This last Sunday was the swansong for racing action at Kansas City International Raceway just north of 50 highway on Noland Road.

Soon, city contractors will be hard at work erasing any vestiges of hot rods, squealing tires and thundering motors at the site, much to the delight of some holier than thou folks who made life hell for track owners and operators in recent years.

Our biggest beef isn’t the way the city bullied the owner into selling, or that drag racing will have to find a new home.

No, this conservative newshound’s issue is that the city, admittedly already strapped for cash, shelled out big bucks to pick up a remote parcel of land, and will have to spend even more money it doesn’t have creating a bucolic park environment.

When urban core neighborhoods have to live with 20 to 30 percent reductions in mowing and maintenance to their parks and boulevards, it certainly doesn’t make any sense to this newshound to add to the problem with more land the city can’t take care of.

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What the heck is that?

We’ve received quite a bit of feedback, both written and otherwise, regarding the new Constrained Chaos sculpture up in Concourse Park, most of which noting how inappropriate it is for a park in a Historic District.

While the new bike rack’s design may be a departure from the traditional, its unique look has already accomplished one goal – to provoke thought and conversation.

This crafty news-canine likes the new space age design – especially of the new trash receptacle that reminds us of something that rolled off the line at Spacely Sprockets from the hit cartoon The Jetsons, and that’s not a bad thing!