How would you grade Mayor Barnes?

[KansasCityChiefs]

I'm giving her an A. She made bold moves on redeveloping downtown and pulled the city out of a coma.

[DaveKCMO]

i also give her an A and will forgive those freakish last few weeks and her support of alvin brooks as a successor. MODESA alone should be enough to forge her name in bronze across the state.

[ShowMeKC]

B

She did a lot of good things for Downtown, and helped get the ball rolling at a good pace. However, the rest of the city didn't improve much, except for Downtown and the Northland.

[Sportster]

B.
Her tenure can almost be graded geographically and chronologically.
Lots of Downtown and Briarcliff / Zona Rosa stuff but not alot for neighborhoods. In fact, neighborhoods took it in the shorts from a numb er of standpoints under her tenure.
Two examples are:
Sunday liquor permits targeted mostly mom & pop, neighborhood joints so more permits could be freed up for DT.
Dangerous Buildings Demo funding plummeted from $3 million to $300-k.
Additionally, she did a complete about face in her second term on the USKC / KCM issue, backing her "golden child" Andi Udris.

Sportster
...my thoughts exactly

[AllThingsKC]

B.  She did many, many, many great things for Downtown.  But, that seems to be about it.

[Beermo]

B.  She did many, many, many great things for Downtown.  But, that seems to be about it.

that's not it. she's also helped cordish and aeg with their attempted takeover of the city.

[DiggityDawg]

I went with a "B" grade, too. I'm in the "she did great stuff for Downtown, while a lot of the rest of the city kinda went in the toilet on her watch" camp.

[anniewarbucks]

I do not know much about Mayor Barnes, but looking at the changes in KC as a whole I would give her a solid B. She is credited for the new Power and Light District and the new Sprint Center. But with streets and crime still not fixed the good points equal the bad points. 

[mean]

C

The shiny new stuff downtown is great, but at the same time:

1) I'm paying more property tax while people with much higher incomes who can afford $400,000 lofts are paying significantly less--or none. This is balanced somewhat by the fact that certain eyesores (notably The View) have been fixed up, but it still stings.
2) The sidewalks in my neighborhood and others continue to crumble.
3) I keep having to get alignments after running over 500 metal plates over the course of a few months, and/or hitting 500 chasm-like potholes.
4) Crime, schools, sewers were not adequately addressed.
5) Several TIFs have dramatically underperformed, and incentive controls and process improvements were never implemented or even considered despite Funk's TIF audit, scathing commentary by journalists, and wide public scorn.

[KCTigerFan]

Hmmmm.  Let's see. 

- My property tax has gone up approx. 35% during her term.
- My homes value has more than doubled.
- I have curbside recycling
- My street has been repaved twice
- Most neighboring streets have had new sidewalks and curbs installed
- Trees have been trimmed
- Less trash on the streets
- I have new streetlights
- Crime has gone down in my 'hood
- I see far fewer steel plates than a few years ago

The thought that the city has gone down the toilet while all the focus has been on downtown is simply silly. 
I gave her a B because more could/should have been done in residential neighborhoods, but progress has still been made.  Considerable progress. 
 

[mean]

The thought that the city has gone down the toilet while all the focus has been on downtown is simply silly.   

Putting words in people's mouths because your neighborhood was on the list of neighborhoods that weren't ignored for 8 years is silly.

[kard]

Hmmmm.  Let's see. 

- My property tax has gone up approx. 35% during her term.
- My homes value has more than doubled.
- I have curbside recycling
- My street has been repaved twice
- Most neighboring streets have had new sidewalks and curbs installed
- Trees have been trimmed
- Less trash on the streets
- I have new streetlights
- Crime has gone down in my 'hood
- I see far fewer steel plates than a few years ago

The thought that the city has gone down the toilet while all the focus has been on downtown is simply silly. 
I gave her a B because more could/should have been done in residential neighborhoods, but progress has still been made.  Considerable progress. 
 

Twice in eight years (or less)?!  Why?  It should last longer then that.  Great job, streets dept.

[ShowMeKC]

I wouldn't suggest trying to talk about the other neighborhoods if you happen to live Downtown, or somewhere nice in the Northland. Simply because they improved, while most of the other city didn't, and/or declined.

What did she do for the East Side? Or South KC? Or more urban parts of the Northland?

[shaffe]

i thought barnes did a really good job with as much as was accomplished while she was in office.  because of her administration and leadership we're now in position to take some good steps forward in the very near future.  hopefully funk can seize the momentum and keep building it.

then again, apparently my opinion doesn't count since i live in the northland....

[knucklehead]

Getting the steel plates off the street is something I am interested in.

It must be understood that the steel plates are the result of pavement cuts made by KCP&L, MGE, AT&T or the water department to access underground utility lines.

The city could force the utilities to repair all pavement cuts within a reasonable period of time (say 10 days). Of course that would increase the utility's costs and result in higher utility rates. But I say lets do it. The rates would not go up that much and it would eliminate a lot of whining.

This will be a good test for Funkhouser. Does he have the backbone to stand up to the utility lobbyests.

[Beermo]

It must be understood that the steel plates are the result of pavement cuts made by KCP&L, MGE, AT&T or the water department to access underground utility lines.

this statement is false. it's not just the regular suspects who do this. anyone with a permit can do it.

[KCPowercat]

I can't believe "steel plates" is a major reason we elected a mayor.

So now instead of drivers having that line to drive over with a metal plate, that lane will just be closed for weeks.....improvement?


Sportster...on the liquor license thing....I wasn't aware there was only a limited number of licenses?  You sure on that?

[mean]

I can't believe "steel plates" is a major reason we elected a mayor.

It isn't that there are plates, it's that the plates are indicative of an overall systemic failure to maintain infrastructure in certain parts of the city. Parts of it you don't go to, apparently.

So now instead of drivers having that line to drive over with a metal plate, that lane will just be closed for weeks.....improvement?

If it takes over a day or two to fix a hole in the street, somebody's screwing around.

[phuqueue]

Sportster...on the liquor license thing....I wasn't aware there was only a limited number of licenses?  You sure on that?

I dunno specifically what the law is here, but in some places there is a set number of licenses that can be issued.  I was reading an article some months back, I think it was about Boston (but I could be wrong), and basically if you want to set up a bar there you've got to buy a liquor license off someone else.  The state legislator decides how many licenses the city can issue, so unless you can convince them to raise the limit, you can't get a new license once the ceiling is reached, but you can still get someone else's license.  I have no idea if the law is the same here, but it wouldn't surprise me.  Certainly sounds like it from Sportster's post.

[mean]

I feel like I should add that Barnes was, if nothing else, a dramatic improvement over Cleaver.