All over Twitter and in a few blog posts there has been news of a protest at The Mayor's House last night over folks peeved that the supposedly "smart with the money" politico signed off on the same old TIF deal that he decried during his campaign.
The protest was led by Obama organizer Spark Bookhart.
Now here's the EXCLUSIVE part.
Bookhart also works as a paid community organizer for Mayor Funky's silly "new tools" initiative.
We all know that politics is theater and a great many in the crowd wondered why the media wasn't informed of the protest.
The scuttlebutt: The non-media event was a way for Bookhart to establish credibility as something besides the Mayor's henchman.
Of course, a great many people in the crowd of around 30 were upset about the Savoy deal but they were also disappointed in the lack of planning of a protest that took place in late hours of the evening.
Reports from the scene say that the Mayor looked just a bit shaken up and offered some dimwitted answers . . . However, the jury is still out: Was this a fake protest or just badly planned. Is Spark a "community activist," a crony of Mayor Funky or just an incompetent organizer?
At around 9 in the PM in Brookside . . . A bunch of people were asking the same question.
TKC Note: There's a video of this floating around . . . If I can find a link, I'll post it.
Here's the video:
Funk1
Funk 2
Enjoy!!! Watch the Black United Front Gain Power and then bite the hand that feed them.
Money Quote: At 3:40+ on Funk2 the Mayor says "I did not say no more TIFs" in response to a statement from the crowd regarding his campaign promises.
I was there. It sucked.
ReplyDeleteSpark can kiss his community organizer contract from the city goodbye. Funk will go vindictive on this one.
ReplyDeleteThey should have carried torches and pitchforks, like in the old Frakenstien flicks.
ReplyDeleteSpark is a mental midget. That guy can't organize a shopping trip.
ReplyDeleteIf he can't organize a shopping trip or maybe this is a setup by Funks new Republican ass wiper.
ReplyDeleteA bunch of people of color complaining about Funk. Then Funk can go to his Brookside/Ward Parkway/Northland supporters and say its just people East of Main that are causing him problems. And one brown dude who lives in his mom's basement.
Good PR stunt, no.
If it is a setup, it would be the most political saavy thing Funk has ever done. By a long shot. Maybe this is community organizing that works.
ReplyDeleteThis blog is written by a grown-ass man that lives in his mother's basement and hangs out with a KC school board member (who almost lost to an opponent that dropped out of the election) that has obviously never been introduced to the concept of soap and water, nor has he had his hair braided within the last 7 years.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the community should organize and have the election commission audit Aryick West's campaign contributions so that we can get an accurate idea of exactly how much of the money went to his living expenses.......as it's obvious from his daily uniform (that shabby gray suit) that he is among the city's unemployed.
I can never get back the 5 minutes of my life that I wasted reading this crap. Get a life, and pay your momma some rent from time to time.
Funkhouser is about destruction and our City is the worse for it. Just throw out dirtbombs, with no follow through, stir clueless people up and see the whole city collapse into mob chaos.
ReplyDeleteGo do something Bookhart. Organize something. Build something. Develop something. Quit whinning about other peoples projects. Quit blaming other people for your disfunctional neighborhood. Put some of your own money into something.
Pardon my paranoia and cynicism, but I think this is a set-up. Just look at the Macchiavelli now behind our esteemed Mayor - Carl Rove, I mean, Jeff Roe. Covering his switch on the Savoy vote and positioning the Funk as the "Man of the little people."
ReplyDeletedoes T really live in his mama basement, or is that just schtick?
ReplyDeleteYes, he REALLY lives in his momma's basement.
ReplyDeleteWatch the video actually made me bad for the mayor.
ReplyDeleteCan't people actually ask an articulate question?
The basement dweller's blog is making me really regret my vote.
ReplyDelete"Can't people actually ask an articulate question?"
ReplyDeleteLOL. Hopefully working on your grammar is more than just a hobby for you.
GRAMMAR NAZI FUCK OFF
ReplyDeleteSeriously, this blog is the wrong place for you.
the people that are pissed about the TIF have their heads stuck up their ass. They have no idea what TIF is or how to it is utilized.
