Aw damn, I was going to save this article for tomorrow but Prime Buzz blogged it about an hour ago.
While KC's paper of record concentrated on the comments related to City Hall politics and the Mayor's underhanded stab at the City Council, I thought two thing were interesting about the write up.
First of all . . .
WHY IS MAYOR FUNKY IN ARIZONA GIVING A SPEECH WHEN THIS TOWN IS IN THE MIDDLE OF A HOMICIDE SPIKE? HOW IMPORTANT IS YET ANOTHER CONFERENCE IN LIGHT OF A SPATE OF VIOLENCE ON KANSAS CITY STREETS AND THE NEWS THAT INFORMATION FROM THE KCPD IS INACCURATE?
Secondly, the last passage of the post stood out in my mind:
It occurred to him recently that he's had just one fun day since he took office and that was the day a tornado ripped through the city. He asked the fire chief what he should be doing, to which the chief replied, go out and talk to people. So that's what Funkhouser did, and he was stunned that citizens who'd lost everything were happy to see him. After spending hours visiting with the victims, he took a helicopter ride to view the destruction from the air. Looking down, he saw public works removing downed branches and public safety officers aiding in rescue and crowd control. "That was a city that works, and that was the best day I've had as mayor."Think about that for a moment.
The first thing the passage reveals is that Mayor Funky responds better to orders from people who know better than him rather than taking any initiative on his own. First and foremost this reveals not that Mayor Funky isn't a politician but that he isn't a leader by nature . . . Unfortunately, his ability to learn on the job doesn't seem to be anything to brag about . . .
Secondly, maybe the article just wasn't phrased correctly but it seems to note that Mayor Funky liked looking down on Kansas City in ruins. That's either poor writing or a huge Freudian slip by this town's highest ranking public official.
There are a lot of things to be happy about as far as Kansas City is concerned but the Mayor claims that his only day of job satisfaction was watching other people in misery from far above as he represented himself as some kind of white knight . . . That's not a "City that Works," instead it sounds like a gigantic ego.
One of the best observations I've read on Funk:
ReplyDelete"it seems to note that Mayor Funky liked looking down on Kansas City in ruins."
that's exactly it, and Funk secretly wants something bad to happen.
Good observations. Can we get the fire chief to suggest somethings about Gloria staying home. Whole new role for the fire chief.
ReplyDeleteFunkhouser and Squitiro must both leave--they hurt our city too much.
ReplyDeleteOthers can do so much better...and many people are still working hard, every day, to keep the City progressing. Cheers to them.
And this loser tells us that he spent 18 years learning how the City works. And it is he, and only he who knows what to do. Turns out that he knows almost nothing about what to do to make the City work.
ReplyDeleteAnd where was the Squid who supposedly provides counsel to the Funk on how to deal with regular people & their problems? And what of Big Ed Wolf? What did we get from him during this disaster? Nothing that I can see.
When will this all end? Will we have to wait another three years? Say it ain't so Jimmy Nutter Sr.
One fun day? What about all the time he's taken off for vacations of writing his book? Time at his Ozarks cabin with the Squid?
ReplyDelete