Letters: Readers discuss a KCI parking garage, St. Teresa’s swastika and Kris Kobach
Parking ticket
When a man’s body is found in a vehicle after sitting for eight months in the city-owned parking lot at KCI, The Star’s editorial criticizes the Lenexa police for not having checked it. (Sept. 19, 10A, “Why didn’t Lenexa cops check KCI parking?”)
Really?
Isn’t it curious that employees of the city of Kansas City didn’t make the discovery? It comes as no surprise if you’ve ever used the city-owned lots at KCI. Incompetence rules, and the vast majority of frequent travelers use the privately owned lots, even though they are farther away and more expensive.
Now the city wants to eliminate the competition by asking for a 6,500-car parking garage alongside the proposed single terminal. The parking building could be bigger than the terminal itself.
What’s not to like?
Forget the conveniences we love about KCI, including low airfares, because it’s all about the city, not the residents. City officials stifle discussion of keeping a vastly remodeled two-terminal concept at lower cost because they want the new parking revenue and would get bigger rents from restaurant tenants.
I just can’t wait.
Kevin Clune
Kansas City
Lax response
Last week, I attended a networking and fundraising soiree for St. Teresa’s Academy alumnae living in Washington, D.C. I’ve been riding the nostalgia wave for my alma matter ever since.
That is, until a fellow alumna posted a disturbing news article on Facebook: Over the weekend, current St. Teresa’s students Snapchatted photos of themselves posing next to a swastika made of beer pong cups with the caption, “Girls night!” (Sept. 22, KansasCity.com, “School responds after girls pose with swastika made of beer pong cups”)
I stand with those disgusted alumnae who have already spoken out and hope more of us do the same, particularly over the school administration’s response.
The punishment the students received was unduly light — one day of “in-school reflection” and no participation in extracurricular activities for a week — and I am incredulous that the administration is treating this less as an act of racism and more as an unruly night of underage drinking.
When we sat with the school’s president last week, she told us alumnae about an impending robotics lab, active learning classrooms and remodeled locker rooms.
Before breaking ground on these projects, you must take a more unequivocal stance against the heinous actions of some of your students.
Caroline Quinn
Washington, D.C.
Off the clock?
The Star recently ran a story stating that Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach claimed it was OK for him to use his personal emails for the so-called voting fraud commission because he was doing commission work on his own time. (Sept. 19, 6A, “Kobach’s commission emails test Kansas transparency law”)
If that is so, I certainly hope he has claimed vacation time or used some other mechanism to ensure that the people of Kansas are not paying him for pursuing his private endeavors.
Mel Tremper
Topsham, Md.
Pay up first
The Sept. 19 story, “Burns & Mac presses city on airport” (1A), was likely the first time most people had heard that Kansas City still owes $239 million for the remodel at Kansas City International Airport that was finished 15 years ago.
Why not pay for it before we tear down the airport to build a new one?
Thank you, Kansas City Star, for this story. I hope the mayor and City Council will read it, because I think this should have been made more publicly prominent a long time ago.
Don Kauffman
Sunrise Beach, Mo.
Think it through
I am wondering whether President Donald Trump has thought out destroying North Korea. (Sept. 20, 8A, “In U.N. speech, Trump threatens to ‘totally destroy North Korea’”)
This would mean retraining the military, which in the past has tried to limit civilian casualties. Now we would need to teach soldiers that when the army moves into an area they must kill everyone, including women and children.
Do we plan to bury each one separately, or will we use large graves for multiple people? How do we plan to mark the graves?
I see that South Korea is assembling a group with the aim to kill the North Korean leader. This seems like more practical idea.
Bill Betteridge
Independence
There he goes
President Donald Trump’s tweets and speeches remind me of the chatter in the local barber shop (though he likely has never been to one ): lots of bigotry, self-righteous proclamations, high school history and civic lessons, “the good old days,” racism and ways to save the country from itself.
Then, when one of the guys leaves, everyone left says what a jerk he is.
John Nelles
Shawnee
This story was originally published September 22, 2017 at 8:30 PM with the headline "Letters: Readers discuss a KCI parking garage, St. Teresa’s swastika and Kris Kobach."