Funk's Front Porch03 August 2007
Dear Folks,
The Mayor met with Clay Chastain last month to try to find a way to move forward with a shared light rail plan. As you know, the Mayor supports a regional light rail plan as it is desperately needed in order to bring people, hence money, back to the City. Mr. Chastain agreed that a regional plan would be much than his starter line but stated that he was uncomfortable changing his plan because it is what the citizens voted for. The beauty of the discussions that the Mayor is having is that they will not delay Clay’s starter line, as that line cannot begin work until the Federal Government completes its Alternatives Analysis Study first. The Mayor believes that the metropolitan community would prefer a regional light rail plan, if they were given that choice.
The ordinance terminating the City Manager’s contract so that a new contract could be negotiated that reflects the Mayor and Council’s goals came up for vote yesterday. It lost by one vote. Unfortunately, the ordinance became a political issue instead of what it is: a necessary step in contract negotiations. The Mayor is trying to make sure that Kansas City has a professional City Manager who works for the Mayor and the Council, for the good of the citizens as a whole. The current contract will most likely come up for another vote next week.
Funk and I are taking the weekend off; our first since before the campaign began last November. We are going to our little cabin in the woods with our family. While there we will probably list it for sale so that we can buy something closer to home in the near future.
That said, I’m cutting this newsletter short this week to begin packing. Please try to attend the weekly Town Hall meetings, which are ongoing, and the Economic Development and Incentive Task Force meetings, which will wrap up at the end of this month. For a schedule of both meetings, please go to our website at, www.funksfrontporch.com.
In faith,
Gloria & Mark
You can respond to this newsletter at http://www.blogger.com/funksfrontporch@gmail.com.
Please help us by forwarding this email to as many people as you think might want to be more informed about their city government. They can sign up to receive the newsletter at, http://www.funksfrontporch.com/.
The Mayor’s top ten priorities:
1. Establishing a good working relationship with the Council
2. Getting the City’s finances in order
3. Making downtown work
4. Tending to our neighborhoods
5. Implementing the Housing Policy task force recommendations
6. Improving the perception and the reality of public education in Kansas City
7. Reducing Crime
8. Repairing our sewer systems
9. Establishing an excellent regional transit system, which includes light rail
10. Improving citizen satisfaction with City services.
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