Sunday, September 30, 2007

Happy Talk

A NOTE TO MY READERS: Last week’s editorial on Hindsight will be continued in a future story on this page. This past week I received a number of calls from constituents. At City Hall we call these types of calls “Requests for Service. I thought you would find them interesting. First was a call from an old friend. He asked me to turn on the Raytown Government Channel 7 – I did so, and found that the radio station city hall re-broadcasts over the channel was not tuned in properly. The result was an irritating static that made the viewer either turn the volume down or switch to another channel. (I checked this evening -- it appears the problem has been corrected) Another caller complained about an inoperable truck in front of her neighbor’s house. The truck, she said, had been there for six months. It had out of date license plates, a flat tire and did not run. She told me the vehicle had been turned in to the city’s code department, the police, but to no avail. There was a time in Raytown when calls about code violations were from irate citizens claiming they were being picked on by city code inspectors. Now, I receive more calls from people complaining that their call for help to the city is ignored. Another caller wanted to know why he had just received a newsletter from the city that was undoubtedly written for Summer publication on the first day of Fall. He also wanted to know how much it cost. Because from his point of view, it was little more than propaganda about how wonderful things are in Raytown without any useful information. A business associate of mine – a Downtown Raytown business owner – told me of a conversation he recently had with Mayor Bower. He told the Mayor that the choice for this year’s Round-Up Days Parade (Kansas City resident Al Maddox) was an insult to Raytowners. “Couldn’t we find a Raytowner to serve as Raytown Marshall?” He asked. There has been a lot of “happy talk” from the spin machine at city hall these past few weeks about the “progress” Raytown is making. I sincerely hope that they are right. But until we can solve the problems evidenced in the above stories -- we have failed. We will have failed because we will not have learned that success is not measured in how much we build with concrete and steel. But in how we find solutions to the more mundane situations. Such as a home in ill repair that drags down the value of a neighborhood, a newsletter not sent in a timely manner, or a public television broadcast not properly monitored. It is how we handle and correct those situations that show the true meaning of public service. In the long view, it is much more important than building a new firehouse, school, bridge or monument at a city gateway. Heard on the Street . . . Former Mayor Sue Frank was recently sworn in as the new Jackson County Republican Committeewoman for Brooking Township (Raytown). Word is that Frank is looking for political opportunity after a short hiatus from the Mayor’s seat. The continuing effort by some to re-invent Al Maddox as a local hero is falling on hard times. The claim (as reported in a local newspaper) that Maddox was involved in donating money to the Downtown Park has been proven bogus. A call to both City Hall and the Truman Heartland Foundation (which served as a clearing house for donations) has shown that NO checks were received from Al Maddox for the new park. Light Up the Night! Success is measured in many ways. One that I am happy to report is that the Board of Aldermen has added $10,000.00 to the fiscal 2008 budget for the purchase of new streetlights in Raytown. Good job, boys and girls!

60 comments:

Anonymous said...

I knew she was a republican. They cant fool me, just most of the general public.

Anonymous said...

Rumor is that Republician Frank is interested in running for state office after having such a "SUCCESSFUL" run as mayor. What a joke!! Can you imagine all the dirty laundry that will be aired if she files to run for another office. This will be fun to watch.

True Blue said...

I'm glad someone told Mayor Bower how much of an embarrassment that having foulmouthed Al Maddox was as parade marshal. Raytown has many citizens that have devoted their lives to serving their community and they had to choose some "Johnny Come Lately" from Kansas City, like Maddox. This is why we continue to be the laughing stock of the entire Kansas City area.

sparky said...

That is a good thing to hear about the money for the new streetlights. They are really needed in lots of areas around town. Now if public works would go around and do some serious tree pruning around where the streetlights are located since the trees in question are located usually in the right of way between the street and the sidewalks, that would really help in illuminating the areas properly instead of blocking out the light.

Hopefully they can see to it to scrape together enough money somewhere to resurface some of our streets before it ends up costing twice to three times as much as it would to do it now when material costs and/or further damage from putting off necessary maintenance drive up the costs in the future, not to mention the extra wear and tear on both city vehicles and our vehicles, which costs us all in the long run. Perhaps cutting out the little posh retreat to the Lake of the Ozarks would help. Some of us citizens cannot even afford to go to the Lake of the Ozarks for a weekend, which would be nice to to. I believe that they can accomplish the same tasks here at home with the rest of us. There are meeting rooms at city hall and resturaunts that will cater food up there as well. They should really try that instead sometime.

