February 5th, 2007 Red Bridge Panel Meeting
I have yet to post information about the January 22nd meeting because it was not broadcast and we have not obtained the materials we requested from that meeting. Please see the agenda for the February 5th meeting.
January 22nd, 2007 Red Bridge Panel Meeting
No information yet.
January 8th, 2007 Red Bridge Panel Meeting
- Video of the meeting
- Agenda for the meeting (below)
- Our statement to the media: The meeting turned into more of a presentation from Public Works director Stan Harris and then questions addressed to him regarding the project which is not what we had envisioned. Another meeting, therefore, has been scheduled for January 22nd from 1:00 to 4:00 PM. At that time we will be joined by our sixth district city planner and each of us will have a copy of the FOCUS report. There will also be an open dialogue from both sides as to our concerns. It is hoped that the next meeting will allow us to come to some kind of resolution that will enable us to maintain the integrity of our neighborhoods.
June 1st, 2006 Meeting at Red Bridge Baptist Church
The Friends of Red Bridge meeting was very well attended -- and enthusiastic. If you attended the meeting, please tell us what you thought about it.
April 6th, 2006 Meeting at The Trailside Center
The “First Thursday” meeting was billed as follows:
Learn what is going on in the 6th Council District . . .
where we have been and where we are going!
Get updated on all the projects in South Kansas City.
So, it may seem surprising that the 18-million-dollar Red Bridge project was not on the agenda, or even mentioned. With only a few minutes left in the meeting, I asked a question about it anyway. My question concerned the petition against the project. I had heard from various sources that Councilman Chuck Eddy’s assistant, Harry Ingels, was pressuring elected officials on the petition to remove their names, and to do it in a way that libels the petitioners.
Eddy’s answer turned that story on its head: He said that the elected officials all happened to come to him saying they had been pressured into signing the petition. “I really didn’t wanna sign it but I couldn't tell them no and what can we do?” I wanted to ask Eddy why some of the officials who did not remove their names corroborated the story of being pressured to do so, but he quickly declared the meeting adjourned. I tried to invoke the rules of order generally observed at public meetings, but was told that “We didn’t come here to discuss”. At about the same time, a man near the back of the room said “I don’t have to listen to you”, and left. He was none other than Chuck Eddy’s hand-picked member of the committee charged with listening to citizen’s concerns regarding capital improvements projects.
March 7th, 2006 Meeting at the St. Catherine’s Our Lady of Peace Gymnasium
Participants and observers saw that opposition to the bridge project is growing in both size and sophistication. Questioners weren’t fooled by the City’s Three-Lane Circus. They know it’s all about the BRIDGE. Build that and the whole of Red Bridge will become a highway. By my estimation, between two and three hundred people attended this City-sponsored public meeting, way more than any previous City meeting about Red Bridge Road. I think the mood of the crowd was summed up by one gentleman who stood at the microphone and, addressing Mr. Stan Harris of the Kansas City Department of Public Works, said “What part of ‘no’ do you not understand?”
Please see the web version of materials I distributed at the meeting.