Funkhouser is my mayor, too

No wonder I cringed when Kansas City Mayor Mark Funkhouser announced a program to improve schools by improving sidewalks around them. If I had read about this in, say, Des Moines, I would have chuckled.

But after seeing the results of a five-county survey commissioned by the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, I realize why I hurt. Funkhouser is my mayor, even though I don’t live in Kansas City, Mo.

What the broad-based survey revealed is that most of us feel like we are a part of the Kansas City region, no matter where we live in the metro area, and that we feel personally invested in Kansas City, Mo., politics and schools.

As Neil Newhouse, the eminent pollster who conducted the survey, said, “Kansas City, Mo., is the barometer for the entire region.”

In other words, what happens there impacts our perception of the entire greater Kansas City area, as well as what we believe to be our reputation throughout the country.

No matter where those surveyed lived, whether it was in Johnson County, Wyandotte County, Clay County, Platte County or Jackson County, they prioritized the same three most-important issues facing the region: the economy (jobs); crime; and K-12 education.

While there are economic problems throughout the region, there is little violent crime in the suburban communities, and, by and large, our schools are functioning well. But in Kansas City, Mo., not much is working, and that is why the region gets such low grades. What happens there rubs off on all of us.

When asked if the Kansas City region is on the right track or the wrong track, the majority, 53 percent, said we are on the wrong track.

Yet, when asked of Johnson Countians whether they felt their particular community was on the right track, the positive responses soared. As a whole, we scored above 90 percent.

Our entire self-image as a region is being contaminated.

When all we read about in our metropolitan daily and see on the evening news is 90 percent about the Kansas City, Mo., fiasco, that becomes our perception of the entire region. On the other hand, the media is obliged to go where the stories are, and Kansas City, Mo., does, indeed, generate the juiciest stories.

So, what do we do about this?

We in Johnson County have nothing to say at the Kansas City ballot box. But we can offer our financial support to elect a mayor who will be a true leader and a spokesman for our entire region.

Encourage Kansas City to run a public relations campaign touting the dramatic decrease in violent crime. This could help offset the impressions we get from the evening news.

And we can, if and when Kansas City gets its act together, revisit a second, winnable bistate tax. Maybe only in my dreams, but it is still a valid concept. The poll proved as Kansas City goes, so goes our regional image.

Contact Steve Rose at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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