Recycling Commission Formed
Two years ago voters issued a mandate to form a recycling commission to study ways to improve recycling efforts in Raytown. The question was voted on as a “pull-out” issue in the last City Charter Election. The charter failed, but the voters overwhelmingly approved the formation of a Recycling Commission.
Ward 1 Alderman Greg Walters asked Mayor Sue Frank to form the Commission on at least two public meetings of the Board of Aldermen. Frank refused to form the Commission.
Fortunately, Mayor David Bower has decided to take a more proactive approach in tackling the recycling issue in Raytown. He teamed up with Walters to name the members of the Commission and made the appointments official in early September.
The six members are an interesting mix of known Democrats, Republicans and Independents. The members named to the Committee are: Diane Krizek, Mark Siettmann, Ken Fleischmann, Norma Storms, Pat Ertz and Greg Walters. Ertz will serve as liaison to the Board of Alderman. The Mayor has appointed Walters as Chairman.
Walters says the first task for the Commission will be to find a new location for Raytown’s Recycling Center. The center is currently located where the new Walmart is to be constructed and will have to be moved. He has visited with all of the members of the Commission and believes that many innovative ideas concerning recycling are in the making.
Heard on the Street . . .
The word on the street is that the new ownership of the Raytown Post may be considering some changes in how the paper is operated. The lead reporter, Bob Phillips, has come under criticism for his use of the paper as a personal sounding board to attack his perceived enemies. Apparently, this “journalistic bullying” of private and public figures has hurt circulation and the credibility of the weekly newspaper.
The powers that be at the Post are said to be considering options for the paper to take. Unless there is a complete change in personality by Phillips, which is highly unlikely, his role at the Raytown Post may be changing.
Comments
Also, does the site really need to be supervised as usually most people know where things go up there which could raise the possibility of maybe dropoff every weekend instead of just the 1st and 3rd weekends?
How about possibly trying to keep the center located somewhere close to where it is at now or possibly two different locations?
I do however miss Lee and his monkey business column though! (BTW, I dropped my subscription a ways after you sold the paper)
As far as the KC Star.... I might buy it on Sunday just for the ads and sale fliers....the rest just gets recycled as they believe Raytown doesnt exsist unless something bad happens here like a murder or other violent crime.
Hopefully, we will have a top notch recycling program that breaks even and will become a possible model for other communities.
Justin Tomac
Click on the Departments button on the left, then the link to Public Works, then the Recycling link. It states that glass containers are accepted.
I hope the site is up to date.
Thanks for the update on recycling, Greg.
And plastic #1 and 2 oil bottles have to be cleaned of all oil residue(rinsed with a degreaser) otherwise they will ruin the recycled plastic mixture as well.
The city has never had anyone in "charge" of the program as paid or unpaid. I remember a Finance Meeting I attended in which a gentleman offered to coordinate the effort but he gave up the idea when volunteers did not rally to his leadership. (he was quite angry about it -- to the point of wanting to close the center down!)
The city has received grants to help underwrite the program. The largest of these was from Jackson County through the office of then County Executive Kathryn Shields for $5,000. The city still receives some grants to run the program. Grants have also been received from the Truman Heartland Foundation, the Mid-America Regional Council, and many individual donations.
All told, we collected about $9,000 to keep the center open when former City Administrator Curt Wenson tried to cut the program from the city budget.
Some of those grants are still in place and are used today to help fund the center's operation.
Deffenbaugh does provide the dumpsters for the effort -- they also receive all the payment for the material collected.
The City of Raytown takes any money donated to the program and puts the money in the city budget (exclusively) to pay for the cost of operation of the site.
The current program is managed by the Public Works Department. A Public Works employee is sent to the sight twice a month (on Saturdays) to man the site and help people unload their material.
Yes, there have been complaints of those individuals staying in their trucks. There have also been reports of them being very helpful to those in need.
I agree that the sight need not be attended constantly and that the city should hire individuals on a part-time basis to manage the site.
