George, you are so miserable here.

I thought you were going to move elsewhere, somewhere you'd be happier.

Help me understand what is the same old mode of operation. Over the last 4 years the City mill levy has remained constant at 26.7 during one of the most challenging economic time in decades.

The newly elected commission does have a challenge fending off requests from police, fire and other departments. Unfortunately, they are having a hard time getting their heads around a new economy that will not have 6-7% increase in property valuation every year. Flat revenues are in the near to medium-term future, and it will continue to put pressure on services.

George, I will pose the same challenge to you that I posted to Mr. Simons about his "fine rant."

It is easy as pie to sit on the sidelines and complain about whatever is lacking in community leadership. It is much more challenging and difficult to get up off of one's posterior and actually provide leadership.

What would George do? What is preventing George from doing that? Inquiring minds want to know.

If George were the leader of the local Democrats or Republicans (Maybe even the tea party), he would develop a program with goals, schedules and costs to do specific things to make our town better. I would go public, get input (not just from activists), adjust, and then compete in the marketplace of ideas. I know our commission is non-partisan but I really do not believe that for a minute. Since the specifics things would be different for the parties, I avoid my own specifics.

An example might be to focus on tourism. Create a first class museum tied to the civil war and detail the "bleeding Kansas" legacy. Represent ourselves as a national resource. Make the museum a true modern technology example. Draw from federal and state funds (and selected businesses) to make it happen. Put the museum downtown and draw from the I 70 traffic and the KC conference schedule. Stop spending our scarce resources on chasing new restaurants, or whatever. IMHO, we can only afford one initiative. I question the notion of exploiting technology as we are competing with other areas of the country that are better resourced and offer a better environment.

We can continue to take baby steps in response to our local special interests or we can see if we can find a common vision for our future. I realize that we as a community are fractionated and that makes it hard to govern or for that matter to agree to just about anything but snow shoveling. Perhaps what we are doing is all we can do. If so, the consequences of drift will be ours and we will have earned it.

George is 68, not in good health and a lousy politician (as evidenced by my letter). He has already spent more than 20 years in service to the rest of you. Time for me to rest and throw rocks at those who follow as rocks were thrown in turn during my time.