Sunday, May 31, 2015

RAYTOWN'S LEADING NEWS SOURCE


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BREAKING NEWS

RAYTOWN, MO (KCTV) - A Raytown school board member's husband was assaulted at their home by would-be robbers as she looked in horror.

Bobbie Saulsberry's husband was treated at the hospital for minor injuries.

And residents of the normally quiet cul-de-sac are now on edge.
"Terrible news to hear," said James Edwards. "This has been a quiet neighborhood."

John Saulsberry, 69, arrived home from work to his residence in the 8400 block of Woodson Drive. It was 1 a.m. Tuesday. READ MORE


BY GREG WALTERS
What a Difference!

What a difference a month can make! It has been a little over a month since the new Mayor and Board of Aldermen have been sworn into office.

Usually that means a couple of the name plates on the dais are changed and business goes on as usual. But the 2015 Municipal Election in Raytown was anything but usual.

The election brought five new faces to elected positions. Only one incumbent returned from the previous term of office. The other incumbents either did not run for office or were trounced heavily by the voters at the polls.

The most notable change is that the elected body has thrown away the rubber stamp that had been used to pass legislation, particularly on spending issues, in the past eight years. This new Board of Aldermen has shown they are an independent bunch.

The last meeting was a prime example.

City staff had recommended the Board approve a measure to spend $33,950.00 to convert  vehicles in the Public Works Department from gasoline fuel to propane.

On the face of it would appear to be a sound proposal. After all, who is not opposed to helping the environment by limiting the use of fossil fuels? But the broad picture did not tell the whole story. Board members correctly pointed out that half of the vehicles chosen for the conversion would be near the end of their service life at the end of the payback period.

Since it takes nearly five years to pay off the conversion cost of hardware used on the vehicles, the plan did not make economic sense. As pointed out by members of Board (and more than a few bloggers to this publication) it would make more sense to buy new vehicles already equipped for propane fuel as vehicles are retired from service and replaced.

The Board has also shown it is keeping a close watch on how the money is spent. When City Staff suggested taking money from the city street light fund to pay for cost over-runs at the  city’s water park, Super Splash, the Board spoke as one with an emphatic “NO”.

The Board has the ability to set policy, particularly in how the city spends its money. The poor judgement exhibited by City Staff on maintenance vehicles and the spending of unfunded tax dollars on Super Splash clearly illustrates the change is long overdue. The Board of Aldermen needs to take a pro-active part in the city's budget process. This something that was not practiced under the previous administration.

For too long the city has drained money from street maintenance and street light accounts for pet projects of the administration. The lack of proper maintenance on neighborhood streets is a detriment to Raytown. Streets that were supposed "repaired" with light aggregate seal look more worn and uneven than they did before they were fixed with the flawed process.

A quick visit to City Hall shows where a good amount of the money has been spent. The interior of the building has been completely remodeled, and the spending is not done. A recent report told of $33,822.00 which is slated for new carpeting of the office spaces in the building. It is also interesting to note that one of the few streets to receive asphalt instead of light aggregate seal (Raytown Road between 63rd Street and 59th Street) leads directly to City Hall's parking lot!

The lack of proper maintenance on neighborhood streets has come with at a cost. The result has been a decline in property values and the loss of curb appeal in our residential neighborhoods.

The new Board of Aldermen has shown they are not afraid to step up and make changes when they see fit. Mayor Michael McDonough has shown he is willing to let the Board govern.

It is truly a breath of fresh air at City Hall. The Mayor and Board should continue making changes in priorities to benefit the residents of Raytown.

Paul’s Rant 

Part of my job is to review stories in other Raytown publications and comment on them. The following are my thoughts about a press release that ran in the Raytown Times two weeks ago.

The headline read “City Gains Recognition for Community Efforts”. I thought this must be a good thing. So I read on wondering what it was Raytown was being recognized for.

Six columns later (about half a page of newsprint) I learned Raytown had won the Bronze Level Award. This prestigious level means . . . it was worded so poetically that I must put it down as it was written:

“The bronze level that Raytown attained recognizes heightened awareness of the issues and requires a resolution or commitment by the city’s elected body, along with community presentations and public engagement.”

So there you have it. If anyone wants to know what has been happening in Raytown just tell them we have attained recognition – the coveted Bronze Level – from the Mid America Regional Council.

I did some digging and found out only four cities in the Metropolitan area received the award. It was hard to tell, but my guess is only four cities participated in the program.

