Quoted by JohnnyBravo on purposebuilt.org

Let me start out by saying that the “sale” of the track is not a decision that the owners want to make. They are not sell-outs, nor are they willingly abandoning the racing community. They are as deeply tied to racing, if not more, than anyone here.

In a nutshell, this was a political move. It may be one person, it may be a combination of people, but there are only 3 major players who have the kind of clout around KC to force the sale of the track.

1. Claire McCaskill. She owns approximately 27 acres (I believe) in the immediate vicinity of the track. My understanding is that she has been unable to market or sell her property for a significant profit because of the proximity of her property to the race track. That might make a good motive to lean on the city to force the track out of operation. And you can’t forget councilwoman Circo…who also happens to be a fundraiser for Claire McCaskill. Interesting how that works out, isn’t it?

2. Christine Kemper. She owns one of the houses on the hill on the other side of Noland Road, across from the track. The bulk of the track’s problems started immediately upon her taking possession of that home. Many of you will recall the huge debacle involving the storage shed that Kemper and Porrevecchio tried to use as leverage to shut down the track. Huge hearing before the BZA. City Hall was packed. While she was successful in costing the track a lot of money in unnecessary “improvements” and attorneys’ fees and ultimately restricting the days and hours of the track’s operation, she could not shut the track down. But don’t for a second think she has let it go.

3. Ms. Ulmer who owns all of the property up on the hill, east of the track. After her husband passed away, she has been trying to develop that property by herself. Rumor has it that nobody is thrilled about assisting in the development of that property because it’s right above the track.

Now which one(s) of these people are behind the political pressure to force the sale of the track is anyone’s guess. But there is a jerk in the woodpile somewhere.

Next, while what the city may try to claim is that this is a voluntary sale, nothing could be further from the truth. The city had been trying to buy the track for a while, but could never come up with any money. So the track entered into negotiations with another buyer (who would actually keep the track there, but would result in an infusion of cash for the track). After finding out that the current owners had found a buyer that would keep the track where it is, the city sent a letter threatening the condemnation of the land. Guess what that did to the sale of the property.

While under threat of condemnation, the property is dead. You can’t sell it. You can’t rezone it. And it makes no sense to spend any more money on it, because it may be taken from you at any time. So that’s the first dirty trick the city pulled. Just the threat of condemnation crushed any chance the track had of selling to someone who could improve the place and devalued the purchase price to any other interested buyer.

Then the city, through its codes administration, began really putting the pressure on the owners to “fix” certain alleged violations at the track. “You can’t have any electricity in your new outbuilding.” Ok. Then it was, “You MUST run electricity to the new outbuilding.” Ok. Then it was, “You have to repave the parking lot near the outbuilding”. Why? That wasn’t on the approved plans? “DO IT!” Then it was, “you need illuminated exit signs in the building.” Why? Those weren’t on the approved plans and this is a storage shed. It’s not a public building as defined by the codes. “Do it or we’ll fine you, etc, etc,”

So the city started making it clear that if the owners didn’t sell, at a low ball price which the city could afford, they’d just come out there every single day and find something to ticket them for. Take away their vending permit. Something. The city very clearly sent the message, ‘If you don’t give us this land, we’ll make your life a living hell. And if you make us go through the condemnation process, we’ll make sure you are offered pennies on the dollar for the property and that after you’ve paid your lawyers, you’ll walk away with next to nothing.”

Welcome to Kansas City politics. And you thought it was bad during the Cleaver days?

And so far, the city has failed and refused to provide any assistance in finding another location for the racetrack. The owners even agreed to take less money in exchange for help finding a replacement property and some time to operate while they built the new facility. The city was NOT willing to give them another season, or even another day. The city is not paying what the property is worth, but it’s paying more for the property just to shut it down NOW and to not have to find a new place. If that gives you any idea of the real motivations behind this move.

So you, the tax payers, while still getting a deal on the property, could have had it even cheaper if the city would have given the owners more time and helped them find a new place. But the city would rather pay more to run a business out of town immediately. Feel free to be pissed aS fuark about that, too.

So the city will have a completely worthless, non-income generating nuisance that it will have to take care of in place of a money earning, property tax paying business.

But hey, at least some of the more powerful women in the city will be able to line their pockets with cash after it’s gone. And when it comes down to it, isn’t being a politician really about using your power for your own profit?

