Readers react to roads, the American Royal parade and same-sex marriage
Road resurfacing
I read that Johnson County will be increasing my property tax to help pay for libraries, parks and transit. I know how to fund these important community services without raising my property tax one dime.
In fact, if the Johnson County Commission would adopt my idea, my property tax would actually decrease because of a resulting surplus. My brilliant idea? Stop resurfacing streets that don’t need resurfacing.
Case in point: The Roe Avenue-Interstate 435 overpass that was completed less than a year ago is being resurfaced. Are you kidding me?
Nall Avenue, Roe Avenue, Mission Road, College Boulevard — you name the street. They get resurfaced every two or three years whether the streets need it or not.
I can’t even imagine what this waste of taxpayers’ dollars costs, but it has got to be enough to provide for libraries, parks and buses.
The only upside to this debacle is the money I have made in purchasing stock in the company that manufactures yellow traffic cones for Johnson County.
Steve Zadeh
Prairie Village
Royal parade
The American Royal has been a long-standing tradition in Kansas City, its roots in livestock, horse shows and agriculture. This year, the parade became a charade of a procession around the stadium (10-4, A4, “Parade marches into a Royal new location”).
Really?
The parade should be a proud city event that can have participation by all the citizens, not just those who have car access down I-70.
I don’t buy the reasoning by event organizers that one can have a “better viewing” seat or “the parade participants have to walk less.”
The downtown event encouraged diverse participation and brought citizens to the heart of the city — a city whose development is exciting and on the cusp of greatness.
Bring the parade back to the city. Sometimes you have to look back to move forward.
Linda Badami
Kansas City
GOP, gay marriage
If the 2016 Republican presidential candidates oppose the Supreme Court ruling back in June, they hurt their chances to take control of the White House.
The party needs to realize that our world is evolving and must respect the decision of the Supreme Court. Independent voters will not respect or vote for candidates who are protesting the Supreme Court decision. According to a Pew Research Poll, 61 percent of independent voters favor same-sex marriage.
Republicans such as former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee must put their deep religious convictions behind them while being lawmakers if they aspire to win my vote not only for the primary but also the national election. They need to adapt to this changing world.
According to Pew, in 2001, 57 percent of Americans opposed same-sex marriage. Today, that number has dipped to 39 percent.
The Republicans must vow not to fight against the legalization of same-sex marriage.
Martin Radosevic Jr.
Kansas City
Stadium parking
I believe the parking at Kauffman and Arrowhead stadiums should be redone to help people entering and exiting the games do so more smoothly and efficiently.
Before the games at either stadium, cars are backed up for miles. There are cops watching and guiding traffic, but there is only so much they can do.
After the games, the fans are angry and drunk, and this leads to accidents in the parking lot.
I think that if there were more entrances and exits the parking process would be a lot smoother and less dangerous. Another option would be to have cheaper off-site parking with shuttles or to have other lots within walking distance of the stadiums.
Mitchell Roach
Kansas City
Redefining terms
We need to add new definitions to commonly used words:
▪ Collateral damage — innocent people killed.
▪ Business decision — heartless decision.
▪ Right to work — killing unions.
▪ Religious liberty — selective intolerance.
▪ Boston tea party — rioting and looting.
▪ Discovered America — invaded America.
▪ Statement no longer operative — it was a lie.
▪ Voter protection — voter suppression.
▪ Trickle-down economics — I got mine; sorry about you.
Jim Siress
Olathe
This story was originally published October 6, 2015 at 10:00 AM with the headline "Readers react to roads, the American Royal parade and same-sex marriage."