Kansas City

The Power & Light District just announced the makeup of a new board designed to quell the dress-code controversy in the Downtown Entertainment District.

From a District news release:

In follow-up to Monday’s announcement and invitation, Zed Smith, the Managing Partner of the Power & Light District and Kansas City Live!, and Kevin Battle, its Chief Operating Officer, are pleased to announce that the following diverse group of leading Kansas City community groups and organizations have agreed to have representatives join the Dress Code Oversight Board for Kansas City Live!:

In April, Missouri Congressman Emanuel Cleaver toured Cuba and came home saying good things about the island nation.

"To see all of these myths melt right in front of my eyes was something to behold," the Kansas City Democrat said then. "We’ve been led to believe that the Cuban people are not free, and they are repressed by a vicious dictator, and I saw nothing to match what we’ve been told."

This month came the news that a Cuban dissident blogger, Yoani Sanchez, 34, had been beaten by men she suspected of being state security agents. She was not seriously hurt.

The attack was condemned around the world. Sanchez has received acclaim for her widely read Generation Y Web log.

Mike Burke, a Northlander and the latest entrant in the 2011 KC mayoral sweepstakes, launched his campaign tonight at the Steamboat Arabia Museum in the River Market.

The ill-fated steamboat was a handy prop for the lawyer who used words like "snags" and "sinking" and "crew" to talk about why he's running.

The money quote: "Meantime, we don't know who's at the wheel -- the captain or the first mate."

That was a reference to incumbent Mayor Mark Funkhouser and his wife, Gloria Squitiro.

And...

"Our ship has hit a snag and we are threatened with sinking. The captain is blaming the crew. The crew is threatening mutiny. And the passengers have signed a petition to throw the captain overboard."

Mayor Mark Funkhouser says a trip to New York City this week for a conference on the Harlem's Childrens Zone should put Kansas City in the lead for future federal funds.

"I am confident that we have put ourselves ahead of the pack,” Funkhouser said in a press statement this afternoon.

The two-day conference, "Changing the Odds: Learning from the Harlem Children's Zone Model," culminated in a keynote speech by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

“I was thrilled to receive recognition from Geoffrey Canada for being the only Mayor to lead a delegation to Harlem and visit the zone before the conference," Funkhouser said. 

                                                Mike Burke                                                                    

Mike Burke, KC's latest mayoral candidate, kicks off the fund-raising leg of his bid for the city's highest office on Wednesday.

The event is at 5:30 p.m. at the Steamboat Arabia in the River Market.

"Come aboard and, together, let's move this city forward again!" reads the invite.

Kansas City Council members are confirming that Mayor Mark Funkhouser is out to reshuffle his committee chairs.

The goal appears to be to place Terry Riley as chair of the powerful Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Council members confirmed that Funkhouser or his staff has either approached them about taking over a new committee or they've heard of such a move.

Riley, the current planning and zoning chair, has yet to agree to discuss any moves.

Council members said part of the shuffle involved putting Riley over transportation and infrastructure.

That committee oversees millions of dollars of public works and water contracts. Even more are expected with the city's giant overflow-control program in the works.

Peter deSilva, president and chief operating officer, UMB Financial Corp., has been elected Chairman of the Board of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce. 

The vote came at Monday’s meeting of The Chamber Board.

deSilva succeeds retiring Chair Anne St. Peter, Founder, Global Prairie.  His one-year term begins Nov. 1.

The Board also approved deSilva’s proposed 2010 Chamber Strategic Plan.  The new plan, he noted, consists of three key strategies:  creating quality jobs and economic growth; making Kansas City the best place to live and work, and leading advocacy and collaboration.

Jackson County Executive Mike Sanders and Jim Terry, a principal at TranSystems Corp., pitched their regional rail plan today to the editorial board of The Kansas City Star.

Sanders delivered a 20-page booklet on the plan and Terry said years of his engineering time already has gone into it. All of that work, both said, has been done at no charge to the county.

