Sophisticate, activist and media expert Tracy Thomas returns to the local blogging scene with two EXCEPTIONAL POSTS.
Here's here hot take on tax issues in the suburbs and how they impact the entire metro.
Checkit:
KCMO Post: Are Shawnee staff, Council and Joco Election Commissioner as corrupt as KCMO's??? Is their Taj Mahal rec center as sneaky as snakebit KCI?? Inquiring minds find out Mon. Feb 11
And then . . .
JoCo Post: Shawnee Council accused of FISCAL FOLLY for Taj Mahal community center, by bus. exec/humanitarian David Williams
As always, we respect and enjoy Tracy's take on the tax issue and the expert way in which she deconstructs municipal matters.
Developing . . .
Really nice work Tracy. We need more expert analysis like this. Really think The Star should give her Steve Rose's old column space.
ReplyDeleteTax & spend is the rule of the day. It's the "new green plan" to take your green.
DeleteYes, Johnson County needs a new community center. We also need a a homeless shelter. Maybe we can save a few bucks by adding both. Things are getting more desperate, look closely at Johnson Drive and Mission. Those are homeless walking on those streets now. Just like KC.
DeleteWhy would JoCo want to encourage the homeless to come here by building a shelter. I’m not opposed to supporting the shelters that serve the metro at large, but I think it makes more since for them to be centrally located. And what is another community center needed for? Doesn’t Sylvester Powell and Matt Ross provide those venues?
DeleteThe 1% need to pay their share. Sharice won. YOU LOST. Sorry, not sorry.
ReplyDeleteNice work Tracy!
ReplyDeleteAs always.
No I doesn’t need a community center, they need to get their own casino/hedonistic center. It wouldn’t cost the county a penny, in fact it would be a gold mine. Slots and table games would start out at $5 to keep out the riffraff. Staff the casino floor with hot young Joco sluts. Have a strip club with the hottest young sluts and some hot married Leawood sluts. Encourage the use of alcohol and drugs and make them available to guests everywhere the turn. Let the debauchery begin!
ReplyDeleteWow...just wow. $38 million? Shawnee has really tried hard to govern like KCMO. Isn’t this the same “diverse” city council with the gay member who was a teacher at olathe east who was getting a blow job in his history classroom from a gymnastics student he met on tinder? Shawnee is screwed with its current “leadership”. It’s not the Shawneei of times past.
ReplyDeleteGood job Shawnee, keep it progressive.
Shawnee? That's one of those clusters of parasites over in Kansas somewhere isn't it?
ReplyDeleteWhat the hell do they want the Missouri taxpayers to do for them now?
5:36 Shawnee has been going downhill for a while. It has its pockets like Lenexa and Olathe of
ReplyDeleteLow income housing units predominately Hispanic. Not local but from out of
Country. Stabbings and crime are high density there. It’s diveristy!
Shawnee - where the wealthy fled to avoid high taxes -(Snort)!
ReplyDeleteoh, oh.... tranny tracy is having a fit... the local politicos must be shaking in their boots.... ^BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
ReplyDeleteWill section ape renters get discount memberships ?
ReplyDeleteTracy did a nice job of laying everything out for everyone to see. Surprise the Shawnee dead tree newspaper has not reported this.
ReplyDeleteIs that just a crappy picture of Tracy or does she really look like that all the time?
ReplyDeleteNo, 7:47, I look worse. I'm older now. It happens. And blonde. So what have YOU done to stop high taxes, 7:47?? My team defeated BiState II and BigSoccer, when we were outspent 112 to 1.
ReplyDeleteDid you read my posts? Or are you just a hater?
Here's something with shorter words for you: as seen on Nextdoor, since we don't have a newspaper in Joco. And Dave Helling's car only drives EAST in the mornings to the STAR.
72 cents a day teen daycare? Thank you Jesus!!!
