Main Street Parkville Association monthly meeting

At Wednesday's meeting of the Main Street Parkville Association Carol Kuhns was elected as the association's chairperson; she had filled in as interim director since the resignation of Angelo Gangai. Tom Hutsler was elected as the vice-chairperson and Linda Varner was elected as the association's secretary.

PCDC treasurer John Kuhns reported on the association's financial condition, and except for a large difference between the budget and the actual income and expenses for this past years acoustic festivals the overall difference was better than the budget expected. There was a short discussion of the Christmas on the River event (even though COTR is not an MSPA event) and that it was another success. Kuhns noted that the event for the past two years has operated in the black. Kuhns contrasted that to the situation of COTR for 2005 and 2006 when it emmerged about $19,000.00 in the red.

The MSPA signed up nore than 25 members at their breakfast meeting and Hutsler immediately went out into the community and started signing up additional members who were unable to make the early morning meeting. The representative from Park University commented that she was excited about the coming year and all that MSPA has planned.

Anyone can join MSPA. The fee is $25.00 year; contact either the MSPA office at 816-505-2227, or speak to Hutsler at 816-918-0057.

Platte County Business of the Year for Parkville

H.M.S. Beagle was honored today at a luncheon at the Embassy Suites Hotel as Platte County Business of the Year for Parkville. The Beagle's nomination was submitted by the city's Board of Aldermen and the award was presented by Mayor Gerry Richardson. Calling the beagle "part museum and retailer of science supplies" the Beagle and its owners John and Carol Kuhns were cited for their entrepreneural abilitieas as well as their community and civic involvement.

The Kuhns were guests of the Oppenheimer companies and were seated at the table with Platte Commissioner Elect Kathy Dusenbury, Parkville Mayor Gerry Richardson, executives from Openheimer, Michael Short and others.

WAG

Main Street Parkville Association monthly meeting

The next meeting of the Main Street Parkville Association (MSPA) is next Wednesday morning at the American Legion Hall on Main Street. The meeting starts at 9:00 am with a breakfast, provided by MSPA, at 8:30 am. This is the annual meeting where officers will be elected and where dues can be paid. Paid memberships allow businesses and individuals to vote on all matters that come before the group at its regular monthly meetings for the coming year. Dues are $25.00; memberships can be purchased by individuals and/or businesses. Each paid membership is entitled to a vote. Member businesses are encouraged to have their employees (clerks, wait staff, sales people, etc.) personally join MSPA. This will give the organization a larger pool of potential, and hopefully committed, volunteers for the many committees and festivals and events during the year.
The officer positions that are being elected at this meeting are the chairman, vice-chairman and secretary. MSPA is part of the Parkville Community Development Corporation (PCDC) and it operates under its organizational umbrella. However, PCDC does not direct the actions of the MSPA, but the PCDC's elected treasurer serves as the treasurer of MSPA (as well as of all the other organizations that are under the PCDC umbrella).
A slate of candidates was submitted at the last monthly meeting; it is composed of Carol Kuhns as chairman, Tom Hutsler as vice-chairman and Linda Varner as secretary.

==JFK==

Recent developments on the Steamboat Arabia Museum

The Steamboat Arabia Museum is still steaming on in its upstream effort to dock in Parkville. The latest news, which is generally circulating among folks downtown, is that the museum owners have secured an option on one of two large parcels of land in which they have expressed interest. That parcel is just to the south of the English Landing Centre. This is another crucial step to bringing the museum to Our Parkville MO. Its good that local politicians, community leaders and others have picked up on the excitement and have kept the buzz going. Even folks as far away as Overland Park, KS, have heard the news and have expressed their delight in the possible move.

On another topic, congratulations to Watercolors High Fashion LLC on Main Street for winning the Best Decorated Storefront in Downtown Parkville award. Many other stores worked very hard at their season's decorations and all are to be congratulated.

==JFK==

Smoking Ban Fails, and Other News

It was fun sitting at the reporter's table at the Board of Aldermen meeting last night. It was most enjoyable to sit and hear some of the most elegant speeches I have ever heard from local politicians as they spoke about their thoughts and opinions on the proposed smoking ban. This was especially true of Aldermen Sportsman and Bay who had given the subject great thought and were obviously in awe of the gravity of the situation. Their comments were definitely persuasive, but in the end the vote was 3 for the ban and 5 against the ban. So for the time being smoking is still to be suffered in those few Parkville restaurants that allow it. The ban, as it was proposed, would have disallowed smoking in any public building, not just restaurants. This issue will not die, and the eating and drinking establishments in town must realize that it will come.

On another subject that has been dragging one for a few months was that of the motor scooter store that has been working towards opening on Mill Street (FF Highway). The city Planning and Zoning Board, largely because of the strong opposition by Dr. Harold Brown, votes 6 to 0 deny the permit for the store to open. Dr. Brown was heard o say, at that meeting, in response to the question, "where should we open our store?", "anywhere but Parkville." Parkville certainly does not not need such a flat-screen view of economic opportunities in our Parkville. Downtown Parkville has the lowest vacancy rate of any areas in town, and the building into which the scooter business is opening was not even considered to be a vacancy due to its dilapidated state.

Well, last night, the Board of Aldermen went against the tide and passed the permit application unanimously. The permit does have a few, minor caveats that will fall upon the property owners to complete within a defined time span. Our Parkville MO wants to be among the first to welcome the motor scooter store to downtown Parkville, and as usual, we want to emphasize that Parkvillians should think Parkville first when shopping, especially this time of year and in this economic climate.

WAG