With all the ice and cold we have seen the
following video seemed appropriate. Hope you enjoy Lindsey Stirling’s . . . Crystallize
For you Phantom of the Opera
fans you have got to check out Lindsey Stirling’s version of . . . Phantom of the Opera
 |
| Greg Walters |
Corrections to the Raytown Times BY GREG WALTERS
What do you do when a news source blatantly
mis-reports the news? We gave this some thought after reading the Raytown Times
this past week. A front page story named Proposed Walmart Grocery Draws Ire was
so full of falsehoods and misrepresentations that it could not go unanswered.
The best solution we could find was to simply tell
the truth. Let the readers sort out what they want to believe.
Then, one of our local bloggers beat us to the punch.
Elisa Brietnbach, owner of Doughboys Doughnut, posted the following comment Saturday
morning.
We could not have done it better. Well said, Elisa.
Elisa
Breitenbach said...
Randy Battagler reported that there were about
30 residents who attended the Raytown Board of Aldermen meeting on Feb. 19th to
express their displeasure with the Aldermen for selling the "Green
Space" property to Walmart. The problem with that story is Ed Clark (who
is an local accountant here in Raytown) counted 90 different people who
attended the meeting that night. Ed did not count any of the city officials in
the front or back of the room. Bob Phillips may not have the slightest idea why
this has raised such a "hub-bub" about a Walmart grocery store, but
then again he doesnt even live in Raytown! Raytowners are not as naive as Randy
Battagler thinks. As an owner of an official newspaper, Randy knows it is
unethical to write falsehoods and publish them. Many people who read his paper
know the truth. Randy is making himself look unprofessional, and frankly very
ridiculous.
Just
the Facts . . .
Following is a breakdown of the errors in the
Raytown Times.
Battagler
reported that . . . “about 30
residents attended the Raytown Board of Aldermen meeting to express their
displeasure with the aldermen for selling the former Baptist church property to
Walmart.”
FACT: I attended the February 19th meeting in question. While the
speakers were making their presentation I did a head count of participants. There
were over 75 people in the Council Chambers. Not only did I take the count, but
I also asked that Jason Greene, candidate for Ward 2 Alderman, assist by taking
account as well. His final total verified my count.
I also took pictures of the audience. Those pictures
can be viewed by scrolling down to last week’s edition of the Raytown Report. The
angle used taken the pictures only shows about two-thirds of the audience. The
number of people shown totals 48. I can assure Mr. Battagler that the rest of
the chairs in the room were not empty.
It is interesting to note that Battagler reports
that “30 residents attended the Rayotwn Board of Aldermen meeting” on the front
page of his paper. On page four under Randy’s Reflections, he reports that “40
folks showed up”.
Battagler
wrote . . . “a half dozen residents addressed the board.”
FACT: Actually, there were seven speakers. Their names are: Janet Emerson,
Chris Merrill, Edward Clark, Elisa Breitenbach, Sandy Worley, Teresa Swisher
and Jeanette Gentry.
Battagler
wrote . . . “(he) thought the Mayor did a brilliant job of handling the public
comments portion of the meeting.”
FACT: It would have been more accurate to say, given the circumstances, the
Mayor did his best at damage control. He all but admitted that earlier public
comments from City Hall denying that Walmart was the entity involved have
turned out to be completely false.
Battagler
wrote . . . “The city received $650,000 for the land that was appraised at
$500,000.”
FACT: In political circles this is known as “lying by omission”. True the land
is currently appraised at $500,000. What he forgets to tell is that the land
was not vacant when the city bought it. There was a large church on it has
since been demolished. Over half a million dollars was spent removing that
structure. In other words, the city has under-valued the property by more than
half.
Who needs a TIF when the land is given to you at
half its value?
A SAD DAY FOR RAYTOWN
Local
Recycling Service to End BY PAUL LIVIUS
Raytown Public Works Director Andy Noll told the
Board of Aldermen that the city will be closing its recycling center at the
Public Works Garage on March 29th unless a new location is found for
the service.
The reason given was that not enough recyclables
were being collected to justify the pickup and hauling away of recyclables.
