Louviers, Colorado is an historic village of 123 homes where I use to live and worked in the Post Office. Please sign this petition to stop the opening of an asphalt plant there which will cause pollution, noise, and ruin the property values of all homes there!
To learn more about the petitioner’s goal to reach 7,500 signatures (they have 5,131 so far) use the following link.
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| BY GREG WALTERS |
Park Board Meeting
The Raytown Park Board will hold its month
business meeting on Monday, October 19, 2020. The Park Board members meet
remotely via ZOOM. The Public is invited to attend the meeting remotely via
ZOOM. Anyone attending the meeting may address the Park Board at the beginning
of the meeting during Public Comments. Each person addressing the Park Board is
allowed five minutes to speak.
Once Public Comments is over and everyone has had a chance to speak, the Park Board will go into its regular
business session. The Public is allowed to observe the meeting but not
participate in the meeting during the business session.
The meeting is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. Those who wish to participate in Public Comments may want to sign in a few minutes before 7:00 p.m. to reserve their time to speak.
Use the following link to sign in to the ZOOM meeting.
https://zoom.us/j/93413307323?pwd=WlArNnNCTVp0eG9Ga3RSd0hxaU9yUT09
Meeting ID: 934 1330 7323 Password: 026865
Following is the agenda of the Park Board Meeting.
I. Call
to Order
II. Public Participation
III. Reports
of Officers
IV. Reports
of Standing and Special Committees
V. Staff
Reports
VI. New
Business
1. Security Issues at Colman Park
2. Program Fee Schedule
3. Assest Management – City Works
The past week at Colman Park has been eventful. Saturday, Sunday and Monday nights all had reports of gunfire at the park. Each event was unique.
SATURDAY EVENING: Saturday evening at about 8:00 p.m. a violent fight occurred between two women at Colman Park. It is reported that people at the park tried to break up the fight by spraying the two with pepper spray. When that did not work an unknown man pulled a gun and fired six shots into the air to stop the two from fighting.
By the time police arrived at the scene the shooter had already left. Neighbors of the park credit the police with calming things down after they arrived. Officers involved at the scene left about five minutes after they arrived. Neighbors of the park have complained the police should have closed the park down for the evening. As one neighbor said, “Gun shots in the air are extremely dangerous. Those bullets will come down, and they can be deadly.”
SUNDAY EVENING: A report of a single gunshot fired at Colman Park was turned into the police.
MONDAY EVENING: Monday evening at about 9:00 p.m. a series of gunshots were fired at Colman Park. A witness to the shooting gave the following account . . . "two young men drove near the south entrance to the park. One of the men pulled out a handgun and fired five shots into the ground. He did not appear to be shooting at anything in particular." After the shots were fired, the two men drove away towards Hunter Street at a very high rate of speed.
Neighbors living around Colman say violence at the park has increased. Crime statistics of Colman Park support the same conclusion. Colman also leads other Raytown parks in park rule violations. Colman Park has the highest amount of non-resident activities at the park. City officials say this is because it is close (about two city blocks) to Blue Ridge Cutoff. All of the other parks in Raytown are located central to the city or on the eastern boundary of Raytown.
Solutions . . .
There is not a doubt the City of Raytown has serious problems that need to be addressed at Colman Park. Some ideas have been discussed. All of them have merit. Check out the following and feel free to add any ideas to the list.
GATE THE NORTH AND SOUTH ENTRANCE TO THE PARK:
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| GATES AT SUPER SPLASH |
Colman Park is unique. It has one entrance on the
south end of the park and one entrance on the north. Raytown Parks and
Recreation also has a narrow driveway to the park headquarters as well.
The most cost effective solution would be to close the park entrances to vehicular traffic during the evening. The City of Raytown has two very large gates at the old Super Splash Water Park. They are wide enough to cross and entire suburban street. The gates at the closed Super Splash Water Park have not been used since the park closed. The only cost the city would have would be to move the gates from one location to another.
Naysayers and critics of this plan say “the street is a public street, it cannot be gated”. They should tell that myth to the people who manage the Power and Light District in Downtown Kansas City, Missouri. Or, take a trip to Westport, you will find public streets with barricades blocking vehicles into the area. The simple fact is this is a viable solution. It deserves to be considered.
