Category: Opinions

Improving economy calls for change in monetary policy

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Opinion column
by Murrel Bland

As economic times continue to improve, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System will be increasing interest rates and selling securities that it purchased during the recent recession.

That was the message that Esther George delivered when she spoke to the Congressional Forum at a luncheon of the Congressional Forum Friday, Feb. 16, at Children’s Mercy Park, Kansas City, Kansas. About 75 business and governmental leaders attended.

George is the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, a position that she has held since 2011. She has been with the Federal Reserve since 1982, serving in various positons including those charged with regulation and risk management. She is responsible for about 1,600 employees.

George cited the low rate of unemployment—about 4 percent—and consumer confidence represented in increased spending as reasons that the economy is improving. She also mentioned that nearly 3 percent growth rate of the economy as another reason for an optimistic outlook.

George explained that the Federal Reserve System is divided into 12 districts. The Kansas City (Tenth) Branch includes the states of Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Colorado, Wyoming, Western Missouri and Northern New Mexico. Congress established The Federal Reserve in 1913 after a series of financial panics, particularly the one in 1907. She said three objectives of the Federal Reserve are to maximum employment, stable prices and moderate long-term interest rates.

George said it will be important for the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy to keep inflation at a reasonable rate. She said concerns that she sees includes a shortage of skilled workers and the rate of worker productivity that is only half of what it was in the 1990s.

The Federal Reserve, during the recent recession, purchased large-scale assets. That resulted in a $4.5 trillion balance sheet. Now that times are better, it is time to start reducing these assets. Those assets represent about 25 percent of the gross domestic product, compared to only 6 percent in 2007.

The Kansas City, Kansas, Area Chamber of Commerce sponsors the Congressional Forum. The next meeting will be at 11:30 a.m. Friday, March 16, at Children’s Mercy Park. Kansas. Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer will be the featured speaker.

Murrel Bland is the former editor of The Wyandotte West and The Piper Press. He is the executive director of Business West.

Letter to the editor: Compensation for wrongfully convicted individuals

Editor’s note: Alvin Sykes, a human rights activist in Kansas City, Kansas, recently sent this letter to the Wyandotte Daily concerning a bill that would reimburse wrongfully convicted individuals for the years they spent in prison. Sykes and Sen. David Haley, D-4th Dist., have been working on a bill on this topic for 10 years. Sykes spoke at a legislative hearing on a bill on this topic earlier this week.

To Kansas State Sen. David Haley and to whom else it may concern:

As both a veteran certified human rights worker, with over 40 years experience in the victim advocacy field nationwide, and as a citizen of the state of Kansas, I am writing this letter in vigorous support of SB 336 and HB 2579 (Compensation for the Wrongly Convicted).

I firmly believe it is fundamentally unfair and just plain wrong for the state of Kansas to wrongly convict innocent people, such as Lamonte McIntyre, Floyd Bledsoe and Richard Jones (successfully represented by the Innocence Project) and then put them out on the street after years of incarceration without any financial support or compensation to restart their life!

Furthermore it is a slap-in-the-face irony that they would have received more resources and support from the state of Kansas if they had been guilty!

Even though $80,000 compensation for each year served wrongly in prison is not enough for the injustice inflicted against them, it does represent a good start!

Two years ago the state of Kansas passed a law to significantly change the eyewitness identification procedures for crime investigation by law enforcement to radically reduce the occurrence of wrongful convictions in the future. Now it is past time to justly compensate those who have been wrongly convicted in the past and future!

Therefore I strongly urge passage of this legislation, with all deliberate speed, so that the day will come sooner, rather than later, when all people will come before a bar of justice where truth rules, justice prevails and the community has credible confidence in the courts verdicts of guilt or Innocence for all!

Alvin Sykes
Kansas City, Kansas

Leavenworth Road Association plans events

Guest column
by Lou Braswell

December and January have been fairly slow months, so I have not been sending out the Leavenworth Road Association updates as frequently.

Also, since those are slow months, I decided to have my cataract surgery done so I will be ready and able to run with the big dogs (as the saying goes).

Besides the LRA meeting Tuesday night, two upcoming events are a Welborn Lake open house and the Wyandotte County Lake opening day breakfast.

At the open house on Thursday, residents may explore ways to clean up Welborn Lake. The open house, in a come-and-go format, will be from 4:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 15, at Christ the King parish Davern Hall, 3024 N. 53rd St.

The Wyandotte County Lake opening day breakfast sponsored by the Leavenworth Road Association will take place from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. March 3 at Davis Hall at Wyandotte County Lake Park. Breakfast will include biscuit and sausage gravy, two sausage patties, coffee, milk or orange juice, for $10 per person, and half-price for those younger than 10. It is a fundraiser for LRA.

Our Leavenworth Road Association meeting is Feb. 13 at Eisenhower Recreation Center, serving Philly Cheese Casserole for the potluck dinner-social hour.

Guest speakers will be from Partners in Primary Care. A potluck dinner begins at 6 p.m., followed by the program at 7 p.m.

Looking ahead, June will be a busy month with our annual Kids’ Fishing Derby, Summer Youth Program, and then the Teen Team coming from surrounding states to pitch in to help our community residents. Applications for the Summer Youth Program will be available in late May, Teen Team applications are available now by calling the office or emailing LRAKCK@sbcglobal.net .

Along with the stress that comes with all the construction along Leavenworth Road from 38th to 63rd streets, smile a little smile, it is going to be so nice, with turn lanes, sidewalks, underground utilities that you may think you are on State Avenue or Parallel Parkway.

The former Medicalodge Nursing Home is now becoming a Youth Residential Center , with plans of opening mid-March. We at LRA are going to be very supportive of the kids involved, as our entire concern is kids first, safe and sound. We will accept full-size hygiene products, new socks, new underwear, and board games at our meetings and our office to help with the center opening and to welcome these kids.

LRA meetings are always the second Tuesday of each month at Eisenhower Center, 2901 N. 72nd, starting at 6 p.m. with a potluck-social hour, then 7 p.m. meeting. Our meetings are always open to everyone.

Lou Braswell is the executive director of the Leavenworth Road Association. To reach the Leavenworth Road Association, call the office at 913-788-3988 or email lrakck@sbcglobal.net.