Readers react to the Power & Light District, ethics in Missouri and climate change
Too big to fail?
I rarely open a tab because I generally pay cash. However, I left the Power & Light District recently without retrieving my license and debit card.
The next morning, when I realized what I’d done, I attempted to retrieve both. A criminally unhelpful bar manager and equally unaccommodating Power & Light staffer had added an unauthorized charge and then lost both items.
Frustrated by the unprofessional behavior, I went to replace my license and debit card.
An out-of-order restroom probably contributed to the irritability of the Department of Motor Vehicles personnel, working in an understaffed and overcrowded room. I wasn’t surprised, and I got in and out as quickly as possible.
At Commerce Bank, I was greeted with smiles and apologies by employees who seemed genuinely concerned that my card had been taken. They gave me a debit card in two minutes.
As I drove home, contemplating the different interactions, I realized my complaints about Power & Light and the state DMV office were related. Unlike Commerce, those entities don’t exist because they provide quality service but through government subsidy.
Kansas City is on the hook for millions of dollars because of the Power & Light District.
My question: Is the Power & Light District too big to fail?
Samuel Ziglinski
Kansas City
Ethics and trust
I found it ironic yet strangely appropriate that The Kansas City Star on Dec. 31 ran front-page articles about the lack of ethics in the Missouri General Assembly and the Bill Cosby sex case. It seems that some people talk loudly about principles and ethics but cannot abide by them themselves.
Many in the General Assembly find no reason they should have any restrictions on money, gifts, jobs or preferential treatment. It is as if some members of the legislature are saying: “I don’t need no stinking rules. I’m special. Trust me.”
I suspect that is what Mr. Cosby said as he offered his lady guests a drink.
Ken Strange
Kansas City
Climate change
I have a question for those climate-change deniers who insist on burying their heads in the sand and continue to ignore the professional opinions of 98 percent of the world’s scientific experts.
If your doctor told you that you have only one year to live if you do not change your lifestyle and you decide to get opinions from 100 other doctors, would you continue to live as though there were no tomorrow if 98 of the 100 agreed with the original prognosis?
Ninety-eight percent of the world’s brightest and best scientists have given Earth what amounts to a death sentence if we don’t heed their warnings and stop polluting our planet. We simply cannot afford to ignore these warnings.
Eddie L. Clay
Grandview
Registering guns
I find it very odd that those politicians who are so eager to have all gun owners and all guns registered with the government are so opposed to the idea of all Muslims registering. Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, as they say.
Dick Davenport
Lee’s Summit
Licensing cheers
I went online at about 9:45 a.m. recently to the Kansas Department of Revenue’s driver’s license page, where I clicked on the Mission office and registered my telephone number, which put me in line to renew my license.
I left my home and arrived 10 minutes later and was immediately greeted by a very pleasant woman who said I would be called any minute.
And in about 10 seconds I was called to a station, where I was greeted by another woman who was both friendly and efficient. I walked out of the office at 10:11 a.m. with my renewal.
Just 25 minutes from home to renewal with no waiting whatsoever.
I am continually (and with good reason) critical of our incompetent governor and his cronies in the Statehouse. But I received five-star treatment at the Department of Revenue’s driver’s license office.
The experience could not have been better.
Whoever is doing the hiring knows what to look for in an employee, and whoever is responsible for customer-service training at the Mission office deserves the highest praise. Excellent work.
Thank you for such great service.
Jennifer Randle
Overland Park
This story was originally published January 5, 2016 at 5:12 PM with the headline "Readers react to the Power & Light District, ethics in Missouri and climate change."