Those are about all of the details I can provide at this time. I’m waiting for the press release to be issued by the city, to see how they “spin” this thing, but what I just told you is pretty dang accurate (other than my speculation about who is behind the string pulling). The city is RUNNING THE TRACK OUT OF TOWN ONE WAY OR ANOTHER.

The track has been blackmailed, bullied and beaten into selling. HOWEVER, you can still lean on your elected officials to either (a) undo the deal and refuse to fund the purchase; or (b) at a minimum, assist the owners in finding a new location for the track.

Those are the facts as I believe them to be.

http://www.purposebuilt.org/forum/showthread.php?t=43312&page=6

https://www.facebook.com/notes/kalynn-clements/lets-go-to-the-track-and-play-on-the-monkey-bars/10150913341040501

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This sure make KCMO look like a great place to start a business, eh?  These are the tactics they will resort to if they don’t like you or want your business gone.  Instead of helping bring jobs to KC, City Council likes to keep them away.

Just days after I attended a session of the new Special Committee on Small Business, ostensibly created to “reduce red tape and hassles associated with doing business,” City Council passed a resolution to make its already heavy-handed requirements for taxi providers even worse.

A few years ago the City began requiring taxi cab owners to post info about whether or not they accepted credit cards. It seems it was thought a great benefit to spare passengers the need to enquire about payment before riding half way across town.  The Kansas City Star put it this way: ”The city had imposed a law in 2009 that encouraged cabs to accept plastic and required them to display information if they did not. But investigators found cabs that weren’t complying with that law, and customers were complaining about having to carry cash to pay their fares.” But now the ante has been upped: the Council has passed another law requiring all cabs to take credit cards. To this THE STAR trumpets: ” Taxi cab customers will no longer have to carry large wads of cash in Kansas City.”

Excuse me, but have we not all lived through decades of bellyaching about Kansas City’s poor public transportation? Have we not endured Clay Chastain’s repeated attempts to push light rail on an unwilling voting populace, for just that reason? Thankfully, the light rail plan that finally did pass a vote in 2006 would have been such an obvious economic disaster, even our City Council was unable to bring themselves to enact it. Many of us knew that a better way existed anyway: Why not improve the bus lines and eliminate the barriers to entry for new transportation providers. Entrepreneurs might find new ways to solve our transportation needs without running deficits or requiring federal handouts.

So now, along with a still-unsatisfactory transportation system, we find ourselves in the midst of an economic downturn the likes the country has not seen since the great depression. And just as the City has begun posturing as if wishing to take great pains to remove the barriers for small business, we are treated to this—the eye watering irony of a ridiculous law which can only do one thing: make it harder to be a new independent taxi cab service provider in Kansas City.

When Bob Faulkner and daughter Christine visited City Hall in 2008, they wanted to know what zoning ordinances existed for the property they were hoping to purchase in South Kansas City. They were told that they could offer the same hay ride, petting zoo and pumpkin patch activities they currently did for corporate and educational clientele at their existing Benjamin Ranch business on leased property. Having only 48 hours to make a deal, the Faulkners went ahead and closed on a very large purchase. Only later did the two find out that it would take another $57,000 and a several-month-long approval process before the doors could finally open for business on their new Faulkner’s Ranch project. During the first visit to City Hall, no one had mentioned these minor details.

Such stories, related by shell shocked business people, is one of the purposes of meetings like the one I attended last Monday evening (October 17), put on by the new Special Committee on Small Business. These meetings are held at commercial venues around the Metro in order to make it easier for owners who find it difficult to get downtown, or simply have an understandable aversion to setting foot in City Hall. Committee members say they want to collect testimony in an effort to reduce obstacles to the growth of small business in the Metro Area.

According to committee members, the process for getting approval to open Faulkner’s Ranch doors would be less lengthy today than it was in 2008. This is because paperwork no longer needs to wait on one desk for signing before proceeding to another. Additionally, communication problems like those experienced by the Faulkners with City Hall are said to have been greatly reduced with the creation of Bizcare, a customer service center across from City Hall which opened in 2009.

Beyond such process improvements, and the periodic off-site small business meetings, the City has launched the website KC Momentum. It’s an implementation of a third-party collaborative web app called MindMixer, described by its creators as a “virtual town-hall.” The purpose of KC Momentum is to provide direct community input via a slick, easy to use, digital forum. Additionally, Scott Talyor described a yet-to-be-developed online automation system for getting businesses off the ground and maintaining permits, inspections, etc. He said that in the near future, it would likely be unnecessary for many small business owners to make a trip to City Hall to start or maintain their businesses.