Anonymous said...

Streetlights? Blue Ridge Blvd. north of 51st is lit up like Christmas now (in Kansas City proper). You could play ball out there at night, it's so bright. KC/Aquila really overdid it.

(Then when you enter Raytown it's about 80% darker.)

Anonymous said...

Thanks Greg, for pushing for much needed street lights. Also, thanks to the rest of the board for being open minded when Greg brings up a good idea. I hope they will continue this practice.

Andy Whiteman said...

I am glad to hear about the street lights. On mt street there is a long distance between street lights. One potential buyer of my house commented the street is too dark. The only light is from my yard light and if any of the neighbors turn their yard lights on. There is a street light across the street from me, but it is only obvious in the winter when no leaves are on the tree. As another writer suggested, it would help if the city trimmed the trees.

I sure hope Raytown doesn't place street lights too close together in the Kansas City style. The KCMO area I used to live in had plenty of street lights. But now there is one every 50 or 60 feet. That is unnecessary and wasteful spending

I think it is a real disgrace and insult for the COC to bring in an alien to grand marshall the parade. I am sure many locals would accept it as an honor.

Andy Whiteman

Anonymous said...

Greg... City Channel 7 still isn't fixed.

I even bitched to Comcast about it and CHannel 2. 2's modulation now works.

7's comes on correctly once in a blue moon.

Pat Casady said...

I'm curious, why doesn't the cities channel have an open evening for the
public use? That way people could air their questions, comments and problems.
Maybe other people in town have the same thoughts.

Andy Whiteman said...

I'm curious, why doesn't the city use over the air TV? Cable costs money and I don't waste money on cable. How many people in Raytown are rich enough to afford this wasteful luxury?

Why not have something that is truely open to the public?

Andy Whiteman

Anonymous said...

I agree with Andy - DON'T DO THE LIGHTS KC STYLE! It looks like a parking lot or something. Some of those poor people have 2, or even 3, lights in their front yards. That seems like overkill. But we have lots of areas in Raytown that could use more light. Let's try to do this right!

sparky said...

The local cable tv companies do that as a public service. Kansas City, Mo has a local government channel similar to Raytown. Independence has one also. I doubt that they could get anything going with any of the VHF/UHF stations here as they would rather sell their airtime for George Foreman Infomercials and Direct Buy Showrooms. Forget about the city trying to have their own TV station, that is too complicated. They cannot even get a simple newsletter right, and sorry, the local papers (red communist star, the post, and tribune) dont exactly cover all the news like it should be, only the "Happy Talk" is all that you will see there, anything that they can toot their horn about to improve their image and try to justify their existance and their 100,000.00 a year salaries along with their egos.

Pat Casady said...

I just thought that since the city cable channel is paid for with taxpayer money there might be one night a month for just the public to use.

Anonymous said...

Pat Casady,

I just read last weeks Post, I had a weak moment, but I read the article about the person named Scott Walz wanting to start a group like you had suggested. The article says he is a downtown business owner but it does not say what and where his business is. Do you know him? Has he talked to you? He says he has talked to all the downtown business owners and is going to talk to the residents next. Looks like you must have had a good idea but some one is trying to take over, probably the city. If that is who's doing this it will only have the the yes people that are on everything now.

I am very interested who this person is. If you don't know him does anyone who is reading this know?

Anonymous said...

I guess there is a strong feeling about having a local business association. I know of two business owners (one on Raytown Trfy, one on 350 Hwy) who have been talking about plans for a local business coop and are close to initiation. These concerned business owners need to get together.

Pat Casady said...

No I don't believe I have met Scott Waltz.
However you peeked my curiosity and I too read the Post.
I don't have a problem with someone else starting a downtown group but,
I do have concern about the other people that he "took along with him."
The Chamber president and Mr. Truesdale. This doesn't sound like it will be an independent group.
I also asked several of my neighbors if they had talked to anyone other than
myself about forming a group of downtown business and property owners.
They had not.
If and when I can get a group of people together it, at least at first, will not
include members of City Hall or the Chamber, however if they are business owners they would be welcome.
Most of the twenty or so people I have talked to, would rather they not be there
at first. They-we didn't want any city officials present until we get some kind of
order and goals to present them.

