Construction Update . . .
Readers have probably noticed the work the city has begun in preparing the drainage area for the planned Walmart Store on 350 Highway. Remember, those are your tax dollars at work. The drainage system is part of the city's agreement to bring the new Walmart to 350 Highway.
Construction is also coming to an end at Blue Ridge Elementary. A new early childhood development / day care center is nearly completed along Hunter Street and Blue Ridge Boulevard. The building and grounds are impressive and blend very well with Blue Ridge Elementary.
Kudos to Raytown City Hall for completing the sidewalk along Hunter Street between Blue Ridge Boulevard and Blue Ridge Cutoff. When I became aware that the School District would only build sidewalks directly in front of the building I asked then Public Works Director Mahesh Sharma if the city could complete the work. Through his intervention we now have sidewalks the entire length of Hunter Street. A large of pile of new aluminum street light poles indicates that the area is going to be well lit at a night.
Do not look for much street overlay this year. Public Works is looking at plans to use street improvement money for striping of streets, repairing failed streets at the sub-structure level and possibly some white-topping of intersections where the asphalt has been pushed into unsightly and unsafe conditions due to the braking actions of cars on the hot surface.
Comments
Why is it that a property owner is required to maintain their property but the city has numerous code violations of unmaintained streets? This is discriminatory and the city itself is in violation of codes!
Every elected official and reponsible department head should be given a notice of violation and cited into district court if they fail to correct all violations.
Andy Whiteman
put what a tax increase will go toward in the form of a contract. That way after a tax increase is voted in, it can only be used for that reason.
Same with the school district. We have been reading about how tax
payers are upset about where their hard earned money has been
spent by our so called leaders.
City Hall needs to tell taxpayers precisely where the money will be spent
before the voting starts, and put it writing.
You don't go the bank and ask for a loan and tell them you might buy a house.
It's the same thing. The city went to the people and told them give us your
money and we will fix your streets. What they didn't say was....maybe!
Maybe we will watch over your money so it won't be wasted on other things.
Maybe we will watch where every dollar of you money is at all times...........
oops, here's another 2.2 million taxpayer dollars
we lost for a while. Let's pay for another study or hire some outside company to tell us where to place new house's on building lots, or both.
I don't know. Maybe they have good reasons for what they do but you have to
admit, it sure makes it look like City Hall doesn't have a clue and our elected
officials look pretty inept.
One other thing I just have to ask. How many of you people that read these
posts would have approved the Wal-Mart deal? How many of you knew
the Wal-Mart deal was gong to cost the taxpayers money by way of developing
the land that the store was going to use? How many of you know that your tax
dollars are actually paying for the architect on the project?
Also it has been said that if the Wal-Mart doesn't collect enough sales tax,
the city of Raytown has to pay the difference. How many of you would have fallen for that deal?
There is a cover up at election time. The tax increase is stated as realted to the "average" $80,000 house. Who has an $80,000 house? If the average house is $80,000, all of Raytown is a blighted area! Voters are idiots to listen to this crap and not stop and think what it will really cost them.
Andy Whiteman
All information provided by the school district and the committee that promoted the issue showed the tax increase based on an average taxpayer owning a $100,000 house, not $80K. They also listed the impact on a per $1,000 basis allowing simple math to be used by any taxpayer to see the impact. The district's website even had a table that showed the effect of the levy increase on a range of prices from $85K to $300K.
If the city cannot keep up with basic services, and the infrastucture gets run down like it is now, who in their right mind is going to pay that kind of money for a house in Raytown? The question is not whether one can afford to keep up their own house, it is whether the city can keep up with basic services and infrastructure repair/replacement.
I know that a lot of folks are on a fixed income and dont want any more going to anything that might take away from that. It is obvious.
Talk about taxes and they react first negatively about that.
So just who is going to pay taxes so that things can be kept up in this city?
The city and its elected officials need to be held accountable for their ineptness. I for one am very tired of my tax money being mis managed, spent unwisely, and just frettered away on stupid things like weekend getaway meetings and infill housing studies. Get off your rearends and get to work up there on our problems now!
The literature sent at taxpayers' expense by the Poor Quality School District state how much the tax would increase on the average ($100K) home as you stated, but the sure neglected to state what the total taxes would be.
