The State of the Funk

Over the last few days, the press has been talking about the Mayor's proposals for helping our beleaguered schools. There is much in the Mayor's plan that I like from pursuing grants (One of Mark Forsythe's campaign positions three years ago was that we are missing opportunities where grants are concerned) to repairing sidewalks near schools and designating a City Hall point person on school issues. 

Even as he was pitching the idea at his annual State of the City speech at All-Souls UU, an article in the Sunday Star made it clear to me that the seeds of failure had already been sown. Near the bottom of the article, after the bullet points outlining the proposal, was this statement from the Star's Lynn Horsley:

"Funkhouser acknowledged that he has not fully briefed his City Council colleagues."

Hasn't he learned anything in three years?

Budget Hearings

In case you've missed this, here's this year's schedule of public budget hearings. I cannot seem to find a budget link.

I found the preliminary budget. Here it is. The Council has until March 25 to adopt a budget. It goes into effect on May 1.

DISTRICT 1:
Saturday, Feb. 27, 10 a.m. to noon
Shoal Creek Police Academy
6885 N.E. Pleasant Valley Road
Kansas City, Mo.

DISTRICT 2:
Thursday, Feb. 25, 6 to 8 p.m.
Plaza Middle School
6501 N.W. 72nd St.
Kansas City, Mo.
　
DISTRICT 3:
Saturday, Feb. 13, 2 to 4 p.m.
Gregg/Klice Community Center
1600 John "Buck" O'Neil Way
Kansas City, Mo.

DISTRICT 4:
Saturday, Feb. 20, 10 a.m. to noon
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
11 E. 40th St.
Kansas City, Mo.

DISTRICT 5:
Saturday, Feb. 13, 10 a.m. to noon
Southeast Community Center
4201 E. 63rd St.
Kansas City, Mo.

DISTRICT 6:
Wednesday, March 3, 7 to 9 p.m.
Hillcrest Community Center
10401 Hillcrest Road
Kansas City, Mo.

For more information, contact Terri Wolfe, assistant to Councilwoman Deb Hermann, (816) 513-1624 or terri_wolfe@kcmo.org.

Who's Responsible?

Right about now, I'd like to see Jack Frost roasting on an open fire. After my complaint about the condition of the sidewalks, a coworker mentioned seeing a lawyer on the local news who said you're better off leaving the snow where it is.

The thinking goes, if someone falls on an uncleared sidewalk it's an act of God. If someone falls on an improperly cleared sidewalk, the adjacent property owner can be held liable. Never mind that the sidewalk is City property.

(A note about the picture. This property owner is pretty good about clearing the walk. No disrespect is intended. Yeah, I know it's not a sidewalk. I picked it for its composition.)

But this lawyer, my coworker claims, went one step further. The lawyer is supposed to have said that there is no legal requirement to clear sidewalks. I was unable to find a link to the video. If the lawyer actually said that, he's wrong in the case of Kansas City, Missouri. Just to be clear, here's the ordinance:

Sec. 64-246. Removal of ice or snow.
It shall be the duty of all persons owning or occupying any real property, fronting upon any street, boulevard or highway, to remove from the sidewalks in front or alongside of such property all ice and snow within a reasonable time after cessation of a storm depositing such ice or snow. The provisions of chapter 62, article III, pertaining to littering, and penalties for violations thereof, shall be applicable to violations of this section.

This would seem to leave property owners between a rock and a hard place. Policy makers could fix this by limiting liability for property owners who attempt to clear their sidewalks and opening up liability for those who don't. (Mike Talboy?, Beth Low?, Jolie Justus?, anybody listening?)

There are issues to work out. What if the property owner is unavailable when the snow hits? How long does the property owner have to clear the snow? I could go on. Complaints about the nanny state aside, in this case the status quo discourages proper behavior.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas, everyone.

I'm thinking it's a good thing Bing Crosby is dead. I think he'd get lynched if he were in town right now. 

I tried to find a picture of Santa Clause for this post. Trying to find one with any characters or any sense of a real human being is nearly impossible. I'm sending an elf instead.

