Funk's Front Porch28 September 2007
This week’s city news:
It was busy in the Mayor’s office this week. Funk held a press conference with the Downtown Council to inform the public that downtown is ready and on target for the grand opening of the Sprint Center come October. Contrary to what you might have heard, there is plenty of parking within a few blocks of the arena. Staffer Kendrick Blackwood worked really hard to pull the press conference together, hard enough to make himself sick with a cold once his job was complete. Such is the way things go up here.
We have some wonderful endorsements of Funk’s vision for a regional light rail system. We’ll have more details about this in a couple of weeks, but it’s becoming more and more obvious that people do see a need for a transportation system that enhances the entire metropolitan area. Funk feels that a regional transit system is imperative to spur fast-paced economic growth and to make our city greener and more user-friendly. The plan includes not only light rail, but rapid transit buses, walking trails and bicycle lanes. In Funk’s mind, a key flaw with Clay Chastain’s rail plan is that it calls for taking funding away from the bus system and this is something that Funk will not give support to. And, as Stan Glazer put it so comically on the campaign trail, “Clay’s rail plan is good if the animals at the zoo want to visit the airport.”
The Sales Tax Renewal Campaign kicked off today. The campaign offers no further taxation than what citizens are already paying, but it does provide a guarantee that 35% of the money will go towards improving neighborhoods. Because of this, it is important that citizens vote for its passage.
Funk met with Brenda Tinnen of the Sprint Center today regarding the ticketing fiasco. His heart went out to Ms. Tinnen as she is taking a lot of flak over the arena concerts being sold out. This would be a huge sign of success by any other measure. I guess it’s all in how you decide to look at things. If the tickets weren’t selling out, that would mean that the arena was failing and, if the arena fails, the city is in a world of hurt. Obviously, sold out shows mean that the arena is a hit. And, after all, one of the big reasons for building the arena was to bring visitors, and hence, their money, to our downtown. Sometimes there is no winning with these sorts of things. Of course, Ms. Tinnen is working hard to make sure that more tickets are available to the folks living in our metropolitan community.
On a more personal note:
I am taking a short break from writing this newsletter for the next week or two, but you can get a daily update regarding the Mayor’s office by visiting, www.funksfrontporch.com.
Until next week,
In faith,
Gloria & Mark
You can respond to this newsletter at 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.blogger.com/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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