Funkhouser fakes fighting crime

If you remember the opening days of the Cleaver administration you might remember a completely legal (and totally unethical) trip to Disney World on behalf of Kansas City's first Black mayor. The trip set the tone for the next 8 years at City Hall, which would be one of the most corrupt periods in recent Kansas City History.

Well, it seems that the dye has been cast for the Funkhouser Administration as well . . . The preliminary verdict: Funkhouser is all talk.

Time and time again the guy seems to think that politics consists of nothing more than rigidly controlled press conferences and terse memos offering his dictates. This is typical of a bureaucrat and not exactly a resounding change from the days of Country Club Kay.

Here's the latest example . . . Funkhouser recently used the upcoming appointment of a new Parks Board as an opportunity to take part in a lot of big talk about crime . . . However, in the end he didn't really DO anything but announce his intention to pass the problem off to somebody else in the same manner that so many other politicians have done in KC.

Mayor Mark Funkhouser said few people are using city parks because they don't think they are safe, and he wants that to change.

Funkhouser said the city spends $56 million a year on the parks, and they're not getting their money's worth.

"They don't feel safe in the parks -- more than half report not feeling safe in the parks in the daytime. But one of the things we need to find out is why people aren't using the parks," Funkhouser said.

Empty words, all of them. If he really wanted to take any kind of action he might try proposing a new (or "golden oldie") initiative in order to fight crime instead of just decreeing his will from on high. Another look at The KC Gun Experiment would be a great idea. I've been linking the same study for more than a year but the Internet community in KC still mindlessly support the guy as if he was some kind of savior . . . Too bad it's already been proved that he's anything but and more akin to an average politician who has substituted his lack of style (and experience) for a style.

Anyway, the point here is that for the next four years . . . It's clear that Kansas City can't expect much action from Funkhouser that doesn't come in the form of a press conference . . . It's what got him into office, and so far it's proven to be the only thing he's good at . . .

Additionally, I'm taking this moment to nominate TKC for the Kansas City Parks Board. Here are the top ten things I'd do to make KC Parks safer in no particular order:

No more weddings at Loose Park!!! It wouldn't directly decrease violence but it certainly might contribute to fewer people in unhappy marriages which in turn would lessen the quotient of misery in the world.

All dogs not on leashes get barbecued! Justice never tasted so good.

If you live near Swope Park, You have to go to Swope Park at least once. All of KC's Eastside seems to do nothing but run away from their problems this new TKC ordinance would mandate that people take a look at their backyard before abandoning it.

A 5 dollar visitors tax for all Johnson County people visiting Loose Park!!! Really, just because JoCo has absolutely no culture, class or crime doesn't give those dirtbags the right to take every bit of parking with their SUVs . . . In this instance and so many others, these folks use KC services and then scurry back to their neck of the woods without contributing a thing . . . At least Mexican immigrants pay sales taxes and reside in KC's crappy housing. JoCo folks do nothing but visit KC with a sense of entitlement, crowd the nicest parts of the city and complain that the entire town isn't as sanitized as their suburb which looks more like a strip mall . . . A mandatory 5 dollar tax every time "these people" visit KC parks would at least make listening to them more bearable.