Crossing Westport

Last night I went to a meeting of concerned neighbors regarding the pedestrian safety at Bell-Genessee and Westport Rd. It seems there have been several close calls with people running for their lives attempting to cross Westport Road. Even on Sunday mornings when Immanuel Lutheran Church holds its services the crossing can be dangerous. Being the Walkability advocate that I am, I think I should keep myself informed about pedestrian issues around town. It was appropriate that I parked on the south side of Westport and had to run for my life to make it across to the Immanuel Lutheran Church where the meeting was held. There was a brief moment where I thought I was going to end up a hood ornament on a truck bearing down on me. About 25 people were there along with a City Traffic Engineer. If you've read my 'As I See It' piece from a few months back you know my opinion about Walkability and traffic engineers in KC. He did not disappoint. As the residents made their concerns known, he listened and then offered the same old solution. A traffic study will be performed. Maybe if the numbers are high enough, a pedestrian signal can be installed at Bell St. He bristled when I suggested a speed table as a possible alternative. City traffic engineers don't like new fangled thinkin'. I will be surprised if the City offers any remedy for what is an extremely dangerous stretch of road. The numbers they require in their traffic studies are artificially high. If they don't reach a certain threshold in their study, they won't fund any traffic control solutions. This puts the financial burden on the residents if they wish to pursue their own solution. There are many tools available these days for traffic calming and pedestrian safety. Not all of them cost $100,000 which is what I'm told a standard pushbutton pedestrian light would cost. Don't even get me started on that. I can build a house for a hundred grand and it costs the same to put up a pole with a light?! That's another topic for another post. Anyway, to make a long post longer, I will work with whomever I can to get our traffic engineers a little more forward thinking. "Traffic" is not just cars. Maybe I can get their job titles changed to Transportation-Pedestrian Engineer or something like that. It's not a solution, but it's a start. I'm not willing to make pedestrian safety a numbers game. We should all be safe.

Door to door to door to door...

I started some door knocking this weekend. I really didn't want to this early in the game but I found out an opponent is already out there so I don't have much choice. Any campaign strategist will tell you to always respond in kind. If he hits 10 doors I'm going to hit 100. Door to door is my advantage in this campaign. I can't match all the big money, so I'll go with my strength. Youth and enthusiasm! I've done plenty of door-knocking, but never as the candidate. I learned or re-learned some valuable lessons on Saturday. 1. Always wear black pants and white shirt. Sure you look like you just left your shift at the restaurant, but both colors are strategic in that they don't show wetness. After about 15 minutes I had completely sweat through both shirt and pants. I looked like I fell in someone's swimming pool. 2. Bring a spare shirt and tie. See number 1. You reach a point were you don't look like you've been working hard, you just look gross. 3. Always remember that people have better things to do with their Saturday afternoon than talk to you. Be respectful of their time. I worked for a candidate a couple of years ago who told me "anybody who says they like going door to door is a liar." I disagree! I absolutely love it. I love everything about it. Even the lukewarm responses from some people are good because they make you appreciate the enthusiastic responses that much more. I like hearing people's concerns. I like the strange details or "sharing too much" they are liable to do. I love to meet their dogs. Dogs seem to instinctively know I'm a dog lover and they want to come say hi. I started easy, staying in Brookside. I'd say about 80% of the people I talked to go to my church. It's almost impossible not to find a Visitation parishoner in my neighborhood. If it's not Viz, it's St. Peter's and I used to go there in the 90's. If they didn't already know me they knew the name or the face. Working my own neighborhood is kind of like pre-season for me. Sort of working up my chops for the regular season. I'm sure I'll have some good stories to tell over the coming days and weeks. Want me to come to your neighborhood? Leave me a comment and I'll head right over!

