There was a lot of chatter on last week’s blog
about police and the service they provide Raytown.
It would be unfair to judge all police officers as
one. When painted with a wide brush, the individual acts of sacrifice and
bravery go unnoticed.
Say a call goes out on a noisy neighbor. The
dispatcher sends an officer. He drives through the neighborhood with windows
rolled up and does not stop to investigate the complaint.
The noise continues unabated. Another officer is
dispatched. This officer drives to the address, get out of his car and finds
that indeed, there is excessive noise coming from the house. He requests
backup, goes to the door and informs the homeowner there have been complaints
received from the public about the excessive noise.
He asks them to tone it down.
Which policeman would you want answering the call for
service?
The one who drives through the neighborhood with
windows rolled up, or, the one who stops, investigates and asks the owner of
the home to turn down the volume?
How the call is answered depends on a number of
factors. How do the policeman’s direct superiors view the call? Do they ignore
the problem of the officer is who drives through and ignores the call? Is the
officer who answers the call and follows up on the complaint commended for how
he handles the situation?
A lot of the image depends on the ones who are in
charge of the police department. The chief of police who offers excuses and
never solutions would probably act like the cop that drove by with his window
rolled up is doing his job. Or worse, ignore the situation.
The proactive chief of police would commend the
officer who made the effort to make personal contact.
A friend of mine lives in a rough part of
town in northeast Kansas City. He looked tired and worn out. I commented that
he looked like he had not slept for awhile. He told me he could not sleep the night
before because his neighbors were shooting off guns all night long. Apparently,
someone had died and this was their way of commemorating his passing.
I asked if the police had been called. He said one of
his neighbor’s called 911 but the police did not show up.
Different cities, different situations. But
there are similarities.
The police officer who drives by with the windows
rolled up is one step away from not driving by at all.
The police officer who stops and tries to calm the
situation is the one we want in Raytown.
Grampa Had it Right
My grandfather once shared a bit of financial wisdom with me. The subject was debt and interest.
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| BY GREG WALTERS |
My grandfather once shared a bit of financial wisdom with me. The subject was debt and interest.
“Interest”, he said, “is with you when you wake up in the
morning. It sits down with you when you eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. And
when you go to bed at night, it lies down beside you."
The recent commotion over the mis-allocation of the
one-eight cent sales tax of park/storm sewer funds re-enforced my grand-dad’s
wisdom.
Tucked away in one a report from the Raytown Park Board was
the following breakdown of the one-eighth cent sales tax.
Projected 1/8 cent
Sales Tax Revenue . . . . . . . .
$350,000.00
Less TIF-EATS obligation/debt retirement . . . . . - $ 75,000.00
ToTal Tax Revenue for the City of Raytown . . . . . $275,000.00
Less TIF-EATS obligation/debt retirement . . . . . - $ 75,000.00
ToTal Tax Revenue for the City of Raytown . . . . . $275,000.00
Some readers may recognize the TIF-EATS obligation. It is the debt
retirement owed by the City of Raytown for the Raytown Live Development Project
on 350 Highway. It is that area of land where Walmart and IHOP are located.
The $75,000 represents the annual payment taken from the
one-eight cent sales tax to pay down the debt of the Raytown Live. In other
words, about 22% of the sales tax dollars never recycles back into the local
economy. It pays the interest and principle due on the loans used to build the
infrastructure (street lights, buildings, parking lots, traffic signals, land
acquisition, etc.) of the Raytown Live project.
But it is not only the sales tax that is
attached to that debt. The city’s Transportation Tax, Public Safety Tax, and
the General sales tax are also attached to paying down the debt.
When you add it all up it comes to a tidy sum.
Former Raytown Development Director Tom Cole recently
reported to the Board of Aldermen that the $33 million dollars of debt created
to pay for the 350 Live project will cost $90,000,000.00 (90 million) dollars
to pay off. The debt payment period was set at 23 years when then TIF was created.
If you ever hear a city official complain they are short tax
dollars and cannot afford street lights, or decent repair for neighborhoods, remember what they do have money for . . . the retirement
of debt for large corporate entities.
The trade is not a fair one. Our neighborhood streets go
unlighted and in need of repair. Their parking lots are flawless and lit up
like Christmas all year round. And we get to pay for all of it!
Design Your
Own Protein Powder
Ever wish you could design your own protein powder?
To leave a comment use this link POST A COMMENT
 |
| BY JENN |
Own Protein Powder
Ever wish you could design your own protein powder?
