is expected to be financed through city-backed bonds.

• Those bonds would be paid over 30 years by tax revenue from the development — or other city funds, if the tax increment financing (TIF) plan doesn't fully cover the costs.
• That TIF plan is still in the works, since changing the agreements could change how the numbers shake out.
• Protesters at the meeting chanted, "Let us vote!"

Follow the money: The lease agreement gives the city a way to make extra money from the stadium with a 5% net profit agreement on non-baseball events at the stadium. The city can use the stadium for up to eight events per year.

• A deal is in the works between the Royals and Kansas City Public Schools that could provide yearly property tax increases.

What they're saying: "I think we'll look back on this in our city's history as one of the best days in decades," 2nd District Councilmember Wes Rogers said at the meeting.

The other side: Duncan called the 5% non-baseball revenue "a pittance," saying the city was "giving away leverage" by approving the agreements.

Go deeper

Parlor closes tomorrow, and the seven independent restaurants inside learned about it this week — the same day their customers did.

Why it matters: The sudden announcement left businesses at a popular hang in the East Crossroads scrambling with little explanation as to why they have to close.

Catch up quick: Meriwether Companies opened Parlor in 2018 as KC's first food hall, renting ready-made kitchens to chefs who couldn't afford a storefront.

• Its Instagram announcement Tuesday said the decision is because of "a significant shift in visitation" and a changing environment.
• Axios reached out but did not hear back.

Zoom in: Danielle Goldberg, who runs Ladybird Taqueria and Slideshow Sliders inside Parlor, says the news was a complete surprise.

• "I value my employees deeply and feel wrecked about giving them no notice," she tells Axios.
• She wants to reopen but hasn't found a space. "We love Kansas City and are devastated not to continue."

Flashback: Doug Winter, vice president of operations at Meriwether, told the Board of Police Commissioners in September 2024 that break-ins had cost the food hall $575,000 in business that year.

• "Crime in the Crossroads is an emergency and needs to be addressed at the highest level," Winter said in the meeting.
• "We're not gonna be here in two years, I guarantee you that. We can't afford it."

Yes, but: Crossroads crime is down 65% this year from the same period in 2025, per KCPD, and the department expanded its downtown foot patrol into the neighborhood, Mayor Quinton Lucas tells Axios.

• The city is "heartened to see declines in crime citywide, Downtown, and in the Crossroads area," Lucas says.
• Goldberg says she hadn't heard of any instances where crime has prevented foot traffic or made workers feel unsafe.

Zoom out: Parlor isn't the first food hall closure in recent years. Strang Chef Collective closed two KC food halls in late 2024, blaming weak foot traffic.

What's next

More than 40,000 people are expected to eat their way through Swope Park this weekend, and thousands more will do the same on the WWI Museum lawn.

Why it matters: Two major food events land on the same weekend, one a three-day showcase of 42 countries and the other a celebration of hot dogs.

🌍 Ethnic Enrichment Festival

The 47th annual festival runs today through Sunday at Swope Park, with food, music and dance from all over the world.

Flashback: The commission behind it started in 1976 as a Bicentennial committee, held its first festival in 1980 at Liberty Memorial and settled into Swope Park in 1984.

💭 Abbey's thought bubble: The food is what gets me there. The people behind the booths, telling you about home, are why it's one of my favorite weekends of the summer.

If you go: Hours are 6pm to 10pm today, noon to 10pm tomorrow and noon to 6pm Sunday.

🌭 Heart of America Hot Dog Festival

The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum's fundraiser takes the WWI Museum lawn tomorrow, pairing ballpark food with eight hours of music.

Catch up quick: Museum president Bob Kendrick started the festival in 2013 in the 18th and Vine District. It paused for two years during the pandemic.

If you go: Gates open at 3pm and music runs from 3:30pm to 11pm. General admission is $50. Tickets cover entry and activities, not food. Proceeds go to the museum.

Learn more

🎭 Abbey is finally catching her co-reporter in "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" tonight.

🍆 Travis tried eggplant fries for the first time. Floppy, yet crispy.

Thanks to Chloe for editing this newsletter.