Having said all that, as I said, I have no problem with anyone forming a group for
downtown. I would however have a problem if it turned out to be another
"rubber stamp yes group" for the city like most have been in the past.
Unfortunately, I feel that is what the Chamber is, it was not to be seen when
the developers were trying to steal our property, in fact they backed the developer. And we all know about the other group that the new logo was named after.

Anonymous said...

Maybe one of you, either anonymous 5:40 or Pat Casady, should visit the Main Street Project website to see what it's all about. I did. It looks interesting to me.

But of course you can count on Pat to bag it because the city's Community Development director is involved with the process.

BTW Pat...your problems with the initial developer, Harpool, are ancient history. Time to give it a rest and move on.

And I do know Scott Walz. He is a good young man, a small business owner with a good product.

Pat Casady said...

To whom it may concern:
We now have a meeting place, date and time.
If you are interested in attending, I ask you to call me so I can give you this information.

However at this time, as I have said before, we do not want city officials or other groups to attend at this particular time. It's not personal. We just
want to get organized first. Only business and property owners.
Thank you,

My number is 356-1590.

Anonymous said...

According to the discussion at the Board of Alderman meeting last night, $10,000 is only going to be able to buy about 18 street lights.

Doesn't seem like a lot of help to me.

True Blue said...

Pat and all of us have a right to question the usefullness of the current community developement, Tim Truesdale. City hall makes work for this guy because he can't do anything on his own. What a waste of over $100, 000 a year in taxpayers dollars. Wake up, Mayor Bower.

Anonymous said...

I'd like to hear some comments about the current city newsletter. Does anyone know what this thing is costing us?

Anonymous said...

I have to say a good word for Alderman Creamer and Aziere.
When it came to city street lights they came to the citizens defense. If it was put in the budget leave it there. If we are only able to get maybe 18 lights or less let's start with that and build on it. I DO have a problem with Alderman Fleming. Why do you hare to wait for a study from public works, police, ambulance ect. to find out where lights are needed. Why not drive the neighborhoods and ask the citizens their input. They know more than the city does. Why is you always try to avoid the citizens input? If you want to do something to improe the city have public works drive the city and cut away the tree limbs that are obstructing the view of stop signs. Some of the signs can not be seen due to the limbs. I will say if this is the reason for an accident the city could be held responsible. I imagine as usual I am talking to deaf ers.

Andy Whiteman said...

The $10,000 is estimated to buy 18 street lights but since the exact cost per light is unknown, the number could be higher or lower. I feel at least it is a start. I think a few at a time are a good idea. Installing street lights city wide at once is too massive a project.

Yes, we need a study for everything. I think it is CYA thing so no one has the responsibility if someone complains they didn't get ther street light. Another way to waste money: Pay for a study. I will notify my alderperson where I see a need for the lights, let him pass it on, and the powers that be can argue it out amongst themselves.

What good are streetlights if you can't see them? There is a streetlight across from my home that I was unaware of until the first winter I was here. It is obscured by tree limbs during the summer and really useless.

I think the reason that Pat is mentioning past developers is that he doesn't want the same thng to happen again. I learned in school we need to learn from history because history repeats itself.

Andy Whiteman

Anonymous said...

a non e mouse, You say you know this Mr. Scott Walz but you have yet to say what and where his business is. Is that because he does not have a business here in Raytown?

Anonymous said...

To the person that wanted comments about the latest newsletter. That news letter said the exact same things about the survey that was in the 2 local Raytown papers several months ago. So there's nothing new there and it is very clear that nothing has been done regarding the codes problem we have here in Raytown either. They ask for our pinion and then promptly ignore it. So why even ask??

Anonymous said...

Alderman Fleming is an IDIOT!! Why would you need a study to see where to put street lights? She must never drive the city streets after dark. Also she might just ask some of her constituits, the ones she never bothers to returns their phonecalls.

Anonymous said...

To City Newsletter questioner:

$20,000 for newsletter (and BOA can afford only $10,000 for street lights?)

If you watched Tues night's meeting, the mayor just couldn't see how the poor city employee "with two other jobs" could even get out a newsletter...let alone one that is relevant.

That city employee is city clerk/human resources director.

Same one who can't even type up BOA meeting notes if my information is correct.

