The Paul Livius Report
Light
Aggregate Seal seemed to freeze the condition of damaged streets into place
permanently. It looked bad, left uneven surfaces in its wake, and left a mess of
gravel in homeowner's yards to contend with.
An
added bonus to this year street overlay program is repair of street curbs and
driveway entrances on the streets repaired. The city has a study in pinpointing
those sections along the newly surfaced streets that require curb repair. This
additional dollars spent will provide dividends by turning residential streets
into more efficient storm water collectors.
Street Overlay, City Finally Gets it Right! BY PAUL LIVIUS
In
the eyes of local residents, Raytown City Hall finally got it right on street improvements
this fall. Instead of using a light aggregate seal on repair of its streets,
the city chose to use a mico-surface repair process.
Light
Aggregate Seal seemed to freeze the condition of damaged streets into place
permanently. It looked bad, left uneven surfaces in its wake, and left a mess of
gravel in homeowner's yards to contend with.
The
process used this year has many benefits. It still uses a very fine aggregate in
the process, but also uses more of a sealant to the streets. When laid on
the streets, the micro-surface process literally fills the cracks and uneven
surfaces, leaving a smooth asphalt like look and feel to the road surface that
is appealing to the eye and much easier to drive a car or ride a bicycle on.
“I
am very pleased with the results”, said Ward 1 Alderman Greg Walters. “We have received nothing but complements on the work done. In fact, I have yet to receive one complaint,” continued Walters.
More
than anything else, the people of Raytown deserve credit for change. The
complaints over the use of light aggregate seal were many. Through their representatives
on the City Council their voices were heard.
This
time, the city got it right.
Park/Storm Sewer
Tax on November Ballot
Raytown voters will find one item to vote on at the polls on
November 5th. That one issue is a renewal of a Park/Storm Sewer
Sales Tax.
The
current tax has a sunset clause effective next August. If the tax is not
renewed, voters will see their sales tax lowered by one quarter of a cent. If
the tax is approved, the tax will continue for another five year term.
Revenue
from the sales tax is split between parks and storm water repair work. The Park
Department receives 75% of the sales tax collected. The remaining 25% goes to
the city to be used on storm water control.
The
tax requires a simple majority of those casting votes for approval. Should the
tax not pass, the Park Department can place the same issue on the April ballot
for a second vote.
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Comments
I still feel that the Parks/Storm Water Control should be separate ballot issues because some people will vote for one and not the other. In my case, if I was there, I would vote, "NO," on the measure because I do not want the money going to parks, but I would vote, "YES," on Storm Water if it was separate.
Please drive very carefully on Oct. 31, Halloween. Those Trick or Treating will be difficult to see and may dart out into the street.
Andy Whiteman
I will be voting "NO" on the renewal of the parks tax. They have enough money. Separate the 2 taxes and I would vote "YES" on storm water repair. If the tax fails on November 5th and they place it on the ballot again in April, I will vote NO again!
Do you not want the Parks to still have the money to make our parks look good and our streets decorated with flowers? They are doing a great job.
Do you not want the enormous problem we have with our aging sewer system fixed?
I would think that these two items would be a great benefit to our City. They are both important to our City.
Derek A. WArd
Alderman, Ward 5
Dave Turner
It's not that the City finally got it right. It's that the City finally hired someone that has the expertise and put hard work into the streets overlay project. Let's give credit where it's due. Damon Hodges was hired and hit the ground running. These projects have been sitting dormant for years. We finally got a decent board that's not afraid to take the "bull" by the horns and get things done, even with the opposition that sits on the board and blame everything on the people said instead of standing up, because it's all about them. And ya know who they are. One of them came to our neighborhood, asking for our votes, shared who their "good friend" was, then we have been watching the nastiness toward that person. Well that Alderman has taken a lot of blows from these so called "friends" and to let ya know, we have been watching.
Thank you to City Staff and some of our Alderman for withstanding and getting things done.
Plus the city says parks is getting more money from the TIF area with the refinance. We already have the highest sales taxes around. I just hope enough people show up since it's the only issue on the ballot. It'll be costly to even have it but I think that's why they put it on this one so they could stack the electorate.
Pick what job(s) you want (be the mayor, City Administrator, Finance Director,or the city attorney, etc. BOA are policy and procedures makers not micro managers. If you want things your way, apply for the job. Several of you are dead weight and it shows at the meetings.