Terry stressed that this is a new concept in commuter rail, using smaller, diesel-powered trains. "It acts more like light rail, but does not use the electrical canopies overhead," Terry said.

What's more, Kansas City has a wealth of opportunity with so many miles of underused or abandoned rail corridors. The plan now calls for six major lines -- to KCI, Lee's Summit, Liberty, Legends in Wyandotte County, Blue Springs (with an Independence spur) and Grandview.

Bob Gough of the Jackson County Taxpayers Association has filed a formal complaint with the Missouri Ethics Commission against Freedom Inc.

Freedom officials on Friday afternoon acknowledged the lapse and said they would be filing the necessary reports soon. 

Gough says in the complaint that Freedom has violated campaign finance disclosure requirements.

Gough said he noticed that Freedom had not filed any reports in 2009 on its activiites. Even if little money was collected or spent, Freedom would be required to file reports stating as such, Gough said.

Gough, a Lee's Summit Republican, said he called and asked the Missouri Ethics Commission why Freedom had not filed reports for 2009. They didn't offer any explanation.

So he filed his complaint, dated Oct. 9.

UPDATED: With revised figures.

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Gov. Jay Nixon just announced the state's decision to award $3.5 million in economic incentives to complete the $18 million "Hangar Ten" project on the northwest side of Wheeler Airport just north of downtown.

The project, Nixon said, will create 94 jobs.

"An upgraded Wheeler Downtown Airport has the potential to serve as an exciting tool for economic development for Kansas City and the entire region, resulting in new jobs for hard-working Missourians," Nixon said.

James Stowers III is the owner of Hangar Ten LLC. As part of the deal, he agreed to donate $7 million to the Missouri Development Finance Board, all of which will be poured back into the project.

Stowers' commitment to the project was said to be $14.5 million.

Steve RoseScott Schwab couldn’t stop giggling.

“I’m laughing my ‘boo-hind’ off about this,” he said last week. “This is a rush.”

What had Schwab going was the news that long-time Johnson County Sun publisher Steve Rose was runninRep. Scott Schwabg for Congress, a quest Schwab knows something about because he ran, and lost, in 2006 for the same 3rd District seat Rose now seeks.

Seems like a referendum all over again.

A city still scarred by the mayoral recall may face a new effort to place a hot-button issue on a ballot in the near future.

Citizens to Save MAST -- a group trying to keep MAST as it is, an outside non-profit ambulance service -- gathered about 50 signatures of residents of Westport House on Tuesday after an information session on the City Hall manuevering regarding the city's ambulance service.

"In my opinion, the city can't run themselves now," said John Pickett, president of the Westport House tenants association. Placing MAST into the city "would concern me tremendously."

City activists Susan Ramirez and Lesa Gonzalez of Citizens to Save Mast said many of the residents of Westport House had not heard a great deal about the city's takeover of MAST. Kansas City Council members are scheduled to discuss Thursday a proposal to fold MAST into the city's Fire Department.

Slow down and think a little bit, Pete Levi, president of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, has advised the Kansas City Council.

In a letter to council members, Levi said the chamber's executive committee adopted this resolution on Friday:

WHEREAS, the Kansas City, Missouri, City Council took action during its September 8, 2009, meeting regarding merging MAST into the Kansas City Fire Department, and

WHEREAS, there was no opportunity for adequate public input and reflection on the implications of such action regarding the budgetary and operational impact of the merger, and

WHEREAS, additional time for deliberation and dissemination of public information would prove beneficial;

THEREFORE, The Chamber's Executive Committee requests that no further action be taken on the matter until there is adequate opportunity for public content and discussion.

Beth SmithThe Greater Kansas City Women's Political Caucus will honor its inaugural class of Hall of Fame members Thursday night at its annual Torch Dinner.

The dinner is at the Dutch NewmanIntercontinental Hotel on the Plaza. A 5:30 p.m. silent auction precedes the 6:45 p.m. Parade of Politicians. The program begins at 7 p.m.

More information is at 816-531-9595.

The caucus celebrates what it calls progressive, pro-choice women from both parties and works to elect them in Kansas and Missouri.