Good luck Pat with an independent business person's group! Quentin Clark had one going --- even started the BBQ event --- until the Chamber sucked him back into the fold.

The city, chamber and the likes are not going to let someone else step up and accomplish anything because they'd lose control and purpose. Like there is any purpose to either other than feathering their own nests and pissing away taxpayer dollars.

Andy W. TV Channels are federally controlled...that's why cable companies give cities little PR channels to keep their franchise approval coming. Then they pass on the franchise fee to customers via higher rates. I know...I asked the cable people and they about choked on the answer.

Anon e mouse: Crawl back into your little rat hole at City Hall or Wildwood Lake.


Like 90% of the people, I don't see the local papers. But it's typical of the Post to report on Scott Walz without telling anyone who he is, his business ad nasuem. That's just poor reporting.

And a final observation: Aziere only lies when he opens his mouth. And Cramer? Where's the "antique" cars being rebuilt in driveways? He's another winner! Ha Ha

Forrest Gump said it best: Stupid is as stupid does.

And that's the only surplus commodity in this community!

Andy Whiteman said...

If the poor city employee (whose name was not mentioned) with 2 other jobs was paid a living wage, he/she wouldn't need 2 other jobs and would have time to could get a relevant newsletter out with!

As for the survey published in the newsletter, the city likes to toot its own horn. Yes, it was in other papers, but they know that hopefully everyone will get this paper if the don't get the commercial papers.

I understand the concept of the free cable TV channel, but I still contend that the city should not state that it is "legal notice" because the entire public does not receive it. I have no objection except the legal notice claim. I think it is a good service for those who can afford it.

As for the street lights, I can walk my dog and know where they are they are needed. Alderwoman Flemming could do the same. That is a satisfactory survey, but I think she wants to CYA. These people were elected but appear unable to make a decision, How pathetic! When the next election comes around, I will be guided by my observations of Board meetings. If someone is unable to make a simple decison, they don't merit my vote. Some of these people are lucky they aren't in my ward because I do have neighbors who asks my opinion.

Pat Casady said...

I apologize for not remembering who said that we should
watch out for more and higher school taxes but, they hit the
nail directly on the head.
Now I don't pretend to know all the in's and out's about city and school financing but here's what I think I understand about it.
The school dist. clams they are "operating at a deficit due to operating costs."
in which Webster's defines "deficit" as "an excess of expenditures over income. In understandable terms, they spent more money than they should have
and now they want more.
Then there is the street light issue if the figures are right they spend more money
on a news letter than public safety.
It all boils down to the spending and wasting of taxpayer money but it doesn't stop
there. They now know all they have to do is ask for more and they will get it.
Again if I recall the school district's last increase was for the same reasons.
They used the old "kids education" ploy to get more money and then they started
buying land like Donald Trump.

Here's what I don't understand about all of this, and I am truly not trying to sound
like a smarta## but,
Why in times of low city income, is there even a news letter?
Why are codes people running businesses out of town?
NO businesses means NO taxes being collected.
Why didn't the school district make Wal-Mart pay for everything?
Why is it so hard for new businesses to come to town, (that is if they aren't Wal-Mart)
Why do taxpayers have to pay for stupid decisions? And in some cases
the people that are making these stupid decisions are getting raises.

Bottom line here is, the people that we trust to do right by us taxpayers and watch
out for how our tax dollars are being spent aren't doing it right.
They spend money like they are on some kind of spending spree
at their favorite shopping mall.

If I am wrong in what I say tell me, but what I've seen up until now I don't think so.

sparky said...

I will have to say that I did agree at the time to the necessary expenditures for the infrastructure upgrades to the school districts facilities,ground source heating and cooling retrofits which has resulted in a substantial savings on utilities for the district, energy saving windows, and other updates like information technology systems. This was money well spent on 50+ year old buildings. And they updated the cafeteria equipment also at the same time.

The new projects going on with Herndon VoTech, Remodeling the old Raytown Junior High School for Middle School #3, the new #10 elementary school, the early childhood education center at Blue Ridge Elementary, and the Aquila Building up on 350 highway, only three of these projects are not a direct result of Wal Marts new location which are the new #10 elementary school, the #3 Middle School, and the early childhood center at Blue Ridge Elementary School. I really question the need for the projects being done because of the new Wal Mart. Unless something has changed, Wal Mart was supposed to foot the bill for the relocation of those facilities.