Let’s see, there was Mission, Kansas and, from the Missouri side, Gladstone, Grandview and Raytown.

Raytown received the “Bronze Award”. Which makes this writer wonder, were the awards handed out like they do at the Olympics? Was there a Gold and Silver Award? Or, was it more like the practice in Little League Baseball where everybody wins an award!

I guess it is important to understand “heightened awareness of the issues”. And probably equally important for the city show “commitment and resolution” by city hall.

There is also a part of me that wishes the city would put more effort into taking better care of the city’s infrastructure, like our neighborhood streets, streetlights, sidewalks, etc. You really do not need a study session to learn this is where Raytown truly needs fixing. If more effort were put into those basic areas, we could all put our pictures in the newspaper receiving an award for a job well done.

At least that is what I think……What do you think?


BY JENN
Whole-Wheat Waffles 
with Sliced Strawberries and Yogurt

Do you ever see Martha Stewart recipes and think: “Man, no way can I pull something like that off”?

Well, think again, because today we have a whole-wheat waffles recipe from her new cookbook — Clean Slate: A Cookbook and Guide: Reset Your Health, Detox Your Body, and Feel Your Best — and although it is gorgeous and perfectly Pinterest-looking, we promise it is easy to make. Plus, it’s totally healthy! READ MORE


Recycling for Raytown?

SPG Solutions, a small Raytown business owned and operated by Greg Walters, has made an application for a $100,000 Grant offered by Chase Manhattan, to help fund and operate a Recycling Center in Raytown.
The stated purpose of the grant application would be used to develop a community recycling center in Raytown, Missouri.
Chase Manhattan, through its Foundation, Mission Main Street Grants, will give two million dollars to 20 eligible recipients this year. Chase Manhattan is accepting applications from eligible business from across the country for 20 awards of $100,000 each for a start-up business.
The application process and acceptance to the program uses a three part process. Part 1 is the application, which has been completed and accepted by the Mission Main Street Program. The second part requires the applicant to receive a minimum of 250 “likes” on its Facebook Page by June 19th.

How You Can Help . . .

You can help bring recycling to Raytown on a professional and permanent basis by simply casting a “like” vote on SPG Solutions via social media.

To cast your vote, use these simple instructions.

1. Click on the vote now link following these instructions.

2. It will take you to a page with the words "vote for your favorite business" across the   middle of the page.

3. In the dialogue box it will ask you to "enter company name, city or zip code".     Type in 64133. 4, To vote you will be asked to "Log in with Facebook".

5. You will be ready to cast your "like" vote at the bottom right hand corner of the page.


    USE THIS LINK . . . VOTE NOW


The "like button" appears at the right hand side of the page. Please "click" it!

All votes must be cast by June 19th, so please get the word out through social media contacts. If all goes well, by this time next year, Raytown will have a recycling center we can all be proud.


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34 comments:

Anonymous said...

The city was so excited to get this new Dollar General store project started apparently they forgot that the general contractor should be held accountable for the mud and crap being tracked out of the site onto the public roadways. It is illegal. Get after them and clean it up! Really tired of cleaning up vehicles only to get mud all over them less than 30 feet out of the car wash!

Anonymous said...

Agreed. I travel around the KC area a lot on business. Raytown is very lax on enforcing the rules on contract sites. The only difference I can see is that non one seems to be in charge and telling anyone to do the work. The police won't enforce it even though it is a public screet. 63rd Street is one of Raytowns busiest streets. You would think they drive past the site many times each day.

Anonymous said...

I am glad to read that the voters have finally elected a Board of Alderman who are independent and critical thinkers! Now the city can improve and move forward.

KMCCLA said...

The Raytown Amateur Radio Club, K0GQ will be holding their annual ARRL Field Day on June 23-24, behind Raytown City Hall. We will begin operating at 1:00 PM Saturday, and will operate for 24 hours, ending at 1:00 PM Sunday. In previous years we have been Class 2A, however this year due to things beyond our control we will be operating as Class 1A instead. The set up will not be as elaborate as previous years, but the public is more than welcome to visit and attend the operation. Hopefully, a smaller operation will allow us to show what we do better to the community.

Anonymous said...

