Volley

  The push-and-shove among Kay Barnes, The Chamber, and to a degree Mark Funkhouser continues.

    The story so far:

    The Chamber issues a report calling for more spending for city infrastructure.

    Funkhouser quotes the report.

    Barnes issues statement critical of findings; then proposes own infrastructure spending plan.

    Tuesday, Chamber issues statement reaffirming call for more spending on roads, bridges.

    Also, Tuesday, Funkhouser promises to end the metal plate menace.

Posted by Dave Helling

Comments

The deferred maintenance report did its job. It got the mayor to respond. Not sure exactly what it changes. The city is still a mess and is literally falling down around us.

The UMKC forum tonight was a reminder of how attention has gotten away from crucial problems, and diverting of monies is the slight of hand of this and past administrations for too long.

A very sharp audience and probably the best questions to date. Once again, Mr. Funkhouser brought down the house. An elderly lady nearby commented to me that Mr. Reiderer seemed angry in his responses. I felt that he delivered the first real pointed hit of the forums in a response that he aimed at Mr. Funkhouser. I was pleased that it got a rebuttal because it was rather uncalled for and most certainly unnecessary.

Mrs. Nace has a very impressive record of having been brave enough to stand up against the other council members, and has been a good representative of her neighborhood. But I can not get beyond the fact that she has been a part of this current council and if she were a strong advocate, she could have gotten a consensus to stand with her. The fact she has been a lone voice, makes me wonder if she is going to be a good leader. Right now I believe that Mr. Funkhouser has been the most consistent in his responses. Not to mention that he is the only one that gets a reaction from the audience. Each of these forums have been in different areas so I do not believe that it has to do with popularity.

[try2Bobjective]

I would encourage all of us to use our Crap Detectors, we're in dire need of it in this election.

I was at the KKFI forum this evening, and Mr. Funkhouser did his usual grandstanding, citicizing with very little vision. For example, he left everyone with the impression, with regard to light rail and the sewer system improvements, that they will cost billions and the federal government is out of money, essentially saying "we're in a huge mess" without any specific vision as to how we can solve these problems.

Nace was just as bad, once again saying she is the only council member to vote against a TIF. What's up with that? She's voted for almost all the TIFs, INCLUDING a TIF for a new building for firefighters - the new building being constructed with TIF money, in an UNBLIGHTED area, where the original firefighter's facility, that was abandoned, was in a BLIGHTED area.

Of course, Becky was endorsed by the Firefighters.

I think we all have a responsbility to look past the rhetoric and ask ourselves how will our next Mayor solve our problems, instead of just pointing them out, or worse, simply grandstanding.

Try2B, I have picked YOU up on my crap detector. You are getting on my last nerve. I have the distinct feeling that you definitely are an "operative." You most certainly are knowledgeable beyond what the average citizen is in regards to these fire stations. I think you were sitting in front of me tonight writing on a big yellow legal pad...hum.

Anyway, my main point being...how does anyone give a complete informative answer to these questions when the respondents only have l minute to answer. They can only answer in 'sound bites' anyway. What do you expect in one minute? As the council members said tonight--they have been working on the sewer issue for quite a long time, and don't have an answer yet.

The water dept. estimate is 2-3 billion for CSO. The light rail by everyone but Chastain, is at least a billion. In addition, those who are familiar with funding in Washington, say that Fed funding for lightrail is very limited at this time.

[Joe MIller]

Have to say I disagree. A city without hideous metal plates all over the streets is glorious vision in my opinion. Best one coming out of the campaign so far, if you ask me.

So is following the CIC's vision to fund maintenance of infrastructure:
http://kcbuzzblog.typepad.com/kcbuzzblog/2007/01/funkhouser_walk.html

So is placing a moratorium on new TIF projects until we have an acgtual TIF policy (In fact, having a TIF policy is a great vision, IMO)
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/16430662.htm
http://kcbuzzblog.typepad.com/kcbuzzblog/2007/01/funkhouserfairf.html

So is having a trust-worthy mayor:
http://pitch.com/Issues/2006-11-23/news/janovy.html

So is having a mayor who is committed to transparency in government, as opposed to the status quo of hiding info even from City Council members:
http://kcbuzzblog.typepad.com/kcbuzzblog/2007/01/cauthen_all_com.html

And that's just the mainstream media links I can find without wasting too much time. I suppose I could link to everyone of his audits, too. Each of which offers recommendations which are in too many cases, unfortunately, mere "visions" at present because we've lacked the leadership to turn them into reality. Or I could link to his website, where his vision is very clearly articulated. But that would be campaigning, and I'm not supposed to do that here, am I?

Full disclosure: I volunteer for Funk.