Many hardworking single Moms in Wyandotte County are so VERY grateful. Shawnee voters may will provide free daycare and rec for our teens. At a fancy place, just 13 blocks south of our county line. One friend wept for joy: "This is a blessing from God! I work. Hard. But can't afford a sitter for my four unemployed kids-- or keep them busy when school is out. But now, in your flier, I see that for $109.20 a month, (your published Family of Five non-resident rate)($21.84 per person x5 of us), I can visit each morning before I head off to work, and for 72 cents a day, you'll watch them all day and night!! Plus free towels, internet, AC and inner tubes for the Lazy River... God bless the Shawnee Council and voters far east of 435, paying high property taxes forever! It takes more than the Legends mall and Cinemark Merriam to raise a child."
"Here in the Dot, we don't have real rec centers. Just six buildings M-F serving lunch to old folks. Or renting out for a wedding or Quincianera." So this isn't about keeping up with Lenexa. It's about serving ALL your forgotten neighbors.
====
I remember when Kemper Arena was emptied and abandoned, for the Sprint Center. And a group of men said, "Hey, Mayor--we need more teen recreation! We'll take over Kemper and run that."
ReplyDeleteBut instead the KCMO Council TORE IT DOWN, AND ARE STILL PAYING OFF THE REMAINING $5 MILLION ON THE "MORTGAGE"/taxpayer bond issue.
If naive Shawnee lulu Lemons build themselves a $38 million Taj Mahal, across the street from their big homes--I predict that they'll be begging a future city council to tear down that, too.
ReplyDeleteTony--bookmark this.
ReplyDeleteAs predicted first on TKC!!!
I bet the Cinemark Merriam would toss in a few bucks to support the city of Shawnee taking these hoodrats away from their theatres....
ReplyDeleteA smart marketing strategy. I can't stand to go to that theatre any more...
ReplyDeleteI work at TJ Maxx at the Legends outlet mall. Shoplifting is out of control.
ReplyDeleteI bet my corporate lead would just hand teens 72 cents to leave our store and go swim and cavort at the Shawnee/Dotte rec center.
Wow. Just wow. Might there be somewhere to actually sit all day in the food court at Oak Park Mall when the teens horde over to Shawnee/Wyandotte rec center?
ReplyDeleteYep, gramps and all you walkers.
ReplyDeleteset a spell.
Plus so many more pairs of shoes will be in the stores, not walkin' out the door...
But isn't this all about keeping up with Lenexa?
ReplyDeleteForget the dottttt.
This is a Joco war...of wealth and privilege.
Keeping up with the Joneses...
I do kinda feel sorry for the folk east of 435, stuck paying for it, forever.
So Tracy points out the 2017 Ks Tax Lid--aren't voters supposed to approve all property tax hikes in the future? This doesn't say that in the ballot...
ReplyDeleteKinda reminds me of KCMO's airport.
ReplyDeleteOr a perfume ad: promise them anything but give them Arpege....
Could Clay Chastain run for mayor in TWO cities at the same time this year?
ReplyDeleteKCMO--in April--to fix KCI
and then Shawnee--in August?? to overturn the Rec center disaster?
Good one, 9:17!!!
ReplyDeleteHe promises to move to KCMO if he wins. And I'm thinking of voting for him. We can't do any worse....
Amen, 9:18.
ReplyDeleteCity council clucks and sucks. Meanwhile cities like KCMO and Shawnee won't support more police.
Cray cray
Stephanie Meyer, councilwoman from Shawnee, just voted against more police and fire in the budget, but she's all in for MeyerLago rec center...
ReplyDeleteClay could be mayor in two places, and rent two homes.
ReplyDelete(Sly rents, 108 E. 3oth St. on Union Hill.)
Like eastern and western White House...
This will be a huge black eye for Shawnee.
ReplyDeleteWhich is harder to repurpose?
ReplyDeleteAn empty big box store? Or a failed community center?
This just in: A O-C and Bernie Sanders want to attend the ribbon cutting.
ReplyDeleteSocialist teen child care, coming to Shawnee and Wyandotte County, for just 72 cents a day.