I
have. Even though there are tons of protein powders out there, it’s sometimes
hard to find one that is just right for you. You might want the protein source
of one brand, the nutritionals of another and the added extras (kale powder,
anyone?) of some other kind. (That said, this guide is pretty darn handy!) Well
now, you can kind of do that … and we tried out two different options. I tested
Mosaic Nutrition, and Kristen gave myMix Nutrition a shot. READ MORE
Rice
Tremonti
Annual Ice Cream Social BY BARB SCHLAPIA
Mark
your calendars for Saturday, September 13th for the annual Rice
Tremonti Ice Cream Social featuring homemade ice cream.
Also
view Live Demonstrations of the following:
Buffalo
Soldiers
Seeds
after Harvest
Three
Sisters Garden
Homemade
Butter
Pioneer
Woman Medical Remedies
Spinning
Alpaca fiber into yarn
Music
To leave a comment use this link POST A COMMENT
30 comments:
Greg, thanks for explaining the TIF tax that all of us are expected to chip in to pay. We all need to shop at Wal-Mart and I-Hop and probably all the others as we should keep our dollars in Raytown. The previous board and mayor did this to us, remember there are 3 of them still left on the board, in case you do not know who they are they are Mock, Aziere and VanBuskirk.
I hope that in less than 2 years we remember who they are and decide to let them go out to pasture for the rest of their years.
I have nothing but the up most respect for the police. However, I was a little perturbed a week ago last Thursday. My father was involved in an accident at 79th and Blue Ridge. He was turning left -- and he had the green light -- when a truck attempting to run the red light hit him. Luckily it was not an injury accident, although the other vehicle had to be towed from the scene. They waited for three hours, and the KCPD could not be bothered to even show up. After three hours, they called back, only to be told that the call had been canceled -- three hours ago. I have a feeling if this had happened in Raytown, at least they would have showed up to take the report. There has been a so called "war" on the police lately. Some people see them as the so called "bad guy". The police do not make the laws, they merely enforce our laws, and prevent anarchy. I just wish that they [the KCPD] could have taken the time, to come out and take a simple accident report.
Mock and Van Buskirk came on board after the previous board had approved the Wal Mart deal. Get your facts straight
Yea too bad that Aziere was re-elected last election, he came to my house speaking against the Charter and negative things about my other city councilman. I just listened knowing he is full of crap and he left. I can't believe people would continue to elect a fool like him.
When someone breaks into your home, you are the first responder.
Mock and Van Buskirk are still part of the problem!!! Time for them to go!!
7:53 PM, Sorry to hear about your father's accident. I think it was a serious accident, even without in juries and the PD should have responded! But they are understaffed! When I lived in KCMO, I waited 3 minutes for 911 to answer and 30 minutes for an officer to respond to a prowler HERE NOW! For a non-injury accident the other person had a cell phone and we were told to go to the station to file a report. Not in Raytown because Raytown has adequate police staffing even though some on this blog don't agree. Your father and the other driver could have filed a report at the station. Obviously they didn't tell him. Since it is an expensive accident with the other driver at fault, I think he should still check in to doing that. A PD report will be wanted by insurance.
Andy Whiteman
I was involved in a non-injury wreck at 87th & Blue Ridge. The KCFD and KCPD were both on scene in under 5 minutes. No police department is all bad or all good.
Steve Mock isn't as bad as some of them. At least he goes out and pulls illegal signs off the light poles and helps put up Christmas decorations on the Wooden Bridge. I don't see any of the others, except for Ms. Emerson doing anything like that.
And then our Police Officers are asked to do stupid
things too. The other day they got a call from a lady(?)
she said “she couldn’t get her daughter to get in the car.”
To top that off the (lady) gave the dispatcher the wrong
damn address, and called back to complain. And again,
she couldn’t get her daughter in the car.
Thankfully this wasn’t a dangerous call, our Police Officers
are not baby sitters. Plus there are way too many of these
stupid calls!
I couldn’t be a Police Officer. Stupid people should…………
never mind.
Not all the Aldermen are bad. Most are just lazy and incompetent. Hey we voted them in, it's our fault. We've had Aldermen who didn't pay taxes, who's homes had code violations, etc...
Steve Mock is the exception. Now there's a man for the people!