Loud pipes cause gripes

Recently we celebrated a friend's birthday on the patio of Harry's Bars & Tables in Westport. It was a beautiful night. Everyone was enjoying the cool evening. Lots of people-watching and enjoyable conversations. Then the motorcycles came. Roaring up Pennsylvania they cruised by at a snail's pace, revving their engines in a "Notice me! Notice me!" manner. The noise was so deafening that everything stopped on the patio. People on the sidewalks stopped moving. Some even held their hands over their ears. Even after the motorcycles rounded the corner at Westport Road we were left with multiple car alarms wailing away because their motion sensors had been set off by the rumbling bikes. Nobody in my immediate vicinity thought there was anything cool about what had just occurred. In fact, all the comments I heard were extremely negative. "Is that even legal?" someone asked. No. It isn't. I ride. I have a 600 Suzuki that I dearly love and my wife deathly fears. She doesn't like motorcycles but she tolerates my affair. She knows how much joy a nice buzz around the city brings me. And that's my point. It's a buzz, not a deafening roar. My bike is not loud. It has the original exhaust system. No Vance-Hines race modifications for me. My "tags match" which means my bike conforms to a little known Federal law that mandates a motorcycle must test under a maximum sound emission level (80dB). If so, one tag is engraved somewhere on the frame, the other on the exhaust. A bike should not pass safety inspection if the exhaust has been altered. This is a Federal law that is rarely, if ever enforced here in Missouri. I've heard the arguments. "Loud pipes save lives!" Sorry, that doesn't hold with me. If the louder you are the safer you are, then give me an F-16 jet engine. I'm sure my neighbors would love that. The other argument is straight pipes increase horsepower and fuel efficiency. So what? How much horsepower do you need? My bike will "flat git gone" as my dad used to say. I don't need any more power. Fuel efficiency? I can go forever on a tank of gas. I'm not going to frighten small children into their mother's arms just to squeeze out a couple more MPG's. It's really up to our state legislators to make sure Federal laws are enforced, but if we have to pass something at the local level, so be it. I have yet to hear the argument that will persuade me it's your right to be the loudest thing on the road. -- Update -- Local blogger Gone Mild has something to add to the discussion. Thanks to him for the referrals.

"I am your density"

I think our city deserves a mass transit system. What we don't deserve is self-promotion under the guise of a petition to put a light rail plan on the ballot. I won't mention the man's name because I don't want to add one more Google hit for him to salivate over. This latest plan is ridiculous. It is ill-conceived, under-funded and in general would be a disaster. I think I would cry to see carnival gondolas scarring the landscape around Union Station. Now you may ask yourself, what does a picture of George McFly from Back To The Future have to do with light rail? Remember his failed pickup line in the malt shop? "I am your destiny" came out "I am your density." I know, I know. It's a stretch. But bear with me. With apologies to James Carville, "It's the density stupid!" Mass transit, and more specifically light rail only works if you have a dense population. You have to have a lot of people in a small amount of space, AND VERY FEW PARKING LOTS for people to leave their cars at home and use mass transit. Here's a quick comparison. Porto is a beautiful city near the western coast of Portugal with a thriving light rail system. Porto's whole metro area covers 817 square kilometers. Taking their population and dividing it by the area, you end up with 1,430 people per square kilometer. Just the city limits of Kansas City, not including all the suburbs on both sides of the state line is 820 square kilometers. Almost identical in size to Porto. Dividing the Kansas City population though, you end up with a little over 500 people per square kilometer. So Porto is almost three times as dense as Kansas City. Coupled with the fact that rail is heavily subsidized by the European Union, it's not difficult to see why it works so well there. Now the circular argument begins. Does density beget light rail or does light rail beget density? In my best Al Gore imitation I would have to say "actually a little of both." Common sense dictates that transit-dependent individuals desire to live close to transit. If we have a rail system with a logical route, one that spans high-density residential to high-density commercial, I think we'll see a winner. As far as gondolas and miles and miles of track to nowhere? I don't think so.

Give someone else a chance

The Kansas City Star reports that because of the recently defeated charter change a municipal judge will be forced to retire. The charter change would have raised the mandatory retirement age for municpal judges from 65 to 70. The judge in question, Marcia Walsh has served on the bench since 1983. Almost 25 years is a long time to do anything. I have no background on Judge Walsh other than her time of service. I'm sure she has been a fine judge. What I do know is the reason I voted against extending the retirement age has less to do with age and more to do with turnover. I think there should be more turnover on the bench. Bring in new judges, new ideas, new everything. As I said in an opinion piece I wrote for the kcmohotline, if term limits are good enough for the council, they should be good enough for judges. And if a mandatory retirement age is good enough for judges, maybe it should be good enough for the council? I saw a great saying, "Today's problems will not be solved by the minds that created them." I think it's time to give Generation X a chance to make our mark on Kansas City.

