Increasing Kansas City's Police Response Times.

 A heavier police presence on the streets would be a strong first step toward reducing this statistic, but that requires leadership willing to make public safety a priority. Unfortunately, Mayor Q-Ball has spent years doing the opposite. His pro-crime agenda, from effectively defunding the police to leading a riot on the Plaza, to sending one cop to prison for putting a gun toting, stalkerish wife beater down, has driven officers away and left us with too few beat cops to cover the city.

But the failure doesn’t stop with patrol strength. The backbone of any functioning public-safety system is the 911 dispatcher who answers the phone when someone’s life is on the line. Right now, those dispatchers are overworked, underpaid, and understaffed. If we’re serious about improving response times, and we should be, because they are just too damn slow, then doubling dispatcher pay and aggressively hiring more staff must become a top priority.

Restoring public safety starts with reversing the damage: rebuild the police force, invest in the people who take the calls, and stop pretending that wishful thinking is a substitute for real leadership.

Affordable Housing in Kansas City

 This is something I feel strongly about. We have a lot of disillusioned young people who feel they can’t achieve the American Dream, and a major part of that dream is access to affordable housing. While we can’t control high interest rates, we can make progress here in Kansas City by eliminating unnecessary regulations that restrict the supply of new housing.

I believe Kansas City must take a different path.

We need to modernize our housing policies, remove needless barriers, and streamline the building process—just as the Home Builders Association of Greater Kansas City has urged through its “Let Builders Build” initiative. By adopting commonsense reforms, we can increase the supply of quality homes, make our city more affordable, and ensure Kansas City remains a place where families can plant roots and prosper.

This isn’t about deregulation for its own sake. It’s about restoring balance: protecting public safety while eliminating the red tape that blocks opportunity. My commitment is simple—Kansas City should be a city where working families can afford to live, young people can build a future, and growth benefits the entire community, not just a select few

 

"Plans are worthless, but planning is everything. There is a very great distinction because when you are planning for an emergency you must start with this one thing: the very definition of “emergency” is that it is unexpected, therefore it is not going to happen the way you are planning." General Dwight D. Eisenhower

The picture above is a stark reminder of what happens when planning exists only on paper. Snow piled up, streets became treacherous, and residents were left frustrated and unprotected. Mayor Q-Ball, eager for a win after that fiasco, loves to draft elaborate plans for every imaginable scenario. But even the most detailed plan is useless without active execution.

Active planning isn’t just about making lists. It’s about anticipating everything you might need need before a crisis hits. It means ensuring there are enough snowplows ready to roll, that crews are trained and scheduled, that supply chains and logistics are coordinated, and that backup systems are in place when primary resources fail. It’s about accepting that Murphy’s Law is real: things will go wrong, and we must be ready. Effective planning requires a careful examination of all options and contingencies. The insights gained through this process are essential for choosing the right course of action as future events unfold.

In the past, Mayor Q-Ball, the council, and former City Manager Brian Platt failed to engage in this hands-on preparation. The result was reactive, inconsistent, and ultimately ineffective responses like the one we witnessed yesterday, a slight improvement of last year, but still falling short, leaving residents frustrated and vulnerable.

I refuse to accept mediocrity. I am committed to making sure our city has the time, resources, personnel, and logistical capacity to respond effectively to any crisis. Real success comes not from plans on paper, but from action, foresight, and accountability, preparing now so we don’t scramble later.

Bringing peace, freedom, justice and security to our new city.

In Kansas City, under the illustrious leadership of Mayor Q-Ball, crime victims are now discovering a fascinating new reality: they’re being punished not for committing a crime, but for failing to provide their own security detail. That’s right—residents are apparently expected to hire private protection, the kind normally reserved for celebrities and foreign dignitaries, simply because Q-Ball’s administration has decided that policing is no longer a core function of city government. Instead, it’s treated like an optional add-on service, listed somewhere between curbside leaf pickup and the annual “Don’t Get Murdered” town hall meeting, where officials remind citizens to stay alert and maybe consider investing in body armor.

Q-Ball’s pro-crime governance philosophy—though he's sure to call it something more inspirational, like “equitable community-based de-escalation synergy”, has effectively transformed Kansas City into a choose-your-own-adventure book with no good endings. No matter which choices residents make, the final page always reads the same: someone steals your catalytic converter. It's the only guaranteed outcome in town, aside from ever-rising taxes and the inexplicable shortage of functioning streetlights.

This noble civic experiment in “community-led non-policing” has gone so swimmingly that Kansas City now resembles a lawless frontier settlement, just without the charm. Instead of horseback bandits and saloon brawls, we have porch pirates, hit-and-runs, and the occasional stolen Kia parked crookedly on someone’s lawn. And while the Old West at least offered wide-open spaces, here we get all the danger with the added bonus of horrendous parking and a sales tax rate that makes you wonder whether local government is funded by revenue or ransom.

But here’s the part Q-Ball didn’t script into his dystopian adventure novel: I’m not accepting this as the new normal. If elected, I fully intend to challenge this trajectory and restore sanity, safety, and accountability to Kansas City. Where the current administration shrugs its shoulders and drafts another task force, I believe in a city government that actually protects its citizens, without requiring them to hire their own personal cavalry. Public safety will stop being an optional upgrade and return to being a basic expectation. Criminals will stop enjoying the city’s hospitality program, and residents will finally get a leadership team that understands that “law enforcement” means enforcing the law, not brainstorming alternatives to it.