Among the women to be honored Thursday night is former Congresswoman Karen McCarthy, a Democrat who represented the Kansas City area. She is suffering from Alzeheimer's disease.

4 September 2009

Dear Folks,

This Week's City Business

It was a good week for Kansas City and the Mayor's office. The Mayor took part in several events over the last week to welcome White House administration officials to Kansas City.

The Mayor was called to participate in a health care forum hosted by U.S. Senator Kit Bond on Monday morning. Also in attendance were Bond's fellow Senators Mitch McConnell and John McCain. After the Mayor welcomed the group and thanked Children's Mercy Hospital for providing the venue, the Mayor stated that the country needed to focus on the economic impacts of health care, and the need for a bi-partisan solution that would be long lasting. He said that there was no question that health care reform was needed, and he was pleased when the Senators agreed with that. He especially appreciated Senator McConnell's call for a bi-partisan panel that could propose a solution and remove partisan tactics from interfering with the process.

Joe Miller's long-awaited piece on salon.com finally appeared tonight.

Check it out yourself at http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2009/09/02/funkhouser/

For those wanting a snapshot, Miller recounts some new anecdotes cementing Gloria Squitiro's fondness for jesting about sex.

Miller also confesses to falling under Gloria's spell:

"I moved swiftly to the inner circle of the operation in no small part because I hit it off with Gloria. She said I was a "genius" (which, considering the terrific failure of my brief political career, only serves to show how clueless she is). I demurred, of course. But I couldn't resist believing her."

Miller argues that Funkhouser forgot his mantra of "a city that works for regular folks" and instead fought for "advancing my agenda with Gloria at my side."

HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan and Transportation Deputy Secretary John D. Porcari are headed to KC Tuesday to check out the proposed Green Impact Zone, the big federal project that will weatherize hundreds of homes in the urban core.

Also coming: Adolfo Carrion, Director of the White House Office of Urban Affairs.

The group is expected to showcase the idea that federal and local money will be spent to create sustainable living and create jobs in one of the city’s most destressed areas.

The program is being heralded as an example of the type of collaborative partnership and innovating thinking needed in cities across the nation.

Sen. Kit BondUPDATE: KCUR will broadcast the forum live at 11 a.m. Monday on 89.3 FM. The show is "Up to Date."

****

UPDATE: (below) With comments from Jackson County Demo chair Steve Bough.

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Wonder what Sen. Claire McCaskill will think about this?

On Monday, Missouri Sen. Kit Bond will host a closed-to-the-public health care forum at Children's Mercy Hospital.

Also coming: GOP Sens. John McCain and Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader from Kentucky.

Early reports say about 75 invited guests will be in attendancSen. John McCaine, along with the media.

The push to renew Jackson County's COMBAT tax has won a big supporter -- The Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce.

In a press statement issued today, the Chamber announced its board had voted last week to support the renewal of the 1/4-cent sales tax for COMBAT, set for a November ballot.

"The Chamber supports the COMBAT anti-drug tax because it has been effective, so much so that a steady stream of national and international folks pass through KC every year just to find out more," the press release stated. "It helps in creating a healthier community enviornment in which to do business."

The chamber cited COMBAT accomplishments:

-- Closed 12,091 drug houses.

-- Provide D.A.R.E. to over 200,000 students.

--  Funded law enforcement officers who made over 11,000 drug-related arrests.

 KC Council member Russ Johnson today released a proposed ordinance he plans to introduce this week to discourage leaks of confidential information from the council's closed meetings.

Council members claimed Friday that leaks from their closed-door settlement discussions in the Ruth Bates case were compromised by the plaintiff knowing the council's top offer. At least three council members say they believe the plaintiff's attorney knew the council's directions to the city attorney.

Johnson said today he wasn't proposing the ordinance now because of the concerns over the leaks in the Ruth Bates case. He said he actually had the ordinance drafted back in March, when he first learned from the city attorney's office that leaking confidential city information wasn't codified as illegal.