SET A CURFEW OF DUSK TO DAWN AT THE PARK: The neighbors surrounding Colman Park have a saying, “Nothing Good Happens After Dark in Colman Park.” Park personnel can vouch for this fact.
Gunshots after dark are common. Illicit sex, drug use and vandalism are on the upswing in the park. Closing down the park during the night time hours makes sense, especially during the winter, when the most common daytime activity is people strolling the walking trail. The park is a safe place during the daytime. No one takes their walks at night because it is not safe to do so.
HIRE FULL TIME POLICE DEDICATED TO POLICING COLMAN PARK: Full time police presence makes a lot of sense. The Park Headquarters, located at the north entrance of the park could be used as a base. Some may say this is too expensive. But is it?
Last year the city paid out $40,000 for an electronic monument sign in front of City Hall. The Board of Aldermen is currently considering 1.2 million dollars in upgrades to City Hall.
As one neighbor put it at a recent meeting to the Park Board Director Dave Turner . . . “Consider the cost of someone being killed by a stray bullet. By time the prosecution, and no doubt lawsuits over a known hazard are finished, the city could easily be on the hook for at least one million dollars to resolve all disputes. It would be a lot less expensive to hire a Park Ranger, a Police Officer or some other kind of authority to keep the peace at Colman Park on a full time basis.
Colman Park is located on the west side of
the city. Only two blocks from Blue Ridge Cutoff, It extremely easy to leave in a hurry via at least six exits* from the area. Someone with ill intent can escape the scene when the break the law. Bad people with bad intent know this – and they regularly take advantage of it.
*350 Highway and 63rd Street, and I-435 are very close to the South. 59th Street, Raytown Road, and I-70 to the West / Blue Ridge Cutoff is the connector street for all of these routes.
USE THIS LINK TO COMMENT . . . COMMENTS
20 comments:
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We can't do anything at the Parks Board. I recommended going to the Board meeting on Tuesday. They will probably limit comments due to COVID.
Its not just minor smith park has had a lot of issues with cars hanging out and vagrants living there. I mean I guess I'd rather have sex in back seats and drug use instead of the gun shots at Colman, but can't we do anything to stop at least some of it? Who is the park board leader? I would bet they don't live near a park or even go to them.
You can go to the park board meeting and say what you want to say but nothings going to get done. The park department doesn't have no cops. If you want peace in the parks you have to demand it from the police department. I don't know why you haven't figued it out yet.
Apparently there are problems everywhere. Should be an interesting meeting. I hope they come up with solutions and not excuses.
I don't have a way of seeing the Parks meetings, but my neighbor told me they had one last night where they blew off all the people around Coleman Park. It's sad when you have to pay high taxes for schools that wont take kids and a Police Department that won't respond to crime with roads that destroy your alignment. We moved here a few years ago and are planning on moving to Lee's Summit. We thought we were getting a quiet community with great neighbors. We got the great neighbors but don't feel safe taking walks at night anymore. Even worse we are being taxed so much and it seems like every vote there is another new tax increase.
From the story about gunshots at Colman Park:
"City officials say this is because it is close (about two city blocks) to Blue Ridge Cutoff"
In other words... Kansas City, Missouri!!
So all the Band-Aid solutions have not worked. Security guards, lighting, cameras, etc.
Looks like these offences all happen at night after the park is officially closed.
So, what would I do if I had the power?
My first choice would be to install gates at the entrances and have the paid security folks lock them at dusk. Maybe use some of that CARES money to fund the first year's operation.
(The covid 22 has made folks unusually nutty and drugged up)
Second choice and one maybe something that should be done even with the above gate solution is to permanently close the south entrance. First responders have already said that they don't need the access.
No matter what, we should use some of the CARES money to install heavy duty gates. That way the closure idea can be tested for a time to see what works. Maybe it is only needed during warmer months or on weekends.
Tough problems sometimes require tough solutions. We need to act before another death is recorded at the park or at a neighbor's house adjacent to the park.
Thank you for allowing me to say my mind.
R N
October 20, 2020 at 10:01 AM
You are making some very salacious claims. What crimes weren't responded to? Why weren't your kids allowed into the district?
What tax increases are you talking about--Jackson County property taxes?
The voters seem to approve Raytown school taxes but not much else. It takes money to fix roads and until the voters realize that this is what you have.