Properly operated (I believe) that a recycling site will be self-sufficient. Opening the site more often is key to making the operation run in the black.
It is the first item for discussion on our agenda.
Greg Walters
Chairman
Raytown Recycling Commission
Lee
Good observation and point...why not recycle the entire building and turn it into the recycle center? This should take care of two pressing problems in Raytown.
Justin Tomac
Mayor Frank did allow the creation of a recycling committee. The members were Walters, Hartwell and Reihly.
And, voters didn't "overwhelmingly approve" the formation of a recycling commission. If my foggy old memory serves me correctly, it passed by a 52% to 48% margin.
Keep up the good work Greg...anything to make yourself look more important than you actually are!
I am surprised that a business is discussing its personnel issues.
When Bob writes "Bob's Burnt Ends," it is an editorial. I know it is his opinion. If he says something that is untrue the affected person has a civil case. I read it as OPINION only and skip over what doesn't interest me.
When I see him at the Board of Alderpeople meeting, Bob is a reporter and it is his job to accurately report the news.
As a side, maybe advertising has fallen because there are fewer merchants to advertise!
RECYCLING:
I support recycling as good for the enviornment and a money maker.
I lived in Carlsbad, CA and Albuquerque, NM both of which had mandatory recycling. They furnished containers and picked it up at the curb. I was easy to comply. The city of Albuquerque made money on the recycling because the jail prisioners sorted it for $5/hr to be sold.
One of the refuse companies here will pick it up but only if you are their customer and you must pay a deposit on the container. I paid a $30 deposit ($15 each on 2 containers) in Aurora CO. They delivered the containers but I never got my deposit back because they wouldn't pick up the containers. I am a day sleeper and it was too time consuming to to go to their office, so I still have the containers!
I was also going to suggest the Olde Baptist Church as a drop off point.
I don't understand why an attendant is needed. This center should be open 24/7! At present it is Saturday mornings. I don't drive that early for safety reasons but I wouldn't mind dropping it off in the evening. I think there are others who would do an evening drop since many have better things to do on Saturday.
With the theaft of copper, there might be a theft issue but I don't see the value of stealing cans, plastic, and newspaper. If so, the Police could drive by on their patrol.
Andy Whiteman
That would be awesome. He had a peculiar point of view sometimes but he always struck me as honest and independent. I know he's smart becuse I ran into him a couple of times and talked to him. He seems to understand our community. If the Post doesn't get him to come out of retirement I hope the Tribune or the Star does because he would get to the bottom of someo of these issues and make people think about what is happening here in Raytown.
As someone on another recent post has mentioned: all you can do is attack the messenger, not the message. What I posted are verifiable facts. You can't attack my facts so you attack the messenger instead.
No wonder few people pay any attention to the postings on this hack job of a web blog...except for a few of the Walters' keister-kissers.
What ever happened to Ken Brown? The former councilman left town in the middle of the night. Did he,
in fact actually resign as an alder-man or is he still on the city payroll.
Selection of Alle Maddox (aka Al\
Maddox, Big Al Maddox or foul mouth
Maddox) as grand marshal of the
annual parade is an affront to
every decent citizen in the town.
Because of his language abuse Maddox is actually held in contempt by many.
His selecvtion is nothing but yet
another attempt by the
out-of-town cvontrolled chamber
of commerce rubbing "you know what" in our faces.
Last but not least: The Salamander is sick of bloggers who carry on azbout how good our police department is.
Truth be told, Raytown's police department is so overstaffed that
it borders on obscenity.
This town is only l0 square miles
and I will bet we have more cops and support people per square mile
than any city of its population in
the country.
If we are to believe reports in the
paper, the police department should
have some significant staff cuts.
Here's why:
Just a few weeks ago city hall personnel were complaining about a
drop in revenue from the city court. Since most revenue from the
court is derived from fining law-
breakers it would appear obvious
the decline would attribute to a drop in crime and law-breaking.
If this is true then our city should apply the rules which apply
to any other business -- cut the
work force. That's how its done in the real world and the city operation should be no exception.
