No one knows how many Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department employees are vaccinated against COVID-19. Not the city, which relies on officers to interact with the public when responding to calls, or the department itself, which doesn’t require officers to get vaccinated. In a Tuesday meeting of the Finance, Governance and Public Safety Committee, KCPD […]
Emily Wolf
Posted inLocal Government
Kansas City’s Northland divided over proposal to redraw City Council districts
The nine-member panel, which includes representatives from each of Kansas City’s six council districts, voted 6-3 to recommend a map to the City Council that eliminates the north-south border between the 1st and 2nd Districts.
Posted inEnvironment, Local Government
Kansas City declared a climate emergency. Now what?
It’s been 13 years since Kansas City, Missouri, passed its first climate protection plan. At the top of the list: drastically reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Now the city is preparing a new plan, and emission reductions remains a focus. In 2008, the city set a goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 30% below 2000 […]
Posted inLocal Government
Taking KC Back needed 13,700 signatures per council member to start a recall. They collected fewer than 4,000 for each.
Even with a sharp increase in donations, the political action committee Taking KC Back has again failed to prompt a recall election in Kansas City, Missouri. The group filed affidavits with the Kansas City clerk’s office in late September, giving notice of its effort to recall Mayor Quinton Lucas and at-large council members Katheryn Shields, […]
Posted inLocal Government
Ever wanted to sit on a Kansas City board or commission? Here’s how the appointment process works
Passionate about historic preservation? There’s a commission for that. How about parking policy? There’s a board for that, too. Whatever issue is on your mind, it might also be the focus of a board or commission in Kansas City, Missouri, part of the larger city government that makes decisions affecting just about every aspect of […]
Posted inLocal Government
As Missouri redistricting gets underway, community-drawn maps are adding to the conversation
Missouri is working to redraw its maps for state House and Senate districts, based on the latest U.S. Census count. Two 20-member commissions, one for the House and another for the Senate, are deliberating over the once-a-decade process in hopes of coming to an agreement. If they fail, the issue will be sent to state […]
Posted inEconomics, Local Government
Kansas City Land Bank chair departs amid oversight failures
The Kansas City Land Bank board of directors will vote to approve a replacement for interim chair Julie Anderson this week.
Posted inLocal Government
City continues to foot the bill on mowing vacant lots as Kansas City Land Bank sales drop
The KC Land Bank has begun to resemble a warehouse cluttered with inventory that won’t sell and costs that won’t quit. And at least one group committed to decent and affordable housing in Kansas City has questioned the makeup of the board of commissioners.
Posted inLocal Government
KCK mayoral challenger personally funded majority of campaign
The biggest donor to Tyrone Garner’s Kansas City, Kansas, mayoral campaign is Tyrone Garner. The former deputy chief of the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department lent his campaign $23,500 from April to October, according to a Beacon analysis of his July and October campaign expenditure reports. Those personal loans make up the bulk of his […]
Posted inLocal Government
LLCs favor political veteran in Overland Park mayoral race
Overland Park will elect a new mayor for the first time in 16 years, after Carl Gerlach announced he would not run for re-election. Longtime City Council member Curt Skoog and a political newcomer, Mike Czinege, are running for Gerlach’s spot. Skoog was first elected to City Council in 2005 and currently serves as council […]