Lemonade Stands

One obvious sign that summer is still here? Lemonade stands! On my way home from the hardware store I saw a couple of little kids trying to flag down cars. They couldn't have been more than four or five years old. Big sister was keeping an eye on things. I remember having a lemonade stand when I was a kid. I remember only a couple of people bothering to stop, but the point is after 30 some odd years I still remember. I circled the block and went back and bought a cup of pink lemonade and a graham cracker - chocolate icing sandwich. "Only twenty five cents each!" the little girl excitedly exclaimed. She may not remember that sale, but then again maybe she will. The point is, next time you see a lemonade stand try and spare a few minutes out of your day. Talk to the kids. Spend a couple of quarters and maybe make a memory. We can all use happy memories.

Another one bites the dust

BlogKC reports on the bankruptcy filing of Weld Wheel. They ask about where the taxpayers fall in the hierarchy of debtors. Good question, and one for which I'm going to have to dig out my old notes from school because I'm a little rusty on corporate bankrupty laws. (or I could just be lazy and call someone who knows). I'm sure P. Diddy has a much better gang of lawyers than we do so don't worry about Sean John. He'll be fine. The original incentive deal was run through the Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority (LCRA) when Weld pulled the old "we're moving to Kansas" card. The LCRA is a pseudo-governmental organization made up of mayoral appointees who grant property tax abatements, issue bonds and help with land acquisition (ie condemnation). Aside from my usual question of "Who are these guys?" when it comes to boards and commissions, the other frustrating thing is that I can't find any of this organization's dealings online. They fall under the umbrella of the EDC, but so does the TIF Commission and at least their fianancials are on the EDC website. I've been trying to get across that it's not the TIF, it's the tax abatement that will get us. Only after a couple of three audits by the City Auditor did the EDC finally cave to pressure and put the TIF financials online. Too bad the LCRA hasn't followed suit. This is some more of that accountability thing I intend to accomplish. If government can't operate in the light of day, how can we expect the citizens to have any faith?

Kansas City Pit Bull Ordinance

Sorry. No snappy blog title today. Talking about killing animals pretty much takes all the humor right out of me. The Neighborhood Development and Housing Committee took testimony yesterday from citizens on both sides of the dangerous dog debate. In the end they recommended the following be voted on by the full council: Mandate that pit bulls be spayed or neutered, unless owners obtain a breeder’s permit. The breeder’s fee would be $100, and animal-control personnel would inspect the breeder’s premises. The first offense would be a $500 fine. I sympathize with responsible Pit Bull owners. It must be frustrating to be singled out because of the behavior of some idiots who think it's cool to have a dog that can kill. I agree that it is the owners and not the breed that is the problem. These dogs need our help, not our hate. BUT... We have an enormous pet overpopulation problem. Do you know that over 600 pit bulls have been euthanized by KC Animal Control this year? That's just pit bulls! That's not counting the other breeds. It's very easy for people to be cavalier about demanding their rights and not wanting to spay or neuter. They've probably never been to a animal control facility and had to euthanize countless animals day after day. Animals who want nothing more than a loving home so that they can love in return. While mandatory spay and neuter policy is a good start, I don't think it goes far enough. I think it should apply to all breeds. Cats too. I don't think the breeder's fee is high enough. The license fee should be high enough to discourage "puppy mill" breeders who are only in it to make a quick buck. Good grief. Didn't I just document that it costs $250 to put a chair on the sidewalk in front of your business? But it's only $100 to breed animals? Isn't something a little off kilter here? I'm willing to work with pet owners on this issue. But I'll be more inclined to listen to people who volunteer for animal rescue organizations than anyone else. Wayside Waifs as well as individual breed rescue groups are on the front lines of animal welfare. I think including the opinions and experiences of the people with the most knowledge and experience makes sense. Don't you?

