The thought of the cost of a community center to be built on the west side of town makes me nauseous. I was going to write an in depth commentary about this but Marty Augustine beat me to it. And that's good, because he probably said it better than I would. His commentary can be found at the Shawnee Dispatch at this link by clicking here.
I would like to add that the figure he quotes of $34 million could actually become $42 million if one adds in the cost of a lap pool that some folks on the council want included. They are talking about a possible partnership with the school district for that add-on. Hmmmm.
Also there is an element on the council that wants to have this item put on a spring mail in ballot. We are looking at approximately $70-75K for that when it can go on the primary or general election ballot for free (covered in a previous post). Some will come up with bovine scatological reasons for having a mail ballot. Actually I feel they are afraid that a regular ballot item won't pass. And it shouldn't. Asking the folks on the east side of Shawnee who earn substantially less than the west siders to subsidize their play pen is outrageous. Folks on the east side are not going to be rushing to use the facility.
Thursday, August 30, 2018
Thursday, August 16, 2018
Mayor Distler's Release Concerning Statement Regarding Cong. Yoder
As a result of a misunderstanding of Mayor Distler's statement concerning Congressman Yoder that appeared in the Shawnee Mission Post she has issued the following release:
I stand by my quote released in Congressman Yoder’s Press
Release as a reference to the job he has done for us as a city.
As a Mayor I must work cooperatively with elected
representatives at the Federal, State, County, and other municipal levels.
Because of this, in my position as Mayor, it is my policy that I do not endorse
any candidates, in any campaign race, ever.
“Kevin has been very approachable, responsive, and
attentive to our community’s needs and has reliably helped us cut through D.C.
bureaucracy to resolve issues for our residents. We are fortunate to have him
working for us in Washington.”
Because a few of the mayors used the word ‘endorse’ in
their statements, The Shawnee Mission Post took it upon itself to use the term
‘endorse’ in their headline stating, "Six Shawnee Mission area mayors
'endorse' Yoder for reelection."
When this was brought to my attention I contacted The
Shawnee Mission Post to clarify that I do not endorse candidates and that
headline is not correct. Following, I feel their readers were further confused
by making them think I am against him, which is certainly not true.
Again, I stand by my statement and it’s as simple as
that, a statement. I was referencing what he has done for us as a city and it
is very important to me that news sources portray things accurately.
Monday, August 13, 2018
Shawnee Dispatch Gets It Wrong.........Again
In an article on line about the new community center the Shawnee Dispatch says:
“The city plans to build and maintain the facility using revenue from a proposed mill levy increase, which would be voted on during the upcoming spring election.”
What spring election? We don't have spring elections in Shawnee anymore. The only way to vote on it in the spring is with a mail ballot election that would cost the city approximately $75K. See my previous post. Better yet, doesn't the Dispatch staff do research about elections? Or do they rely on misleading info disseminated by a few folks.
Maybe we should classify my favorite bird cage liner as "fake news".
“The city plans to build and maintain the facility using revenue from a proposed mill levy increase, which would be voted on during the upcoming spring election.”
What spring election? We don't have spring elections in Shawnee anymore. The only way to vote on it in the spring is with a mail ballot election that would cost the city approximately $75K. See my previous post. Better yet, doesn't the Dispatch staff do research about elections? Or do they rely on misleading info disseminated by a few folks.
Maybe we should classify my favorite bird cage liner as "fake news".
Saturday, August 11, 2018
Which Council Members Will Vote to Waste $75,000
So, which Shawnee City Council Members will vote to waste $75,000?
How did this come about? Easy, there is a movement to build a new community center on the west side of town which will cost approximately $34 million dollars. Dat's alotta bucks.
Anyway various aspects of the financing has to go before the voters to include a possible mill levy increase.
Now here's the kicker.......some folks would like the vote to be on a mail ballot in the spring. There is the waste. Any ballot question could be piggy backed on either the summer primary election or the fall general election, at no cost to the city
A mail ballot will cost approximately $75,000. How do I know that? Easy. About two years ago when the sales tax increase was being proposed for road repairs the former city manager (Carol Gonzales) went before the council and said a mail ballot would cost approximately $30,000. That did not seem accurate. So, yours truly contacted the county elections folks, got the information and came up with a figure in the mid $60's thousands. More than double what the former city manager had told the council. At a subsequent meeting, the former city manager did tell the council members that the cost would be close to $70,000. (Guess it took a citizen of the community to teach her basic math). It eventually went on a regular ballot.
Anyway, allowing for an increase in population and costs associated with printing, election staff time etc. it would be safe to add 5% to the previous estimate. As such a mail ballot would push the cost close to the $75K figure. Ridiculous when there is a way to get it done at no charge.
But why are there some folks who want a mail ballot? Easy, for the same reason that folks wanted it back for the sales tax increase. Based on voter returns of mail ballots, and push efforts, it would probably have a better chance of passing on a mail ballot. Not quite rigging an election, but putting the odds in the favor of one side of an issue.
As such, it will be interesting to see which members of the council vote to blow $75K.
How did this come about? Easy, there is a movement to build a new community center on the west side of town which will cost approximately $34 million dollars. Dat's alotta bucks.
Anyway various aspects of the financing has to go before the voters to include a possible mill levy increase.
