In response to "Thanks Cherokee Residents"

An anonymous post-er commented:

"I'm very pleased to FINALLY see news about the work being done to calm traffic in Prairie Hills. To be clear. It has been an ENTIRELY volunteer effort by residents only. I'm grateful to Kisa that she has continued the work begun by a small group of Cherokee Drive residents. This volunteer effort began with an on-line petition that was sent to Cherokee Drive residents more than a year ago. The petition connected Marsha Bjerkan, Kisa and Carol Kobza to plan volunteer efforts including a meeting inviting all of the Cherokee Drive residents. At least 15 residents of Cherokee Drive attended a City Council meeting and presented our concerns. It wasn't as simple as meeting with Bob Pryzby. It took sincere effort. And it has been extremely difficult to get ANY response from elected officials. There is no guideline provided by the City of Prairie Village for how to make change happen. It has been surprising and often disappointing and I'm glad to see that Kisa hasn't given up. Great job, Kisa. "

Thanks Cherokee Residents

I have met with the Prairie Village Director of Public Works, Bob Pryzby regarding traffic calming. I was extremely impressed by the progress that has been made by the group led by Ward 3 and Cherokee Drive resident Kisa White in working with PV staff to develop a comprehensive program that will address traffic issues throughout the entire city.

From what I have seen, anyone who wanted to address residential traffic issues in PV in a sensible, forward-looking, neighborhood-friendly way owes a debt to Mrs. White and her neighbors for the work they've done one this plan. Their efforts are a testament to the power of residents who want to work to solve problems not just complain and go home.

City Strengthens Building Review

As a result of process errors and poor compliance of the building contractor, PV has strengthened the building review process.

Though I really appreciate the Star reporter asking for my comments, I was slightly misquoted as saying,

“I think the initial look at what went wrong is excellent for now,” Ward 3 council member Andrew Wang said. “But there’s probably more that can be done.”

Now anyone who has heard me speak in the council chambers (or anywhere for that matter) knows that I am no William Jennings Bryan but that is a sloppy sentence even for me.

More importantly, an initial "look" is most certainly NOT enough. I do think that city staff has made a good effort to institute significant changes towards eliminating the errors that occured on 71st Street but it was not merely examiniation of the processes. It was the addition of the site inspection with a set of plans that includes the actual measurement of the foundation distance from all set back lines and a comparison of those measurements to the approved plan.

I was accurately quoted as saying that I would like to pursue monetary fines for builders who materially ignore the permitting process.

Congratualtions

to Michael Kelly, your new Ward 3 Council Member

Environmental Cmte Hosts Earth Fair

PV'er, Blog visitor and member of the PV Environmental Committee Margaret Thomas writes:

Friends and neighbors, this Saturday is the 6th Annual Earth Fair from 10 to 3 at Shawnee Mission East.

It is a super event for all ages, and it's free! The Fair has alternative fuel, electric and all hybrid cars on site. This year more than 50 exhibits will be there with information and activities related to energy, transportation, air quality, architecture, landscaping and agriculture, wildlife and prairies, rivers and streams, and personal lifestyle and investment decisions.

There will be musical performances by Briarwood and Belinder, and Kansas City’s own “Green Elvis” will perform. Craft activities for kids and live animals to touch will be part of the program. Eco-products, native perennials, and vegetable starts will be sold. Delicious organic lunches may be purchased. You can get your gas cap tested while you visit the Fair. The Fair also coincides with Shawnee Mission East’s gigantic used book sale.

This year the Fair features a special workshop at 10:30 for elementary and middle school parents and teachers describing how schools can better utilize their Outdoor Wildlife Learning Sites (OWLS). There will also be a special presentation at 1:00 on how to use native plants to build a rain garden at your home – rain gardens are key to reducing water runoff and stream erosion throughout our region. Earth Fair is co-sponsored by the Prairie Village Environmental Committee and the Shawnee Mission East Student Environmental and Recycling Committee. Drawings for hourly door prizes will be held for those who walk, bike, or carpool to the festivities or make a clean air pledge to reduce driving

Ward 3 PV'er Ryan Foley Weighs In

Ryan Foley's idea's were so well regarded by one blog reader that it was suggested that RYAN consider running for office!!! Thanks a lot Ryan; go start you own blog. In all seriousness, his great ideas follow:

"The vision for the future is indeed worth considerable discussion and thorough planning. Why not tap the people of Prairie Village to help, create a "Vision Campaign" and allow the residents to share their ideas in writing. Maybe the city could provide to each household an invitation to visit an online site and enter a submission for their vision and ideas of what Prairie Village should be doing to highlight its amenities, grow its population, attract business and/or new residence, etc...

