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Watch
this “short” animated film from Disney and you will understand why it has been
nominated for an Oscar this year . . . Enjoy . . . Paper
Man
Public
Discussion Belongs in Front of the People BY PAUL LIVIUS
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| Paul Livius |
Last week’s City Council meeting did not
show the Board of Aldermen at their best. A simple matter of issuing a license
to a business became the topic of over an hour of debate.
The issue is understandable. The location
on 350 Highway looks like a junkyard. It needs to be cleaned up. The Mayor and
some members of the Board want the property cleaned up before the license is
issued.
By the end of the evening, a compromise
of sorts was reached by issuing a license for a limited period of time with the
understanding that the property would be cleaned up.
That is all well and good. But the
process that was used to reach that decision was marred by what may be a
violation of Missouri’s Open Meetings Law.
Towards the end of the discussion, Mayor
Bower declared a five minute recess (which actually stretched to about ten
minutes). Someone forgot to turn off their microphone. The video portion of the
broadcast was gone, but the audio portion remained live.
As members of the Board were leaving
their seats they could clearly be heard discussing the issue at hand. Some of
the comments fell into the area of “counting votes”.
That is not proper. They were technically
adjourned. The business discussion was out of place during a recess. Those
comments should be made on the Council floor, not away from it.
The Mayor knows better and so do members
of the City Council. It is known for certain that the Mayor and at least one
other member of the Board, Christine White, left the Council Chambers during
the recess. We sincerely hope there is not a repeat of this lapse of judgment
by the Mayor and those member of the Board who tested the limits of the
Sunshine Law that night.
"The voters did not raise taxes so that we would have fewer police.”
A
Promise Made, a Promise Broken BY GREG WALTERS
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| Greg Walters |
Named the “Public Safety Sales Tax” by city
officials, voters have been promised that proceeds will be used exclusively for
improvements and more manpower related to public safety.
The strongest selling point is that six
additional police officers will be hired to increase a police presence in
Raytown.
As promised, six new police officers are hired.
But in the 2012/2013 city budget, five positions in the police department, not funded by the sales tax
increase, were eliminated by the City Administrator.
The “bait and switch” tactic has left many of
those who campaigned for the sales tax increase angry and disillusioned.
Sources within the Raytown Police Department say Police Chief of Police Jim Lynch was approached by City Administrator Mahesh
Sharma with a request to reduce the number of police employees by five
positions.
Lynch refused to do so. He explained that the
voters had been promised extra police officers and to remove police
personnel from the payroll would be breaking a that promise.
In response, the City Administrator removed five
positions from the police department in this year’s city budget.
The Mayor and City Council gave its stamp of
approval to Sharma’s suggestion when it unanimously adopted the city’s
2012/2013 city budget last October.
The
Crime Factor
I was watching the news the other night. There
was a story on crime in the metropolitan area. It showed a graph by zip code of
where violent crime was most prevalent. According to the map Raytown is not a
high crime community. But the areas immediately south and east of Raytown lead
the metro in crime.
It speaks of a need for an active police force.
The Mayor and City Council’s action fly in the
face of that reality.
The
Walmart Factor
In 2012 the City spent $69,406.13 to pay down
the debt of the Walmart Store TIF on 350 Highway. Even if the tax was passed
after the TIF was created – state law requires sales tax collected within the
TIF District be used to pay down the debt of the special tax district.
The financial impact of the Walmart TIF is huge.
In Raytown it means the half-cent Public Safety
Tax revenue collected at Walmart is not used for additional police protection. It is used to pay the debt for the Walmart store, parking lot and related highway improvements.
It does not just affect the Public Safety Sales
Tax. It also takes money from other so-called dedicated sales taxes like the
half cent Transportation Tax and the sales tax collected by the Raytown Fire
District.
That is why your residential streets are no
longer paved with asphalt but with a low-grade slurry sealant that does little to
repair uneven pavement. It is also why the City Administrator eliminated five
positions from the Raytown Police Department.
The City promised the voters of Raytown
improvements with both the Transportation and Public Safety Sales taxes.
These were promises made by the Mayor and City
Council.
These are promises that have broken.
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| Janet Emerson |
Janet
Emerson for Ward 3 Alderman BY JANET EMERSON
My
name is Janet Emerson, and I am a candidate for Raytown Ward 3 Alderman this
coming spring. Now having the time to devote to this important position,
I have the concern and drive it takes to bring positive change to this
City. I want to help return Raytown to the prosperity it once knew.
In order to do this, I will need your vote in April.
I
have been a resident of Raytown for 36 years. I have seen Raytown thrive
from its early years, but I have also witnessed a troubling loss of
businesses. In 1997, I started a company with nothing, and it
independently grew to be one of the top international astronomy/telescope
stores in less than five years. In addition, I have been instrumental in
founding two other companies which have achieved success. I will use my
knowledge and experience in this field to help guide the commerce policy in
Raytown so that businesses want to come to and enrich our city and remain and
prosper in it.
I
raised my daughter through the Raytown School District from kindergarten to
when she graduated and left to go to college. She received a quality
education via the teachers and administrators of this District. I want to
ensure that quality education is available for every student here because our
young people are the future.
