Do nothing ordinances: Review, revamp or repeal

By Mark Forsythe The Kansas City Post Kansas City's Municipal Code grows every year. If it's one thing City Council members know how to do it's create new ordinances. Unfortunately, with every addition to the municipal code our system of laws, policies and procedures grows in complexity to the point where it has become too cumbersome in many areas. In the business world, policies and procedures are constantly reviewed, tweaked and streamlined. The buzz term is "process management" and there are reams of books on the subject. Mostly common sense, the idea is to put a procedure in place, monitor it, see where it fails, see where it excels and look for ways to improve it. Unfortunately process management is a concept lost to most elected officials. The standard operating procedure for municipal government is to react to a vocal constituency (or special interest), enact some knee-jerk policy and then because the complaining dies down, walk away never to revisit the subject again. The Kansas City Municipal Code is teeming with ordinances that in a large amount of instances go unnoticed. Put in place years ago to silence some squeaky wheels, many of our ordinances have zero visibility. Without the evaluation part of process control even the most well-intentioned ordinances can lie dormant. Unused, unenforced and ineffective. For example, did you know property owners are required by law to clear their adjoining sidewalks of snow within 48 hours of a significant snowfall? Sounds reasonable to me, but as a year-round runner I can tell you this ordinance is either unknown or outright ignored. From the sights and sounds in my neighborhood every Independence Day it's obvious the ban on fireworks within city limits is another useless ordinance. It's also against the law to make too much noise during certain hours or at certain decibel levels, but not a day goes by I don't hear some juvenile "notice me" type on a motorcycle or street racer with an illegally modified exhaust that will shake the windows out of your house. Recently much fanfare was made about the passage of a new street plate policy that was supposed to rid Kansas City of the metal menaces. The ordinance is in effect, but have you noticed a difference? Are plates now clearly marked with the owner's name and contact info? Are the plates being properly countersunk, or ramped with asphalt? Are the plates appearing and then disappearing in a timely manner? One look at the above picture says "no." This plate was installed a week ago on my street. Notice the edge lifted up, no markings, no countersinking or asphalt ramping. It's obvious the crew that installed this plate either doesn't know about the ordinance, or doesn't care. It takes more than just passing laws to run a city. Obviously there's some process control techniques needing to take place. What is wrong with our process when examples of its failure exist a scant two blocks from the mayor's house? The council would do well to spend some time reviewing existing ordinances, determining their effectiveness and deciding whether to rework, or repeal them outright. After all, what good is a law that doesn't work? And to paraphrase a campaign slogan I once believed in, what good is a city that doesn't work?

A vote of "No Confidence"

By Mark Forsythe The Kansas City Post Mark Funkhouser has made it very clear that he is incapable of performing his duties as mayor without his wife's presence. Agree or disagree, the mayor has drawn his line in the sand. The City Council will move today to pass an ordinance barring immediate family members from volunteering in either mayor or council offices. My issue is not the ordinance itself. Of course this ordinance is directed at the mayor and his spouse. Anybody that claims otherwise is either disingenuous or a fool. While I personally think it's a good idea that immediate family members not be allowed to participate in the workplace I really have no passionate feelings either way about this ordinance. My issue is that the single biggest threat that has faced the Funkhouser administration so far has shown the mayor to be completely powerless. According to the mayor the very existence of his administration depends on the failure of this ordinance. You would think that with his back against the wall, with all hope hinging on the defeat of this ordinance, the mayor would have mustered a veritable who's who of community leaders to come together and testify at yesterday's Finance & Audit Committee meeting. The leader of a major US city should be able to provide a show of force from among his constituency that would have even the most obstinate councilperson quaking in their boots. Spare me the arguments about the committee meeting being held on a workday. That has never stopped motivated citizens from showing up. What I saw yesterday was not a display of leadership ability. It wasn't even a display of getting what should be his closest allies together. What should have been an impressive parade of former mayors, former council members, Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Council members, and powerful civic leaders turned out to be a few people that no one in the room had ever heard of. My favorite was the guy who said he was the CEO of the newly formed "United Organizations Coalition." Who? No, there were no impressive leaders eloquently stating their objections to the ordinance that the mayor finds so objectionable. There were no powerful movers or shakers demanding a horrible wrong be averted. After yesterday's no-show of support, I have serious doubts about whether Mark Funkhouser can be an effective leader for Kansas City. Wednesday's dismal showing has made it evident that as the old saying goes the mayor "couldn't get a second in favor of motherhood." Indeed the blood is in the water and every mayoral candidate on the council is now moving behind the scenes to rally the check writers to their camp. There is no more respect for the office on the 29th floor. And that is the biggest tragedy in this whole sordid mess.