City of Fountains

I’m starting to see a little activity on the blogs and kcskycrapers.com that indicate to me that people are actually taking notice that we have a major problem on our hands with regards to our combined sewer system. I do see one silver lining in all this. If you look at judgements the EPA has won against cities like Louisville, part of the settlement is that the EPA restricts new additions to the sewer system until the municipality accumulates enough “sewer credits.” Credits are accumulated as the municipality makes progress towards fixing their sewers. The credits are used up as new homes and businesses are allowed to connect to the sewer system. One credit equals one gallon of sanitary wastewater per day. With the average household producing more than 300 gallons per day it will take quite a few of those credits to build more sprawling subdivisions north of the river. The end result? No more sprawl until we show we can take care of what we already have. Make sense? Of course. Too bad it’s going to take the federal government to mandate what we should have started 15-20 years ago.

It's the evil landlords!

The mayor's office threw one by midtown residents recently when they supported the purchase of the Georgian Court apartment building at 400 East Armour. They failed to mention anything to the City Manager's Office, or the City Council. Normally the purchase of a building and the announcement of extensive renovations would be met with enthusiasm, but in this case the new owner intends to make the entire building Section 8 low-income housing. It's a great deal for the new owner because they get to use project-based Section 8 funding to pay for a major part of the renovations. They get a renovated building for a fraction of the price, and get to collect market rate rents based on the Section 8 subsidies that will be provided by the Housing Authority. Of course the new owners, and members of the mayor's office don't have to live anywhere near Armour Boulevard, an area already populated with a significant amount of government-subsidized housing. It's no coincidence that in recent years the area has also been plagued by a significant amount of crime. Donovan Mouton, aide to Mayor Barnes said recently that "we don't think the problems on Armour are because poor people are living there." He blames the landlords, not the residents. Umm... Okay. Thing is, most people aren't looking over their shoulder for a landlord when they're walking down Armour Boulevard after dark. Unless they happen to be late with their rent.

Our sewer problems will bite us

I blogged on this a long time ago. I've been researching and worrying about it for longer. The Star reports today that we have a looming problem with our ancient sewer system. Hopefully this will elevate the public conscience and we can begin to solve the problem.

Let My Bloggers Go

There has been a lot of activity in the blogosphere the last few days regarding the stadium debate. Some on the pro-stadium vote side want the many anonymous bloggers and websites on the negative-stadium vote side to identify themselves in the spirit of campaign finance disclosure. Bloggers like Tony's Kansas City have been very critical of the stadium financing plan. Someone has put up a site called saveourowners.com to parody saveourstadiums.com. There is another site that is a bit too adult that I will not link to here. Even our federal House of Representatives has taken up the debate this week. Are blogs and websites subject to the same rules as Political Action Committees, or are they protected from campaign disclosure laws in the same way that news editorials and columns are? I think that those who would attempt to reign in the bloggers do not have a grasp of the World Wide Web. It's vast. It's as anonymous as you want it to be. In the end, you the reader have to make the judgement call as to the veracity of the claims you may read on any given site. I say leave the bloggers alone. Of course I haven't been brutally attacked (yet!) by any of them so I understand it's easy for me to say. The worst I've had to endure is to have my blog called "vanilla" and being called a "white guy." I really can't dispute either claim. I guess I should just consider myself lucky(?) that I'm not a multi-millionaire asking for public subsidies.

KC Can't Get No Satisfaction

City Auditor Mark Funkhauser released an audit yesterday on citizen's satisfaction levels with basic city services. No surprise the levels never reached "average" among the 44 topics measured. I have to admit a little bias when it comes to Mr. Funkhauser's work because he lives in my neighborhood so he gets a little home court advantage with me. Besides, all he does is make objective observations about important City functions. What's wrong with that? Plenty if you look at the history of how the various City departments and pseudo-public agencies have dealt with his audits. They usually dispute his conclusions, or ignore them. Some of the lower levels of satisfaction among Kansas City respondents were the things I've been emphasizing in this campaign. Percentage of respondents who rated their satisfaction as a 4 or 5 on a 5-point scale. City stormwater and runoff system? 32% Maintenance of City sidewalks? 18% Maintenance of City streets? 20% I'm surprised the stormwater results were even that high. I guess some of the residents polled don't live along the watershed known as Brookside Boulevard. Prime your sump pumps. It could be a wet spring!

I may be old, but I'm slow

The weather was perfect last Saturday for the Westport St. Patrick's Day Run. Even though it would seem impossible, the Kansas City Track Club managed to put together a 4 Mile course that felt like it was entirely uphill! The finish line was the final act of demoralization as they chose the uphill grade from Mill Street to Pennsylvania on Westport Road. Nothing like being completely exhausted and looking up what seems like a long hill to the finish! I felt sorry for the people who made it the whole way only to give up on the final hill and walk in. I finished a semi-respectable 18th out of 95 competitors in my age group. Congratulations to all who competed. The big winner was the Redemptorist Social Services Center who was the beneficiary of the nearly 1700 competitors who participated. Next up? The Trolley Run!

False Start

I was asked why I didn't walk in the Brookside St. Patrick's Day Parade this past weekend. A couple of my opponents chose to enter the parade and some of my supporters were concerned that I had lost valuable face time. Maybe. Maybe not. I was there. Volunteering like I always do, directing traffic at the staging area to keep the parade moving. Definitely not high profile but that's not the point of volunteer work anyway. At the last minute the Brookside Merchants invited me to ride in the last car with them. No campaigning. No flyers. Just waving at our friends and thanking them for coming. I had a blast. The City Council election is still a year away and we have several elected offices to consider before then. State representatives and senators are coming up for election this summer. As is Jackson County Executive and the Legislature. Don't forget about the KC School Board (most people do). I just felt like my time was better spent doing a little community service and not a lot of self-promotion. It just seems a tad early for parades. I seems one appearance was not too well received anyway. Check out The Flossing of America blog. (Their blog contains some mature content and very unpolitically correct satire so be forewarned). Not that I would even consider it in the first place but I can assure you we won't be paying people or bribing them with t-shirts in our campaign.

One BILLION Dollars!

In his latest performance audit of the City budget, Mark Funkhauser reported that at the end of 2005, projected principal and interest payments on our outstanding tax-supported debt had reached about $2.3 billion. That's an increase of about $1 billion from the year before. That's BILLION with a "B"! Funkhauser goes on to say that adopting recommended debt policies is prudent. What's the City's current debt policy? We don't have one! Couple that with an underfunded pension plan, deferred capital maintenance and $126 million in commitments the city has made but has not funded and it's easy to see there hasn't been much fiscal responsibility in our leadership the last few years.

I Got Nothin'

I know that Thursday is my biggest traffic day on the site. I have no idea why that is but I just accept it. I'm having serious writer's block lately. There's lots of things to write about I just never seem to be able to put thoughts into words. I'm reading Mark Funkhauser's Budget Performance Audit right now so I'll probably have something to write about after that. I know it's pretty geeky to spend my spare time reading audits, but it does kind of go with the job I want. Stay tuned...

Running For Election

I like to run. Not only does it keep me in shape for the grueling door-to-door schedule I intend to keep, it's a great way to get out and explore the neighborhoods. You see and experience so much more jogging down a sidewalk than you do from a car window. This Saturday is the Westport St. Patrick's Day Run. It's a benefit for the Redemptorist Social Services Center. It's a great run and a great cause. I'll be there along with about 1500 other participants negotiating the 4 mile course around Westport. It will be a much needed break for me in that I'm certain it will be one of the few community events at which my opponents won't be making an appearance.