Not right. Most people are tired of being promised improvements on their neighborhoods only to see the city back away from the promises. Then the city goes out and purchase what has to be ugliest electronic monument sign for City Hall. What is worse, the sign only faces one way on a three way intersection. Believe it or not, they found $40,000 to pay for it as well! Why should anyone vote for tax increases when they see the mayor and city council waste it?
At the last park board meeting, someone claimed they had called the police "at least 6 times because of gunshots in the park". Yet, if you look at the police blotter, there might be, maybe, one call logged. Why the discrepancy? Are the residents calling the non emergency number instead of 911?
I think most people call the non-emergency number. I know I do. Dialing 911 is supposed to be for situations of dire emergency like a serious car wreck, a deadly shooting, a deadly fight, and so forth. I checked with many of the people who live around Colman Park. Most of them dial the non-emergency number. It is probably why the statistics do not show the high amount of calls for service at Colman. I am certain the calls go out because the police show up in a very timely fashion.
The good news is that people living around the park are now acting as the eyes and ears of the police. I can remember when Raytown Police would not show up for calls at Colman Park. The situation was bad then, it has become worse now. I believe the increased response by police department will make a difference at a premier city park in our city. Judging from the last meeting the majority of the Park Board seem to be ready to move forward with some solutions. Time will tell.
Juat so you know...the same dispatchers answer both the non-emergency and 911 calls.
I believe if no report is written then it doesn't show up in the daily blotter.
I don't know of a report that is published that shows all the calls that are dispatched per day.
I wondered about the reporting on calls as well. I often receive calls from constituents asking that I call the police for them on emergencies. Most of those calls, because I am their neighbors, come from people living around Colman Park. I have easily placed over 15 calls myself to dispatchers in 2020. I also know of other park neighbors who have told me they call as well. Information I have received from the Park Department tells of Colman having more calls to the police and park headquarters than other Raytown Parks. It does call into question how those calls are placed into the public record.
I was by the park the other day and saw the second set of curbs they put in the parking lot to keep people from driving up next to the shelter houses have all been pushed up to the curb. This really makes it EASIER for vehicles to drive up the shelter houses. They need to anchor the concrete curbs to the pavement to make them effective. I see the concrete curbs have holes in them for this very purpose. All they have to do is drive a long spike (any solid, long rod of metal will work). This will keep cars from driving over the curbs to par by the shelter houses.
By separating the curbs it makes it very difficult drive any type of vehicle over them without damaging the front end of the vehicle.
I would think that people who re-built the Park Headquarters (the did a very good job) will be able to handle this quick fix.
Greg,
I wanted to say "thank you" for publishing your newsletter. The news about the County Prosecutor and Chief of Police is good news. I also appreciate your keeping up on what is going on in our city parks. If we do not talk about these problems we will never solve them. Keep up the good work!
Which building are we burning down forst after the election?
One party wishes to re-write our history, defund our police departments, embrace socialism, and redefine America
They say, "Let's change everything in the United States of America."
The other party says, "Let's not."
This is perhaps the greatest cliff note commentary on the election anyone could possibly craft! Well done!
So this how you win elections by cheating. God will not bless your party for what you are trying to do to our country.
If you google "socialism," this is the definition that comes up: "A political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole."
To be clear, the United States already subscribes to some elements of the socialist economic system. That's why we're considered to have a mixed economy instead of a capitalist economy. For example, the government taxes us to build and maintain Coleman Park, and the Raytown police have the duty to keep it safe.
No major party running a candidate for president this year advocated for any more socialist economic policy than is already widely accepted in our country. I can think of no example in which either of the two parties advocated a rewrite of American history either. As far as a "redefining" of America, this is normal. Our country has been redefined over and over again over the years as we have moved toward a more perfect union. Slavery was once an integral part of American life for many. Now, thankfully, it is not. Small children used to be allowed to work in factories. Now, thankfully, this is not allowed. Women used to not be allowed to vote; again, thankfully, this no longer is the case.
As a local media source upon which many rely, I implore you not to parrot partisan exaggerations and to acknowledge that Americans have a long history of allowing new ideas and experience to redefine our experiences.
Hello Michael and thanks for your factual, literate and unemotional posting which sums up what many of us are thinking.
And thank you to Greg for allowing another point of view to be published.
RN
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