Blog 2.1

I’m finalizing a lease in Overland Park that will begin in June, and every day that goes by makes me more eager to leave Kansas City for good. As I was filling out my intent to vacate notice for my current apartment I paid special attention to the line “Reason(s) for moving.” Included in my list were the long commute, frequent fire alarms, inconvenient parking, crime, noise, city taxes, panhandlers, constant construction, dull downtown nightlife, no convenient grocery stores…” I had to add a few lines before I completed my list. This morning I discovered one more reason to hate Kansas City: quotas.

I’ve always been quick to defend the practices of police in general. My confidence in city cops has never been too high, however. The low expectations started in high school back in Palmyra. One of my best friends was ticketed (and eventually had a warrant issued for his arrest) for parking in a no-parking zone to man the crosswalk by the middle school and help grade school kids cross the street. The Key Club had done this every day for years, and each time the volunteers parked in the same spot. On that day, however, the city police officer decided to ignore this fact and issue the citation without hesitation. Meanwhile, this same police force was unable to anticipate regular vandalization the night before football games against rival schools. Instead, they spent their time ticketing (and pursuing the arrest of) volunteer workers out of the blue.

So what happened to me this morning? As far as I can tell, I’ve been fined for driving in the right lane. Every day I drive the Southwest Trafficway on my way to work. Every day traffic on this six-lane, major north-south thoroughfare moves along at about 50 miles per hour during the morning commute despite the posted speed limit of 35. So today, as I was moving along with traffic, I was waved over to a side street on my way to work and issued a speeding ticket for driving 13 miles per hour over the speed limit. So was someone a few cars in front of me, and so were people a few cars behind me… for driving with traffic… during rush hour. What did I learn from this experience? I learned that if I want to avoid being chosen to pay a fine to the city and have points put on my license, then I need to start driving in the left lane.

I’d always found it hard to believe people’s claims that the KCPD has quotas to fill when it comes to citations. Considering what happened today, added to the fact that it is nearly the end of the month, makes me wonder. Are speed traps like the one I was caught in today about safety or revenue? Considering the state of crime in Kansas City, it’s hard to believe the city is really that serious about safety. Where was the KCPD last weekend, when my coworker was jumped and beaten by three men while walking with his girlfriend in Westport? Considering the rate at which the city is backing failing developers’ projects with taxes paid by KC residents, it’s easy to see why they might be more concerned with revenue. It takes a lot of cash to hand out millions of dollars like a drunken lottery winner to whomever shows up for it.

So thanks, Kansas City. You’ve failed yet again to keep a young, educated person within the city limits. It takes a very special kind of person to pay higher taxes to live in an area with more crime and fewer amenities. It also takes a special kind of person to be paid to improve the lives of the people they share a city with and yet manage to achieve the opposite. I believe they’re both called idiots.