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."

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