As somebody who really loves Kansas City, MO . . . I hate it when this town is surpassed by our neighbors.
Recently, KCK demonstrated that they have their priorities in line far better than our leadership which has consistently done nothing but ignore violence in KC . . . I'm guessing because a lot of it takes place on the Eastside and in minority communities.
Anyway, I found this to be pretty impressive:
The Mayors of Wyandotte County’s four cities are joining a national campaign against illegal guns.
Unified Government Mayor Joe Reardon, Bonner Springs Mayor Clausie Smith, Edwardsville Mayor Heinz Rodgers and Lake Quivira Mayor Larry Meeker have all signed the resolution.For more than a year TKC has tried to point people to "The Kansas City gun experiment" - an effort which used "intensive police patrols directed to an 80-block hotspot area where the homicide rate was 20 times the national average. Patrol officers seized guns by frisking individuals who were arrested and by making plain view sightings of firearms during routine traffic violation or safety stops. Traffic stops were most effective in locating illegal guns, with 1 gun found per 28 stops. Gun crimes, including drive-by shootings and homicides, declined significantly during the 29-week experimental period between July 1992 and January 1993."
Yet, all this talk of TIF, hybrids and stupid political appointments of cronies has distracted KC's inexperienced Mayor Funky . . . His lack of leadership has left Kansas City behind once again when it comes to the most important problem facing Kansas City, MO: Crime.
As KCK moves ahead in the fight against illegal guns, Mayor Funky is busy daydreaming about light rail, his wife's feet and serving the Northland before anyone else . . . In his most recent newsletter and many other City Hall communiques, his spokesman/wife/this town's real mayor reveals that crime is a barely visible number 7 on the Mayor's agenda.
In these past few months Mayor Funkhouser hasn't provided this town one single bit of leadership on the subject of fighting crime in Kansas City whereas folks in KCK are clearly making an effort as their mayors have united in a national movement to remove illegal guns from their streets.