RAYTOWN'S LEADING NEWS SOURCE
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NEWS UPDATE . . .
At the close of filing at
5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, January 21, 2014, there were 22 candidates filed for the
Raytown Charter Commission.
This list has the candidates in the order as they will appear on the April 8th ballot.
This list has the candidates in the order as they will appear on the April 8th ballot.
Jim Aziere
Witty Wittman
Charlotte Melson
Richard Koop
Susan Thorsen
Jerome Barnes
Mary Jane Van Buskirk
Janet Emerson
Robbie Tubbs
Michael McDonough
Jason Greene
Greg Walters
Susan Dolan
Matthew Cushman
David McCauley
Chris Rathbone
Sandra A. Hartwell
Ted Bowman
Lisa Emerson
Joe Burton
Mark Moore
Steve Guenther
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| BY GREG WALTERS |
Late
Filings Swell Charter Candidate List
A number of last minute filings for the
Raytown Charter Commission have increased the number of verified candidates for
the Raytown Charter to 19.
Unconfirmed reports of additional candidates
planning to file before next Tuesday’s deadline would place the number of
candidates well over 20.
Filing on Friday was Ted Bowman. Mr.
Bowman is a Captain in the Raytown Police Department. He is married to former
Mayor Sue Frank.
Another candidate announced his intention
to file for the Commission on Friday as well. He is former Raytown Paramedic
Director Matt Cushman.
Paul’s
Rant BY PAUL LIVIUS
Well,
well, well! Despite what appeared to be a news blackout by the local print
media of anything to do with the Charter, interest appears to be peaking with a
rush of new candidates filing just before the deadline.
This
last week has seen the number of candidates grow to nineteen.
And
there is still a full day left to file. (City Hall is closed Monday for what,
no doubt, the Mayor would refer to as “the holiday”)
Look
for more candidates on Tuesday. They are unconfirmed at this point – that is
why they did not make the list above – but we are certain there will additional
filings on Tuesday.
Just
as interesting is “who” is filing.
Four
members of the Raytown Board Aldermen have filed for a spot on the Charter
Commission. Just as every other registered voter, they are within their rights
to do so.
But
it also shows the depth of the disconnect between some members of the Board and
the public.
In
the eyes of more than just a few, the Raytown Board of Aldermen is a part of
the problem. It is doubtful those Aldermen will be viewed as a solution to anything.
All
in all, the events leading up to the filing deadline next Tuesday has shown one
thing very clearly. There are many people who care deeply about Raytown. There
is little doubt they want to make some changes.
All
in all, it is a good sign of community coming together for the betterment of
the community.
POLL
QUESTION
We
wondered what people thought of all the candidates who are on the Board of
Alderman running for the Charter Commission. Keep in mind, state law clearly
allows any registered voter can file for the Charter Commission.
Our
question is . . . Do you support elected current office holders in the City of
Raytown filing for the Raytown Charter Commission?
To vote on this poll go to the top right corner of this page.
FIT BOTTOMED EATS
 |
| BY KAREN |
Mid Eastern Pork Tenderloin:
Quick, Easy and Fabulous
A
girl’s gotta eat, and this girl likes to eat well. Fortunately, I
possess the skill set to make just about anything my little heart desires, but
unfortunately I don’t always have the time or the inclination to spend an hour
in the kitchen. So, what’s a girl to do?
She
makes Pork Medallions with Cinnamon Couscous and Mango Chutney!
Now,
just because something sounds fancy, that doesn’t mean it takes a lot of
effort to prepare. With just three ingredients, (okay, a couple more if you
count the spices), and 15 minutes (that’s less than the time it takes to bake
something out of a frozen box), you too can be feasting on something utterly
delicious and wonderfully different. Read More
THE FOLLOWING IS THE SECOND IN A IN A SERIES OF ESSAYS BY CANDIDATES FOR THE RAYTOWN CHARTER COMMISSION.
TO VIEW OTHER CHARTER CANDIDATE PROFILES . . .
USE THIS LINK: CHARTER CANDIDATE PROFILES
Why
I Want to Serve on
To leave a comment use
this link POST A COMMENT
THE FOLLOWING IS THE SECOND IN A IN A SERIES OF ESSAYS BY CANDIDATES FOR THE RAYTOWN CHARTER COMMISSION.
TO VIEW OTHER CHARTER CANDIDATE PROFILES . . .