This Board's For You

We have close to 90 citizen boards and commissions in Kansas City. Just check out the City Clerk's page for a list. Chances are you have some experience or expertise that will apply to at least one of these groups. Have you ever been asked to serve on one? Probably not! That is a problem. Just like the City Council, the boards and commissions are populated from the same old group of people. Like the old saying goes, "Same circus, different clowns." In a lot of cases I think it's actually "Same circus, same clowns!" Some boards are highly prized like PIAC, Planning, or PIEA. They are considered springboards to a successful City Council run. I have served on two of these commissions myself. Purely by accident. The first, the Competitive Review Committee was a group put together to review business models for City departments like Street Maintenance and Parks & Rec. I ended up filling a vacancy at the request of the chairman who was a friend of mine because rather than find someone who had supported the mayor in the last election he decided that my having recently completed an MBA and having written a couple of business plans might actually make me qualified to serve. The second commission on which I currently serve is the 311 Action Center oversight committee. Once again, I wasn't brought in because I'm a powerful insider, I was requested by some of the City staffers with whom I worked while on the previous commission. It shouldn't be that hard to volunteer your time to help your community. You shouldn't have to have a councilman on speed dial. I think there is a tremendous amount of collective knowledge in this City and there's plenty of people willing to share, if only they were asked. I think there should be a link on the front of kcmo.org that takes you straight to the listing of boards and commissions and list the openings. Anybody should be allowed to express interest in serving. The whole process should be transparent and once appointed, every commission member should have a web page bio so we can all know more about the people making recommendations that affect our City. Instead of making these groups rewards for loyal political supporters, lets make them opportunities for new ideas.

We'll get a table near the street...

Small business owners have always had an uphill battle. Every decision they make has to be geared to their bottom line. An unexpected illness, power outage or even bad weather can mean the difference between meeting their obligations or closing their doors for good. Government policy, especially on the local level should help small business, not hinder with ill-conceived rules and policies. What may be sound and fair policy for a large business may not be that reasonable for a tiny sole proprietor. I see attempts at universal policies throughout city government and they rarely if ever succeed. I believe in flexibility for any situation and involving those closest to the issue is the only way to find the best solution. An example of a poorly conceived blanket policy is the current ordinance (Sec 64-164) pertaining to sidewalk chairs and tables in front of businesses. As the law reads right now a merchant must pay a $50 application fee and then $250 every year for a sidewalk café permit. $250 may seem like nothing to a large restaurant with revenues in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, but to a little café where the owner struggles to pay the rent every month a $250 license fee is unaffordable. By the letter of the law you're not even allowed to set a single chair on the sidewalk outside your business without that $250 permit. I understand that some vendors get carried away with tables and chairs and merchandise tables, and sandwich signs and whatever else they care to put in the right-of-way. I am by no means advocating a free-for-all that would make the sidewalks in any given business district impassible. What I am advocating is the need to use a little common sense and good judgement when we create policy. We need to take a step back and realize we're talking about a couple of tables and chairs. Government should be an engine for economic development, not an inhibitor. The solution? In this case, a graduated scale for the permit based on linear feet of your store frontage. If you want to get real socialist I can throw annual revenues into the equation. The long and short of it is when it comes to policy, one size rarely fits all.

