Quote:
Originally Posted by john_galt
Some people here are dumb sh*ts. You see race when I was referring to a map that is all about incidents that happened. Check the map and get race out of YOU'RE minds.
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Dear Mr. Gault,
Before you spout off, drive into this area and look around. Is is very (very again) highly black, and there are some very nice people in this area. It is also (this is a quote from the police station personnel just North of this intersection) "the area in Kansas City with the highest crime rate". I know this area well, and have discussed this area with city personnel. You are just plain wrong if you think that race has nothing to do with the problem. But, just because race is a problem does not mean that all the blacks are a problem. It only takes a few to create the problem which falls on many. You can be sure of this, when I go to the area I take a couple (or several) black guys with me, and I dress poorly, so the white guy doesn't stand out too much. Even the black guys are nervous about this area and call it the "bad part of town" One good thing has been happening the last few years: the hispanic group has been buying up property cheap and making improvements to the neigborhood. I was at public meeting in the area when one of the black ladies stood up to complain about how the "damn mexicans" were moving in, fixing up the houses, and making her place look bad. I wish that I had a movie tape of that: I could sell that movie to one of the TV shows. No one laughed, but when I looked over at one of the city official, she rolled her eyes at me (she was black). She didn't comment, she knew the problems these people face. This was not the crazy Carol Coe who represented this district. (The three times she met me she made a point of telling me she was a minister of a church. Something is really strange about that woman. When she continued to get elected, it tells me that some of the people in these neighborhoods are so beat down that they have lost hope.)
As the blacks live with the hispanic, maybe the property values will improve. I will give Mayor Funkhouser a lot of credit for improvements in the inner city. The improvements include cleanup and added safety for the residents. These improvements that Mayor Funkhouser has brought to the inner city have been ignored for years by the previous administrations, including Emanuel Cleaver. Several of the black workers have commented to me about how Mr. Funkhouser shut down some of the high crime spots immediately after taking office by personally leading squads of police into spots that have been problems for years. I know the Kansas City Star hates him, but why? He has really interfered with some of the real estate companies that continue to try to rip off the city and the people (remember the intercity stuff that happened with the stupid Kay Barns - she really ran this city down, and made money in the process. I have had several personal invitation to meet with her and her backers. No way, I know about these slime people. Thank God she lost her bid for congress in a big way. Please, no one should comment about the Sprint Center. That hell hole is a rip off that the city is still paying for and will for years, while the profits go to others. If you want your own entertainment, we should not help you pay for it).
Mr. Funkhouser has been the greatest thing that has happened to the inner city in the history of the Kansas City. The good he does just doesn't get published.
I just wish I had more spare money to buy up properties that have gone down in some of these areas. With the economy down, there are some real bargains in Kansas City for fixing up because the banks sold people on variable interest loans, (Interest shot up) etc. I walked in and paid cash for properties under various names, and use guys happy to get the work to make improvements.
There a lot of problems that have been caused by people like Kay Barns who have ignored the needs of the city residents while they have sucked the funds and life out of the city with real estate give aways downtown. I know that because I have property downtown that was acquired before the vultures saw what a few people had done and flew in to rip the life out of the development individuals were doing. Some of the artist are now moving to the Linwood and Troost area, fixing up some old properties and improving that area. Already, it has gotten the interest of some of the same group of real estate vultures who are asking the city for special favors and money grants so they can go in and mess it up like they did the Crossroad District under that damn Kay Barns.
So far, Mark Funkhouser has been able to resist. If the neighborhoods are to improve and come back. They have to be developed for the neighborhood and the betterment of the city, not for the greedy.
So John, do you really fell stupid now for the knee jerk reaction you gave us?
JR