USE THIS LINK: CHARTER CANDIDATE PROFILES
 |
| SANDY HARTWELL |
the Charter Commission
Hello,
my name is Sandy Hartwell. Here are some of my credentials and why I want to
serve on the Raytown Charter Commission.
Raytown
resident since 1965
Former
Alderman 2003-2007
Current
member, Raytown Planning and Zoning Commission
Current
member Jackson County, Missouri Committeewoman
Retired
business owner, The Frame and Easel
Homeowner,
three children, one grandson
It
is important to remember that the Charter Election next April is the first of a
two part process. The April election only creates a Charter Commission. The voters
will choose thirteen candidates to serve on the Commission. Those thirteen elected Commissioners will
have no more than one year to write a Charter for the City of Raytown. The voters
will then vote whether or not to accept the finished Charter.
Here
are some questions you need to ask before you vote to approve the formation of a
Charter Commission next April.
1. Why a Charter?
2. What are the changes if we become a Charter
City?
3. How will the Charter change the daily
operations at City Hall?
4. How will this affect my family and what will
it do for us?
5. How will this change the business between
city and the state?
If
I’m elected to the Charter Commission my mission is provide you with those
answers so that you will have the knowledge to make an informed vote when the
Charter is brought back before the voters.
This
is the fifth time Raytown voters will be voting on a Charter. All of the
previous attempts, like this one, were successful until the final product was
placed before the voters.
In
each of those cases the finished Charter failed.
As
a resident of Raytown since 1965, I can tell you the above questions were not
answered adequately in past Charter attempts.
The
last time there was so much arguing between the Commission and City Hall the
voters were turned off by the bickering and just said “no”. If the City and the
Commission can’t get along we may as well leave it as it is. That’s what I heard over and over again.
It’s
time the get out of the Dark Ages and do what is necessary to make Raytown the
best it can be. The Charter Commission and the City must work together to make
this a successful effort.
So
here is what I ask of you.
Attend
the charter meetings or, if you cannot attend and have questions about the
process and what is going on, please give me a call. I will personally return your
call. If I don’t have an answer for you I will find out and call you back.
If
it sounds like I’m campaigning, well you are right, I am. This city needs a Charter and has needed one
for many years. Whether I am elected to
the Commission or not I will be working hard to see that we pass a Charter for
Raytown and its people.
Sandy
Hartwell
Telephone: 816-353-4431
Email smtnair@aol.com
To leave a comment use
this link POST A COMMENT
Comments
be on the Charter is OK. However I also
feel that any elected official running and voted
against the peoples wishes, for the WalMart
grocery store shouldn’t be awarded the
peoples vote. Again just my feelings.
Let’s face it, at least three running crossed over
to the dark side and voted against the people.
To those of you that can vote and really want
a Charter, please remember it was Jim Aziere
that was on the last Charter Board.
His mission, as was with several others
was only to sabotage the proceedings.
He clearly does not want a Charter!
Be very careful about which elected official
you want on the Charter Board.
If I could still vote in Raytown, there are some Alderpeople I would vote for and others I wouldn't vote for. It is my understanding that Charter Commissioners are NOT paid so they are donating even more of their precious time.
Consideration should be given to the candidates record and goals, not what office they hold or have held.
Andy Whiteman
Andy Whiteman
There are too many holidays especially Monday holidays creating a paid long weekend. If the city would cancel Monday holidays, workers would be more productive since it is not a paid day off that they have to catch up on Tuesday and there would also be budgetary savings. Only holidays that occur on their proper day should be observed. The Monday holidays should be cancelled or moved back to their proper day so as not to create the disruption of a 3 day weekend.
Andy Whiteman
So the Van Buskirk's who publicially complain about voters at the Walmart meetings and ignore the vast will of the people, have a heart for the city? But not all the candidates have a heart for the city? Give me a break!
Per website Simply Hired is $55,000. in Missouri
Per website Payscale.com is $60,000. nationwide
Here is some free advice for the BOA.
Remove from the plan any mention of city government buildings. Raytown has not grown in area in over 40 years. Its population leveled out at around 30,000 25 years ago.
Making it a part of the plan is just a ploy by the developer to show they can put tenants in buildings.
Next, require the developer to name who will be renting the retail space they build.
Have them back it with a performance bond.
Then, and not before then, will be the time to sit down and start negotiating.
The best action is to remove the 353 downtown zone and have codes enforce city ordinances on those property owners who don't have the respect for the rest of us to keep their property up without expecting us all to pay for up keep with higher taxes and less public services.