Anon - 4:55
We've even had one alderman who insisted on remaining on the board even though he didn't live in his district. That is against state law and if the prior board had any balls, this guy would have been thrown out of office. The good old boys club turned their blind eye to the situation and the people weren't properly represented. Good thing he's gone. I bet he never holds another office.
Andy,
He did go down and filed a report, but even then they seemed unwilling even to take it. He went to the South Patrol, and this happened in Metro. Insurance is taking care of it now -- it is going to cost roughly $4400 in damage. Hopefully, the other insurance will take care of it, if not my dad gets hit with a $500 deductible. Everything is being taken care of, but it would have been nice if they would have told them from the get go that they where expected to walk it in, instead of making them wait for three hours.
I've see Van Buskirk out pulling signs on more than one occasion. I have called him several times about problems with code violations in our neighborhood and he was here and got it taken care of. He also has picked up furniture left at the curb for a trash pick up. He is an alderman who does the job and doesn't brag about it he just does the job. Proud to call him my alderman in Ward 4
6:41 PM, I accidentally came across another Raytown online publication that stated this particular alderman, for legal reasons, was unable to live in his house for a period of time. He is now back in his house in his ward.
Andy Whiteman
Van Buskirk is too proud of himself, ever watch a meeting on TV? Oh the self righteous...
You're correct, Andy. But - there are many apartments in his ward he could have rented so he remained in his district. There are many rental houses in his district. Nobody cares about his personal problems. But he didn't have to leave his district. That's the point.
I had to leave my home for a short while a few yes back and I just stayed with friends and gave them a couple hundred a month. It was less expensive and was a win for them as well. An apt or house to rent starts out $75-100 application fee $500-950 deposit fee, first and last months rent $1600-1800, new utility deposits $100 each, sign a lease to pay said monthly rent for lease period $650-950 a month
It will always amaze me how people will make excuses for those who think they are above the rules. Some of the comments here defending the actions of joe creamer are way off the mark. He knew the rules when he filed for office. There are plenty of rentals in the area of raytown he lives in. Aren't our laws supposed to mean something? Not when some people are above the law. The worst part is the BOA sat by and let him stay in office when he was so very much in the wrong.
We attended the MODOT exhibition for the new 350/Raytown Road intersection plans yesterday. 75th Street will be closed next to IHOP. Accessing 75th Street from 350 east bound will require looping through Walmart and circling back or finding an alternate route.
The officials said there will be a Freddy's and another restaurant next to IHOP as well as a Starbuck's where the gas station was. I haven't heard this from the city.
My father also attended the MoDot exhibition as well. He is retired MoDot, and work there for forty years. He told them that the idea of re-routing eastbound 350 to northbound Raytown Road, and 75th Street will not work. I have encouraged him to come up with a better idea. He was in Survey and Plans for 20 years, and then 20 years in Construction before he retired. While there is a problem with the intersection, what they want to do, is merely an idea, and perhaps can be changed.
Bob Smith is out blowing out his ---, He is mad about being taken off the park board. His facts are incorrect.
Don't get to upset about the Bob Smith's and the Rosemary ATkins of Raytown's past. They are still stuck there, in the past, and they fear any change no matter how much the evidence points to the need. In their eyes it is still the 1980's. They see a swimming pool that is making money when in reality it is losing money at an embarrassing rate. Rosemary Atkins is very confused. The issue clearly stated inthe ballot language in 2010 (when we lasted approved the 1/8 cent sales tax) that the money was to be split between parks and storm sewer work. The Board is trying to keep that promise. The ironic thing is that the one who pushed the amendment to change the division of where the money would be spent in 2010 was Jim Aziere. Now he is against it! Oh, that's right, Jim was facing a tough election fight that year. Guess he thought he needed some talking points for the campaign. Let's see, he just got re-eledcted and surprise! Now he is opposed to the amendment he sponsored and voted for in 2010.
Does anybody know why Northwood school has a penguin on its sign? There are no penguins in the north.
All the schools have little mascots now. You will see each mascot in each school sign
I'm confused??? You said re-routing east bound 350 to northbound raytown rd to 75st. Isn't that what they have now with that northbound turn lane off eastbound 350?? That was a mess back in the 79s
I think the point made by the earlier writer is that the Penguin is a bird of the southern hemisphere. You will find them in Antarctica, non in the northern Arctic.
Northwood school has some of the sweetest challenged children . It's cute that they chose a penguin for their mascot .
It's a Mascot
The Galapagos penquin lives near the equator.
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