How likely is it that the work of the Small Business Committee will make a real difference? The idea of making government efficient and free of hassles is ultimately a losing battle since there are no market forces to keep it moving in the right direction. Instead, it has only one ever-present incentive: take the path of least resistance and provide less  value while increasing revenue via taxation. That’s leaving aside the out-and-out antagonism to small business displayed in many actions taken by the City Council: like the just-passed law requiring all taxi services to accept credit cards, amounting to a huge barrier-to-entry into the public transportation sector.

Short of the elimination of regulatory bureaucracy in KC altogether, this author suspects that online-based automation (like KC Momentum and the proposed future implementations) is a decent way to go—provided the software is any good. At least it could eliminate the need for entrepreneurs to have to interact with bureaucratic zombies who want to hassle them and send them on wild goose chases. Of course, good software can’t to be taken for granted: the same inherent problems that plague other government endeavors, make it inevitable that software government produces will likely suck too. But third-party web solutions like MindMixer, designed by entrepreneurs, will be far better than solutions cities might develop themselves.

In a real sense, turnkey solutions like MindMixer, represent a way the market is coming to its own aid in combating the natural inertia of government.

Special HFAC Screening Event: “Don’t Tread On Me” Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Location:  Johnson County Library – Antioch Branch, 8700 W. Shawnee Mission Parkway (NW corner of Shawnee Mission and Antioch Road – map and directions

William Lewis will also conduct a Q&A session afterwards, and we are lining up other people featured in the movie to participate and give their thoughts on the long-term direction of the “Freedom Movement” in this country.

Meet & Greet: 6:00pm
The screening will start promptly at 6:30, so don’t be late!

Figuring Out the Fed: A Conversation with Allan Meltzer and Tom Hoenig

Allan Meltzer, the leading historian of the nation’s central bank, and Tom Hoenig, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, join Crosby Kemper III, director of the Kansas City Public Library for a public conversation on the past, present, and future of the Federal Reserve System. The program takes place on Wednesday, July 21, at 6:30 p.m. at the Central Library, 14 W. 10th St.

Admission is free. A 6 p.m. reception precedes the presentation. RSVP online or call 816.701.3407. Free parking is available at the Library District Parking Garage at 10th & Baltimore.

Liberty Restoration Project – Man on the Street – Street Team event

We will meet up at the Westport Coffee House at Noon, Thursday, July 22.  Please bring a video camera if you have it.  We will disseminate fliers to those who come to the event to then pass out to people on the streets.  We will arm you with a few questions to use for the Man on the Street action and then you’ll be free to find people on the street willing to go on camera answering the questions.  More information will be discussed at the meetup.

Liberty Restoration Project Bi-Monthly Meeting

Sunday, July 25, 4pm

Westport Flea Market

We will be discussing future events as well as our Man on the Street activism, meeting with council members, and more.  Please join us for this!!

Last Friday, myself and a colleague, had a sit down with a councilman of Kansas City to discuss certain issues that we have with the city. There’s not much liberty in Kansas City and they love their Orwellian toys, revenue generators, and squashing out freedom where they can.

Does the Kansas City City Council and the KCPD want to militarize the urban core? Seems so with the implementation of the lovely ShotSpotter system. First of all, let’s understand where this system comes from; the Green Zone in Iraq. That is correct and where they want to use this system is in the “Green Impact Zone” of Kansas City. The ShotSpotter system is a (acoustic surveillance) microphone system that, if funding is granted, would set up this detection system in the heart of the urban core. Federal grants have been applied for through the KCPD. This is a costly system and seems to be a waste of money where more officers could just be placed on the streets in these “high crime” areas. However, there are others on the council and KCPD that are truly “fired up” about this expensive “Orwellian” system. The councilman stated that he did think this system was too expensive, a waste of money, and the money should be used in deploying more cops onto the streets.

The red light cameras are going nowhere, unless we take action and do something about them. The love the city has for the money those unconstitutional robot cops make is much to great for the city to just let go, or even look into the constitutionality of them. The funds raised from these revenue generators go straight into the city’s general fund. One might find it amusing that Kansas City’s City Council may believe that Arizona’s Immigration Bill steps all over due process and will then pass a resolution letting Arizona know just how they feel about that, but you try to discuss due process with the red light cameras and the response you get is crickets. The councilman believes that the red light cameras are providing safer streets, they are needed, and even if the city makes no profit from the cameras, they will stay up. He also stated that they were only installed where the city found the highest number of red light accidents.