ERP Audit - The rest of the story

Just when you thought it was safe to come back to my blog. You thought I had forgotten about the ERP audit didn't you? No such luck. After spending Sunday morning reading the ads for LCD televisions I still cannot afford I dug into the remaining 50 or so pages of the audit. Not too much in the way of surprises for me. I have a lot of experience in integrating new software systems into a company. If it's not done right and the money isn't spent in the right places it can be a disaster. I'm not ready to call FEMA down to 12th & Oak just yet, but it's not a rosy picture either. The good news is I've been through this scenario before and I can offer a lot of expertise. The bad news is we have a lot of little empires within City Hall and it's hard to get some of these directors to play nice. I have experience with that too, and if you give me the title of "Councilman" I'll have the grease to make some of these people sit up and take notice. There's a few people down there that need to be reminded in the end they all work for the taxpayers. This "I'm in charge" mentality doesn't fly with me. Never has. Hmmm. That could be the reason I spent so much time in detention back in high school.... The Funkhouser audit summed up the current atmosphere at City Hall regarding the PeopleSoft implementation with two memos. I've excerpted a couple of paragraphs from each with my translation immediately following. The excerpts from the memos are in green. From: Fiscal Officers Group Subject: PeopleSoft concerns We are writing to express our concerns with the PeopleSoft Financials system. We are not asking that PeopleSoft be scrapped or that we return to old systems. We understand that the City has invested a great deal of time, effort and money in this project, and many of us have devoted countless hours, evenings and weekends to making PeopleSoft work. However, PeopleSoft does not perform like we were promised that it would, and it has negatively impacted our ability to do our work in an efficient, timely manner. Translation: Please help! We know this system can work if properly implemented but right now we're hopelessly buried and see no way out. We have tried to use the standard method of reporting issues, but the number and severity has become so great that we now feel we are in serious danger of complete failure. From: Acting director of Finance; Director of Human Resources; Chief Information Officer Subject: PeopleSoft concerns We regret that you have chosen as a group to negate the established issue resolution process. We regret that you have not given your colleagues who have worked very hard on the deployment of PeopleSoft Financials the courtesy of attempting first to respond to your issues, as they have done in the past. We would appreciated it, if in the future, you would return to using the established issue resolution process. Translation: How dare you speak to us the mighty department directors in such a manner! Your insolence will be punished! You will respect our authority! Avert your eyes when you speak to us. Ridiculous. "We regret this" "We regret that" If I catch department heads treating their coworkers with that kind of thinly veiled rudeness on my watch, there's going to be some regrets all right. The tone of both memos is summed up in the above paragraphs. The Fiscal Officers were very respectful. They were desperate for help. Their memo was succinct, coherent and totally appropriate. The respondents, in this case the directors of Finance, HR and IT were defensive, childish and almost threatening. Would you want to work for these directors? If you worked for them would you respect them? Respect demanded is rarely achieved. Respect earned is rarely lost. Sounds like some corner office types need a refresher course in leadership.

Radio Killed The Internet Star

Tony Botello was on 980 KMBZ this morning. For those of you who don't know he is the brains behind his alter-ego TKC of Tony's Kansas City. Slight disclaimer here in that TKC has given me a lot of positive press so naturally his is one of my favorite blogs. Anyway, the host was interviewing Dave Helling which went a little long because Dave is a surprisingly witty guy which most people don't expect out of a political reporter. By the time they were done, there was only about 5 minutes to interview Tony. I think the host was caught off guard that a blogger could be so eloquent. I think KMBZ like a lot of people in this town doesn't realize that TKC is a character that Tony uses to generate satire. I guess they were expecting the misogynist, racist, outrageous TKC and what they got was the objective respectful Tony who writes for Dos Mundos among other publications. At the end of the all to brief interview, the host asked Tony if he'd like to come back. This may or may not have been a genuine request. Perhaps it was the equivalent "date speak" of "I'll call you." I don't know if KMBZ is ready to broadcast someone under the age of 50 with an opinion. That's pretty racy stuff for this town. I suggest a write-in campaign of sorts. This blog has developed a pretty large following. I know my friends over at The Flogging of America and BlogKC have even bigger followings. Let KMBZ know that you'd like to hear more out of Tony Botello on Sunday mornings. Go to their contact website at KMBZ.com Let's show them there's more to this blogging thing than just some Gen X'ers ranting about the latest rage on MySpace. Please drop me a comment if you go to KMBZ. I'd like to know how many responses they get! -- Update -- I received this very nice note from Bill Grady at KMBZ this morning: Mark, Thank you for the feedback. Tony is a bright, personable guy. In the future I would love to have him as a guest more often. I only fill in for Mike (Shannon) occasionally, but since blogging is more of a source of information now, he is very "up to speed" on the Kansas City scene. Regards, Bill Grady Reporter/Anchor KMBZ Radio

