Falling Star

I'm not a "the-mainstream-media-is-biased" guy or a "the KC Star is for wrapping fish" snob, but the reporting in the Star Neighborhood section has a long way to go.

For both the Open Ignition ordinance and the No Smoking ordinance, the headlines and the reporting of the facts were terribly inflammatory and failed to highlight some important details that make these new ordinances a little less than they seem:

- The fact that locking your car or "directly supervising" your running car -- even from inside your house" will allow you to warm-up your car this winter was pretty glossed-over. Especially with a front-of-the-section headline like: Expect A Fine if You Leave Key in Your Car. "

Remember, although I have it on good authority that supervising your car from inside is okay, you better meet the PV officer in your driveway if he gets out to check to see if it's locked.

- A lead statement like "Prairie Village Council expressed support for an ordinance that would ban smoking in public places...." fails to mention that restaurants are pretty much the only place left where you can smoke in public and the ordinance recommended specifically exempts restaurants for the time being.

I 've heard from PV residents whose anger about both of these measures was much tempered when I explained to them what the Star failed to emphasize.

All you have to do is lock

Oh boy, did I get an xxx-chewing from my neighbor who thought the open ignition ban (henceforth known as the Lock Your Car law) was a lousy idea. While I was mowing the lawn on Sunday -- if you want to catch me off-guard, try when I’m unshaven, wearing a rescued-from-from-the-Goodwill pile- T-shirt, ears buried in headphones and covered in grass clippings -- he waved me over to the back fence (as often as we’ve discussed city business over that fence, I ought to be able to deduct it as a home office) and he let me have it: “…it’s a terrible idea…you’re inconveniencing hundreds to prevent an insignificant number of crimes…there is a disparate impact on those who have single car garages…. There’s also been a over-reacting Letter to the Editor in the Star Neighborhood section last weekend and an e-mail sent to the City Council by a disgruntled resident. Most of the sentiment is similar – it’s all very anti-Big Brother, which I completely understand. However, this is not Big Brother.

On the Very Same Morning that we got the e-mail from the resident, this came right off the police blotter: “…two…males stopped in from of a home on 7800 block of Norwood and approached a truck warming-up in the driveway…. when the homeowner came out of his house to confront the men, they got back into their car and sped off, the WRONG WAY down one-way Norwood. This is another perfect example of how this law is NOT about protecting individuals from losing their property. It’s about protecting the community at large. What if either the homeowner or the would-be thieves had been more aggressive in their confrontation? This is not an innocuous encounter after all, this is someone who is 10 seconds from walking into the commission of a crime and someone could get hurt. Once a car is stolen, there will be a criminal in a big hurry to leave Prairie Village; someone could get hurt by a speeding car. For pete’s sake, they even drove their own car the wrong way down a one way street trying to get away. And when they get away, that PV car will probably be used in the commission of another crime. It’s certainly not about a couple of kids looking for a joy ride; the criminals already have a car -- they needed it to get to our neighborhoods in the first place.

The point is that in the commission of a crime, it is not just the auto owner who is the victim. Anyone who is likely to be hurt (kids walking or riding bikes to school, joggers, dog-walkers) is a victim too. We are all victims if we enable a situation that attracts criminals to Prairie Village.

Because of the poor reporting and inflammatory headline of the Star, people are overlooking the fact that all they have to do is lock the car. As a matter of fact, if you want to start your car, leave it UNLOCKED and watch it closely enough from your toasty living room that you can beat the crooks or the cops to your car before they get out of their cars, I’m sure that that would be enough to ward off the law and maybe even the outlaw.

You can't smoke, but really, you can.....

Well, it looks as though the City Council will consider an ordinance to ban smoking in any enclosed public place EXCEPT for bars and restaurants. It will probably pass since it left the Council Committee of the Whole with something like a 6-5 or 7-4 vote. Prairie Village Restaurants and Bars will become no smoking essentially when every city that shares a border with PV goes no smoking in their restaurants.

I agreed with the restaurant owners – who thought that any unilateral move by PV would damage their businesses AND the public health people – who thought the ordinance didn’t go far enough. The ordinance that is being recommended by the task force and Committee of the Whole is worthless.

I don’t believe in passing toothless laws in order to “make a statement.” And that’s all this measure will do. PV already has a ban on smoking in common areas of indoor public spaces – lobbies, waiting rooms, etc. And most office properties in the cities are non-smoking by rule of the property owner. So, how many business properties are there that are not restaurants and not owned or managed by someone who already bans smoking? After that, how many of those properties have a smoker that is burdening a non-smoking subordinate? What’s that gonna be, like, three people???.

In general, I have to say that I don’t really favor a ban on smoking in restaurants. I think people ought to influence the issue with their wallets. If restaurant and bar owners started to lose business because people were heading for completely non-smoking establishments, then they would go completely non-smoking too.