The city may have been pushed toward chaos, complacency, and catalytic-converter scavenger hunts, but the story doesn’t end there. I will change all this. And unlike Q-Ball’s dastardly deeds, this ending won’t be a surprise. It will be the result of leadership that shows up, steps up, and takes responsibility for the safety of the people who call Kansas City home.

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A City Drowning in Mismanagement

Kansas City’s $100 million budget gap for 2026 didn’t appear overnight, it’s the direct result of years of reckless spending, political vanity projects, and neglect of basic fiscal discipline under the current administration. While City Hall was busy funding pet projects and photo ops, the financial foundation of our city was quietly eroding.

The previous administration poured millions into expanding the streetcar line, subsidizing entertainment districts, and bailing out billion-dollar sports franchises — all while ignoring the growing strain on essential services and public safety. At the same time, payroll bloat and unchecked overtime within city departments went unaddressed, with taxpayers footing the bill.

Even now, city leaders pat themselves on the back for being “fiscally conservative,” a claim that rings hollow when the books tell another story. Instead of cutting waste and reforming the culture of insider deals, they’ve doubled down on PR spin, flying to conferences and boasting about economic growth while families face rising costs and shrinking services.

Kansas City deserves better. It’s time for leadership that prioritizes taxpayers over special interests, focuses on accountability instead of excuses, and brings real transparency back to City Hall.

Bring Back Bus Fares

 Who could have guessed that making the bus free wouldn’t magically solve all of Kansas City’s transit problems? Oh wait — everyone who understood how funding works. When KC slapped a big “FREE” sticker on the buses, they didn’t just invite more riders — they invited more junkies. Suddenly, the buses weren’t just a way to get to work or school — they became mobile day shelters, soap-optional. And who picked up the tab? The suburban cities, of course!

The surrounding burbs were expected to pay more to subsidize a “free” ATA that they no longer controlled. Spoiler alert: they couldn’t afford it. So, like any fiscally responsible city, they backed out. Cue the “death spiral.”

Now we’re pretending this is a mystery? It’s basic math. If you want reliable transit, someone has to pay for it — and right now, no one is. We don’t need a zero-fare system that smells like a Planet Fitness locker room. We need a reasonable fare — something cheap but enough to keep the system funded, maintained, and safe.

Bring back the buck-fifty ride and let’s get serious about transit. Because “free” isn’t working. It’s just free-falling.

Time for change in the Kansas City Northland.

By now, most Kansas Citians have grown numb. What’s actually unconscionable, is the condition of the roads in Kansas City. The water department that can't deliver clean water without killing backyard plants. The police force that’s chronically understaffed and demoralized. The crime that continues to rise while the mayor busies himself with panel appearances and MSNBC sound bites.

Our local politicians treats their office like a springboard to national relevance, rather than a command post for fixing potholes, balancing budgets, and ensuring basic city services function as they should. And let’s be honest—it’s not working. Kansas City is not better off for all the national pandering that some member of the city council engage in.

Residents north of the river joke that we have to squint and wave to get attention. Meanwhile, those on the east side, west side and south KC that little changes are made after the cameras are turned off. The city council seems more interested in hashtags than housing policy that help people make rent.  More interested in DEI rhetoric than in actually delivering transportation systems for the diverse communities they claim to serve.

Yes, representation matters. But so does performance. And what many are now waking up to the fact that Kansas City often ends up with a marketing brand in charge, not leadership. It is time for that to change.

Kansas City Doesn’t Need a Class War, It Needs a Pothole Plan

Next, we improve trash pickup. Then we keep bums out of parks. Followed by increased prosecution of property crime. Kansas City could be awesome instead of just ok.

If you’ve glanced through the recent fireworks display in the comment section of local news, you’d think Kansas City was on the verge of revolution—not repair. And that’s precisely the problem.

One city council member’s recent rhetoric has ignited a digital melee of Marxist accusations, class warfare poetry slams, and more than a few reminders that, while the struggle against billionaires is noble, most residents would prefer someone just fix the damn potholes and pursue development policies that help them afford their rent.

This editorial isn’t about identity politics—it’s about focus. Kansas Citians, whether white, Black, Latino, gay, straight, rich, poor, or somewhere in between, want city government to function. They want trash picked up, streets lit and safe, water clean, and 911 calls answered. But instead, they're getting ideological theater.

Let’s not sugarcoat it—many of the criticisms flooding the comment threads are harsh, even caustic. But embedded in the sarcasm, mockery, and snark is a very real civic frustration: the sense that City Hall has become more concerned with tweets than tasks, more energized by revolution than results.

When citizens see city officials speaking  about environmental awareness, class warfare and wealth redistribution while streetlights go unrepaired and police response times climb, they rightly wonder: who’s actually managing the city?

Here’s the thing: everyone already knows billionaires have too much influence. But what does that have to do with the water main bursting on 39th Street?

Kansas City is not a revolutionary commune. It’s a working-class city with aging infrastructure, struggling schools, and rising crime. Its residents need competent governance, not ideological crusades.

If the councilmembers or Mayor wants to stage a redistribution of wealth, perhaps they should run for Congress. But until then, how about fighting for bus service in underserved areas, clean parks, and timely emergency services?

The people of Kansas City don’t need slogans. They need service. And they need leaders who remember their job is to fix what’s broken—not to reimagine the world order from behind a podium.