By the way it was mostly Democrats, not Republicans that got Ms. Frank elected. In fact I would wager to say that the majority of Republicans in our city supported her opponent. If you are referring to "laughing all the way", who should probably be renamed “wrong most of the way”, in your reference to Republicans, I'm pretty sure you got that one wrong also.
Hope you get well someday, there is always hope even for people like you. You are full of bitterness; it causes people to erode from within, very much like a cancer.
idea to form this group and as much as I hate to admit it, it was brilliant. He met with a
group people at the then Skippy's shop and with his gift of B.S. talked this group
into backing everything he told them to. He told them how to vote, who to back and
all this by buying them off with a cup of coffee and donut.
As far as electing Sue Frank, they had nothing to do with it, they weren't formed at that time. Then for her second term she ran unopposed.
The fact is we shouldn't let this "Laughing all the Way" character get to us.
He's not worth a reply.
Now this is only my opinion but, as far as Democrat or Republican, I'm hard pressed to see any difference in either one these days. Certainly not in city government. What I find hard to differentiate is the, with few exceptions, the fools from the idiots.
(I may get in trouble over that one.)
Dont be fooled by the color of their tie that they wear, or even what party that they try to align themselves with as it usually is a disguise.
Make the time. Be informed. Ignore the Limbaughs of the world and the spin meisters. Do your own research. Make your own educated decisions. If enough people would do just that, we could make a big difference.
Good points, but "proper attire" needs to be defined by ordinance. I was in that court once and the judge was telling people they needed an attorney and continuning the case. The defendents were not asking for an attorney. Unless "proper attire" is defined in an ordince, that judge will be fining everyone because she does not like the color or whatever. She is off the wall anyway. She gives the impression of having no knowledge of the ordinances.
(s)OPPOSED TO ALLOWING IDIOTS TO BE A JUDGE
I happened to stop at the Raytown Plaza and watched the Bobcat tear dry rot from under the eves. Don't know where all that is going...but nice to see something being done. Maybe the 1BC can be next!
Driving down Hadley I noticed on my former office property that the "No Sertoma Parking" sign is still up. That was back when there was Sertoma Bingo in the old bowling alley in the back of the Plaza.
The sign shows a difference in city attitude and service. I mentioned back then to Mayor Willard Ross that I was having trouble even keeping one parking space opened on my property so I could return to work in the evenings.
A day later he walked into my office carrying the sign that he had asked the streets/garage people to make for me. Problem solved.
I wasn't sure if that was a proper use of city services, but Willard --- being Willard --- wanted to solve problems and be a peacemaker. Sure has been a long time since that was the City Hall attitude.
During the 2000 ice storm, I dropped a check off at City Hall. Limb removal was free for ice storm damage...but for regular limb removal...the cost was $25 a truck load. So I wrote a check for $25. Several years later Mayor Sue Frank handed me back my uncashed check, telling me I didn't have to pay for what was free for everyone else.
Just an observation...one that hopefully sinks in with the new City Hall crowd.
Endlessly a reader droned on and on and on tolling the names of those who "worked tirelessly" to construct the facility. Name after name was recored for posterity.
It was surely a moving and emotional event; so touching some
compared it to former alderman John Wiley's farewell address when he left the council.
Thru it all, however, one name stuckout and captured the attention of the huddled masses:
The name of Raytown's best known non-resident, Al Maddox, was read into the record.
We all remember when, a few short
weeks ago the local papers carried
reports of how Maddox was running about town trying to collect donations, both monetary & material to fund the park's resurrection.
The question about his action which is troubling is: How much did he collect? Where did it go?
Did the city sponsor Maddox's collection activities?
Are we going to get a report from this humanitarian.
Just Curious
Now that little piece of real estate is supposed to be green space which I suppose is a good thing for the environment.
Now for a few questions. Why was this Al Maddox looking for monetary donations for this park. If it was for trees, the parks department could get those.
We have a parks department that oversees parks located in the city, why didnt they take care of developing this space instead of public works and individuals?
Where did the money that this individual collected go to and where is the accounting that goes along with it?