You are correct. It's nice the city can finally start fixing our streets. Maybe it's because sales tax revenue has increased with all the new businesses that have opened up. Maybe it's the extra cash the city has after refinancing the TIF bonds. The city staff has been trying for some time to use better products, but the money wasn't there. Now it is. Mayor Mike has been telling folks to be patient. He was right. Now our patience has started to pay off.
However as city administrator he has a lot more to address or needs to go back and just manage public works.
The reality is there an individuals on the city payroll that cannot be justified and Mr Hodges has still not addressed the issue.
The reality is there an individual on the city payroll that has gotten us in at least one law suit because of their inability to comply with the MO Sunshine Law and Mr Hodges has still not addressed the issue.
The reality is there is an individual on the city payroll that has not hired support staff to address property maintenance violations and Mr Hodges has still not addressed the issue.
Keep in mind the damage to the city from the last individual that moved from heading public works to city administrator.
Mr Hodge is not the answer just more of the same old problem!
I also noticed the coty is not running by what Mike campaigned on, they seem to be reading from his opponents promises and action plan.
Time for Markley to go or time for a Board that will move him on.
Wait a second, nevermind.
If you didn't know about these, maybe you should shut down your computer and get out more.
October 18, 2019 at 8:37 PM
Thank you!
I agree that "October 18, 2019 at 1:07 PM" must not get out much.
Also Wilma's Food Truck and Harp BBQ at Crane Brewery are new.
Didn't the city use to publish a list of business licenses that have been granted? I think they should do that again.
We are talking about the Freddy's by Wal-Mart on 350 Hwy. It opened in 2017--only 2 years ago. Not 10 years ago.
Also Harp BBQ and Wilma's Food Truck are at Crane as well.
Also, Crust + Pizza was originally in KC at the Blue Vue Shopping Center and moved to Raytown.
SMH
We fully support John's, Cuentos, Crust Plus, Crane and the incredible Rincon Tarasco. It was a tremendous a leap of faith for those businesses to choose Raytown.
Good luck to them. Hopefully they will have enough business to afford that much space in the "old Funhouse Pizza joint". Did they purchase the building, or will they continue to be renters? Was hoping for a solid buyer and an established restaurant. Time will tell.
Freddies, scooters, panda express are all national chains that place locations based on their statistics the city has very little to do with it.
Food trucks don't count as they don't pay taxes here.
As for a bird farm and a coffee shop, nice. In 6 years we've gained a bird farm.
It is like some elected officials trying to say we have a professional city administrator and department heads.
If we set the time frame as 1 year most of those businesses wouldn't be counted that is the reality of a fact based approach to life.
I am still in shock over the space being more in Raytown for Sq Pizza. Don't see it and for those that didn't visit it prior to locating in Raytown it had two side by side spots at the corner of 47th and Blue Ridge Blvd with the cakes in one and pizza in the other. Once again fake news from those that should have paid better attention in math class.
It is also claimed that the fish place is bigger in the old fun house pizza, but are you sure they are not going to be just using the front room on 350. Keep in mind the Raytown Road location had two sides. In any case this business has been here for years so you cannot count as "NEW" and you cannot count as expanded unless you have facts to support. My guess is the move allows them to be on a street (highway), which has much more traffic flow than Raytown Road. This was also a point by another poster for the businesses in the TIF area.
Along those lines you also must be careful with how you count a "WIN". A "WIN" is a business that generates sales tax for the city and without that "WIN" property taxes have to increase. That is the reality of it and not the Fake news from city hall that the car wash will benefit the city.
With the number of citizens buying into the FAKE NEWS from city hall one has to agree the school distinct is FAILING to educate our citizens to be self thinking and have the knowledge to research things to get to the truth and avoid being a sheep following the path of lies.
Andy Whiteman
Andy - if you want to know what businesses there are in Raytown, go to the Chamber of Commerce. They have a very extensive list. BTW - we don't care what they do in Arizona.
With all that extra space once the fish place has planted their flag in the property, perhaps they might consider an extra U.S. President or two banquet room.
You know. Like Eisenhower. Or Bush.
Parity. Diversity. Now that would be a win-win.
"With the number of citizens buying into the FAKE NEWS from city hall one has to agree the school distinct is FAILING to educate our citizens to be self thinking and have the knowledge to research things to get to the truth and avoid being a sheep following the path of lies."
I have a private school education and know how to research. Please don't make blanket, incorrect statements about those on here.