To think one of the people to get special treatment was a former Alderman and one of the others is very active in the Chamber in either case it is just bad business for Raytown and the property owners that keep their property up without receiving tax breaks to do it.
Please don't leave them up until next year's December 25th holiday. Looks too, too tacky!
By the way. Does anyone know why all that is on the government channel is static. That really does not fit my image of professionalism that we expect Raytown City Hall.
Honestly, I didn't think that all of her ideas were necessarily bad ones, but here is where she lost me...
She said she would urge everyone she knows to vote NO to elect a charter commission, however, she still wants everyone to go ahead and vote for her for charter commission board member.
I could be wrong, but the way I see this is that she is against a charter, but if the voters say they want one, then she wants to be on the board to try and sabotage it. I find that to be in very poor taste.
It is well within her rights, and the people of Raytown have the right to vote however they want. But I will call out anyone running for the charter committee who is actually against the charter.
A lot of good people have put a lot of time and effort in getting this question before the voters of Raytown, and I am against any candidate who would try and stop something that the voters agreed would be good for Raytown, if this passes.
To say that you will vote against the charter without knowing anything about what may be a very good charter is being very narrow minded.
From what she said there is no doubt that her candidacy is one of trying to stop a charter effort from within the system. Unfortunately there appears to be a number of candidates with that intention.
I recognize five candidates who I believe have a twisted agenda aimed at stopping the charter before it begins. Sad to say, three of them are also on the city council.
You have until April 8th to learn about the candidates before the election. Please make good use of that time.
Jim Aziere and Mrs. Whittman were on the last
Charter Board. Both voted FOR each line in the
Charter. Then when it came time for the people
to vote in the Charter they both along with
a couple others bashed the Charter and
badmouthed everything about it.
I have papers that date back to 2004 and I have
tried to find the one about the Charter Board
and who was on it. I haven’t found it yet,
there are a lot of weekly papers to go through.
I have seen some papers that have statements
and promises made by our leaders that have
never come to light. ( I didn’t want to call them
lies.) However, it is hard to believe how gullible
we are.
There are a few others I have spoken with that have filed that I think would also be really good on the charter committee, and more that I haven't had a chance to speak with yet. I think we all have a lot of checking up to do.
Chris is obviously referring to the original petitioners of the charter, so yes he is correct.
8:14, Shoot, that's not even close to being a full slate. When I get mine put together, you'll know. I already know of at least 3 or 4 others I am definitely going to vote for, and with all the late entries, I would be surprised if there aren't more than 13 I like before election time.
That is a good problem to have.
This individual has published no essay/bio about himself yet
talks of checking it all out.
He singles-out some who 'helped' circulate petitions when, by law, each candidate was required to personally circulate their own petition. What's up with that?
We have our own minds, our own opinions, and this individual is shooting himself in the foot so I say give him more rope. He's just hanging himself.
Raytown Supports Local
19 hours ago
.
Warning to all WalMart opponents! Look for Sue Franks lawsuit to end. Looks like WalMart and the Mayor just needed to call in Flaherty & Collins Properties to not only get TIF money but the land gifted to them to build a Walmart 40,000 square foot grocery store with 212 apartments on top of it to rent and a 500 space garage. The board of Aldermans general consensus is that this is the best option for this spot. Today Sue Frank told me she liked the mixed use of the land. To me it's to mixed up to wrap my mind around, that anyone could be excited about gifting the heart of Raytown away to anyone.
Greg this is from our facebook page. I wanted you to see it.
Elisa Breitenbach
Rathbone was obviously talking about those getting signatures for themselves....try reading, its nice.
Still does not change a thing. There were more people involved with kicking off the charter effort than he names on his list and he knows it.
Shame on you Mr. R. for twisting the truth.
The list posted at the top of this week's Raytown Report has the updated order as it will appear on the April 8th ballot.
3 WalMarts, all which sell groceries about 5 miles apart. One, mid-town with apartments above will be a RODENT and ROACH MOTEL with produce, bread, and bakery items in the ground-floor grocery. 500 car garage & delivery trucks + car lane reductions - TRAFFIC CONGESTION. Crime comes with the WalMart name no matter where it is and the only reason they have webcams outside is to protect their property. If you're being mugged in their lots, they will not come to your aid or call the police - this is a fact. Let this go through and we'll lose some of our current grocers - less freedom of choice. With the 353 abatement, the city will want more taxes too and if we turn it down at the polls, they'll add it to our property taxes. This is a very bad bill of goods.
