Coming out against TKC!!!

Surprisingly, not everybody agrees with TKC. In fact, there are often compliants regarding my coverage.

Below is a recent response attacking my credibility (heh) that I think deserves to be featured . . . Also, here's a link to Playboy's Erica Campbell in a bikini - You decide which is more important:

Tony,

First of all, I want to thank you for writing positive and beautiful things about the West Side from time to time. I appreciate your help with volunteers concerning the Westside Beautification Committee. By the way, I'll be asking you to post once again the first or second week of April, when we'll be doing spring planting of cannas and other flowers. We just received a small donation from the Economic Development Corporation for the purchase of spring flowers. I'll keep you posted. We also have a very good chance of Summit Street being selected by the Cancer Society for its official planting of thousands of daffodils, which is the Society's symbol. They choose different locations annually for this cancer awareness project.

Regarding your posting today, I want to clarify that Mike Hendricks did not approach me concerning the West Junior High building article that appeared in this morning's paper. I approached him and other reporters from the Kansas City Star as well as Joe Arce of the KC Hispanic News. The Hispanic News ran an in-depth, front-page article that came out this past Thursday.

I sincerely feel that Hendricks nailed the issue of horribly blighted schools on the West Side as well as surplus schools all over the city. In today's posting you mentioned that he only knew one dude from the West Side: me. I don't know what's up with you and Mike Hendricks, and I really don't care, but when it comes to misconstruing the issue of Westside development and preservation of the old West Junior and Switzer buildings, I care a great deal.

The main idea that I wanted to get across to Hendricks,and which I did, was that the School Board has been a very bad neighbor for decades. My main concern is that the School Board either use the buildings and make them beautiful again, or sell them to a developer that will be a visionary and open to community input.

The idea of a botanical garden was never at the top of my list. At the top of my list for that location is affordable senior housing. Here are just a few more ideas that I'm very interested in as well: grocery store, banks and other amenities associated with senior housing, indoor city market (mercado), coffeehouse, restaurant, condominiums, other retail space. The garden idea is just one of many.

I'm talking to Tony Salazar, of McCormack Baron Salazar, who is interested in developing this property and who I understand talked to Westside Housing about partnering with them for the development of senior housing at this location as well.

What would you like to see done with that location, Tony? I would really like to hear some feedback.

I've taken the time to write you all of this because I feel that you misconstrued and misrepresented my ideas for that development. My number one focus is to save those buildings, and my number one preference is to see senior housing at that location.

If you would only have taken the time to e-mail me or return my phone call, this misunderstanding could have been avoided. I sincerely hope that you accept this letter offered in the spirit of improving communication. I know that your blog is a joke blog, with lots of satire. But when it comes to your stating that the author of the article misrepresented the truth when it was actually you who did so by declining to inform yourself, then I think it stops being satire and becomes misinformation. And misinformation is worse than no information.

I'm not being petty but only desire to communicate the truth about this very important piece of real estate in the middle of the West Side that has become more and more blighted over the course of three decades. PLEASE POST THIS ON YOUR BLOG.

Sincerely,

Alfredo Parra

Whew . . . There, I hope we all feel better and hopefully when I actually have time to read the news rather than just copying and pasting, I'm sure I'll be better informed. Until then, I'll probably just keep looking for photos of big booty white women in popular men's magazines and maintaining the illusion that I care about community current affairs. It's a good racket and might even be just as important as ignoring the current budget crisis, dreaming up pie-in-the-sky unworkable plans and defending the honor of suburban, white columnists from big media outlets. Your mileage may vary.