ELISA's blog

Officer Rob Romey is The Rock Star of community-oriented policing. We can all tell he puts his heart into his work for our community. If anyone has missed his monthly meeting at Truman High School the first Tues. of each month at 7:00. Then you have truly missed out!!! Congratulations Rob on the 2009 Susan Block Award!!!   xox 

Don't miss your chance to learn about COMBAT. Our County Executive Mike Sanders along with Stacey Daniels-Young, PhD. COMBAT Director will be there to answer questions. Combat's mission is "Protecting Communities & Healing Families..." COMBAT is dedicated to reducing drug-related crime, providing substance abuse treatment for nonviolent offenders who have demonstrated they want to get off drugs, and preventing youth from experimenting with drugs.

Adrianne DeWeese as a community we are very lucky to have a reporter like you. We can all tell this is not just a job to you. You come to the meeting and just blend in with us. When you write your story we can all tell you do your very best to tell the whole story. Thanks for your great efforts. May we all find help for the children and families of Independence. xox

 How do you stand at the gates of Hell with destruction and evil all around you? That must be how Mt. Washington must feel. For years they have been standing gracefully holding many of Independence deceased "Loved Ones." They have been so good to so many of us. Now they need the help of our community. A gang has taken over the front and inside of the cemetery. They have no protection! Nothing is sacred to some. Mt. Washington has been through Hell! What can we do to help?

I have heard some of you are concerned about my wife. She is stable and in intensive care. I wish there was more  that I could say. Only time will tell. I will post a future update. Any prayers are greatly appreciated. Thank You!
Marjain     
As Elisa would say   xox

Lois McDonald is a very nice lady and one of the first to welcome me into the city of Independence. I know that her heart is in the right place but I truly want to be informed . I went to the Jackson County Board of Elections Office today to learn more about who is on the campaign committee that Lois McDonald is the treasure of. I was surprised that I could not find anything out about it. Only that it was late in filing it's Committee Disclosure Report or it's Committee Statement Of Limited Activity. This I am told is a problem with chapter 130.

Has anyone seen a tiger in the streets of Independence?

Last night over 70 people came out on a hot summer night to stand in a hot parking lot to be united and stand against Taxes. It was an honor to be asked to speak out in behalf of all the small business who are struggling, but much more important all the large and small families that can barely make it in these hard times. It's easy for some to say it's not realistic to vote no but for those who are barely making it  now we have to ask what are you thinking? Are you blind and heartless. I say please use your heart and mind when you vote Aug.

Employers took 2,763 mass layoff actions in June that resulted in the separation of 279,231 workers 
Is now a good time to add more taxes? Many families are struggling to survive in this tough economy. Some people have guaranteed  income and do not care about the people struggling to stay afloat. Is now the time to pass a regresive sales tax.

Great story by Jeff Martin!!!   XOX

What is the most succesful tif project in Independence?

Well they tell me one person came out to hear the city talk about why we need to increase our sales tax. They paid X amount of people over time to do this and people don't appear that they care to hear about it.  With one more meeting to go at  Blue Ridge Blvd. Christian Church till the vote. It looks like the voters don't know about the meetings or that they have made their minds up.

 Monday I was in training to work at the polls. This is what we learned. We are expecting a very low voter turn out. We will only have 54 Polling places to vote instead of the 100 Polling places we normaly have. When I raised my hand and asked why will we have such a low turn out our instructor informed us because it's a one ballet issue and because that none of the papers are reporting on it. I hope there is not to much confusion finding where to vote.

Can anyone explain how a TIF project affects the tax base?
Are there special Property Tax abatements?
How does this affect our schools?
Is a TIF project detrimental to surrounding businesses?
Can a TIF project suck money from public services?
What are the pluses and minuses?