I also agreed that the Board of Education Building had too small of a meeting room and they had outgrown it, needing to either expand its size, or move to the new location on Raytown Road.

However, I do believe that the district has gotten too top heavy with administrative staff which could be scaled back to result in an increased savings.

But there has to be a increase to teachers wages to help retain good teachers here for the schools. There is an extremely high teacher turnover rate here in this district because they are chasing the dollar. Other districts are paying more money than ours. They might start out here, then they leave.

Just like the city, the school district needs to better budget the tax money and spend it more wisely in the future. I do know that some things have improved like curriculums, and courses, but when they dont have enough textbooks to go around for every student to have one, which is the case that is going on now, there are still problems that exist.

The tax money being lost from the TIF's are hurting not only the city, but the district as well.

I agree that they(both the city and the school district) should be better stewards of the tax money than they have been, and dont just let it flutter away on silly shopping sprees, sort of like buying a meal at McDonalds on a Visa or American Express Card.

On the streetlights, they dont need to have a study done to figure out correct streetlight placement. That is stupid. Anyone with a half@$$ bit of common sense can go out and look to see where the problems are, and figure out what to do to solve those problems. If there are trees blocking exsisting lighting fixtures, then the city either should prune them, or contract with Asplundh or a local tree trimmer like Durbin to trim the limbs away from the lights. If they are blocking street signs, trim those also. If they hit your head when walking on a sidewalk, they should be trimmed also. After that is done, figure out where additional ones should be placed to complement the ones that are currently in service. How hard was that Marilyn?

Anonymous said...

To Andy, The poor city employee whose name was not mentioned was the incompentent city clerk Teresa Newton. The two jobs that they were talking about are just city titles, she is the city clerk/ keeper of the personnel records, so that makes her a human resources director. So why would someone (Michael Miller) give her the responsibility to put this publication together? Does she have a degree in journalism? Miller knows that this employee is a problem and he continues to keep her on. What is going on here when your city administrator won't get rid of employees that are contiuning to embarass the city. THIS IS HIS JOB!! Serious consideration should be given to LETTING MILLER GO.

Pat Casady said...

Sparky,
I agree with you on teachers wages.
I feel and have always felt that teachers and police are and have always been,
underpaid. They have thankless jobs and we only hear about them when something
goes wrong.
However spending should be done with the taxpayer in mind.
Our spenders at City Hall and the School Board should think, then think again
and even think again, why and how they are spending taxpayer money.
It should be like two businesses, the city should put a lock on any spending until and only when the tax revenue is increased. The people that are running off
businesses and making it hard for new businesses to come to town should BE FIRED! They clearly don't have the best interest for this town in mind.
NO MORE T.I.F's. Somebody has to pay for these and you know who it is.

This is the first time I have ever said something like that but I could tell you
facts from other business owners that would make a monk mad.
Businesses that have been here over twenty years and being forced to leave by harassment. They are being fined for things that other businesses are not even warned about.
The sad thing is it's the same guy that is preventing the growth of this town.
NO COMMON SENCE prevails when it comes to the treatment of business and property owners. It's their way or the highway.

Anonymous said...

Pat is right when he talks about the way business is treated. The City of Raytown is NOT FRIENDLY to small business. It all comes down to the people that are doing the job for the city. From top to bottom there needs to be a complete evaluation to find out where the problem or problems are. NOTHING IN THIS TOWN IS ADMINISTRATED FAIRLY. I think Mayor Bower means well, but if he doesn't get a handle on it quickly it's going to be too late for our small businesspeople. Oh, but we'll still have that wonderful Walmart. WAKE UP MAYOR.

Andy Whiteman said...

CODES

It came out at the last board of Alderpeople meeting that there are actually TWO groups responsible for enforcing the SAME codes and $10,000 is needed for wireless laptops top keep them in sync so one group knows what the other is doing.

This sound slogical at first, but after some thought, it seems ridiculous and wasteful to have two groups of people doing the same job! I would have one of the groups doing another job that needs doing or maybe decide that some jobs were unneeded. Is this good management?

Maybe the above explains why businesses especially new businesses are having codes issues! (I have a code issue, myself, because of this so it makes me very irate!)

Andy Whiteman

Anonymous said...