Is this a great country, or what?!!
Why can't KCMO be more like Shawnee?
ReplyDeleteAt least Shawnee does a flawless job clearing the streets of snow and ice.
But then they use city staff to drive the plows. Even the gals with office jobs learn how. Amazing.
Filing deadline for opponents is June 1, three days after this election will be certified.
ReplyDelete6 of 9 council up for re-election in Shawnee.
And the Council is being told that no matter what the ballot says, they can raise the property tax in July.
ReplyDeleteJust like Merriam did with their pool. 3 weeks after the vote.
Bait and switch.
Deceptive ballot.
ReplyDeleteSoon to be followed by property tax hike in July.
With no sunset.
Even if they decided after May 21 not to build it, the voters would have already approved the property tax hike!
First it was the Plaza, then Westport, then Cinemark Merriam, then the outlet malls at the Legends, oh I forgot, Oak Park.
ReplyDeleteAnyone see a pattern here?
I have a home gym.
ReplyDeletedon't need this.
Where is Shawnee gonna find workers for this health spa?
ReplyDeleteIt's in the richest neighborhood.
Oh, I forgot. 13 blocks to Wyandotte County.
$38 million sounds good. But will it offer manicures?
ReplyDeleteYes, and a discount for seniors who lost a leg to diabetes.
ReplyDeletePedicures, half price.
Are there any Koreans within 20 miles of this place? they do the best work...
,, I can't believe the city a small like Shawnee needs a community center as big as Taj Mahal
ReplyDeleteI see another bait-and-switch coming just like the airport and the swimming pool at Merriam
ReplyDeleteTo switch locale and scale for a quick second, anyone remember the Garden City story about the Council firing all the police personnel, then the Chief? Anyone remember what it was about? That tiny low-budget City had debt payments of $80k per year on their voter approved rec center. Fees don't even approach an offset. They'd already cut every other budget item except sewage and water treatment. They were castigated and cut down in the court of public opinion. The remaining LEO, the Chief, went rogue and began to post the Board members home addresses and telephone numbers on the town facebook page rather than their official email and contact numbers. He rightly got shit-canned too. I would say they are a microcosm example of what is coming to Shawnee with this overspending. People don't get it, unlike the fed, City money has to come from somewhere.
ReplyDelete7:42, the dead tree newspaper, The Shawnee Dispatch, died several weeks back. That's why people read local blogs like this one to discover community news.
ReplyDeleteTracy and her team, including filmmaker of "Begging for Billionnaires" Phillip Klein, successfully defeated BiState II as well as Big Soccer.
ReplyDeleteThe Shawnee Council is cruisin' for a bruisin...
The May 21 ballot will fail.
But in the end, NOT building it is smart. They can't afford the cops to manage a teen hangout.
Isn't Stephanie Meyers in Ward 3 the married gal who broke up a man's marriage? From Lawrence?
ReplyDeleteOr was that Dawn Kuhn Tubbesing? From Ward 3.
Oh wait. They both did...
Very funny.
ReplyDeleteJustin Adrian was the Ward 3 dude, predator teacher forced to resign...
Something very sexy in that water in western Shawnee...
ReplyDeleteRhino horn???
They'll be filling the new Shawnee community center pool with that Cheating Spouse Water!!!
ReplyDeleteTracy---Thanks for an updated picture I think you're a very attractive lady. Thanks again.
ReplyDelete@ 1244 - I'll second that. Keep up the good work too.
ReplyDeleteHere was my response to reporter Leah Wankum's naive story on Shawnee Mission Post, the day after the council voted for mail in ballot.
ReplyDeleteLeah did a good job reporting what she DID include. But here's what she failed to share with readers. I testified on the looming specter of the "wrong crowd". Crime and disorderly conduct. Just 13 blocks south of the county line, this center will actually become the Shawnee/Wyandotte County rec center, since they don't have ANY true rec centers with sports. Just bingo day centers. Whyy? The UG/Dotte does not know any more than Westport or Plaza merchants, Cinemark Merriam or Oak Park Mall, how to manage gangs of idle urban youth!