Why didnt parks and recreation oversee this money as well?
It is a nice little area, trees and all. I just think that they went about doing things in a strange manner. Not that there is anything wrong with volunteer help or volunteers in general, but I know that if I had been involved and any donations of money, materials, or food was to be involved just in the off chance that anyone would question anything about the project, I would certainly have had an accounting on paper, computer, or something to prove where the donations came from and where it went to just to cover my tail.
Hopefully he was smart enough to do that.
Was Al Maddox the ramrod behind the little park development?
I never saw the guy working up there, all I ever saw was the public works department working on it.
Again, it is a nice little space. Maybe the First Baptist Church building could be torn down and replaced by a small park on the property as well.
How much time did the Alderman waste in accolades and salutations the other night about the little park? Probably more time than should have been allowed by the chair of the meeting. Next subject on the agenda????
Just finished watching "The Insider," on indieplex/comcast cable/ch 167. It's about a tobacco company and CBS News folding to pressure from CBS corporate on a 60 Minutes report. Movie 1999/Russell Crow and Al Pacino. Exceptional movie worth the 2:40 hours to watch it.
If the media can capitulate at that level...it can certainly cower in Raytown.
The examples speak for themselves: The Star, Trib and Post. Poor old Bob Phillips isn't even of "pawn" status in the local game. With him or without him nothing is going to change. The same goes for City Hall where all the lackies live. Almost all media in this nation and world is corporately controlled. Give up the hope. This silly blog is as close to real discussion as anyone is going to get.
It is a nice looking addition to the downtown area. I don't think it was a waste of money because you can actually see it. I just hope there is more to come.
We need a workable plan for the rest of the downtown that would include all business and property owners.
Do I think the little park will change the world? No. But if we take small steps like the park and not try and bulldoze all of the existing property's like in the past, I think we can make all of this come together.
Do I think it ever will? I hope so but, a lot of things need to change. We need a City Council that will ask developers the right questions and make them accountable for taking taxpayer money if no results are had. And they need to listen to concerns of property owners.
This has never happened in the past and I'm not optimistic for it to happen in the future.
However it will make most of us in the downtown area a little more optimistic if and when we see the old church being taken down. I think that would show that this city is at the very least trying to make things better.
But, I must warn them, if they come at us like they have in the past with threats of eminent domain and condemnation, we will hunker down and fight for our rights and to be treated fairly.
Did Lee Gray get elected?
I'm going to name drop. I don't want to do it but I feel I must.
Those of you calling Mayor Bower "Mr. Hair" well, this just isn't right.
I can speak from personal experience that this man is trying to do right by and for our
city. I have had several meetings with Mr. Bower and I I think he deserves a little
more respect than that.
He may not come across as a hard nosed leader but I think in the future he will help this city.
No, I'm not sucking up to the Mayor. I really believe from talking to him, he wants to
make a real difference. At the very least, I for one am willing to give him that chance.
Lets face it he has a lot to try to get done here. The first thing is undo some of the hard feelings and mistrust brought into this town because of Curt Wenston and some of the aldermen.
Trust me that's a huge job in itself.
With Curt it was us against them. With Mayor Bower I have a feeling that he wants to work with us............We'll see.
There were some great ideas and action plans brainstormed. I hope the Human Relations Commission acts on them soon.
I suggest that anyone with a specific complaint or idea call 737-6004 and ask to speak with Mr. Bower or make an appointment to meet with him. I feel he is a caring, motivated, human being who really wants progress.
Andy Whiteman
The City has a news bulletin (I think quarterly) but there are complaints about the expense. This is a good way to get the word out if it was more frequent. Everyone gets a monthly sewer bill. I suggest that short notices could be typed onto the sewer bill which would be more timely.
As for diversity, it was mentioned that there are 46 different languages spoken by citizens of Raytown. I wonder if they intend diversity to include DISABILITY? There seems to be discrimination towards the disabled in this city.
