By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Board
Where are all the doom and gloomers now, the ones who didn't think KC Mayor Mark Funkhouser could cut it?
Let's look at how things stand now, with the Frances Semler mess behind us and Gloria out of the headlines:
1. Economic development is moving ahead, with the possibility of up to 2,100 airplane manufacturing jobs coming to KCI.
2. The KC budget to be passed this Thursday could be a huge improvement over what City Manager Wayne Cauthen proposed in January.
3. The NAACP is coming to town for its national convention in 2010.
The eco-devo news is a rebuke of what City Council members (and harsh Funkhouser critics) John Sharp and Terry Riley were saying months ago.
Back then, they were worried that the city's economic development activity would grind to a halt if Funkhouser led the council in passing a more responsible policy regarding economic incentives.
The policy passed -- and yet companies are still looking at bringing jobs to KC.
As for the budget, no one will know until late Thursday whether a City Council majority will have the backbone or common sense to pass a responsible budget.
If that happens, Funkhouser gets most of the credit for turning around the discussion about the budget (with a huge assist from council members Deb Hermann and Jan Marcason).
The new budget ought to include cuts in personnel (and possible layoffs) along with reduced subsidies for the Liberty Memorial and zoo, and a hiring freeze.
Finally, the NAACP's decision is a positive step for relations between Funkhouser and black civic and political leaders. The mayor never gave up hope of working with the group to get it to come to KC.
Thanks to local NAACP leader Anita Russell and a few others, that will now be a reality.
It's another victory for Funkhouser -- and Kansas City -- that the critics never thought would happen.
Yael T. Abouhalkah is a member of The Kansas City Star's Editorial Board.
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Funkhouser is rightly commendable.
A brief study of Mr. Funkhouser's policies and actions will show that, indeed, he is "smart with the money".
As well, his under-reported continuous dialog with citizen groups, minority groups, and "regular folk" have yielded support for him- even when he was castigated as the "anti-minority" mayor.
Thank God for Mr. Funkhouser, probably the most intelligent and capable leader our city has ever had! ( No slight intended to Mayors Cleaver, Wheeler, and Berkley ). ( Slight intended to Mayor Barnes ).
That is why- yes it's true- Funkhouser deserves credit!
It's another victory for Funkhouser -- Isn't everything?
Aren't we celebrating a major aviation coup a little early? In fact, it still remains to be seen whether the current Mayor's desire to minimize City economic incentives will provide a major impediment for such a deal.
Showing up on a list (even a short one) is not certainty as anyone who remembers the strenuous efforts of then Mayor Cleaver to attract McDonnell Douglas to MCI will understand.
The Mayor has finally weighed in on structural budget issues in a meaningful way, but why did he wait until a few weeks before final budget approval to make recommendations that anyone can see would require many months of study and planning before budget implementation?
If this was what he had in mind, why hasn't he been leading a public and institutional effort to accomplish these things over the past year? The abrupt change of course he now proposes will tear the the fabric of many City services apart when a reasonable transition that does little damage was possible.
Mrs. Semler's honorable if tartly worded resignation was the key in efforts to retain the NAACP 2010 convention in the face of Mayoral paralysis. It is a good thing that Mrs. Semler acted on her own to bring an end to the overlong siege of ethnic controversy that threatened to turn Kansas City into a fashionable town to boycott.
Outliving a public relations disaster is neither leadership or victory but it's better to survive a mistake than be buried by one. The news of the week is promising but a winning streak?