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Two candidates stand out with
Public Service Record in Raytown BY PAUL LIVIUS
Here is a well kept secret. On April 6th there will be an election in Raytown. Voters will elect two of four candidates running for the Raytown School Board. The City of Raytown is also holding an election. Incumbents in Wards 3, 4 and 5 are enjoying the holy grail of incumbent politicians . . . the “free ride”.
However, there are two races in Ward 1 and Ward 2 in Raytown. Ward 1 and Ward 2 are unique. Geographically they
make up the center of Raytown. Housing in both wards is a mix of older and
newer homes. Both areas were contained in the original city limits of Raytown
when it was founded back in the 1950’s.
The two races in Ward 1 and Ward 2 are an interesting study in
politics. Two of the candidates have a history of public service with deep
roots in Raytown.
JAYNE LOULOS
JAYNE LOULOS is running for Alderman in Ward 1. She is not a new comer to social service. Ms. Loulos holds a Masters and a Bachelors Degree in Social Work. She also has an Associate Degree in Biology. Her resume' reads like a "who's who" of hospitals and health center she has worked at in the Metropolitan area.
In 2019 a shooting took the life of a young woman at
Colman Park. The murder took place in a fusillade of small arms fire.
Jayne’s house was struck
by two of those bullets. One of them passed within feet of where she was
sleeping. She volunteered to serve on the Raytown Parks Improvement Committee.
The group met for two months. Their recommendation to hire private security
service in ALL Raytown Parks was adopted by the Raytown Park Board. This is
Jayne’s first attempt to run for public office.
Ms. Loulos said her main
reason for running is her concern over the increase of crime in Raytown. Crime
stats show Raytowners have a one in 1 in 145 chance of being involved, second
only to Springfield, Missouri which has a rate of 1 in 133.
Loulos said, "I
will work with closely with the Raytown Police Department in addressing the
increased crime rate in Raytown".
TONY JACOB
TONY JACOB led
a successful petition drive to have Raytown City Hall audited by the Missouri
State Auditor. The State Auditor released its final report in December of 2020.
In that report State Auditor Nicole Galloway identified 14 corrective measures
needed to bring Raytown into compliance with accepted audit standards.
The State of Missouri
uses a rating scale to measure the needs of a governmental entity like Raytown.
That rating is (from worse to best):
Poor, Fair, Good, Excellent.
The City of Raytown
received a "fair" rating. The Board of Aldermen unanimously accepted
the Audit and has agreed to implement all of its recommendations.
Mr. Jacob has also been
active in the community. Tony is a veteran of the United States Navy. He served
in the Iraqui Freedom Campaign and is active in VFW events. In 2020 he helped
organize Operation Gratitude on Veterans Day at HyVee located on 350 Highway.
Over 200 meals were distributed to veterans for their service to our Country.
We ran a story on
Operation Gratitude. His role with the event was that of press liaison. He
told us his main concern was that those who volunteered were recognized for all
they had done. Then he handed us a list of those people.
We were impressed. So
much so that we are re-running the photo and accompanying cutline from the
story. Mr. Jacob, we like your
style!
Special
thanks to:Zach Jones - Hy-Vee District Store DirectorCarolyn
Blashek - Founder of Operation GratitudeKevin
Schmiegel - CEO Operation GratitudeMarilyn
Facklam - VFW Post 1829 AuxiliaryAndre
Sidney - Commander VFW District 5 Department Of MissouriDavid
Pierschbacher - Commander VFW Post 1829Tony
Jacob - Senior Vice Commander VFW Post 1829Little
Bonner - Commander VFW Post 8100Frank
Looker - Commander VFW Post 1000
 |
| JAYNE LOULOS |
JAYNE LOULOS is running for Alderman in Ward 1. She is not a new comer to social service. Ms. Loulos holds a Masters and a Bachelors Degree in Social Work. She also has an Associate Degree in Biology. Her resume' reads like a "who's who" of hospitals and health center she has worked at in the Metropolitan area.
In 2019 a shooting took the life of a young woman at Colman Park. The murder took place in a fusillade of small arms fire.
 |
| TONY JACOB |
We were impressed. So much so that we are re-running the photo and accompanying cutline from the story. Mr. Jacob, we like your style!
. . . The Boys of Summer . . .
 |
| Two softball teams warm up for a pick-up game at Colman Park. |
The relaxing weather kept us away from the keyboard this weekend.
Watch for more news from the Raytown Report later this week.
16 comments:
Greg. Thank you for the information on the candidates. Yours is the only website that gives us interesting information about candidates. The rest seem to spend all their time on fluff or nothing at all. I want to give a shout out to Mr. Jacob as well. Thank you for your service Tony!
I looked on the city's website to get information on what is on the ballot and although it looks new and fresh I couldn't find anything that there was anything to vote for much less all new leadership. Must be a reason they are trying to hide it.
