Joe Jarosz
Northeast News
June 12, 2014

KANSAS CITY, Missouri — After nearly three hours discussing the food sharing ordinance, the Kansas City City Council finally took a vote.

And with a count of six for and six against, Councilman Michael Brooks absent for the vote, the recently maligned ordinance failed to pass the council chambers Thursday.

The ordinance, which was constructed by First District At-Large representative Scott Wagner, was put together over the past year and a half. Wagner, who was visibly upset, tried numerous times to explain to his colleagues that this ordinance was the work of city employees as well as various area organizations that work with the homeless and undeserved.

“I thought we had a consensus,” Wagner said on the ordinance, adding that when the media cameras started shinning on the ordinance, some organizations changed their minds.

Opponents of the ordinance claimed it was unnecessary, discouraged feeding the homeless and was a solution to a problem that didn’t exist. Wagner tried to explain the intent of the ordinance — combating liter and and to ensue food safety  — however, to no avail.