ReplyDeleteThey should be worring about the things they can controll; like their kids staying in school. The tif is only for NEW TAXES RAISED BY THE PROJECT TO HELP DEFRAY COSTS OF THE DEVELOPEMNT(a.k.a. Site Specific) It has nothing to do with the innercity. I hate the mayor, but he is right on this one. These people that sandbaged him need to understand the system. HOW ABOUT PROTESTING THE THE BOARD OF EDUCATION. Or learning about the development process before speaking out. you guys piss me off with your lack of understanding and lack of knowledge. And how dare you think that development anywhere else in the city is wrong because it does not happen in your neighborhood. maybe, if you actully put your group orginization skills together you could work on cleaning up your own mess. Here's a novel IDEA>>>>> How about Kicking the gangs off your block????? Try doing a protest like this infont of your local drug dealers house. Work with your kids and keep them in school. Maybe you could get and education the same time your child does.
Kenrick Blackwood is a lying, back-stabbing sellout. I guess we know is price: $100,000.
ReplyDeleteIs this witless wonder Sparks the same guy who set up a council member? is he the one that placed a call and had freaky funkwhiner eavesdropping?
ReplyDeletePoor residents who showed up at funks front porch. His trashy wife (who sat her ass down and did not walk in the parades) was firing up the bonfire pit to dispel the bad karma!
I want my vote back. I want funkwhiner to pay back the money that he sneakily gave to Jim Wirken. If it was an aboveboard transaction, the bastard better post the contract.
http://www.funkhouserrecall.com
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of people on this blog that don't know what they're talking about.
ReplyDeleteFirst, forget Bookhart's motives for a minute. (I think his heart is in the right place.) Is he wrong to be mad at a Mayor who campaigned on changing business as usual regarding tax breaks, but has actually done very little? Is he wrong to be mad at a system that kept an ordinance in committee for ten years so that the developer could dust it off when he needed it (http://cityclerk.kcmo.org/liveweb/Documents/Document.aspx?q=EFIsbiO0igHFOrmUuEZCi%2fAV6%2f34u%2bjziiREa3LbgyuuHjruIkzUVOCMCm%2fDVBNvm6SreWss6wwUvwRa1hFHVw%3d%3d). That's not an exaggeration. Projects B and C of the Savoy TIF were in committee for ten years. Such a thing should be illegal for the simple fact that the most reliable assumption that anyone can make is that conditions will change in ten years, sometimes radically. Clearly, in the ten years since the Savoy ordinances were introduced, conditions downtown have changed radically.
Second, the nature of this protest does not necessarily reflect the quality of Bookhart's organizing. Because of the lousy local reporting in this town, opponents of TIF only found out about the Savoy after the ten-year old ordinances had passed. They only found out because someone happened to read the City Council minutes over the weekend. TIF opponents had tried to give the Mayor political cover for a veto by barraging City Hall with e-mails and phone calls in the 48 hours before the council meetings. It was generally believed that the Mayor was going to veto the TIF ordinances. When it became clear that was not going to materialize, the protest was hastily organized Thursday evening. I was a witness to the protest and to the roll call that preceded it. EVERYONE who told Bookhart they would come out, came out. Speaking as someone who has organized a few things, that takes skill.
One thing I need to make clear: I have first-hand knowledge of everything I've related.
Finally, regarding TIF and other abatement programs. Their defenders (who are few, in my experience) never tell you that surveys of companies routinely show that tax breaks are never in the top ten reasons for choosing a location. Those spots are always held by quality of life issues--issues which often require tax revenues to address.
(By the way, the amount given out to tax abatements last year would cover this year's budget shortfall with $3 million to spare.)
There's also a growing body evidence that developing business from within is better for the economy than attracting from outside. Small businesses outperform large businesses in job growth. Local retail makes more money per square foot than chain stores. What's more, small and local businesses spend and save their profits locally. (This is called an economic multiplier effect for those of you who want to look it up.)
Fuck Joe...it just took me half the afternoon to raed that shit...
