Here’s a dining tip. Next time you’re hankerin’ for some barbecue, try The Smokehouse restaurant in Zona Rosa. The key to success at Smokehouse Barbecue is ordering the right thing from the menu. I’ve ordered some menu items that were okay, not great, but recently I found the winner, and there is no charge for this information: Order the full slab of pork baby back ribs. You’ll find it listed as a “dinner for two” option. Ask for the sauce to be on the side, not on the ribs. Your choices of two sides should be the beans (hickory pit) and cole slaw. So good. Enjoy. Thank me later.
Do you vote? Here’s a reminder that the largest tax increase in Platte County history is on the ballot at the Aug. 6 election in the form of what will be a half cent $400 million jail tax. This proposal also features the most whacked math in county ballot history. Vote no on questions 1 and 2. Be sure to flip your ballot over, the jail tax questions will be on the back side of most ballots. ‘No excuse needed’ absentee voting will begin two weeks out from the election.
Hats off to everyone involved with the Fourth of July Celebration in Downtown Platte City last week. Amazing work by the Platte City Chamber of Commerce staff of Jamie Kacz and Megan Hubbard and their roster of volunteers, credit to the City of Platte City for providing necessary financial assistance, credit to all for moving the daytime activity back to Main Street where it belongs, and credit to the public for turnout out in a big way. The spray foam event at the corner of Second and Main was a big hit with the kids in attendance. But the major draw seemed to be the 11:30 a.m. hot dog eating contest put on by Fetterman’s Deli. The event was held near the Farmer’s House Courtyard at 313 Main, near the corner of Third and Main. Fetterman’s had a good number of contestants in both the youth and adult divisions, and a huge crowd gathered to watch the fun. Great entertainment.
Great minds think alike, as the saying goes. What am I talking about?
Did you see the Fox 4 report on Monday night’s news? The Platte County Sheriff and his tax increase loving friends set up a media tour of the county jail. You knew in advance it was going to be one of those staged “woe is me, this place is terrible” kind of tour. So I watched what any discerning adult knew was a going to be a well-staged tour with great anticipation to see what kind of allegedly hellish conditions the TV cameras would find. Fox 4’s cameras focused on an air vent with rust around the edges. I literally laughed out loud. Apparently that’s the worst thing they could find to show on camera. There you have it, guys. An air vent with rust on it is a major reason you need to vote for a $400 million jail tax on the Aug. 6 ballot.
I wondered if anyone else had the same laugh-out-loud reaction that I did. Hours after the Fox 4 report, fellow Landmark columnist Guy Speckman sent in his Ponder the Thought column for the week. You can read his entire column on page 3 but here is the part that made me smile:
“The Platte County jail expansion push is in full push mode. I watched some Fox 4 video this week and it was classic ‘look at how bad this place is’ tour. It reminded me of the ‘no place to plug in your phones at the old airport’ marketing. ‘The Platte County jail has rusted out vents’ was the focus of one video I watched. Heck, close the place down for safety if it has rusted vents.”
As mentioned last week, the local political scene is very entertaining right now. It just keeps getting better.
A second Platte County elected official raises doubts and concerns about the Platte County Commission’s proposed half cent jail sales tax for 20 years. The proposed tax, if approved by voters on Aug. 6, would generate more than $400 million to go toward an expanded jail and jail operations. It would be the largest tax increase in the history of Platte County. All for a three-story prison palace that seems destined to become a jail hotel in Downtown Platte City.
Platte County Treasurer Rob Willard recently made the public announcement that he’ll be voting no on the tax, citing the fact that 20 years is too long. Other dedicated sales taxes in Platte County have hit the sunset clause at 10 years or less. This week it is Platte County Auditor Kevin Robinson with public criticism of the proposal. Robinson says the financial statements and worksheets used by the county commission to back their ballot proposal contain formula errors and incomplete information. This makes the information “suspect,” Robinson said this week.
A most fascinating aspect pointed in a previous letter to the editor by Gordon Cook and again pointed out by the county auditor is that the worksheet put together by the county commission, county administrator and the commission’s financial advisor uses seriously inflated inmate projections. Not just a little bit inflated. Significantly overstated inmate numbers when compared to what the county’s jail expert has told the county to expect.
The county commission’s document inflates the projected number of jail inmates beginning with the year 2029 and moving forward. For example, in the year 2031 the county’s jail expert (known as the Garnos Report) projects a county jail population of 262 while the county commission’s jail tax document lists it as 317. That’s bad, but it gets much worse. In the year 2036, the county’s jail expert expects the county jail population to be 302 inmates but the county commission’s jail tax proposal lists the expected inmate population of the jail in 2036 to be 480. How goofy is that? That’s 178 inmates more than the expert says, 59% higher than what the expert projects.
What are they thinking? Does this mean the county commission by the year 2036 is expecting to have imported 178 inmates from other counties and house them here? Or is it intentionally overstated to try to justify their $408 million money grab? Either way that kind of attempted deception is an eye opener and a definite reason to vote no on this trash proposal.
What makes the inflated inmate numbers really odd is that the county commissioners have all praised the past work of Bill Garnos as their jail population expert. Dagmar Wood, for instance, in multiple open sessions the past few years has made virtual love to the expert’s work and resume. Platte County Sheriff’s Department Major Erik Holland earlier this year said the Garnos projections have been nearly spot on (actual historical numbers show Garnos’ inmate projections have been a bit high, not too low).
So why aren’t the commissioners using the expert’s projections in this new proposal? Instead the county commissioners plugged in BS projections of 480 inmates by 2036 when the expert’s projection says 302. What in the wide, wide world of sports is a goin’ on here? As Gordon Cook pointed out last week in a letter to the editor, it’s part of what makes Platte County’s jail tax plan “unreliable and embarrassing.”
(‘Let’s drastically inflate projected inmate numbers’ seems like a plan of questionable merit. Email your thoughts to ivan@plattecountylandmark.com)