As an FYI, the Red Star has a section for Raytown/Independence every Wednesday (mainly ads). There is little news about Raytown except the Police log. Maybe some people should be writing news (not editioral) for the Red Star. I used to live in a small town and one lady wrote local news for the county paper.
Andy Whiteman
__________ is to Raytown what Dan Quayle was to the first Bush Administration.
1) Mayor Hair
2) Beard Manager Miller
3) Dan "I didn't do it" finance director
4) Ward II aldermen Jim & Jim, Dumb and Dumber
5) Alderwomen Barb and Marilyn, mean and meaner
Feel free to enlarge the list.
This one is 100% on Curt Wenson.
He's the one that pulled something over on City Hall and they fell for it hook line and sinker.
He convinced the board that he could sell this property to a company that would
"anchor" the new downtown development all they had to do was buy it.
Well they bought it, him and his buddies. Where are they now? They ain't here!
Curt moved on after talking, (again the board) into giving him a pay raise that
went from I believe, 75,000 a year to over 90,000 a year and he like the developers he hired did nothing for it.
As much as some people would like to blame Raytown's problems on other things
the fact is the main reason Raytown has problems is and was Mr. Wenson.
He was instrumental in the following;
He divided this town.
He talked the board into buying the old church.
He started the RRFT group.
He was key in spreading lies about the Charter.
He made it impossible for new businesses to come to downtown because he wanted to keep it a blighted area. It was the only way his failed downtown plan would have worked. (This practice may still be effect.)
There is also another reason the church was bought but I won't go into that in writing.
There are for sure other factors for Raytown's problems and I shouldn't blame them all on Curt Wenson after all the board hired him. They have to take some responsibility in all this.
If in fact they are going to credit for things they deem good. They have to take credit
for the asinine and stupid decisions too.
Yes, Sue Frank as does the board, has to take the blame for the problems we have now. But, I don't know how many of you actually talked business with Mr. Wenson
but he could sell ice to Eskimo's. Sadly most of our elected officials fell for and believed every word this man said.
The first time I talked to him was about the redevelopment of the downtown. He told me
he wanted my business to stay where it was. the next month I received a notice that a company was going to appraise my property for condemnation by the city.
I still have that registered letter by the way.
I soon found out that, as the old saying goes, if his lips were moving he was probably lying.
I guess what I'm saying here is,
I believe that the then Mayor (Sue Frank) and all the other elected officials were
talked into buying the church by a very clever and manipulating B.S. artist.
I also believe that, at that time they thought they were doing the right thing.
True enough it is and was an expensive venture but we need to move forward,
(Damn I hate to use those words) and get rid of the thing, and at this point, no matter what it costs. It's holding up the downtown progress. Nobody wants to come here
with that nasty thing still standing.
As for bringing business to Raytown, why not THINK BIG? Many cities are getting amusement parks and other crowd drawers. These draw big numbers and people coming to these have $$$$$ to waste!. Something like this would generate sales tax.
Locate a large vacant area and offer it to a developer. I think that a Sea World would be unique for this area. From Economics 101 we learn about the trickle down effect: There would be a need for motels and restaurants. Workers would likely live in Raytown, shop in Raytown, and pay property and sales tax.
This sure would have been a better use of the 350 HWY rather than a Walmart!
Andy Whiteman
"I say the Baptists aught to clean up their own mess!” You obviously don't have a clue. The Baptists built a new building and put the old one up for sale. The old building was sold to the group that wanted to buy it, in this case the city of Raytown. To try to blame the Baptists for the city's dumb mistake is ridiculous!
In a blog Anonymous said that Alle Maddox had told him cvontributions for construction of the park at 63rd Street spuld go to Truman Heartland Foundation. I called the Foundation and they told me that they had received NOTHING BY WAY OF DONATION from Al Maddox.
It would seem to me that if a well known personage sucvh as Mr. Maddox was actively soliciting donations for such a worthy cause he surely would have received some donations. If hedid Heartland Foundation apparently did notreceive them from him. I suggest bloggers call Heartland themselves to verify what was and what was not donated to the endeavor.
