Council & Planning Commission Workshop

Last Monday, 11/21/11 the City Council and the City Planning Commission held a workshop primarily focused on economic development.

It was a somewhat interesting evening.

One of the few intelligent comments of the evening came from Commissioner Tom Beckenbaugh when he said that Shawnee needed a magnet to draw people to it.  Hmmmmmm, I liked that, and as any reader of this blog would know, that is something I've been saying.

Much time was devoted to the proposed business/industrial park at 43d and K-7.  But, will a business/industrial park be a magnet?  It can bring tax paying businesses to Shawnee, but is it a magent that brings tourism and strong economic injections to the city?  Is it a magnet that will draw folks down from the Village West complex after their races, concerts and other mass public gatherings.

Granted, when those events occur the 200 or so hotel rooms fill up and some restaurants see a slight uptick in business.  But we don't get the heavy influx that a magnet attraction would bring...........from those events and year round.

Most of the discussions were monopolized by council reps Jeff  (I'm in commercial real estate) Vaught and Dawn (motormouth) Kuhn..  Vaught never misses the opportunity to tell us what he does for a living, and usually multiple times in the same evening.  Ironically, if one goes back they will see that for a commercial development real estate person his knowledge of the International Building Code was very limited (as to what it covers).  And Kuhn was sounding more like a candidate on the stump than a council person.

Curiously Vaught seemed to be pushing, among other things, redevelopment.  This was ironic since at a committee meeting I could swear I heard him tell another council rep that redevelopment was not economic development.

There was an exciting moment when council member Sandifer took offense (quite angrily too) at a comment by Vaught that seemed to be a nasty reference to how/where Sandifer was raised.  Funny also, because Vaught was critical in the past of former council member Straub's actions/comments at council meetings.

Pictures From Shawnee Veterans Day Ceremony

A few weeks ago I told a good friend of mine, Bill Nichols (a retired professional photographer) about the Shawnee Veterans Day ceremony.

He came by and took some pictures, created a slide show of them and that is available for viewing below.  He will also be posting individual still shots if anybody wants to download those.  Thanks Bill.

Veteran's Day 2011

In 2002 I wrote and placed the below poem (or at least I consider it a poem, many English teachers would probably disagree) on another web site.  I'd like to repost it here:

The GI in the foxhole
The sailor out to sea
The leatherneck standing guard
The pilot flying free

These are the brave men
And yes the women too
Standing guard to protect us
'Neath the old red, white and blue

They haven't asked for much
To them it's not a chore
Staying ready in peacetime
Just in case they go to war

Proudly they do serve
Like thousands gone before
Duty, honor and country
Be it peace or be it war

Our sons and our daughters
It is them that we do love
And proudly do they serve us
With guidance from above

At that time, I dedicated it as follows:

Dedicated to two special veterans......to me.....Abraham Erlichman, USAAF, WWII and the grandson he never knew Ashly Clayton Erlichman, 1/34 Armor, 1st Inf Div, SW Asia


If you can spare about 3-1/2 minutes, watch and listen to the video below.  Thank you.

Info for Veterans

With Veteran's Day coming up I'd like to post about a change in the law concerning rendering honors to the flag and during the playing of the National Anthem.

The Defense Authorization Acts of 2008 and 2009 had some interesting changes.

Veterans, and active duty military in civilian clothing now have the option of rendering the military style hand salute instead of the civilian hand over the chest salute.  This applies to the raising, lowering or passing of the colors as well as during the playing of the National Anthem.

Those individuals who are wearing cover (hats/caps for the uninformed civilians) may keep the cover on while rendering the hand salute.  If they choose to perform the civilian hand over the chest then they should remove their cover, and hold it over their chest.

Riding With the PD

Last April, and again last month I spent some time in a ride along with a member of the Shawnee PD.  The April ride was the evening shift, and the October ride was the midnight shift (and I made it all night until 6AM)

Both times I saw various things that both impressed me and made me feel good about our PD.

First, it is obvious that the police officer of today is better educated than in years past.  Even more important, I was able to witness various actions which showed that the officers also used alot of common sense.  That is a trait that is becoming scarce in many other professions.  And part of that probably has to do with their job related training.

One thing that became obvious on a couple of the calls is that we are definitely, IMHO, short handed.  There were calls that required two officers (primary and back up) for the safety of the officer and the public.  When this happens, based on the number of officers on duty there are holes in the coverage.  As an example, one of the calls was a complaint about a party at an apartment clubhouse, and we know liquor was involved.  There could have been problems if only one officer responded. Another call was a commercial burglar alarm at a restaurant.  It's after midnight, closer to 1AM........you don't know what you are walking into.  Again, two officers have to respond.  Fortunately, neither incident resulted in a negative situation.  But until the officers got there, and investigated, they didn't know what they could be getting themselves into.

Anyway, as stated above, I personally think we have some really good people on the PD.

I would like to see the number of officers on the street increased...........and that can only happen if the department is expanded.  And that requires action by the council and the city manager.

BTW, if anybody else is interested in doing a ride along, there are forms available at the PD that you have to fill out, submit and get approved.  It can be a learning experience.

Dan Pflumm Invests in Downtown Shawnee

After sitting vacant since Commerce Bank left, the building at the corner of Johnson Drive and Nieman is now owned by a Pflumm again. Dan Pflumm, owner and president of DanCo Systems, Inc., a company he established in Shawnee in 1995, recently purchased the building.


The building on Johnson Drive and Nieman once housed Shawnee State Bank, and more recently Commerce Bank. Shawnee State Savings Bank, which occupied that corner since 1908, was owned by the Pflumm family. The building’s ownership changed when they sold their interests in Shawnee State Bank to Commerce Bank in the mid 1990s.

Dan plans to renovate the hundred plus year old, 10,000 sq ft. building. The future layout will consist of a suite of offices for lease, as well as become the new headquarters for DanCo Systems.

Dan who is also a Shawnee councilman, has been involved in projects to revitalize the downtown area. The updating of this corner lot will bring more commerce to the area. Current renovation plans include exposing the original interior limestone walls of the historic building.

His company, DanCo Systems, specializes in instrumentation and control systems for the process control industry, as well as sales, support, engineering and consulting. In addition to their Shawnee location, DanCo also has an office in St Louis.