Hell, buy everyone at city hall a laptop, we certainly have the money to spend. Let the citizens get burglarized (because we don't have adequate street lights,reason being we don't have the money to put them in)at least everyone at city hall will have a laptop while our homeowners insurance goes up as well as our city taxes.Come on all it takes is someone who knows how to run city hall without all these high paid good for nothings. Willard Ross or Bob Grissom did a fine job of running the city without spending all the money that is being spent now.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, and they didnt have a city administrator either. And usually one phone call was all that it took to get the problem solved. No BS either. No code nazis!

Anonymous said...

I meant those good for nothings to include Miller and Truesdale Don't tell me everyone at city hall dosen't have a city issued cell phone. So use them we don't need laptops. Get rid of that stupid newsletter it's full of nothing and put that money to good use STREET LIGHTS!!! Miller if you didn't want to know what the citizens wanted then why did you do that costly survey? Get your head out and do some real work to earn that BIG paycheck that is if you know how to work!!!!

Pat Casady said...

To A non e mouse,
I don't know what your problem is with me and frankly I don't care.
But I did take your advice and looked up the Main Street site.
Strangely enough it was the site I looked up last month.
In fact, I thought their "Four Points Approach" and the "Eight Principles of success"
were interesting.

However I doubt any group of people here will be able to follow this approach.
For one it takes money to follow The Main Street guidelines.

My idea of getting a group of business and property owners together is to try
and come up with some ideas to present to the city. I think this can be done without begging for money.

A non e mouse, you say that my problem with the first developer is "ancient history," and so it is with the second developer. Again you are right but the
attitude at City Hall hasn't changed. I don't want anyone to forget how we all were treated.

Another thing you criticize me for is, for me "To bag it, because the cities Community Development Director is involved."
Again I have to admit you are right. However I don't "bag" the project.
I just bag the Community, Economic...Director. He has done more to hurt this
town than he has done good for it.

If I wanted to start a group of people to just complain about this city and I do hear about it every day, well lets just say I don't think there is a building here large enough to hold the people.

What I want to do is help make our town a better place. Our elected officials haven't been able to come up with any ideas in the last twenty years so maybe
the people can. Positive ideas, that is all we want.

And yes, if another developer comes in and starts out with eminent domain and condemnation in mind, your damn right I'll start my fight all over again.

Anonymous said...

Where is the Main Street Project website?

Anonymous said...

anonymous 10/5 @ 9:06:

Try googling the Main Street Project for info on that.

anonymous 10/3 @ 12:26:

Scot's business is in a small building almost directly across the street from Crump's on old Raytown Road. He has a software application business that is used for police emergency response operations...dispatching/call-taking stuff.

Pat Casady:

I have nothing against you. Please don't start acting like Greg Walters and feeling that every comment made is a personal attack on you. If you want to put your name on your public opinions, be prepared for response.

I only said to check out the information about the Main Street before bagging on it. It has worked well in several Missouri communities in the past...most notably in Lee's Summit. Why not here? It's worth a look don't you think? I mean, after all, can we do any worse?


anonymous 10/3 @ 5:28:

Sorry to disappoint you but I don't work at City Hall, and I don't live in Wildwood. Guess again!!

andy 10/3 @ 11:48


If people in your ward ask you for your opinion, I'm sure the information is used to make a decision or take a stand the (bi)polar OPPOSITE of yours!

I've had several folks ask me if I've ever heard that Whineman guy at council meetings. I tell them no...I turn the volume down until you leave the podium.

Pat Casady said...

A non e mouse,

I don't feel like every comment made is a personal attack on me.
I do however, think that when a comment is directed at me by name that maybe I should take it personally.
Like:
"But of course you can count on Pat to bag on it"

I am up for anything that will make Raytown a better place. You took it upon yourself to assume and print that I would "Bag" on it.

Enough, we probably have the same goals in mind I just want it to happen in a more passive manner. And I will assume nothing.

Andy Whiteman said...

As for laptops, they are a big security risk. If one gets stolen how much confidential data is compromised?

AT&T retirement had a laptop stolen from an employees home. It never should have left to office! The laptop had personal data of all retirees. This cost AT&T $$$$$ becuase they paid for all affected people a year to have a 1 year identify theft protection.

a non e mouse:
Where did you get your license to practice medicine? Several medical degrees are required to make a statement such as you did.

Sorry if I am too loud, but I get very emmotional over some issues. Have you ever heard a political speach? 95% of them are too loud for me.