It would seem to the observer that anyone who goes around town soliciting for a city project should have to make a direct report of his achivement.
1) Calvary Baptist College looked at moving in...taking the Bowen Apts. as a dorm...etc. No money/no sale.
2) Smithson (whatever) 24-hr revial from Cowlick, Mo. (somewhere out in the boonies) was going to buy the church and move here. That would have been special!!! Not
3) A black Grandview church looked at buying the building.
Now with Raytown's racist history it's not the Baptists to blame on who ended up with their building.
A white elephant is a white elephant...no matter what color you paint it! City officials painted it "pink," probably cuz that's what they usually see a couple of hours after council meetings!!!!
You want to be a distination? Think strip joint! eh, eh
"The Baptist Church has run this town". Not only do you live in a dream world, you are so full of bunk I can smell it through the computer!
Oh, and by the way there were other church groups interested in purchasing the old Baptist Church building, but some of the city leaders really didn't want those groups in town.
To suggest that the Baptist Church should have any obligation or responsibility to clean up the city of Raytown's mess is ludicrous!
The First Baptist Church is one of the few positive things this city still has to offer, they could have chosen to relocate to better surroundings other than Raytown, but didn’t. You should be thanking them, not criticizing them.
We are rapidly becoming an extension of Knob Town, probably just what you envision for Raytown's future. Maybe we can add some trailer courts, girly strip joints, and tattoo parlors, which should make you happy and bring all of your friends back to town.
I do have a problem with someone saying that FirstBC didn't at one time have a tremendous influence on city government. It did. The church split over moving from downtown and split even further --- if you can believe anything that's ever written in the Raytown Post --- over some personal problems/financial problems/etc. within the church.
All that aside, the old First BC's sale to the city is the city's problem and mistake. I wouldn't be surprised if the new facility won't eventually become the albatros. To the writer that thinks the church is a plus for this community, I would point out that as church property it is prime land off the tax roles. Just as the Richard Green YMCA is. Eventually there will be no commercial property tax base in this town ... thanks in part ... to TIFs and giveaways to lure the Wal-Farts of this world. There's always more than one side to any issue ... so, yes, grass can be "blue." That's what they call it in Kentucky!
Someone told me the original name of this city was "Ray's Town" named after Ray the blacksmith.
Does anyone know the truth or history of this? I am wondering why the name was changed?
Maybe people couldn't handle the spelling. I am surprised how many people are unable to spell "Raytown". When I give my address on the phone, it is frequently misspelled.
Andy Whiteman
I almost stroked out on the way to Big Mama's for donuts this morning. Driving from Old Raytown Road onto 63rd headed west, the cleanliness of the downtown stood out like a new dime in a goat's butt! Then it dawned on me: They had the parade yesterday. The downtown should look like that every day!
Big Mama's is one of the few recent family business successes in Raytown.
By the way: Dave at The Store has a front door sign reading: Thank you for shopping Raytown first.
That's the community spirit needed to improve things around here. I asked him if it was a newspaper promotion, and he said, no, he did it on his own. Good for him!
Yes, Andy, it was Ray's Town. There are two local history books you can probably find at the library to figure out the rest.
"Yes, everyone has a right to express their opinion". You seem to be the one that is bothered because other people have opinions the opposite of yours.
You apparently despise at least three groups of people, those who adhere to Christian beliefs and values, Republicans, and owners of big businesses (the people that provide jobs for most of our nation). For some reason you lump them all together into one group. I suspicion that you really don’t even know why you dislike these groups of people so much? You appear full of hate and I doubt that that even know why.
I also noticed that there are those who think they are always right, but I don't associate them with any particular group.
Apparently the Board of Alderpeople is ALWAYS right and the citizens are in the wrong!
You made a good point except for associating particular groups. By the way, I am Republican but have my own views. My father taught me that when I vote, I vote for the person, not the party.
To the other anonymous: Thanks for mentioning the Historical Society. I was considering it over the Library, but I am disfunctional during the hours 10AM-4PM.
Andy Whiteman