How is it a done deal? Isnt there going to be a vote?
They are presenting it as if the finance, design team selection and construction delivery are all a done deal... They will still have to clear the hurdle of a council vote and probably a public vote. Neither of which are easy given the backlash this is likely to cause. But those are really just a go-no go on whether the project moves forward.
What's really sad is that it didn't need to be this way and is only going to make its success even harder.
Don't get me wrong, I def want a new airport... Just not at any cost and not like this. 
first, no, nobody has presented this as a done deal. from the KC Star Article published yesterday,
"However, even if the city proceeds with this private financing option, James said, it still would have an election in November. The ballot would ask the voters to sign off on this new terminal construction plan. That vote would happen because the City Council promised a vote in response to a 2014 citizens petition requiring a public election on any major KCI improvements. If voters say no, James acknowledged, 'we’re screwed.'"
On the bidding process - I'm sure the City would be all ears if another engineer/architecture firm wanted to pony up and buy the risk.
On the cost - it won't be financed by or backed by the city and taxpayers won't be on the hook for overruns. The project will be financed by the airlines and by fees assessed on passenger tickets at KCI over the next few decades. Thus, as is the case in both privately and municipally financed airports, these fees will be assessed in the neighborhood of a few dollars per passenger ticket. This is the cost. This is what we're dealing with here.
