Northeast News
May 6, 2015

Call it what you will, but a peace rally isn’t really what it was last Saturday morning. The mayor and police chief summoned the faithful to 31st and Prospect to preach to the choir about violence in the urban core in the aftermath of the riots in Baltimore last week.

Preachin’ to the choir in that roughly 75% of the attendees at said rally were on the payroll of either the city or the police department. This crafty news writin’ pooch once again is not impressed by the hype of the dog and pony show that didn’t do anything substantive to reduce violence or solve the many ills that plague urban core neighborhoods. PR shows are just that, shows. When it was all said and done, everyone packed up and left the area just exactly the way it was before, litter and candy wrappers included.

This doggy wonders how that warm fuzzy is workin’ out for ya, especially after the way the homicide meter clicked off a few more statistics before the close of the weekend. Call it just another staged media event in the long paradigm shift this police department is making from “law enforcement” to “crime management.” The chief and the mayor promise more such rallies through the course of the summer. This lil’ doggie wonders, to what end? How about instead of nifty PR shows that give face time to politicos and overtime pay to anyone with a city ID badge in attendance, we start prosecuting some of the thugs that continue to wreak havoc in urban Kansas City neighborhoods? How about instead of building toy train streetcars that bankrupt the electorate, we stop ignoring infrastructure needs like curbs, sidewalks and streetlights? How about instead of holding hands, singing kunybyeyah, and muggin’ for the TV cameras, you overpriced politicos roll up your sleeves and do some grunt work along Cliff Drive some day? Given where this train is headed, this doggy doesn’t think that’s part of the plan though. Rally on dudes.