Are you speaking of the family dollar project at 63rd and evanston ?? As part of my job I drive up and down there 4 times a day and turn on Arlington where the car wash sits. All this rain has sure put the hurt on car washes. 27 days of this month have had Rain!! It's a wonder anything has gotten done on this project! The 27 days of rain has taken its toll on my car washing and on the nasty streets. In fact I spent the day cleaning my driveway from the muck.

KMCCLA said...

Made a small mistake (I was looking at the May calender instead of June. The ARRL Field Day is June 27-28, 2015.

Anonymous said...

BTW, the city is getting very lax on the signs again. The biggest offender is the $189 widow guy, and they like to post in front yards where houses are vacant and with a for sale sign hoping no one will take it down. These and the I buy houses for cash make it look very trashy. Time to clean it up and prosecute these repeat offenders! So very tired of the crap!

Anonymous said...

Why does the city website have City of Raytown - Reaching for Tomorrow as its heading. I understand the City of Raytown part. But reaching for tomorrow part makes no sense at all. It sounds like part of an old 1990's ad campaign. Just wondering.

Anonymous said...

Nice job on applying for a grant for a recycling center in Raytown, but please finish the story. If there are 3 parts to the grant application, please provide part 3. Also, I tried to vote but it never opened the page that allows you to vote.

Greg Walters said...

I just checked the link and it worked for me. Please try again. In answer to your question to part 3 of the program -- it is the part of the program where applicants are judged. Go to this page www.missionmainstreetgrants.com/how-it-works for more information.

Thank you for asking!

Anonymous said...

Sometimes I wonder if the BOA is getting the message. The people in Raytown pretty much said they want a change when the turned over all but one elected position last April. Let me help the aldermen connect the dots. They did not vote for change becuase they like the mess they have left on our neighborhood streets. It is time you guys got off your backsides and did something for the people of raytown. You have shown you can do something for Kevin Boji and his misguided plans for the a swimming pool that is going to lose money again this year. YOu have made some minor adjustments to the budget but by and large you are still following the lead of Mahesh Sharma and his crew. Please listen and do something about the mess they are making of our neighborhoods by putting down slurry seal on our streets that does not work. Want proof? Drive over to Southbrook in Ward 2 and look at what the crumbling mess called light aggregate seal looks like four years later. You want Raytown to look better and have a better repuration? Quit wasting tax dollars on the slurry seal they are putting on the streets. Do the job. Do it right.

Anonymous said...

To June 1, 7:13
You may find it as interesting as I did that if you put Reaching for Tomorro in a google search it will come up with a multitude of churches, business , cities, schools , who coin the phase. If you break down each of the three words it becomes clearer. Tomorro reflects the future not the past so it really is not stuck in the 1990s or any other past. Hope this helps your query

Anonymous said...

The BOA can’t do it over night. The money to repave the streets has to come from somewhere. I lived in Raytown for over 40 years and NEVER went to the pool, the YMCA yes. Codes and Animal control decided that they no longer worked outside of 8 to 5, Monday to Friday. Used to be someone on call but I bet the money is gone to pay the over time.

Code enforcement has always been a reactive program not proactive one. See a problem flood the numbers with calls. I about got hit a few weeks ago by one of the animal control trucks, I called in and did not get a response. I called back and got a BS response about how I needed to come in to the office to make a complaint. I have spent many hours in city hall, as a volunteer and in office. I see change happening but it can’t happen overnight. But it does look like its happing faster than I thought.

GADSDEN said...

Someone recently asked about a shooting range in Raytown, application is being made to open up one at Blue Steel on 350 HW. It will be nice to have one close, I will be doing more practice when it opens.

Anonymous said...

Gadsden ;
This will be the 2nd one Raytown has had.
The other was the infamous Elliot's shooting range of course a much larger scale.

Anonymous said...

After watching last nights BOA meeting I would say the honeymoon between the new mayor and the new members of the BOA is over!!!

Anonymous said...

I never thought I would live to see the day that Mr. Bower was named Citizen of the Year. What a joke. I know it is decided on by former receipients but seriously. Anything he has done he did only because he was Mayor. He doesn't lift a hand to help anyone in this community. Never has never will. There are so many people that really Volunteer to make this community better, but it's not Bower.lol

Anonymous said...

I did a search on reaching for tomorrow and found some references to a song by a rock and roll band, a church fundraising movement and what appears to have been some sort of political group in Raytown. Sounds like sloganeering to me. I would bet the groups end game was to raise taxes.