ReplyDeleteWith idiots showing up at an elected officials home in the middle of the night you can rest assured that fewer high quality candidates will be interetseted in running for office.
ReplyDeleteFunk is stupid and embarrassing but the performance of that crowd was disgraceful. This City is in trouble.
11:20 am has issues. But this is a setup. First, were in Daylight Savings Time it doesn't get dark until 7:45 p.m. Why is this protest going on so late? No faces, cuz the person who couldn't organize a shopping trip doesn't want the faces of the people he is "using" to be seen.
ReplyDeletePlays into that White Stereo Type of Black & Minority people out late at night causing problems.
Pimp the pimp, play the player.
The KC'budget-The 21 Century version of KC Corruption Heritage
ReplyDeleteKC has a long-time history of government corruption, that is why KCPD is under the State control. If KCPD is under City control, it can be used to secretly kill anyone who is not "loyal to somebody".
The Budget Blind the Taxpayers' Eyes by
1)Eliminate the Development Finance Division-which protects taxpayers' moeny from abusing by TIF developers.
2) Cut the Channel 2 by half, which records all the council meetings and committee meetings , so the taxpayers do not know what is happening inside city hall and their corruption deeds will not be revealled and recorded.
3)Lay off 20% of the staff in the city auditor's office, the highest lay-off rate of all the city departments. So, their will be less and less check and balance and it will be loyal to somebody.
2. Kill the poor by
Reducing police and fire protection, $10 million police and $2 million fire cut will greatly increase the crime rate of the poor neighborhoods rather than rich neighborhoods.
Eliminating the Aim4Peace program. So, the poor people can keep killing each other instead of doing something in the rich's neighborhoods.
3.Complicated and obfuscate the budget language, so the average persons can not understand. If people can not understand something, how can they against it.
The police cut is a mistery. Nobody knows until next Thursday, someone will give a number, but by law, they need to adopt it. so they have no choice to choose.
The eliminated capital projects is another mistery, no body knows what projects are eliminated, so how can you against it.
The only thing I can suggest to all KCMO residents is: under this economic hardship, the easies smart way to save you money is to leave the corrupted KCMO.
The easies smart way to save you money is to leave the corrupted KCMO.
Let's leave, together!
Let's leave, together!
This has been a very good thread. Makes more sense than the needless barking of local talk radio whose people take the easy way and just rebroadcast what the national talkers are doing.
ReplyDeleteLike Stigall wasting time pretending his laughter over Lumbaugh anti Obama Schtick. He's gotten so petty, and more and more irrelevant.
Thanks Joe for the good comments and signing your name. Informative. Some good nuggets can be found among the pettiness that Tony and some of his readers disguise with their gravel.
Stop by if you get bored, as I rant about radio this week.
It IS too bad news coverage is so bad in town that we dont' find out what government does to us until they've done it. Media tends to like more sensational fare to entertain us.
http://radiomankc.blogspot.com/
Spark Bookhart is an incompetent loser and a snake. Who knows why he is no longer with KCPD? He cannot organize a PTA meeting let alone a protest. That is why Obama lost Missouri and now has the nerve to try to capitalize off of his work for the campaign when he lost a swing state? HA!
ReplyDeleteThis is Ajamu Webster's flunky. Don't Spark work for Funkhouser?
ReplyDeleteFunk said we got a special program for the East side "Black Part of Town" Its called NEW TOOLS or Forty Acers and a Mule. Try not to worry yourselves with that TIF thing. That ant got nothing to do with you. I got my ______Ajamu ready to get to you what you need. Have a nice day.
ReplyDeleteOther anonymous posters: I honestly don't care where Tony lives. I often disagree with him, but that has nothing to do with his living arrangements. Can we back off the ad hominem attacks?
ReplyDeleteJoe: Someone happened to read the City Council minutes? Do you mean that most community organizers in KC are waiting around for the Star to tell them what's going on? That explains a lot.
1:34 above: This isn't reddit. Nobody gives a fuck about ad hominem attacks. You're not being scored like this is high school debate. Relive your douche glory days as a master debater elsewhere.
ReplyDelete