Some of my thoughts are:
1. Create an incentive for home owners who renovate their properties.
2. Enforce codes that instruct residence on lawn and home maintenance (i.e. grass no higher than 12, no hanging gutters, etc...)
3. Create a Farmers Market across from Hen House or the Blue Moose.
4. Erect Prairie Village sign that spans across the roads near City Hall.
5. Build internet "Hot Spots" for our Parks.
6. Build a more robust Community Center that has numerous conference rooms, stage, kitchen, and other amentities.
7. Firework Fridays, a small Firework Show during the summer before the closing of the Pool.
8. Concert in the Park during the Summer.

We need to make living in Prairie Village so attractive that even as families grow they decide to stay rather than move away. Prairie Village should be about "Quality of Life", this is what is most attractive to our family and I think for many others. Prairie Village feels like home, it has a sense of community, people lack this sense in other places and are attracted to Praire Village."

Equal time ....

This was posted anonymously in response to the discussions on this blog regarding the "Nichols Vision" and more importantly the future of Prairie Village:

"Whether or not you think J. C. Nichols walked on water, I think we can all agree that he’s not going to come back and give us his vision for Prairie Village today and tomorrow. And, as he’s not coming back, people like Andy Wang are working toward developing a new vision for our city and giving us the opportunity to be involved in the process.

I imagine that J. C. Nichols, a forward-thinking man, would do the same if he got the chance, for the Prairie Village of today bears little resemblance to the city of the 1950s. Prairie Village began the decade as mostly pastureland and ended as one of the fastest growing cities in the country. In the 1950s, most women in Prairie Village stayed home and raised children, while their husbands took the family car to work. The Kansas City metropolitan area wasn’t replete with discount stores that draw people away from shops in Prairie Village, and residents didn’t have multiple cars to make it easy for everyone in the family to shop elsewhere.

Today, we are one of the few cities in Johnson County with a declining population. Today, it’s about 21,511. In 1970, the population of Prairie Village was 28,378, according to the U.S. Census of Population and Housing. In 1970, there were 4,577 people per square mile in Prairie Village. Today, there are only 3,470. In 1970, there were 8,771 housing units in the city with an average of 3.2 occupants in each residence. Today, there are about 10,031, with 2.1 people in each. That’s fewer people with more cars and more property to maintain.

We need a vision for the future that is going to attract more people to live in Prairie Village. The alternative is continued decline in the population, forcing fewer people to come up with more funds to support city services...and schools. Trying to recreate Prairie Village of the 1950s is not an option. Neither is bringing back J. C. Nichols from the dead. The future of Prairie Village is in our hands. If we support the city’s merchants, attend area activities, send our children to area schools, and get bright and thoughtful people like Andy Wang elected to office, we will have the resources to keep the city vital.

So, instead of debating J. C. Nichol’s vision, let’s debate how we can attract more residents, more shoppers, and more children to Prairie Village to make the vision of Prairie Village’s future more positive. --The Crank of PV "

If I'm fortunate enough to have the anonymous comment post-er return to the blog, I don't know what this means. Help me out:

Mr Wang

I think some people call you Andrew and some call you Andy. We will try not to hold that against you.

Comments Posted

Because I truly want your input and I've always promised to present comments -- even those that were critical of me -- on the blog for all to see, below is a comment posted anonymously with regard to my rant against the "Nichols Vision". In the interest of humility, I'm moving it from the semi-hidden comments to "top billing" on the blog main page.

But since it is my blog, my rebuttal follows in the post after this one.

The Comment:

Mr Wang,

Based on his admiration for JCNichols city planning do you mean to imply that Michael Kelly is a racist? That is quite a leap. What motivates you to make imply this?

Have you ever been to the Country Club Plaza, Crestwood, Brookside or Mission Hills? Nichols undeniably had a long lasting and elegant impact on Kansas City. Many would argue that Nichols made Kansas City what it is today.

Don't you suppose the more logical conclusion to draw from Mr. Kelly's admiration of Nichols is of that legacy? If the restrictive covenants that exist throughout cities in the United States is a true issue of concern to you, can we expect to see you take immediate action to strike them from the record in Prairie Village?

If not, perhaps you should let Mr Kelly speak for himself.

In the interest of fairness to the democratic principal behind blogging, please don't delete this. Do as your website states and show 'tact and respect' for all points of view.

A more thoughful reading would help

I'll apologize right now to the Post-er -- it's very difficult to keep my more acerbic side in check when repsonding to an anonymous critique. If I knew who the Post-er was, I'd be a lot more deferential. However, I would much, much rather get comments anonymously than not at all and I thank him/her for posting.


First of all, if this person would have made a more careful reading of my post, it would not be necessary for me to defend my position. But his/her emotional response jumps to so many conclusions that I have to point out that I write a lot more thoughtfully than they read. I'll make my rebuttals after direct quotes from the comment since I have a major issue with nearly everything that the Post-er alleges.

"Based on his admiration for JCNichols city planning do you mean to imply that Michael Kelly is a racist? That is quite a leap. What motivates you to make imply this?"