Once there is an incident, all fiscal projections are out the window. No $ for off-duty cops to protect our innocent little Girl Scouts and scrawny spoiled white teens at this center.--from bullies! I reminded the council that In 165 years, neither Shawnee nor the Park Board have had a master plan. This is all a naive WANT, not a need. In a changing world.
The City's 4 page flier is all speculation and deceit.$38 million--but no mention of INTEREST? They refuse to put the actual amount of the property tax increase--IN THE BALLOT WORDING--on purpose. They COULD, but they WONT! Because 6 weeks after this might pass, they intend to raise the mill levy to the REAL amount, $15 a month, without voter approval. Thumbing their noses at the new 2017 Ks. Tax Lid bill.
This is a bait and switch. Just like the Merriam pool, which was changed 3 weeks after their vote. Or KCI Airport, promised $2 billion and no tax dollars. Now $4 billion, and the City borrowed $90 million, secretly starting dismantling--to prevent a mayoral race from going back to a remodel.
Leah failed to mention that the biggest "pro" citizen, speaking for 9 neighbors, is the rainmaker for new clients for AE Dunn Construction. He's for it so he can get voters to give the construction money to his boss! Jay Senter--that's a huge unreported Conflict of Interest! Disguised as happy happy joy joy--he promised his son's next birthday party will be held there. (awwwww). Dunn will pay for the cake!
https://www.jedunn.com/blog...
Single working moms from the Dotte have told me they are so grateful to Shawnee voters. They may visit in the AM before leaving for work, leaving up to four ruffians for us to babysit. All day and all night babysitting of their tweens and teens--for 72 cents a day! Free towels, wifi, AC, basketball-- and innertubes for the Lazy River. One Mom said, "It takes more than the Legends outlet mall and Cinemark Merriam to raise a child."
I testified to that. Why doesn't SMP report it???
Would you send your grandchild to SCC to fend for themselves? I would not. Lime bikes at the front door, $1 to start,will allow teens to scope out how the other half lives, just a mile north to new KCK metro bus stops.
Voters are challenged to learn these facts...since SMPost keeps repeating the spin without challenging itlike I have for the past month. The Council is deceiving voters, with a Cheshire cat smile on their faces, "let the people decide." Afraid to lose the power and honor they enjoy. It's an addiction. But watch out. This will be a marketing and home value disaster for Shawnee. They don't know what they are doing. Or see this coming. Obsessed with keeping up with Lenexa.
Just some of what I said. See No More Taxes Shawnee on FB.
This just in!
ReplyDeleteThe husband of Councilwoman Lisa Bunnell just called me a racist and fear mongerer, on ShawneeMissionPost.com, Jay Senter's online paper that abhors controversy.
Posting here in case his ad hominem attack on me, and possible illegal electioneering and my response are deleted from that site. Only subscribers can comment.
Nick Bunnell tracy thomas • an hour ago
Are you really asking why she didn't report on your racist, fear-mongering screed? Perhaps she could have included your rumination on "self-entitled poor people." She was doing you a favor. Do you really think the city is going to let unsupervised minors run around the facility all day every day causing trouble? Get a grip.
There are decent, thoughtful arguments against this project. You aren't making any of them.
•Reply•
tracy thomas Nick Bunnell • a few seconds ago
Dear Mr.Bunnell, I don't need to be Mansplained or scolded. I don't need to "get a grip". And I don't need any favors from reporters who have not done the research that I have, with Finance Director, City Atty, Secretary of State, Ks. State Senator, and the marketing directors of cities and retailers suffering from bullying by gangs of unsupervised youth, as well as shoplifting that is also rampant and well documented.
I see you are married to Ward 3's newly appointed Councilwoman, Lisa Bunnell. (not the man who received 1700 votes from voters in the previous city elections.) should you be making such comments? Are you electioneering?
