Posted Earlier:

The Packet (Steamboat) Arabia...152 years ago.

This was posted earlier on another blog and has been very slightly edited:

On September 5th of 1856 (152 years ago) the the Packet (Steamboat) Arabia struck a sycamore snag in the Missouri River and sank at Parkville. No lives were lost except for the mule who later became known as Lawrence. When Arabia and its still intact contents were unearthed from 40-feet down in a farmer's field on the Kansas site of the river by a crew of four local treasure hunters in 1987 no one expected the real treasure that eventually came to light. That treasure has been housed in Kansas City's Treasures of the Arabia Museum in the city's River Market.

The museum is one of Kansas City's jewels but is housed in a woefully inadequate former produce warehouse that has been subjected to a leaks from above and other persistent problems. We've heard the owners of the museum are actively seeking to locate the museum in Parkville. Such a location is logical and will be highly appreciated by the citizens of the town as well as the citizens of Southern Platte County. The Arabia will provide a rare, nearly instantaneous boost to tourism, business investment, economic development, educational opportunities (at all levels including the university level) and civic pride.

What's to be done? Last week, September 5th, several politicians from Parkville and Platte County as well as officials from the county's Economic Development Council, a commercial developer and a municipal bonding agent were present at a meeting as invitees of the Hawley family who owns the museum. It has been reported those in attendance were given a tour of the facility and treated to cake and other refreshments while being allowed to ask questions about how the relocation of the museum to Parkville could be accomplished.

It has been said that the first obstacle to overcome is the location. Isn't it always? Even before the first penny can be raised in earnest, the location must be agreed upon and, at least, options for the site secured. We've heard that the Hawleys have a location, or two, in mind near the current English Landing Park. We suspect that due to restrictions that Park College put on the use of the park itself, that the museum cannot be located within the park proper. Of course, location in the wrong place, in that area, will simply invite the Missouri to revisit the Arabia from time to time with floods. Sites above the flood levels will have to be considered.

We think it would be great to have a solid grass-roots support for the museum's relocation to Parkville. Who will step forward to organize this? What citizens of gravitas will step forward to add their support to this effort? We shall see.

Want to be a regular contributor to Our Parkville MO?

Have you ever had a hankering to make a positive impact on our community? Now that Our Parkville MO is a bit over a month old we feel that it is time to invite others to add their views to the blog as postings rather than just as comments. Most of you remember our first attempt at a blog and I know that most of you were disappointed when it ended shortly after being set up and having the first posts and comments. Those of you who dived into the first fledgling blog, and those of you who think what we're doing here, now, is valuable, and who would like their comments read by others in Our Parkville MO, then send us a resume and a sample post. We're not looking for any particular point of view, your politics don't matter to us, your writing skill should be sufficient to allow your postings to be understood. There will be no deadlines, no agendas, and no personal attacks.

Just send us an email to myparkville@gmail.com. We are limited to the number of people who can actually do postings other than comments. We'll be out of town for a few days of golfing and relaxing and visiting the kids and will only be able to check in sporadically with our e-mail.

Tempest in a Teacup?

Our local newspaper, The Parkville Luminary, ran a front page story in which, as far as I can determine, the publisher tried to embarrass a local man who it seems just got caught up in doing what he thought was right. The "story" was a series of e-mails that the newspaper publisher simply reproduced in its pages. It isn't completely clear, but it seems that the focus of the story, John Kuhns, was trying to insure that the vendors at a special 2-day sales event would properly collect and pay sales tax. The event was held on the 19th and 20th, a Friday and Saturday.

It appears the organizer of the event got peeved with Mr. Kuhns and sent an e-mail to the newspaper's publisher expressing her outrage. The event organizer did get the correct sales tax information to the event's vendors, and presumably the correct sales taxes were collected. The publisher admitted that the "story" came to him via the reproduced e-mails and that he didn't have to seek out any information. A local politician expressed his view that it was the best writing he's seen in the paper!

There is a very interesting addendum to this story. One of the local participants (the majority were from outside of Parkville) told me that over the two days of the event there were about 20 visitors! She told me that the organizers assumed there were too many other things going on around town. I talked to several other folks in our fair town and all of them said they had excellent sales on that Friday and Saturday.