Born to run

I've never been one to do things because "that's how it's always been done." In fact, that phrase is the surest way to get me moving in another direction. I think there's always need for change. If "that's the way we've always done it" was everyone's philosophy we'd all be sitting around the warm glow of our whale oil lanterns and going to the barber for a good bleedin' whenever we got sick. Fellow blogger btyfrd at The Flogging of America offers high praise for what she has noticed is going to be an unconventional campaign: There's one candidate, who is running for city council in the 2007 election who decided to avoid that trap. His blog is arguably the best resource to keep up with Kansas City politics, policy, and problems. He makes his positions clear and is not afraid to take a stand, and it's just words on a screen. Mark Forsythe is quietly breaking the rules of campaigns and I have to say that I like it. Reading posts like hers really gets me fired up! Breaking the rules. You got that right. The rules say you have to raise a ton of money, kiss the right uhh... let's say rings, and not upset the powers that be. That's fine for the "way we've always done it" crowd but it's just not my style. I say have good ideas, reach out to voters, campaign hard, very hard and let your opponents scramble for the money. I actually had one opponent call me and claim he was going to raise $250,000 for this race. A couple of months later he told someone else $150,000. I wonder what the figure is down to now? Anyway either figure is insane. Let's break all the rules. A little revolution every now and then is good for the soul.

ERP Post-Implementation Performance Audit

The City Auditor released a new audit today. Fortunately for all of you, I haven't had time to read anything except the executive overview. That's the part where they dumb it down for the decision makers. I'm pretty sure I'm not allowed to take the whole 56 pages to bed with me. That kind of thing usually gets overruled in our house. Here's the short story. ERP stands for Enterprise Resource Planning system. The City chose PeopleSoft to integrate Human Resources and Finance functions. The auditor's findings? Not good. Age old story in the enterprise software business. Company sales team comes in with highly trained individuals who know the software inside and out (I used to be one of these guys). They put on a dog and pony show. Everything looks awesome. People ooh and ahh. Look how easy he makes it seem! The purchase is made. A few people get some topical training, they throw a few user manuals at IT and suddenly things don't seem to work as slick as they did in the demo. I'll find some time to read the audit over the weekend. I'm very curious to see Mark Funkhouser's recommendations. In the mean time, just be thankful my wife has more common sense than I do and knows that performance audits don't make good nighttime reading for me. You all get a reprieve from my Paper Chase outline version. For now...

Sign, sign, everywhere a sign...

Wow! First of all thanks to everyone who helped make yesterday a record day for this blog. That's the funny thing about blogging, you never know what post will strike a chord with people. I would have never thought that detailing my experience at the polls would be such a draw. Did you notice all the campaign signs yesterday? I mean all the illegal ones? A lot of people don't know this but in Kansas City it is against ordinance to place campaign signs on public property. Most candidates ignore this, especially on election day. Signs appear overnight down the choicest of thoroughfares in the hopes of swaying those last minute voters. I know it's not a big deal. We all step over the line now and then. Who hasn't exceeded the speed limit, if only accidentally? It does bring up a serious ethical dilemma for me. I want to obey the law. I think playing by the rules is a big part of demonstrating your ethics. I saw huge irony in a couple of candidate's signs yesterday. Placed illegally just about everywhere I turned were signs with the word "Integrity" on them. Hmmmm.... Question is am I willing to put myself at a disadvantage by following the rules when conventional wisdom says my opponents will be sign bombing Ward Parkway and Brookside Boulevard in the midnight hours of February 26th? Does it make a difference either way?

Diebold: Not quite ready for prime time

I tried. I wanted to use the touchscreen voting system. I didn't realize what a monumental thing I was asking for. I should have been tipped off by the hesitation at the registration table. They didn't even offer me a choice and handed me a paper ballot. When I asked if I could use the touchscreen, there was that sort of "uh oh" reaction that I should have known wasn't good. The election judges seemed enthralled that someone would actually want to use the new system. "I'm a technology guy" I tried to explain. "A what?" she asked. "Nevermind" I replied. Then the fun began. You would think it would be as easy as walking over to the booth and voting. Nope. First they have to track down the only guy in the precinct with the magical keycard system. He pulls out a little handheld touchpad that I'm guessing electronically imprints a magnetic stripe on a passcard. With much fear in his eyes he followed the instructions on a little laminated card. There was much number punching, and hesitating, and more number punching, and some more hesitating, consulting the laminated card, then starting over, then more number punching. You get the idea. He was either programming my voting card or transmitting the launch codes for a nuclear attack. I think the latter would have been easier. I watched a few people come and go while I waited to do things the modern way. Finally the card was ready and he inserted it into the Diebold machine with a "hope this works" look on his face. I stepped up, pressed Next, and whoops! Wrong ballot. "You know what, I'll just take a paper ballot." He look relieved. I looked annoyed.