Now here's the kicker.......some folks would like the vote to be on a mail ballot in the spring. There is the waste. Any ballot question could be piggy backed on either the summer primary election or the fall general election, at no cost to the city
A mail ballot will cost approximately $75,000. How do I know that? Easy. About two years ago when the sales tax increase was being proposed for road repairs the former city manager (Carol Gonzales) went before the council and said a mail ballot would cost approximately $30,000. That did not seem accurate. So, yours truly contacted the county elections folks, got the information and came up with a figure in the mid $60's thousands. More than double what the former city manager had told the council. At a subsequent meeting, the former city manager did tell the council members that the cost would be close to $70,000. (Guess it took a citizen of the community to teach her basic math). It eventually went on a regular ballot.
Anyway, allowing for an increase in population and costs associated with printing, election staff time etc. it would be safe to add 5% to the previous estimate. As such a mail ballot would push the cost close to the $75K figure. Ridiculous when there is a way to get it done at no charge.
But why are there some folks who want a mail ballot? Easy, for the same reason that folks wanted it back for the sales tax increase. Based on voter returns of mail ballots, and push efforts, it would probably have a better chance of passing on a mail ballot. Not quite rigging an election, but putting the odds in the favor of one side of an issue.
As such, it will be interesting to see which members of the council vote to blow $75K.
Thursday, August 09, 2018
Jim Acosta - CNN Reporter is Garbage
Ha, this idiot has recently tried to equate reporters to our country's military as far as being heroes.
He is a sanctimonious piece of garbage. A double standard useless individual.
The item that follows was, I believe, posted here many years ago. If you can't or do not want to read the whole thing at least scroll down to the last paragraph highlighted in red.
WHAT IS A VET
Some veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a jagged scar, a certain look in the eye. Others may carry the evidence inside them: a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel in the leg - or perhaps another sort of inner steel: the soul's ally forged in the refinery of adversity.
Except in parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem. You can't tell a vet just by looking. What is a vet? He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers
didn't run out of fuel. He is the barroom loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown frat boy behavior is outweighed a hundred times in the cosmic scales by four hours of exquisite bravery near the 38th parallel. She - or he - is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in Da Nang. He is the POW who went away one
person and came back another - or didn't come back AT ALL. He is the Quantico
drill instructor who has never seen combat, but has saved countless lives by turning slouchy, no-account rednecks and gang members into Marines, and teaching them to watch each other's backs.
He is the parade-riding Legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand. He is the career quartermaster who watches the ribbons and medals pass him by. He is the three anonymous heroes in The Tomb Of The Unknowns, whose presence at the Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all the anonymous heroes whose valor dies unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean's sunless deep. He is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket - palsied now and aggravatingly slow - who helped liberate a Nazi death camp and who
wishes all day long that his wife were still alive to hold him when the nightmares come.
He is an ordinary and yet an extraordinary human being - a person who offered some of his life's most vital years in the service of his country, and who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs. He is a soldier and a savior and a sword against the darkness, and he is nothing more than the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest, greatest nation ever known. So remember, each time you see someone who has served our country, just lean over and say Thank You. That's all most people need, and in most cases it will mean more than any medals they could have been awarded or were awarded. Two little words that mean a lot, THANK YOU!
It is the soldier, not the reporter, Who has given us freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, Who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, Who has given us the freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier, Who salutes the flag, Who serves beneath the flag, And whose coffin is draped by the flag, Who allows the protester to burn the flag
He is a sanctimonious piece of garbage. A double standard useless individual.
The item that follows was, I believe, posted here many years ago. If you can't or do not want to read the whole thing at least scroll down to the last paragraph highlighted in red.
WHAT IS A VET
Some veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a jagged scar, a certain look in the eye. Others may carry the evidence inside them: a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel in the leg - or perhaps another sort of inner steel: the soul's ally forged in the refinery of adversity.
Except in parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem. You can't tell a vet just by looking. What is a vet? He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers
didn't run out of fuel. He is the barroom loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown frat boy behavior is outweighed a hundred times in the cosmic scales by four hours of exquisite bravery near the 38th parallel. She - or he - is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in Da Nang. He is the POW who went away one
person and came back another - or didn't come back AT ALL. He is the Quantico
drill instructor who has never seen combat, but has saved countless lives by turning slouchy, no-account rednecks and gang members into Marines, and teaching them to watch each other's backs.
He is the parade-riding Legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand. He is the career quartermaster who watches the ribbons and medals pass him by. He is the three anonymous heroes in The Tomb Of The Unknowns, whose presence at the Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all the anonymous heroes whose valor dies unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean's sunless deep. He is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket - palsied now and aggravatingly slow - who helped liberate a Nazi death camp and who
wishes all day long that his wife were still alive to hold him when the nightmares come.
He is an ordinary and yet an extraordinary human being - a person who offered some of his life's most vital years in the service of his country, and who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs. He is a soldier and a savior and a sword against the darkness, and he is nothing more than the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest, greatest nation ever known. So remember, each time you see someone who has served our country, just lean over and say Thank You. That's all most people need, and in most cases it will mean more than any medals they could have been awarded or were awarded. Two little words that mean a lot, THANK YOU!
It is the soldier, not the reporter, Who has given us freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, Who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, Who has given us the freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier, Who salutes the flag, Who serves beneath the flag, And whose coffin is draped by the flag, Who allows the protester to burn the flag
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