Friday, February 06, 2009

Easterly neighbors

Just catching up on some RSS feeds after a busy couple of weeks in the real world and I wanted to pass on some helpful information I found over at WNBT.

One of my favorite local writers Nick Charles found it within himself to grace us lowly Kansans with a much appreciated bit of automotive advice.

It's solid advice from the logic-based culture that permeates Kansas City Missouri down to the very soles of the bare feet in city hall.

And because Mr. Charles was so helpful (misspellings aside) in his recent column, I was hoping that he and his KCMO/JACO brain trust could give us JoCo cretins a little advice on a few other items.

1) Whenever I venture into Kansas City, Mo, I'm always envious of the awesome steel plates that cover virtually every inch of pavement. How I long for such extravagant luxuries in our little burg of Johnson County. Sure, they're a pain to drive on, and maybe they do shred your car's tires like an Independence Avenue working girl with Lee Press-On Nails.

But certainly a city's wealth and affluence can be measured in it's willingness to destroy it's own transportation for the sake of rusty steel roadways.

2) Johnson County Kansas seems to be way behind the times when it comes to sewer and storm drainage. Currently, we are still in the dark ages of collecting our waste water and filtering it through a multi-stage purification process resulting in the reduction of pollution returned into the natural environment.

How I long for the day when JoCo can be more like Kansas City, Mo., allowing our most foul waste to flow through the creeks and streams of our neighborhoods and shopping districts creating a signature aroma known far and wide as the Kansas City Stink.

3) When it comes down to it, a city is only as good as the people who manage it's government on a day-to-day basis. And I think there can be no argument that Kansas City, Mo., has the best that money can buy.

From the city council, to the mayor's office to the school board, Kansas City government is virtually synonymous with efficiency and effectiveness.

If only the various governments of Johnson County could learn to be a fraction as effective of the Jackson County governments. Then we could have cities and neighborhoods that people actually want to live it. We could have a school system where children feel safe and nurtured.

Yes, we in Johnson County have a long way to go before we can claim to have cities the caliber of Kansas City, Mo. But with the help of people like Mr. Charles, I have hope for great change.

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5 comments:

  1. Dammit Emaw! I go through my life quite happily without knowing that pricks like this are out there trying to write witty and interesting commentary on items they find worthy of paying attention to, and you go and flaunt them under my nose, making it impossible for me to not click on the link, and find things to mock.

    Fimoculous; rapproachment...these are not words. At least not in the English speaking world. Maybe he's trying to get all Lewis Carrol on our asses? I dunno...

    WTF is he talking about, anyway? Will he come here and try to explain it, do you think? How do you find this kind of shit, man? Jeezy...

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  2. From my present perch in grubby corrupt old Chicago, this reminds me of calling home from college and listening while my parents bickered at the other end of the line about who said what at dinner after church. It's a very sweet and nostalgic feeling. At least my parents had the option of divorce, whereas you all...

    For Faith, who trips on misspellings:

    fi⋅mic⋅o⋅lous – adjective
    Of or pertaining to an organism that lives on or in animal excrement. Origin: Latin

    rap⋅proche⋅ment – noun
    An establishment or reestablishment of harmonious relations: a rapprochement reached between warring factions. Origin: French

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  3. I do my part and have 1% of my income confiscated by these clowns.I bet I sponsored a few metal plates all by myself.

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  4. ditto on the 1% (well, when I actually had a day job) and i thot it was just the penultimate example of fucktard KCMO politics. Any other city that has problems with white flight wouldn't just add retail to downtown and hope for the best, they'd end that stupid 1% tax and offer a credit for those working downtown and living in the burbs. Lord knows with parking costs, they could use it.

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  5. Looks like he responded -

    http://willnotbetelevised.com/tv/2009/02/08/4343/

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