‘Let’s make it happen’: Tyrone Garner is sworn in as mayor of Kansas City, Kansas
Standing on the stage at Memorial Hall, Tyrone Garner was sworn as the first Black mayor of Kansas City, Kansas and Wyandotte County on Monday and laid out a plan for how he hopes to improve Wyandotte County throughout his next four years.
At his speech Monday evening, Garner asked for unity to help bring about change in Wyandotte County.
“We must set aside our egos, remove our silos and be willing to work collaboratively to bring about the positive change so many desperately want to see,” Garner said to a crowd of several hundred inside Memorial Hall. “Let’s make it happen.”
Residents of Wyandotte County had grown frustrated with past administrations, feeling that the mayors and commissioners had not done enough to improve the county and city.
Taxes were too high and development in downtown was nonexistent, they said.
Garner capitalized on the frustrations he sensed from voters throughout his campaign against incumbent David Alvey.
He retired from the Kansas City, Kansas Police Department in 2019. He didn’t have any aspirations to run for mayor or any public office. But friends and confidants kept telling him he could make a difference as mayor.
Garner was an outsider, not a member of the political club that seemed to dominate the Unified Government through the years. He seized that. He defeated incumbent Alvey in the Nov. 2 general election, recording 8,531 votes to Alvey’s 8,133.
“Ultimately, I said yes to the call to action and became determined to facilitate to promoting a message of unity, opportunity and hope,” Garner said. “A determination that we can change the hopes and dreams of today and becoming the reality of tomorrow. A reality of what Wyandotte County can be.”
Before running for mayor, Garner worked for the Kansas City, Kansas Police Department for 32 years, climbing the ranks until he ultimately was named deputy chief in 2015.
Now that same police department is under fire due to several controversies. A few weeks before the general election, it was revealed that federal prosecutors opened a criminal grand jury investigation into former detective Roger Golubski, who is accused of using his badge to exploit and rape vulnerable Black women.
Garner has voiced his support for a Department of Justice investigation into the police department. Garner said Monday he fully supports the men and women in public safety and asked the crowd to give them a round of applause. But then he said there needs to be measures, “designed to better hold those that can steal our public trust to the values and expectations of our community.”
Garner repeated the issues he campaigned on, saying it was time to have affordable youth programs for children and also making sure Parkwood Pool, the only public swimming pool in Kansas City, Kansas, located in a predominantly Black neighborhood, wouldn’t be closed like it was last year.
He once again called for a lower bill from the Board of Public Utilities and more development east of I-635 and in the northeast — an area that is predominantly filled with Black and Brown residents.
Five of the Unified Government commissioners who were also sworn in listened to his speech. Garner will rely on them and their votes during full commission meetings in order to fulfill his campaign goals. He said he’s ready to do that.
“My main priorities will involve me reaching out to our Unified Government Commissioners to work towards system changes that would allow for a UG administration to be more accountable to the elected body,” Garner said. “We need to ensure an improved balance of power where the will of the people is better reflected through those they elect to represent them.”
This story was originally published December 13, 2021 at 9:19 PM.