12:34PM, I haven't seen homes in Raytown in the price range you mentioned. I did see one that is very small and has a 1 car garage. Also another that is not fit for human habitation. The latter I wouldn't consider to be a typical home due to the previous owner.
You are correct that it is not the price but the upkeep. The price sure makes a difference as far as the taxes are concerned. The city doesn't even maintain the streets, so actually a good percentage of the city is blighted because of City Hall.
By the way, our City Fianance Director stated last week that the average house in Raytown is valued at $80,000 and used that value to state how much taxes would increase.
Andy Whiteman
It is true that the school district does not have to abide by city standards. The quansant hut buildings on 350 highway stand as an ugly monument to that.
At least Walters was able to get some improvements in his district by convincing the city to build the sidewalk. The new street lights are not a bad thing either.
So,what is your real complaint?
understand the real estate tax.
County real estate appraisals are for tax purposes not true selling
prices. Your house may very well be worth $150 to $200 thousand
dollars when you sell it but to the county it's appraised at $80, thousand.
I don't pretend to understand it I just think or believe this is the way it works.
Let's not fight each other over this, there are a lot more issues that effect
true home value, that can be controlled by voting in people that think more of
the neighborhoods and people, they are supposed to represent, and less
for big business that will kill this town.
If you know anybody with a business background and is a good, honest,
caring person that might want to run for office in Raytown please talk to them
Sounds like you have an axe to grind.
Does that hit the nail on the head?
If you are talking to me about an axe to grind you would be mistaken.
But I do think Raytown needs new faces on the City Council.
The past ten years have been a disaster as far as how people and local
businesses have been treated. Everybody is moving out or closing
their business because of how things are done here.
I still think the world of Raytown but it's sad the direction it is heading.
It is only my opinion but I don't think there is but one or two elected
people that know what they are supposed to do or what the people
of Raytown expect them to do and they certainly, can't think.........
I better stop there, This is something I could write a book about.
I have been told to leave town, told to shut-up, been ostracized
and my business boycotted but I'm not going anywhere. I care deeply
for Raytown and I'll try to stay until things are better. I've been here for
twenty nine years this February. Longer than a lot of them on the Council.
So what exactly is your point here? Tax money or tax money? Whatever....
This is Greg's blog and he can say what he wants. But so can everyone else. Some of you obviously don't read too well or you'd have understood all this much earlier!
The Fisherman
He must be one of those guys who hates sidewalks and streetlights. You know the type. On a bright sunny day he looks for gray clouds on the horizon.
Our taxes are supposed to be used to build sidewalks and streetlights. Does it really matter which pot of money it came from?
At least the new lights and sidewalks are now a reality. That is a good thing.
If Greg Walters helped work the deal to get part of it done, more power to him.
I'd rather see the money spent on sidewalks and lights than on a lot of what is coming out of city hall.
Your elected officals have given away the farm to Wal-Mart
and we argue over Raytown tax payers paying for streetlights and
sidewalks?
They have sold Raytown's soul to the Devil and given away
tax income for twenty three years that you, the taxpayers will have to make up in some fashion or another and you are arguing over paying for some street lights
and sidewalks?
In the Wal-Mart deal, you, are paying for an architect, the drainage system, the parking lot, probably the building and much more, along with the new school building but that's OK?
Wal-Mart a $285, billion in
profit a year company, should be paying Raytown to put in a store
and should have built the new school building at no cost to taxpayers.
But if you have to pay for some sidewalks and street lights it's not OK?
Please tell me what I'm missing here. I don't get it.
The Angry Fisherman
"Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime." However, it's hard to teach a hungry man anything.
An Anonymous thinks everyone is clueless as to what he is trying to say. That is very obvious, I doubt few are undersing the comment. Would that person please state his position in plain English which is the language generally spoken in this country?
Nothing will be resolved if you are not understood.
I think many problems are really lack of communication.
Andy Whiteman
We did vote for storm sewer improvement. We are getting that, but the workers messed up the ditch and left a gap under a fence in Wildwood HOA that a person could fall through. Things can go wrong on any job, but why does't the city fix this PDQ? If a citizen violated a code, the city would require a fix within I think 30 days, but since the city is in the wrong, they have to check the budget to see if the money is there.
What if someone falls through and is killed or seriously injured. Is the city willing to assume liability for this? How do you replace an human life or restore someone who is disabled?
