A new voice added to the blog

I have been invited to be a direct contributor to Our Parkville MO instead of just leaving a comment or two. I understand that several other folks have been, or are being, invited to be contributors/editors. First, I want to thank Walter A. Grantham, WAG, for inviting me. I have no axes to grind and no particular causes to espouse, but I really don't suffer fools well. I see this blog as a place where legitimate discussions can be carried on, and where some of the news that never seems to make it into the local press can be passed on in a timely manner.

I feel that the most important thing happening in our beautiful town right now is the prospect of the Steamboat Arabia Museum coming to town. I was one of the handful of folks originally invited by the Hawleys to the meeting last month at the museum in the River Market. Previous to that the museum's representative, here in Parkville, first came to visit with my wife, Carol, to fill her in on the museum's desire to locate on the bluff at Park University. Surprisingly, about one week after he laid out the plans for the museum to occupy a piece of land overlooking the exact site on the south bank of the Missouri River where the boat sank. I sat in on the meeting and I can say Carol and I were as excited about the prospects as was the museum's representative. He had several pages of site plans and maps.

A week later, at the meeting at the museum with representatives of the city and the county, it was reported that the university stated they no longer wanted the museum on campus (for whatever reason). I talked to some officials at Park and they all stated they had heard nothing about it. They stated thay not only didn't know the university was no longer interested, but that they had never heard that there had been any conversation about locating it on campus in the first place. What a dissapointment! However, the Hawleys made it clear that after looking at a few other sites, including Weston, that they still wanted to locate in Parkville. There was skepticism expressed by some of theose present, especially from the county people.

Since that date, as was reported here on Our Parkville MO there is some serious movement with the city, and it seems the Board of Aldermen is involved. None of this has been reported in any of the local newspapers. It seems that some may have spoken out of turn, but I have confirmed from other sources that contact has, indeed, been made and that things are proceeding.

There are very few things I can think of that would be better for Parkville. Imagine the positive impact on the quality of life the museum would have here. This, of course, would be in addition to the positive impact it would have on the economics of our town.

I would like to hear from you on this subject.

==JFK==