As a black mayor, Sly James is expected by many to pay special attention to lifting up the city’s poorer parts. If the programs he backs reduce violent crime and improve schools, those could be two of his greatest legacies as mayor of all of Kansas City.
Kansas City’s mayor and police chief need to re-examine security for Sly James in wake of Tuesday’s startling incident at the Gem Theater. James took the understandable approach just minutes after a man walked on stage, interrupted his State of the City speech and was physically pulled away from the podium by two of James’ bodyguards.
Count on Sly James to offer plenty of positive news in his State of the City speech next Tuesday. But Kansas Citians still face myriad challenges that deserve more of James’ attention in the future.
Jackson County Executive Mike Sanders is taking the right approach: If the Kansas City Southern and Union Pacific railroads won’t agree on where the final leg of commuter rail will be allowed to travel, taxpayers should not be asked to approve a new transit system. The delay is unfortunate.
Pumped up on conservative steroids, many Republican legislators in Kansas and Missouri want to send a message to Washington, D.C. It goes something like this: You can’t tell us what to do.
Kansas Citians often lament the high crime rate, disappointing school systems and other problems facing the city. But it could be worse. We could live in St. Louis.
Poor Vicky Hartzler. The Missouri congresswoman has such little respect for her constituents that she will try to blatantly mislead them. Or, more accurately, she’s willing to try to lie to them.
Think Kansas Citians are scared of being fined for not shoveling snow off their sidewalks by today’s get-tough deadline, advertised in all the media for the last few days? Think again. I drove by hundreds upon hundreds of houses and businesses this morning with unshoveled walkways.
Sly James is hardly the first mayor to handle devastating accidents and horrible weather in Kansas City. Over the last 30-plus years, three other mayors capably dealt with some pretty intense situations, providing crucial leadership for residents.
Iowa State defeated the highly ranked Kansas basketball team Monday night in Ames, Iowa. At least, that’s what the mad-as-hell Cyclones’ fans think today. However, thanks to crucial mistakes by the referees, KU escaped with a 108-96 overtime victory.
Campaigning against taxes is easy. Running a city or county without sufficient public revenues is hard. It takes skilled and properly motivated elected officials to know when it’s time to try to raise taxes — and when they should be left alone.
South of the river, Kansas City matches the stereotypical views of many area residents: It’s a dangerous place to live. But there’s another angle. The other half of Kansas City is relatively safe.
Based on past results, there’s a good chance Wal-Mart will be allowed to open new stores in Lee’s Summit, Kansas City’s Waldo area and Raytown. If that happens, elected officials made those results possible. Wal-Mart’s critics will know where to place blame for those actions — but so will the store’s fans.
For all the hoopla over the continued growth in Johnson County, estimates by the Mid-America Regional Council show that the population of this area will tilt heavily toward the Missouri side for many more years. The figures should make it clear that it makes great sense to invest in Missouri-side amenities, such as better roads, transit, schools and tourist attractions.
Just days after his highly praised inaugural address, President Barack Obama was batted back down to earth Friday by a court ruling. This one criticized the president for violating the separation of powers and usurping the Senate’s role of confirming his appointments.
Several Missouri sheriffs are trotting out decisions they don’t have the power to make: whether they will or won’t enforce this nation’s gun laws. If the sheriffs don’t think they can enforce the laws -- if their heart or conscience won’t let them do it -- they have an easy out. They can resign.
In the last four years conservative Republicans have taken near-total control of state and federal positions in Johnson County. How did they do it? U.S. Rep. Kevin Yoder says the conservatives now truly represent the views of the majority of Johnson County’s residents and business leaders.
Everyone looks for winners and losers when it comes to playing hardball politics in Kansas City. This week — in a bit of fortuitous timing — three different major issues reached crucial tipping points. These three positive outcomes could and should have been accomplished more quickly to benefit Kansas Citians and public employees. Still, progress is being made, so let’s celebrate it.
Going the wrong way on guns, Missouri wants to put more on the streets of Kansas City and other parts of the state. Gee, what could go wrong? A new bill introduced in the General Assembly would drop the age someone can carry a gun in the state from 21 to 19. This is part of Missouri’s race to the bottom on gun control.
Regressive sales taxes imposed by cities, counties and states are taking bigger-than-ever bites out of the wallets and purses of area residents. The sales tax has become the funder of choice for many projects in this area. Don’t expect that to change — until voters rebel when they decide rates have soared too high.
Just watch: 2013 is going to be the best year ever in the Kansas City area. Of course, there are plenty of ways for that upbeat prognostication to go awry. Here are several local issues worth special scrutiny this year along with the usual caveat that — at any time — new concerns could pop up and demand attention.
Bravo for Raytown Superintendent Allan Markley and Kansas City Mayor Sly James. On Wednesday they did something unusual in the annals of tax increment financing controversies in this area. They agreed to try to responsibly settle their disagreements on a proposed youth soccer complex in Kansas City.
As a Kansas City resident and believer in the urban experience, and even after hearing all the happy talk from last week’s conference on The New American City, I have to point out this inconvenient truth: Downtown is growing — but the suburbs (and Kansas City’s Northland) are growing more quickly.
A two-mile streetcar line in downtown has the potential to be an extremely positive amenity for Kansas City. It is not a panacea for all that ails Kansas City, but it’s worth having, it’s worth paying for and it definitely will be worth using.
Critics point to problems with public schools, bumpy streets, costly sewer repairs and corporate welfare run amok while contending the Kansas City has changed for the worse. The facts show otherwise. Take a look at key indicators to really evaluate how Kansas City has fared over the last 25 years.