I question why there was no contigency in the budget for something that may go wrong? OH! By the way isn't there a $2M contigency fund?
What is the hold up here? I think the city should at least get their keesters in there and fence around the hole so no one can fall through. That would be a good start.
Andy Whiteman
Apprently the rules for the kingdom are not meant for the king.
So David Bower has been named by his mentor, the Mayor of Kansas City, to head up Kansas City's Light Rail committee.
If he does as good a job as he has done in Raytown then light rail is doomed.
years of being in Raytown, it's that the city will never admit
when they're wrong.
People will never get the reason why a building site was O.K.'d
that allowed the neighbor across the street to be flooded every time
it rains. Or who O.K.'d the way things were done on 350hwy. where
Laurel Lanes is flooded when it rains. They get it from across 350 hwy.
and from behind them too.
They have complained to the city for years and nothing has
ever been done about it.
The fact is the city let their surrounding neighbors install asphalt parking
lots that lets water run right through their front door. Water has even gotten
in under the bowling lanes.
This is why I keep sounding like a broken record. Raytown needs to
hire and elect people that know what they are doing. I don't mean any
disrespect to our elected officials but they are killing this town because
they don't understand how things work. They have let sharp talking developers
and hired administrators, dupe the taxpayers out of millions and millions
of dollars that could have been put to good use for the people.
They let the running off of businesses go on way to long, all the while knowing
what was going on. But rather than step up and say something, they chose
to just let it keep happening. I don't even want to get started on the codes thing.
I applaud them for winning their popularity contest but there is much more
at stake here. They need to do their job
for the people, neighborhoods and existing businesses.
If they can't, they need to step down and let someone in that will.
The 350hwy development may be a good thing for Raytown, I personally
don't think so, but they need to work on the problems the rest of the town has
and have had for years that was in fact caused by the city.
Raytown? It's a Kansas City issue and will not benefit Raytown. I say to you take care of the business here. Oh but I think you have already done that. You have sold us down the river.
I have always agreed with Pat that we need leaders who can manage Raytown like a business as a whole city. Our "leaders" are unable to handle a safety hazard that the city created. When someone gets hurt or killed and this ends up in court, who will pay? If a major emergency struck this city, I think our leaders would be totally unable to react and expect FEMA and the National Guard to take charge. Are we another New Orleans?
Andy Whiteman
I think public transit and light rail is a good thing as long as it SERVES ALL THE PEOPLE ALL OF THE TIME 24/7. If it is a daytime thing for people to go to work downtown, it is a waste of money. People go out nights and weekends--not just to and from work or the ball games.
Andy Whiteman
Light rail would be beneficial to Raytown and other communities along the proposed route. The person that says that Raytown is not effected by this is wrong. It is not just a Kansas City issue, it is a Regional issue that effects all of us. It has the potential to reduce traffic from the suburbs to downtown, and also has the potential to bring more crime to the suburbs. Lets stop tip toeing around the issue. Oh, and that is not meant as a racial thing either.
However, I will say that one needs to make sure that everything (Ones responsibilities) back at home is taken care of first before one gets involved in extracurricular activities , Mr. Mayor.
How can codes be inforced only by what someone thinks is the intent of the code? That opens up room for discrimination and personal issues.
The codes officers are paid less than $15 per hour. Maybe it would help to offer to but them a cup of coffee, lunch, or whatever.
Andy Whiteman
It is my understanding that the light rail spine in Kansas City will be interconnected somewhere with the commuter rail loop. It is my further understanding that Union Station will serve as the hub for the commuter rail loop. The loop is designed for both sides of the state line. It needs the support of Kansas as well.
Raytown is on this planned commuter rail loop. Raytown is not on the planned light rail spine. I support both plans and Raytown and the rest of the metro area needed this transportation system 40 years ago.
It is late in coming, but will provide a great transportation system for the entire Kansas City metropolitan area. Yes it is true that Raytown has multiple problems that have been ignored and have not been taken care of, but it is also true that we don’t have access to mass transit. This is a step in the right direction.
We need to support Mayor Bower as he tries to lead Raytown out of the dark ages into the 21st Century.
Jim Barnes
Union station is the logical hup for light rail. It should be put back into use!
Andy Whiteman