As for changes as City Hall when it comes to street improvements. I note the city had $30,000 to carpet what must have been all of city hall. The street leading up to City Hall has a brand new asphalt surface. The Council Chambers has been remodeled and so have the offices where the city employees work.

It seems there is plenty of money to take care of the desires of those who work at city hall.

How about doing something for the people of Raytown. And I don't mean throwing away tax dollars on that expensive baby sitting service called Super Splash.

Take care of our neighborhoods. Fix our worn out streets with asphalt and please do not do it with the slurry seal. It looks like mud and wears just about as well. I am so tired of the taxpayers in Raytown being treated like second class citizens.

Anonymous said...

A little paranoid?? Reaching for excellence, reaching for tomorro, looking towards the future. Yep slogans all embedded with devious motives to take money from the citizens.

Anonymous said...

After reading the recent comments, it reminds me that I have previously said that Raytowners are serfs living on a feudal feif. Hopefully the new BOA will will bring progress and change in the city's attitude towards those who pay their salaries.
Andy Whiteman

Anonymous said...

7:09

What do you mean honeymoon...I watched it and they seem to be just fine. I really like our new BOA and Mayor they work really well together all for what is right for RAYTOWN. Unlike the last guy we had who was more concerned with looking good.

Pat Casady said...

There was a group of people about fourteen years ago
That used to meet at a Hot Dog shop in the Center 63
Shopping center. Raytowns then City Administrator
Curt Wenson talked them into forming a group to help
Him get certain people elected and put down anything
He did not feel was needed for Raytown, good or bad.
You think Bower was bad? You should have been around
this guy.
Anyway, he named this group “Raytown Reaching for
Tomorrow.”
I don’t know if this has anything to do with this slogan but,
It does bring back some pretty bad memories of a CA
And a group of people that tried to ruin Raytown.

Anonymous said...

I'm reaching for tomorro; not stuck in the Past
But I will say atleast people are starting to comment unlike the past few weeks
So this end game is working

Anonymous said...

Ineresting comments. I know some cities use sloganeering in their name. Remember "the City of Fountains" and its association with Kansas City. Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not. I've been told that Wenson tried using his same bag of tricks up in Liberty after he left Raytown. I hear it did not work very well. If you look at the end result in Raytown, you could say it did not end very well here either. Sure, there are some new buildings, but the cost has been lack of maintenance in city neighborhoods. I wish they would use some of the energy they squander on the political games in this town on some real progress. The street in my neighborhood is looking pretty ragged. Not so much the homes on the street. But the street needs to be repaired badly. I saw some of the recent gravel overlay they used on other streets. I don't think it will work on this one. It needs to have the old top scraped off and a new top put on.

Anonymous said...

A big different between shooting ranges the old one was for shotguns and did pollute with lead. This range is for rifle and pistol only.

Beth said...

Andy I am not a peasant; I worked for and own my home. I do not work on anyone's manor but my own. Please do not refer to me as such anymore ; thank you in advance

Marilyn said...

Anon 12:19

I know almost nothing about firearms. You say the shotguns pollute with lead. Don't the rifle and pistol bullets have lead in them also? Thanks

Anonymous said...

I am not a serf/ peasant; I work and own my home. And the only manor I tend to is my own. Please do not call me such or make fun of me because I am a Raytowner.

Anonymous said...

Beth and Anonymous, I meant that City Hall treats citizens like serfs on a feif. At least the previous administration did. I hope that this one is different!
Andy Whiteman

Anonymous said...

I just went to the City's website to view the past Board meeting from Tuesday. It now appears that the meetings are recorded and linked to the meeting minutes. Click on a resolution and it goes to the meeting portion where the resolution is discuss and voted on.

Pretty handy to have.

Anonymous said...

Reaching For Tomorrow? Ha. They should of said Reaching For Your Wallet.

Anonymous said...

About shot guns they have used lead which can kill birds, but in a shooting range you use pistols and small rifles and these bullets are collected. by the gun range

Marilyn said...

Anon 4:44.

Thank you.

Anonymous said...

Elliot's shooting park was the start of KCTA and when it closed in 1986 the group moved to Smithville.
I also read where the Military is going to delete lead bullets from their pistols and rifles. Read a lot online about lead exposure from bullets in indoor or outdoor facilities and the dangers to employees. Also read that bull it's without lead are expensive and fire alittle different . Made me really think about it. And all those years I grew up by Elliot's ...mmmm