I really feel that this blog is a good place to voice issues for the common good. Nothing is gained by personal attacks. Lets stay focused on the issues, not each other. That is why the Board of Alderpeople can control the citizens of this Nazi fief. There is no common bond, only bickering among each other.

Andy Whiteman

Anonymous said...

Who is this Tim Truesdale? Where did he come from? How long has he been on the city payrool. WWhat is his annual salary. What is his job? Is he actually in charge of community development? If so, how long has he been at that job? Cany anyone out there throw some light on this man. We seem to read about him in the paper every week. What has he developed during his tenure in office? Was he connected with the purchase of the old Baptist Church.

Anonymous said...

I wish you bloggers would quit yammering about more street lights. Truth be told, we have too damm many light already. Our forefathers who made this country great didn't walk around with their hand out for lights. I think wanting the lights is just annother symptom of lack of spine in our people. If you people want lights so bad pay for them out of your own pocket. Quit the mooching. Everybody wants to government to pay for everything.

Anonymous said...

Supposedly Tim T has been here about five years - from who knows where. I hear the city administrator is an old buddy of his. He partnered with another bud to open Bendetti's, a restaurant on Blue Ridge Blvd last summer.

Anonymous said...

At least streetlights are a better use for tax money than spending it on retreats for alderpeople or special feasability studies.

Anonymous said...

We do pay for these things out of our own pockets.

I believe that someone forgot the concept of how government works:

CITIZENS PAY TAX MONEY TO THE GOVERNMENT. GOVERNMENT DECIDES HOW TO SPEND CITIZENS TAX MONEY WITH INPUT FROM CITIZENS.

Now why would a person complain about someone having their hand out expecting the government pay for something when we are really the ones paying for it anyway? Unless, of course, you dont pay your taxes or evade doing so.

I would personally like to see the end results of our tax money being spent instead of not seeing any end results at all.

Go get another beer and think about it for a while. It will be allright.

Anonymous said...

Tim Truesdale was hired about 10 years ago. I believe that he came from some little town out in Kansas. He has continued to have people and responsibility taken away from him because he can't seem to do anything right. He only has about 5 people working for him and makes in excess of $80,000 and with his benifits costs us more than $100,000 a year. Name me one thing that he has done for us in the past ten years to earn this hugh salary?

Anonymous said...

Hutchinson, KS

Andy Whiteman said...

I agree with
Anonymous October 5, 2007 4:29 PM.

Tax money is really our money. I would like to see it spent wisely so the people benefit. I would rather see the money put to some beneficial use rather than laptops, not that I don't like laptops, but I don't think they are needed here. It wasn't mentioned that since they will have WiFi access, they will have a monthly charge! Not an electrical charge but money charged for over the air usage!

If it is estimated that $10,000 will buy approximately 18 street lights, it seems to me if we didn't buy laptops, whe could get a total of 30-40 street lights since the 18 is an estimate not knowing actual cost. If the out of town travel was eliminated, how many more street lights would be have?

Hey guys, with some wise bugeting we would have a good portion of our street lights!

I used to be Secretary/Treasurer for a Fire District and we could have the essentials that we want if the non-essentials and wasteful spending is stopped.

I think we really need a study to determine which city jobs are duplicating other city jobs and also look towards cutting the pay of tie-wearing chair warmers as their contract expires. We need to look at the city as a business (non-profit) and run it with good common sense as a business.

Andy Whiteman

Anonymous said...

Raytown could be one of those up and coming cities that provide wireless access for all residents.

sparky said...

Seems like if you do eliminate the laptops, the road trips, the high paid management positions, and the little frills that the money is available for the necessities like street maintenance.

The laptops supposedly are needed to help in reducing 'duplicate' work??? They must mean the codes officers/dogcatchers might be writing up two of the same violation for the same address.

Solution: Write the address in question down on paper with a pencil or pen(WHAT?) and check the pc when you get back to the office in your new city vehicle after you catch the dog that is loose chasing kids at the local bus stop or the morning joggers, just to see if it is a duplicate. Brilliant idea!

Andy Whiteman said...

Anonymous October 6, 2007 6:28 AM:
I would like to see a WiFi city, but who pays for it? I have been Reading the Albuquerque Journal online. Rio Rancho, NM had contracted to get WiFi. Originally it was stated that the vendor did have an issue with another city. Most recently Rio Rancho cancelled the contract over several issues mainly the vendor not reimbursing the city for the electrc bill.