Raytown’s recycling center has been in continuous
operation for over 15 years. It was moved to its current location when the
Walmart on 350 Highway was constructed.
It was rescued from closure in the 2000 budget year
when budget constraints threatened to close down the operation. Former Ward 1
Alderman Greg Walters lead a fundraising drive that eventually raised $9,000 to
keep the center in operation.
“Qualify of life in a community is measured in many
ways,” said Walters. “One of those ways is the opportunity for people to give
back. There are many people in Raytown who believe in recycling, it is a sad situation
when a good project likes his is shut down,” continued Walters.
Public Works Director Andy Noll said the city will
try to find another company willing to provide service to the city.
FIT BOTTOMED EATS
The Mighty Flaxseed Gets ‘Things’ Moving (With a Recipe for
Muffins!) BY KAREN
Flaxseed muffins to get things a movin’.
It happens innocently enough.
Maybe you’ve been skimping on your water intake,
or you’ve taken to gulping dinner over the kitchen sink. Perhaps that
surprise promotion at work led to a celebratory chocolate-cake binge. Whatever
it was your—ahem—southbound lanes have come to a screeching halt. Do
yourself a favor and take a pass on the medicine cabinet and use good food as
the cure instead.
If you read a lot about nutrition,
sooner or later you are going to come across the mighty flaxseed. They are
being called “the most powerful plant food on the planet” and a must-have for
health and wellness. How we have survived this long without adding them to our daily routine, I have no idea. READ MORE
RAYTOWN
COMMUNITY EVENTS
Sponsored by Raytown Parks and Recreation
CANCELLED
Raytown Three Trails Kiwanis Trivia Night
on March 2
RESCHEDULED
MARCH 23 - 24
Rice-Tremonti Spring
Soup and Craft Days was March 2-3
Throw off the winter blahs
with a hearty lunch of home-made soup, fresh-baked cornbread, dessert and
beverage. Also, purchase the perfect gift or decorative item, hand-made by one
of the several local crafters. Click for details.
Mayor's State of City
Address, March 13
Mayor David Bower’s will
deliver his annual State of the City address. Raytown elected officials will be
on hand to meet and greet guests prior to lunch and Mayor's address. Click for details.
Raytown Quality School's
Legislative Forum, March 15
Join RQS, along with the
school district and city administrators, parents and patrons to interact with
our legislators on issues that impact the City of Raytown and our children and
their education. Click for details.
Raytown Night with the
Mavericks, March 22
Don’t miss the fun and
excitement – join your community for a great evening sponsored by the Raytown
Chamber! TICKET SALES END March 8! Includes from 5:30-6:30: $1.00
Hot Dogs & Soft Drinks, $3.00 Hamburgers & Nachos, & $3.00 Beers! Click for details.
MCPL-Raytown, March
The Mid-Continent Library
of Raytown's events can be found in the right margin of our calendar or Click for RSS Feed Tax Help for Seniors continues,
storytime, book clubs, internet, business, cooking and craft classes, and more!
To post a comment on this blog click on the word comments on the line directly below this sentence.
Comments
in the green space. I'm not even against it
after finding out they would not be buying our
properties. I am against the store going in if
current plans are followed through. These plans will
cripple our remaining businesses on that block.
It seems that the store or the developers want
to build a large wall across the property to
block the view of the remaining businesses along
63rd. st. and along Raytown Rd. This will stop most
if not all deliveries to all the remaining business
along this area. There is already talk of law suits
and injunctions and any way to stop the developers
from killing what will be the remaining businesses.
With the proposed new downtown back-in parking on
63rd.st. it will stop any chance for large truck
deliveries.
While it is true there may be some elected officials
that don't like me or some of the other people in
the downtown area they are still representatives of the
existing businesses and shop owners in the area.
We have paid our taxes with asking for anything in
return except to be treated fairly.
Greg, I disagree with you about property value. The Olde Baptist Church was a public nuisance, and said nuisance devalued the propertry. The cost of demolotion cannot be considered part of the value. Value is defined by Realtors as what a willing buyer will pay a willing seller. The City sure got ripped off then they bought that delapidated nuisance! That was years ago and can't be inferred as today's value especially if it was never worth what they paid for it in the first place.