Vote Tomorrow

I know I probably don't have to remind most of my readers about voting tomorrow. But here goes anyway! While I have chosen to remain neutral in other candidate's races, local bloggers have no such self-imposed restraints. The Flogging of America is back from hiatus and better than ever with one of their most pithy posts yet about tomorrow's Senate 10th Democratic primary. Adults only please. These ladies aren't for the faint of heart. I hope I never end up in their crosshairs! Maybe I just did by calling them "ladies." Yikes!

I said what?!

Did you ever see the movie Twister? There were a lot of cool effects that showed tractors and cows and even houses getting sucked into a giant tornado. Most of us that have grown up around here have probably seen the real thing at one time or another. Even if only from a great distance. On Friday night I kind of felt like I got sucked into the giant tornado that has become the MO Senate 10th Democratic primary. At my favorite watering hole the topic of politics came up as it usually does and I was surprised to hear a friend of mine tell me that he had been told I was supporting one particular candidate in this race. He was very upset with me because this candidate is not the one he is supporting. Before I knew it I was sucked into a heated debate about which I'm still not sure of the outcome. What I found most humorous (my friend found absolutely no humor AT ALL) was the candidate I am purportedly supporting is the one I know the least about. I've never even met this person. The fact is I have stated before that I don't feel while I'm a candidate it would be ethical of me to endorse or become involved with anyone else's campaign. That's why you won't see anyone's yardsigns in front of my house. You won't see my name on any campaign finance reports, and you certainly won't see my name on anyone's literature. I have enough to focus on with my own campaign. As with most occurrences like this I drew on it as a learning experience. A veteran politician gave me a warning a long time ago that when you run for office some people are going to say negative things about you. They will accuse you of bad things. They will even attack those you love. Except for the last part I'm pretty prepared. The dirty tricks and mindgames of politics is actually fun for me. It's like a big strategy board game where you roll the dice, act and react, and generally try and think two steps ahead of your opponent. I'm not much for playing the rumor mill game, but I can certainly prepare myself for when it's used against me. Like I said, I'll chalk it up to a learning experience. All I ask is that my faithful blog readers consider the source and don't hesitate to ask me personally the next time you hear something about me that troubles you. Remember, this is only politics.

What's in your MP3 player?

I think you can tell a lot about a person by the music they listen to. At least that's the conversation I had with a good friend recently. He thought asking a candidate what was in their MP3 player would be an interesting question to ask at a forum. I think so too. Mainly because the standard reply from most would be "What's an MP3 player?" I don't have an Ipod. I've found the RCA is the only player I haven't been able to sweat into oblivion. Sure it doesn't have all the cool accessories, but it works for me. At the risk of scaring you with my bizarre music tastes, here's a sampling of what I'm listening to on my daily runs: The Donnas Earth, Wind & Fire The Ramones The Smiths Kill Hannah Kenny Chesney The Futureheads AudioVent I know. Pretty strange mix. I'm open to suggestions. Comments welcome. Happy Friday!

Where's Waldo? Just look for the sign...

Local blogger Waldo United points out the giant billboard being constructed just south of 75th Street on the east side of Wornall. I saw this thing going up too and about wrecked my truck looking at it. Who on earth thinks this is an attractive addition to the neighborhood? I have no idea what kind of people the owners of 7721 Wornall are, but I'm fairly certain they won't be friends of mine any time soon. Considering they don't live anywhere near Wornall (I looked them up through the KIVA permitting system), I'm guessing they have no concern about what they are doing to the Waldo neighborhood anyway. Recently the Council managed to pass a moratorium on these kinds of billboards, but it didn't stop the ones that were already in the works. This lovely thing is one of the ones that slipped in under the wire. Unfortunately there's not much that can be done now. I will tell you one thing. I will not patronize any advertiser who leases space on this monstrosity. I'll let the advertisers, and the billboard owners know my displeasure too. Maybe if we all did, these things would go away.