Window on the West
by Mary Rupert
The Unified Government swearing-in went off well on Thursday night, and the 1st District, at large seat is finally occupied, after two years of being vacant.
The two new commissioners, Melissa Bynum and Harold Johnson Jr., appear to be well-qualified and ready to work on the community’s behalf.
One thing struck me about this swearing-in, though. Although I’m usually asking for more information, I felt there was a little too much information given at the ceremony. Just the facts and issues pertaining to public policy, please.
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Marty Thoennes, executive director of the Central Avenue Betterment Association, said he feels one of the biggest issues facing the UG Commission will be how to get enough revenue, specifically, the UG’s collection of unpaid property taxes. He says a big chunk of properties have not been current on paying their property taxes, and not much progress has been made on this, although there have been some efforts made at resolving it. The amount the UG collects on its property taxes could make a difference in the projects it has on the drawing board this year.
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While the state legislators in Topeka could be desperately diving into fountains looking for spare change in the next few weeks, in order to avoid raising all the taxes, while planning to make more cuts to schools and social programs, the news recently at the federal level was that a group of federal employees abroad had been spending money on prostitutes. There has to be some middle ground between the Topeka skinflint philosophy and the federal spendthrifts.
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Some of us were watching the Unified Government commissioners sworn in last night, and other area residents were watching the Kansas City Royals game on television, from Chicago. The Royals reportedly got into a fight with Chicago over some slights, real or imagined. It seems to me the umpires could do a lot toward solving these problems. If a ball is thrown by a pitcher and hits a player, intentionally or not, just automatically eject the pitcher from that game. If a batter goes after a pitcher or other player, automatically eject that batter from that game. Then see if the number of incidents decreases.
To reach Mary Rupert, editor, email [email protected].