Congressman Cleaver obtained a grant for green space. Isn't there some fraud involved in getting a grant for green space and selling said green space as commercial property? Has Cleaver or any federal authority been notified of this?
In fact most property in Raytown has gone way down in value:
I just sold my house for less than 1/2 what I paid even though I spent much on improvements. What is the correct value? The value is what a willing buyer was willing to pay me. I couldn't claim it was worth what I paid plus improvements especially since like properties in the area also have much lower value.
Greg, Jackson County would like tol have you as an assessor based on now you value property. If I could vote there, I would vote for you for mayor but never assessor.
Andy Whiteman
1) It is open only a few hours on certain Saturdays (not every Saturday). Why not a 24/7 drop off point?
2) One must haul recyclables to the site during certain limited hours. I support recycling but was unable to take it to the center during my nap especially with the high price of gasoline.
I lived in Carlsbad, CA and Albuquerque, NM. Both had mandatory recycling and provided containers to separate materials.
Come pick them up and I will gladly set them at the curb or alley but I will not haul it to a center as stated above. I think Raytown's recycling would have been more positive if there was curbside pickup.
4:46 AM, One seated in the front row looking forward is unable to count those behind him.
Andy Whiteman
There are some at City Hall who did not want recycling. They did not have the guts to just pull the plug and suffer political consequences for their action.
Instead they made the recycling center pretty much in accessible.
They reasoned that eventually, the private provider would find better use for their containers.
Too bad its now Walmart taking care of the recycling. Our council and mayor would probably bend over backwards to make it work for them!
Sorry to correct you but I think you meant
our city council will bend over forward
for Wal Mart!
Wait! They bend us taxpayers over for Wal Mart.
Andy Whiteman
I quit using the recylcing center cause it was never open. I am sure there are others that quit for the same reason.
If they had it open more often it would be successful.
Want proof? Go up to Fun House on 350 Highway and see how well the Ripple Glass recycling container is doing.
Check out the containers at the different churches in Raytown. They are there because it is successful because it is accessible.
I also keep hearing talk all over town that they have the best retirement plan.
What a manager this Mess Surewaste has been aka ca
Is that correct? The City has a new Public Information Officer, yet reports of the sale of the green space was put in the local newspaper and well as on the City's website, and none of it is true?
Maybe the job title should read Public Mis-Information Officer.
Also, on the subject of the Police Pension Plan. Why stop there? Why not look at Mahesh Sharma's pension plan, or the Department Head's pension plan, or the Park's department pension plan and the City employee's pension plan.
Take what a person works for all their life, just so the City can dole it out in $30,000 raises, and $60,000 PIO (worthless) job titles.
Something is wrong at City hall, Something is waaaay wrong.
Wake up.
As I have stated there are cities or jurisdictions that require recycling. Recycling is avaialble in Raytown if your private hauler offeres it at an addition charge. When I lived in Aurora, CO Waste Management offered it free if I paid a $15 deposit for each container (which was never refunded so I still have the containers that I couldn't use in Raytown because they are the wrong color for the area.) I cancelled WM when rates went up.
If recycling is at no charge, with containers provided. and there is a collection by the city or a contractor; I think 99.5% will support recycling. At least I am willing to set mine at the curb once a week, biweekly, monthly, or whenever.
Andy Whiteman
Guess we are not alone in our fears about Walmart and what it does to communities.
Why is the mayor trying to hide this meeting from the public?
What is it the mayor doesn't want us to hear about?
Just another sign of bad management at city hall
I think you should contact Mayor Bower and let him know that because he is not listening to the people of Raytown and fact they don’t want another relationship with Wal-Mart that he will force you out of the donut business and into the real estate market.
Being he has no problem for those living near the location of this new Wal-Mart, you know he would have no problem with you purchasing several homes in and around the his neighborhood on 87th street. Once you own and fix up the properties you can rent them to HUD for section 8 housing. After all this is the same mayor that told others the city can do nothing about “Those People” obtaining section 8 housing in Raytown. Being he is doing nothing about Wal-Mart let him deal with something in his own back yard he will not like.