Mountainair, NM is a small town of about 2 sq. miles in the mountians. A private vendor provides WiFi to the whole town but only to those who pay for it.

I think it is best left to private vendors. I haven't done much checking but I know there are vendors such as Sprint who supply WiFi to all who can pay on a subscription basis. Personally I have a wireless router that serves my laptop around the house.

Anyone can sign up for DSL or higher quality and share (or resell) it to neighbors so they are paying their share of the bill. To me there is a bandwith issue, security issues, etc. but it can be done. There are cases in rural areas with no service where someone pays for a T-1 and resells it to the area. I have heard of a HS student doing that with financial backing of his grandfather!

Along the same lines, anyone with DSL can buy a router and make his home wireless. (Listen to Kim Komando KMBZ 980 at 4PM Sundays or go to www.komando.com.)

Sparky:

I totally agree. The code Nazis could get on their cell and call the office. Pencil and paper is too primative.

Actually lets take this one more step: Do we really need 2 groups enforcing the same codes? This is wasteful stupidity. I say let the dog catcher enforce obvious nuisances like over grown weeds, litter(trash at large), etc. Community Planning can handle building codes and zoning issues. If one group thinks they see a violation, the have cell phones to call the proper group to check it out. This is simple but each person would have less work so they can also be doing something else productive or we may find that we don't need that many people working!

Now the money saved from that as well as cutting travel and the salary of tie-wearing chair warmers will pay for street lights, road resurfacing, etc.

Andy Whiteman

Andy Whiteman said...

MORE ON LAPTOPS:

Laptops are really throw away items. Most technicians won't talk to you about repair saying laptops are too small to work with or the repair costs more than the laptop is worth. You don't get them repaired. Will there be a budget for laptop replacement?

My laptop has been around several years but it gets very little use.

It seems to me it would be cheaper for the Code Gestapo to call the office and ask them to reference the address or whatever on their PC.

Andy Whiteman

sparky said...

Broken laptops and other obsolete electronic gadetry are also classified as hazardous waste and should be disposed of accordingly, like at a electronics recyling center where they can be stopped short of the landfill before they become future problems for future generations.

Andy Whiteman said...

Sparky is absolutely correct. When I said throw away, I meant properly dispose of not in the trash. When my laptop becomes useless, I give it to a friend who is a computer technician. I am unsure of what he does with them, but I think he salvages parts.

Andy Whiteman

Andy Whiteman said...

Sparky is absolutely correct. When I said throw away, I meant properly dispose of not in the trash. When my laptop becomes useless, I give it to a friend who is a computer technician. I am unsure of what he does with them, but I think he salvages parts.

Also remember your data is still there for anyone's use. Delete does not really delete. It just allows that space to be reused. Before properly disposing of a lap top or computer you should do a Military wipe or demolish the hard drive to render the data unacessable to others.

Andy Whiteman

Anonymous said...

Not to play devils advocate, but I happen to think laptops make a lot of sense. If police officers had them they could check licenses and warrants without taking up the time of a 911 dispatcher. If a codes officer had them they can issue permits on the fly, thus speeding up the time it takes businesses to complete and open. Animal control could check ID chips and return lost loved ones before they are taken to the pound where the impound fees are charged. I know they are a separate but; the fire department could use them to identify addresses with disabled persons who might need extra assistance in a fire. I hate to go against the MOB here but, I cannot think of any reason we should not want these, except for the cost. There is also a cost though for not having better communications, the only difference is that the latter is harder to track.

Andy Whiteman said...

I can agree with Anonymous 9:05PM to a point. I have seen Police departments with laptops MOUNTED in the car. The officer can check wants, warrants, criminal history, vechicle license, and drivers license himself or herself. Maps can also be brought up for directions.

Fire Departments can use them for floor plans of buildings and hazardous chemical locations as well as the other uses anonymous mentioned. They can be a valuable tool.

What I and (I think many of us) are questioning is why are laptops needed to aid 2 different groups who are doing the same job? I think it seems like a waste of laptops and also of duplication of workers time!

Andy Whiteman

Anonymous said...

Not bad article, but I really miss that you didn't express your opinion, but ok you just have different approach