It appears the Platte County Commission has checked between the couch cushions and found a little more than $2 million remaining of that $12 million in federal CARES money that it can give away. I guess there was some money the commission had not yet awarded to political friends, cronies or Ron Schieber’s family.
So on Monday, the commission awarded grants to 79 different businesses/organizations. One of them, of course, was to commissioner Ron Schieber’s benefit, as again his wife’s employer gets some free cash. That’s two straight meetings in which Schieber has voted yes on funneling public money to his wife’s employer (Southern Platte County Athletic Association) and by now we’ve got to be up to double figures on the number of times this has happened during Schieber’s time as a commissioner.
To heck with the art of the deal, Schieber has perfected the art of the public money grab. He’s the best I’ve seen at it, so kudos to him, he can be proud of that, I suppose. It will become his legacy.
This took more work than it should have: On the county’s website is a strange and very vaguely worded public document that listed the winners of what will apparently be the final 79 grant recipients. Next week we’ll print that list. By that time we’re hoping to have the exact dollar amount each of those has been approved to receive. The amounts will range from $25,000 to $29,000 apparently, if we are correctly deciphering a talking-in-circles document approved by our county commissioners on Monday.
These days, Schieber doesn’t even bother to abstain on those votes in which his wife’s employer is awarded money by the county commission. He doesn’t even try to hide the shadiness or cover the smell. Maybe he wants to be celebrated as a financial savior by the organization that employs his wife. Or maybe he doesn’t realize it’s really not a good look. Let’s be honest, he’s not exactly a man of the people. He keeps a pretty tight circle because he only likes to hear from people who agree with him, and as such he’s not the most in-touch-with-the-masses elected official you’ll ever meet.
And of course by now Schieber realizes that in Platte County with the R behind his name it’s extremely unlikely he’ll be voted out in favor of someone with a D behind his/her name. A challenge would have to come from within the Rs.
An astute Landmark reader brought this to my attention: The county commissioners no longer “office” in Platte City and haven’t for months, and the chatter inside the administration building is that the commissioners have indicated they don’t intend to “office” in Platte City anytime in the near future, if ever.
That being the case, all the commission meetings and “work” by the commissioners is being performed at the Platte County Resource Center. The Platte County Resource Center is located within the City of Kansas City. By now you probably know where this is headed.
Yes, since the commissioners have been performing their work within the City of Kansas City, the county commissioners should be paying the one percent earnings tax to Kansas City. Are they?
World Naked Gardening Day is May 1. Who knew? Did you know? I mean, not did you know May 1 is Naked Gardening Day but did you know naked gardening is actually a thing?
I’ll confess I’ve stepped outside in my boxers a few times to snatch something off the patio or get the newspaper out of the driveway or grab an embarrassing Michelob Ultra can someone tossed on my lawn. But naked gardening? Haven’t done that one.
I’m not here to judge. You be you. But guys, if you’re doing naked gardening be extremely careful swinging that garden hoe. You don’t want collateral damage.
A company called LawnStarter has done some research on the issue. According to a press release, the five best cities for gardening au naturale are Miami, Fla; Austin, Tex; Seattle, Wash; Atlanta, Ga. and Portland, Or.
The company compared the 100 biggest (it’s always about size) cities across nine metrics. None of those surprise me except for the one in Texas. I hope Ted Cruz is not a naked gardener.
A few more notes and quotes from Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas from our recent conversation on Landmark Live. The video remains on Facebook at Platte County Landmark for your viewing pleasure.
*Lucas doesn’t like MoDOT’s planned design of the new Buck O’Neil Bridge (you and I still call it the Broadway Bridge). And if you’ve seen it, maybe you don’t either. It just looks like a basic highway overpass, no character to it at all. The mayor says he’ll put together a task force to perhaps help raise some money that could be put toward incorporating “the beauty and style we have in Kansas City” into the new bridge.
*He tactfully danced around my question of evaluating the overall job performance of the Kansas City police chief, who has come under criticism in many circles and who some folks last summer thought would not still be holding the spot at this time.
*He likes and wants to keep the policy of Kansas City police officers being required to live within the city. And the mayor doesn’t think the city should be required to bring the earnings tax issue back to a vote of the people every five years. He prefers it to be a “forever tax” but indicated he would settle for it being a 10-year sunset instead of five.
*About his political future: Lucas is seen as a potential Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by the retiring Roy Blunt. The mayor said later this spring and into the summer he’ll be evaluating his political future in regard to perhaps running for that Senate spot in 2022.
(Feel free to reach out to Ivan Foley, preferably when you’re not naked gardening. Email ivan@plattecountylandmark.com)
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