BUT, I can’t believe the “IDIOTS” at City
Hall have once again gone against the people
and went to bed with WalMart. It’s a damn
shame the election isn’t sooner to get rid of
at least half the uncaring, head nodding
worthless people, that make up our city
leaders. You know our underhanded mayor
never let this go. He was probably meeting
with WalMart right after they pulled out
to come up with this plan. If you all think the
apartments above the store will be upper
class dwellings you have another think coming!
Welcome to Walmarttown MO.
takes to sellout the people of Raytown?
Andy Whiteman
This tells you that the 4th class city government was formed for towns of less than 5,000 people which we used to be but we are not now and have not been for many, many, many years and we are incorporated. In a fourth class city the city has to ask the state for permission to do certain things that effect the everyday business of the city. In Article VI, Section 19a it says basicly that the city has the right to make it's own laws and does not have to ask the state if they want to make changes in the way they do business. As an example, I hear, the city would like to increase the court fees for Raytown. As it stands now we still have to ask the state for permission to do that. Don't you think that the city should be able to make that decision for itself? We are a pretty big city to have to always ask DADDY for permission.
Raytown is the largest city of it's size in the state that does not have a charter. You talk to other cities and they can't understand why we are so far behind.
Fear is a bad thing because it keeps you from moving forward.
The charter can be a good thing if it's kept simple, If it is, things will not change for you as a citizen. But if you want more control over the city you should see that the commission puts in this charter Initiative, Referendum and recall. These 3 things wouuld give you as a citizen the right to recall an elected offical without waiting for the next election which as a 4th class city you do not have that right now. Most of you on here complain about those elected officals and how they have or are betraying you in some way or another. With those 3 items you would be able to do something about it if you choose too. That is really all we need now. Later you would have the right to bring something forward to be considered if you wanted too.
Please don't make up your minds now about the charter until you know what is going to be in it. Don't let some people who don't know what they are talking about
make that decision for you.
Think for yourself please.
Why would you want to serve on something you don't want.
A well written charter could put some solid checks and balances in place to prevent elected officials from going rogue and selling out the interest of the public on development schemes that make no sense.
Four of the candidates running for the Charter Commission are also on the Board of Aldermen.
It will be interesting to see which way they go on upcoming deals concerning the Green Space in Downtown Raytown.
This is really going to draw in the finest people from the metro area.
It is very pleasant to hear that the lady who sales insurance in the downtown area is supporting this advancement for our city.
Once this great business gets opened I hope the city can find another 30,000 dollars a year for the outstanding work that out of town city administrator is doing to advance our city for those that actually live in the city.
Maybe by the time it opens we can even rename the city Wal-Mart Village in honor of the great things that company has done for our city.
OUR TOWN SQUARE is the place we go to patronize local shops, built on OUR city-owned land which support the tax base. We were never so stupid as to allow anyone, not anyone or any group, to give that precious land, central to our city away as if it weren't the heart of our town.
OUR TOWN SQUARE was constructed with OUR money, not with grant money that had strings attached so that the government had leverage to impose their will on us.
OUR TOWN SQUARE - the butcher, the soap maker, the baker, the shoe repair shop, the herb shop, the insurance salesman, the coffee shop, the alterations shop, the upholsterer, the hardware shop, the restaurant and so on are run by people we know, some are people who already run businesses here now. They aren't going to sell us out, demand TIFS or Abatements, drive semi trucks through our streets in the dead of night. Should they decide to go out of business, someone else will lease their shop space. There would NEVER be a huge, abandoned building in OUR TOWN SQUARE because there was never one built there.
OUR TOWN SQUARE was built as we could afford it, maybe only a storefront or two at at time because that is how sane and responsible people do things. Still, it was done and it was self-supporting.
It's OUR TOWN SQUARE, not just some dumb green space for a city hall who doesn't live here to give away as if it's worthless to an out-of-town developer who will slap up some buildings, call it a day and move on while we pay for the damage done for 25 or more years.
OUR TOWN SQUARE should reflect the historic character of our city and should be a beautiful shady gathering place for us, our children and their children's children... movies and music, Christmas tree in the Square, a lovely fountain, dining/coffee al fresco......not Walmart, not wall-to-wall concrete, not 4 story buildings.
OUR TOWN SQUARE - so so much more than a WalMart, cookie-cutter apartments, a parking garage and a new city hall we don't need.