Who's making the leap? I didn't even get around to implying that Nichols was a racist -- although Nichols own actions speak for themselves. I didn't imply Kelly was anything.

I never took Latin but even I know that ad hominem means "against the man"; when I said no ad hominems, I meant it. I didn't post to attack Kelly, I attacked his stance which I thought was -- as I have already said -- poorly considered. It is a simple fact that if Kelly endorses "Nichols Vision" he either 1) doesn't know enough about the vision to make that statement or 2) he endorses "Nichols Vision" which includes racist policies and since Kelly is not a racist, this makes his statements about "Nichols Vision" NOT WELL-RESEARCHED and NOT WELL-THOUGHT OUT. I don't believe that I have ever been so shy on this blog that I have ever implied anything. The poster inferred an implication because he/she wanted to, not because there was one there.

"Have you ever been to the Country Club Plaza, Crestwood, Brookside or Mission Hills? Nichols undeniably had a long lasting and elegant impact on Kansas City."

With all due respect: Was "Nichols Vision" of the Plaza and Brookside (and Village Shops and Corinth) to sell out to Highwoods Properties, a North Carolina Real Estate Investment trust? To me it's impossible to be a booster of the Nichols Vision and also advocate for support of local retail ownership. Corinth, Village Shops and the Plaza are not owned locally because the Nichols company sold out. Brookside has only recently been brought back to local ownership.

Whoever argues that Nichols made the city what it is today does not count me among their legion. I have said numerous times that we have beautiful neighborhoods, shopping areas and parks. I have said that the planned elements of the city work pretty well. Nichols wasn't dumb. I said he was an astute developer and innovative planner. That sounds like a compliment, to me.

But it cannot be denied that a village feel is fostered by a more pedestrian-friendly community than the car-centric one Nichols designed, that the houses that he built do not suit the preferences of many growing families and that Prairie Village has lost population while Johnson County on the whole has boomed.

It's funny that the phrase "cookie cutter" has been thrown around by one of the candidates as though it's a bad thing and yet most people in PV live in cookie cutter developments. That is another example of nonsensical rhetoric. I would bet that in 75% of the houses on my block, I can find my way to every room blindfolded. What is more cookie cutter than that? I and my family live in a cookie cutter development that is the hallmark of Nichols developments and we absolutely LOVE it. But I have spent my entire life in Johnson county and 30+ years in PV. PV MUST start thinking about how to attract families that don't already have a sentimental attachment to the area and investigate possibilities of affordable homes for seniors to "age in place". Neither of those was part of the "Nichols Vision"

"Many would argue that Nichols made Kansas City what it is today. Don't you suppose the more logical conclusion to draw from Mr. Kelly's admiration of Nichols is of that legacy?"

It would be unfair for me to draw conclusions about Mr. Kelly's admirations. Honestly, Mr. Kelly and I are not running against each other. He has plenty in the public realm and on his website about which I could comment and I have chosen deliberately NOT to do that. That is not my place. I have a major problem with the phrase "Nichols Vision" because a vision is all-encompassing and with Nichols, that vision was going to be accomplished with racist policies.

If the restrictive covenants that exist throughout cities in the United States is a true issue of concern to you, can we expect to see you take immediate action to strike them from the record in Prairie Village?

No. As I understand it, the cost per home to get the covenants stricken could be as much as $25-50. The process will involve some expensive attorneys that will need to get the appropriate documentation from every homeowner in the affected area. I don't have nearly the money to do that.

I won't be doing anything about it as a member of the City Council either. The rules of the homes association are distinct and separate from city government. The city even has specific laws about wading into homes association covenants. As I said, Nichols made those covenants to last. Nichols himself placed the corporate responsibilities of the homeowners associations in the Homes Associations of the Country Club District. All of the home association covenants are ultimately administered by HACCD. That is to whom I pay my dues; it should be their responsibility as the administrator of the homes associations.

If it were as simple as taking a petition from door to door, I'd do it myself, but Nichols did not intend for those covenenats to be so easily changed.

"If not, perhaps you should let Mr Kelly speak for himself."

Woo, that was meant to be a stiff jab. It would sting if only I were speaking for Kelly. But I'm not. Speaking for himself, he said "JC Nichols Vision ... should be our vision...". It is a fact that the vision excluded African Americans. Kelly either knew that or he didn't. In either case, I didn't make it up. That's what started this whole thing.

"In the interest of fairness to the democratic principal behind blogging, please don't delete this. Do as your website states and show 'tact and respect' for all points of view."

Goodness, another jab. Unfortunately, this one missed, too. Anyone who has seen my e-mails to notify them of posts knows that I've always said that comments without obscenities will be available in their entirety. It's ironic to receive lessons on democratic principals when I'm the one speaking my mind in the public sphere without the veil of anonymity. I WANT people to feel free to comment and criticize me anonymously. However, I would prefer advice on the "democratic principals" that I'm not already exhibiting.