Shake Up at the EDC

There's rumors flying lately of a possible shake-up in the way Kansas City does economic development. First was a posting a week ago by Joe Miller on KC Downtowner. Despite being in possession of an EDC document, Miller's post was met with some degree of skepticism. The rumor gained more strength the next day when the Business Journal backed up the story with its own article.

Whatever the truth of the mater, the document that Miller posted is itself worthy of public discussion. In particular, I want to point out my favorite part:

Greater emphasis on small business, entrepreneurship, organic business retention and growth, workforce enhancement and distressed areas assistance.

Why is this so important? I ask you, what city has ever made any real progress based on imported industry? Even if you still think tax breaks are the way to go, I think you will agree that there's wisdom in not putting all our eggs in one basket.

In Council: December 17, 2009

Sorry for the delay in getting this out this week. There was a lot to go through. I'm still working on cleaning up after my template fiasco last week. Most of the work is done, but I still need to get the my blog roll up.

Because of the holiday there is no City Council meeting this week.

Sewer Bonds Approved

The Council finally approved $16 million in revenue bonds. Revenue bonds are paid back from revenues generated by the use that they fund, not from general tax revenues. In this case the bonds will be paid from fees for sewer services. The bonds approved last week are low-interest bonds being made available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Project

The City Council prioritized the projects eligible for low-income housing tax credits. Low-income housing tax credits are federal tax credits administered through the states, in our case by the Missouri Housing Development Commission. The program provides tax breaks for investors who invest in affordable housing. One of the requirements of the program is that only projects with local support are eligible. Hence the prioritized list from City Hall this week. Here's the list:

• East Village Apartments (Swope Community Builders) Downtown, East side
  
• Columbia Lofts (DLS Historic Developers) This might be the Columbia Burlap building in the west bottoms. I wasn't able to nail it down.
  
• Basie Court Apartments (Dalmark Development) 1940 Woodland Ave. This is near the Jazz district.
  
• Chatham Apartments – (Landmark Investment Group) As I recall, this building on Broadway was turned down several years ago for Tax Increment Financing, even though such a project would fit the intent of TIF better than the projects that actually do win that type of financing. I haven't heard anything about the disposition of this building in a while. I'll be anxious to see what happens.

Combat Pay Exempt from Earnings Tax

The Council voted to exempt pay earned in a combat zone from the city's earnings tax.

More Signal Coordination

It's a simple fact, a logical extension of the law of supply and demand. If you want to improve the air quality in this area, you have to reduce driving. A measure that reduces the time cost of driving doesn't do that. The Council went ahead with the measure anyway. I don't really blame the council for this one. The local culture starts with the primacy of the automobile as it's base assumption.

Other Business

• By a unanimous vote the Council adopted a resolution calling for a feasibility study regarding the idea of capping I-678.
• The proposed creation of the Power and Light Oversight died this week by unanimous vote when Councilman Skaggs moved to hold the measure off the docket.
• The Council formally adopted its wish list for the second session of the 111th Congress. 
• The City Council approved Tax Increment Financing for the Vitagraph building in the crossroads after the TIF Commission deadlocked on the same issue. The Vitagraph building is being renovated by Shirley Helzberg for administrative offices for the symphony. TIF funds will be used to add two floors o the Vitagraph building.
  
• The City Council approved increases to licensing fees for businesses.
  

Land Use and Sustainability

Around the country developers are building walkable neighborhoods, mixed-use developments that combine living, working, and shopping within the same package. It almost goes without saying that they wouldn't be doing this if it weren't making them money. Our local developers haven't figured this out yet.

• A plat was approved creating 12 multi-family condominium units on a half acre near North Brighton and 152. The project takes advantage of existing arteries. There are no employment or shopping opportunities within a quarter mile walk of the development.
• The City rezoned 2.2 acres at 34th and Prospect for the construction of housing for senior citizens. Although this project will use existing infrastructure, it uses a suburban development style (sprawl) and requires tearing down existing urban structures.
  

Looking Ahead

I'm running a bit behind this week. I'll post the look ahead later in the week.

Please Excuse the Mess

I accidentally mangled my template this morning and didn't have a recent backup. No posts until I get the layout fixed.