I read the last post and wondered if it was true. I spent close to half an hour searching the city's website -- not one word of an election coming up! I would not expect city hall to take sides on a race. But they should show at least who is running. Maybe someone at city hall will enlighten us. Why is the city election being ignored?
Every election I remember we got our mailboxes stuffed from the city, in every sewer bill, in the brochures and quarterly manuals information on the election. They must not want voter turnout so their chosen can walk in.
"I spent close to half an hour searching the city's website -- not one word of an election coming up!...Why is the city election being ignored?"
More lack of basic work product from them "hundred thouanders", or is there some "engineering" going on here? Or BOTH?
Continue to pay attention to these little tidbits. They're starting to really add up.
When is the Raytown Police going to start running radar on 63rd st by Blue Ridge elementary school? They could make a killing in traffic tickets during school hours and the weekend. With the money they would make, we might get some of our streets repaired. Have you noticed Raytown Traffic way from 63rd St going south? It is full of holes and no patching is being done much less re paving. Where is all the tax money going?
"More lack of basic work product from them "hundred thouanders", or is there some "engineering" going on here? Or BOTH? "
Nope, doubtful that anything is being "engineered". No grand plot here.
This isn't a case of "you get what you pay for", because they're getting paid plenty, IMO.
Performance benchmarking, people. Performance benchmarking.
A continuing and remarkable lack of basic effort, standards and supervision of upper "management" at City Hall, in my opinion.
A few keystrokes need to be applied to the City website, that's all.
8:30 am I don't understand why you spent so long looking for the election information. All you had to do was click on the tab entitled "News Room". It's right there in plain sight.
I find it interesting that half of the problems are being caused by out of towners.
8:14 PM, I discussed the issue of speeders on 63rd at Blue Ridge Elementary with Chief Lynch many years ago. I pointed out that it was a safety issue and he said that he would ask his officers to have a presence in the area. I would think it is a simple issue. Has anyone contacted the current Police Chief?
Andy Whiteman
WEnt to check out the so-called news room on the city's website. I could not find it. I think someone is having their fun claiming the city practices transparency. Not so. Just like there is not a "news room" tab. Prove me wrong! Put a link on this page that will take us to the so-called "news room" tab.
It's outrageous that the overpaid grifters at city hall are ignoring the upcoming election! Their blatant attempt to suppress voter turnout to boost their chosen candidates is unacceptable.
Hiding the election info under the News Room page on the city website is devious! The entire website should be taken down and just link directly to the PDF until Apr 7.
Don't get me started on the ballot info insert that was in my sewer bill I received today. 40% of the Wards have 1 ballot issue and 2 alderman to choose from. How can voters be expected to make an informed decision with only 3 weeks left until election day!?!?
This is a clear example of why no one in Raytown city government should receive monetary compensation, in my opinion.
Yours Truly
Grumpy McBitcherson
PS - For $40K, the fancy schmancy electronic billboard should be able to transmit the ballot info directly into my cerebrum
https://www.raytown.mo.us/newsroom
When is the Raytown Police going to start running radar on 63rd st by Blue Ridge elementary school? They could make a killing in traffic tickets during school hours and the weekend. With the money they would make, we might get some of our streets repaired. Have you noticed Raytown Traffic way from 63rd St going south? It is full of holes and no patching is being done much less re paving. Where is all the tax money going?
There is a reason people cannot see any information about the election on City Hall's website. It comes down to function and design. The "newsroom" button is embedded in a string of 14 headlines that scrolls across the page.
If you are unfamiliar with the website you will not see this scrolling happen because the pointer on your screen has to remain on the general area of the scrolling headlines. It is not really the best design for newcomers who visit the site.
There are quite a few pictures of events relating to old news on the rest of the front page. A picture about streaming of meetings -- which shows the Board meeting at city hall even though ALL meetings have been via ZOOM for close to four months. A "community video" starring Mayor McDonough that is so old all the trees have green leaves on it. A calendar of events that DOES NOT have even one word about the upcoming April 6th Election.
My favorite is a picture of a road that is definitely not in Raytown under the heading named ROAD CONCERNS.
The new websites looks better than the old. But functionally speaking it is not much of an improvement.
"There is a reason people cannot see any information about the election on City Hall's website. It comes down to function and design. The "newsroom" button is embedded in a string of 14 headlines that scrolls across the page."
https://www.raytown.mo.us/newsroom
The austereness of that page is indicative of what I feel is a much larger issue.
"How can voters be expected to make an informed decision with only 3 weeks left until election day!?!?"
When it comes to City admin, are we getting what we pay for? I don't mean to sound accusatory, only asking a question.
There indeed may be performance issues here. Good, bad or indifferent. Perhaps we'd be pleasantly surprised.
Either way, I'm are that many of us would like to be assured that we're getting what we pay for.
Moving forward, past and current job performances should be audited, tracked, and the results readily made available to the tax-paying public.
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