I believe your ad hominem attacks on me, calling me a racist and fear mongerer are clearly a violation of SMPost guidelines. My considerable experience supporting civil rights since 1968 speak for themselves.
Do I believe the city will not have the funds and on-site off duty cops to manage this rec center, if they have an incident? No.
And now this! Lisa's husband got my post on SMP deleted as spam, and his own deleted as ad hominem.
ReplyDeleteSo now I reach out to him with list of how to amend the ballot wording, and end the controversy about non-transparency, or need for inserts. Just say what it is, ON THE BALLOT!
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Nick Bunnell tracy thomas • 35 minutes ago
Well, I'm sorry your original post was deleted since we are lacking context now. But that's okay. The meeting was recorded and posted on the city's website, as you know. Anyone interested can listen to your comments and decide for themselves.
Also, as a registered voter in Shawnee, I am as entitled to speak as you are. It doesn't matter that my wife is on the council. I speak only for myself.
I want the voters to have all of the information prior to the May ballot, but it should be based on facts. Take care.
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tracy thomas Nick Bunnell • a minute ago
Nick, your comments, too, were deleted. And I believe your comments are what led to mine being deleted as well. We were both kicked off, leaving the readers going, "huh"? Thanks alot, dude. Hard to get the word out with a newspaper that does not like controversy!
All comments appear intact on www.tonyskansascity.com, rh column, Top Stories. As well as on No More Taxes Shawnee on FB.
OK, in your last graph, you state, sincerely I believe--that you want the voter to have all of the information prior to the May ballot. I agree.
So will you please ask your wife, the new Ward 3 Councilwoman, Lisa Bunnell (who replaced the accused sex predator teacher Justin Adrian who resigned) to immediately ask the City Manager, City Attorney, and Council to amend the ballot wording. Give the facts!
Say what it is, and what it is not.
This will eliminate the need for any "inserts" or never before allowed memo/speculations/illustrations/and non-binding verbiage-- by an Election commissioner, or the Mayor, or anyone else.
1. That the property tax increase has no sunset.
2. And cannot be repurposed in the future, once the GO bonds are paid off, for any new or different project. For Parks and Rec or any other department.
3. That $38 million does not contain the interest that will be paid to bond holders/investors since that will not be known until the bonds are sold.
4. That IF the mill levy is set, in July at 2.919 mills, to purchase a proposed 20 year bond, that current projections do not forecast this center ever being self sustaining.
5. The council maintains that it alone has the right to approve mill levy increases, not the public. As a currently allowable exception to the 2017 Ks. Tax Lid Bill.
6. If the council determines each year that it will require a higher mill levy than the guesstimate of 2.919 mills per year for building and maintaining operation of this one community center, at 61st and Woodland and nowhere else, Council reserves the right to raise that subsection of the mill levy, without another public vote...earmarked only to this specific project.
7. The Council maintains the option, however, of dipping into the General Fund as needed, possibly affecting funds for police and fire and other necessities.
8. This proposal calls for the City to hire and provide ongoing employee benefits to 17 new FT employees of Parks and Recreation.
9. There are no provisions herein for off duty police officers or the payment thereof from this or any other known source.
Tracy is not a racist, she is a realist. Unlike the Council, ignoring the facts about crime and intimidation from herds of idle teens, roaming Legends Outlet Mall all day after Mamas drop 'em off.
ReplyDeleteTracy has a long history supporting civil rights, back to 1968. She marched, registered voters, and joined a black church in a show of unity.
She has a black foster grandchild. Sponsored sending Bukeka Shoals to sing at a church conference in California.
What have y'all done lately.
The City needs to fix their damn ballot and tell it like it is. Stop lying to the people. There's still time to do that.
Letting the voters decide sounds great, but only if they know what it would be, what it would cost.
Health clubs are passe. Why would Shawnee build an entertainment draw like Westport--in a residential neighborhood? Craycray...