Ten Questions for the Candidates.

I have decide to post this on-line questionnaire to the two candidates for the position of Platte County Commissioner. It seems that it has been impossible to get a debate set up between the two candidates. I'm not completely clear as to why this has not been possible (at least so far), but the word on the street and in the restaurants is that one candidate has consistently refused. That will, in fact, be my first question.

Q1: Is it true that both the Parkville Luminary and the Pachyderm Club have tried to arrange a debate between you and your opponent? If so, what do you think is the main reason one or both debates have not come off?

Q2. What public endorsements have you received? (Please cite specific publications, dates and page numbers and/or URLs at which such public endorsements can be viewed.)

Q3. What do you think is the biggest issue (positive or negative) facing Platte County today? Why? How do you plan to deal with issue if you are elected?

Q4. How important is the appointment of non-partisan boards and commissions within the community. Why?

Q5. What is the most important development issue currently facing the citizens of Southern Platte County? Why? How will you deal with this issue if you are elected?

Q6. What do think is likely to become a "headline issue" in the county within the next 2 years? Why? How do you anticipate dealing with this if, in fact, it does become an important issue in the future?

Q7. What do you think the voters of Southern Platte County should consider to be your primary assets and/or qualities?

Q8. Since both of you have been mayor of Parkville, what was the one major, negative, controversy with which you had to deal during your mayoral tenure? Was this controversy successfully resolved during your term in office? If it was, how was it resolved; if was not, why?

Q9. What do you think will be your primary responsibilities to the two different types of citizens in Southern Platte County, namely those who live in municipalities and those who live in the unincorporated parts of the county?

Q10. Please post your campaign platform, in bullet points. Also, please post the link to your campaign's web site.

I want to thank the candidates in advance for their responses.

Stone Canyon Pizza Co. Awarded the 2008 Best of the Taste of Parkville

I stopped by the Stone Canyon Pizza this afternoon and noticed a spiffy new banner on the front of their counter announcing that they had been awarded the "Best of the Taste of Parkville" for 2008. Many of you know I was out of town on a family emergency during the Taste of Parkville so I missed out on what I know from past events was a lot of good local fare. As far as I know none of the local papers have carried this announcement, so let me be the first to say "congratulations to Kevin and the Stone Canyon crew." How about a repeat next year?

Local Newspaper gets called on its Editorial

The Parkville Luminary was pulled up short by the president of the Parkville Community Development Corporation, PCDC. In his response to the newspaper's editorial in which the publisher, Mark Vasto, referred to the PCDC as part of a "three-headed monster", Tim Rice layed out a very concise explanation of the history and value of the PCDC to Parkville's past and future economic development. My investigation turned up the fact that a private e-mail from the PCDC's treasurer, John Kuhns, to Rice and the other two PCDC officers, in which Kuhns expressed his concern that the PCDC might not be included in Mayor Gerry Richardson's call for a new commission to study and promote economic development. In the e-mail Kuhns suggested that perhaps Rice should have a conversation with the mayor to find out what the mayor's intentions were.

It seems the private e-mail was forwarded to a plethora of other Parkvillians. One of the persons to whom the e-mail was forwarded was Vasto and the Luminary. The letter was featured in a scathing editorial and Vasto used it as his jumping-off point to do what he seems to delight in...the trashing of downtown Parkville and its volunteer organizations. It was reported in the paper that the mayor had not met with anyone from the PCDC, when in fact, he did have a meeting with Rice about the subject prior to the appearance of the editorial. It seems the meeting might have been a little awkward since the mayor had also been a recipient of the forwarded e-mail.

I have spoken to a few of the merchants and my neighbors here in Parkville, and a very precious few hold the Luminary in high regard. Their biggest complaint, it seems, is that the publishers rarely has anything good to say about downtown. This attitude exists in light of the fact that the current may has reiterated what all of his predicessors have said, "The downtown is the heart our our city."

Let me hear from you on this subject, Post your comments and participate in our pools.