If
elected, I will keep the Citizens in my Ward up-to-date as to what is
considered and planned so that they may voice their input about how this City
is being run. Unfortunately, I do not feel that the Citizens are
typically aware of the workings of the City. I want there to be as much
transparency as possible and for them to be as involved as they want to
be. After all, it is THEIR community.
I
wish everyone in Raytown a marvelous 2013. Please, if you haven’t done
so, register to vote before March 6th (voter registration forms are
available at the library on Raytown Road), and if you’re in Ward 3, please vote
for Janet Emerson on Tuesday, April 2nd.
Ward
5 Candidate Removed from Ballot
According to a memo released by City
Clerk Teresa Henry, Ward 5 candidate Efrem Z. Williams, Jr. has been removed
from the April 2nd ballot. His removal means that incumbent Ward 5
Alderman Steve Mock will be unopposed in his bid for re-election. The remaining
four races are contested.
New
to the Raytown Report!
This week we are proud to introduce to
you a new contributor to the Raytown Report. Fit Bottomed Eats is the
brainchild of Jenn Walters. This is Jenn’s third web blog that promote healthy
lifestyles. Fit Bottomed Eats joins her other two publications, the highly
successful Fit Bottomed Girls (#2 in the nation!) and Fit Bottomed Babies.
Fit Bottomed Eats focuses on cooking and
how to do so in a way that is both healthy, innovative, and most importantly,
yummy.
We hope you enjoy this new addition to
the Raytown Report.
Incidentally, Jenn makes her home in the
Kansas City area, as does this week’s featured writer, Karen Romeo.
Bon Apetit!
FIT BOTTOMED EATS . . .
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| The Tasteful Olive |
With eyes wide, I counted more than 60 different naturally flavored and infused balsamic vinegar and gourmet oils. Foodie that I am, I tasted my way through the basic balsamic vinegars first: lemon, strawberry, basil and the like; and then the more unusual concoctions of jalapeno, fig and espresso. YUM! READ MORE
Baseball
Season may still be over two months away but the 39 degree temperatures of
Saturday did not deter one young man from preparing for the season.
A level
surface, a brick wall, a ball and a glove was all that was needed for Justin to
warm up for next season – he plays for Avila College.
To
post a comment on this blog click on the word comments on
the line directly below this sentence.
Comments
Candidates for public office in Missouri must have all of their taxes paid in full to be placed on the ballot.
Can't tell you what to do, but if it were me, I would go vote in the School Board race.
figure why Mr.Sharma asked Police Chief Lynch
to eliminate five police positions. It's to
assure his asinine pay increase!
Welcome to Raytown politics. Sharma got his
to Hell with the public safety!
Lies, secret meetings, taxpayer money being
given away and or loaned to corporations.
It's time for a huge change at City Hall.
When I was in HS I read George Orwell's "1984". In that book, printed books ceased to exist and history could be rewritten with keystrokes so thw past was altered or never happened.
Andy Whiteman
This shop is a good mile away from the
"Green Space." The owners of this shop was
so much against the "possibility" of a new
Wal-Mart owned grocery store going into that
space that every customer that came through
their door they complained about it.
It seems they feel threatened buy the possibility
that a new grocery store could somehow hurt their
business.
The fact is, what will hurt their business is their own
fault. Nobody wants to here it! They will be running
off more business than any store a mile away.
I really hope they read this blog. These are very nice
people. Good hard working people that own their business
and work hard at it.
Trust me, I know what politics and business can do and it's
not good.
This is just the tip of the iceberg at the Raytown Parks Department. I invite any and all of you to attend a board meeting and watch the park board president throw his weight around. He and the Mayor rule with the same iron fist and nastiness. This should not come as a surprise since the Mayor appointed him. Things have come to a grinding halt, they city now has its nose in all park business and nothing can get done. This is exactly why the park board is suppose to be the ruling body of the park department and not an advisory board like it is now. Somebody needs to contact the attorney general because the law is being broken. What was once a gem in Raytown is slowly going downhill.
Andy Whiteman
If you are registered but know someone who is not please urge them to register to vote.
Andy Whiteman
As a former postal employee I know there will be a build up of mail on Mondays delaying delivery and requiring overtime. I am more concerned about Monday holidays which will mean 3 days of NO mail in or out. Carriers will definitely be overloaded on Tuesdays with very late delivery requiring overtime. Outgoing mail as well has already been delayed. I fail to understand how there would be any savings. It would be more logical to eliminate Tuesday delivery when First Class volume is typically at its lowest.
I urge everyone to write their Senators and Congressmen as well as signing an online petition.
Please see: www.savethepostoffice.com
Andy Whiteman
Times are hard and times are even harder if you are a citizen of Raytown.
Is an attorney reading this blog who knows if there is any possible action against the Assessor as well as the taxing authorities for possible illegal assessments as well as refunds of tax dollars wrongly collected? I am thinking of a class action since this potentially affects every property owner in Raytown.
Andy Whiteman
Andy Whiteman