Is Kansas City fed up with the E-tax? You bet your bottom dollar they are and they’re letting Kansas City know in the form of doubling the number of petition signatures needed to put the initiative on the ballot to get rid of the tax. So, what will happen if Kansas City citizens tell the City Council they no longer want that one percent e-tax stolen from them? Property taxes will shoot through the roof!! Actually, it was stated that even if all the taxes collected from Kansas City residents were maxed out, the full amount allowable to be stolen and put into the city’s coffer still would not cover the revenue generated from the E-tax. Understand that the way the city sees it, those in the more affluent areas of the metro and surrounding areas are the ones that are truly funding it and Kansas City citizens will not like the outcome of repealing the E-tax. One might argue that if you truly want smaller government, remove their funding, however they will most likely find more ways to steal from us. The councilman did state that he is in favor of the e-tax and does not want to see it repealed.

One item that we did agree with the councilman on was Urban Farming. He stated that the reason we’re being stalled in our fight for legalizing freedom is because of elitism running rogue in some people of the council. The elites that are opposed to this legislation, which would lead to a person having the freedom to sell excess fruits and vegetables from their gardens from their house, are worried about high crime and property values. Yes, high crime is a worry that may stem from selling some lettuce or tomatoes from your front yard. Property values will plummet because people buying houses do not want to have a garden growing on the property next to them. Also, think about the traffic that this type of freedom loving legislation would lead to! You’re going to have neighborhoods packed with cars that don’t “belong” there, people you may not know will be running rampant through the neighborhood, and what about the CHILDREN?!?! Will we see an upswing in kidnappings?? Are you scared yet? Can you feel the grip of fear tightening around you, arising from these worrisome issues? Issues pushed by the elite, forcing your consideration on such simple matters as planting your first garden seed, based on what they perceive as the growing threat of providing the service of selling the fruits of that seed from your own property. There is a glimmer of hope in the fight, found in the sane voice of a Councilman to whom we spoke. He believes the bill to be a community builder for the city, and that’s a key point we can truly agree on.

While we don’t agree on everything, he did appear, through his own admission, to be the one that would agree with our stance on liberty in Kansas City more than any other councilperson. I commend him for taking an hour out of his schedule to meet with us, humanize, harmonize, and discuss. We just hope that our unbending liberty stance grows infectious, and becomes palatable to more office holders as time moves forward.

It’s apparent that our voices espousing freedom are not reaching ALL ears.  However, NIMBY hens seem to truly continue to rule the roost.  It’s not about aggression towards your neighbor, it’s about property value and quality of life.  Those are the true things we must hold dear in these economic times.

We attended a meeting tonight concerning Urban Farming and CSA’s in Kansas City this evening.  The hens took over with more concern over “what if’s” and “what could’s” than the average person could possibly think of in an hour debate.  Is it truly that concerning having people possibly sell a few left over goodies from their garden out of their homes??  Seemingly so…

Let me just provide you with their own words from the lovely world wide web:

“Professionals, what is your opinion about this KCMO ordinance that legalizes running a farmers market from residential neighborhood yards?

As a real estate agent, I think that it is a HUGE mistake! I will have to explain to my clients that they cannot sell their home for as much because it sits between two 24 hour a day vegetable stands — and people won’t buy a home next to that. Why would they? Perhaps they will move to a neighboring city where the city doesn’t enocurage commerical businesses to be run out of a yard in our residential neighborhoods. And the Mayor wonders why people are leaving the city…”

“When people are looking for a neighborhood to purchase a home in, they typically tell me (as a real estate agent), that they want a quiet street where homes and yards are well taken care of, streets that are not busy and not next door to commerical development. Supply and demand determine price. If there is no demand to live next door to someone who is running a produce stand from their yard, the price will drop. That’s Real Estate 101. This ordinance is the city basically telling people that we can legally run commercial farm businesses with no oversight (health and business wise).

I don’t want to look out my front door to see neighbors in business battling to have the biggest, most decorated yard, a big, colorful decorated tent to draw attention, creatively decorated signs and elaborate display tables competing for people to stop at their house instead of the neighbors tent. Competition for business is the American Way!

Imagine the children that used to be able to ride their bikes or play together in the street, or front yards on the block. If you have a business, or 2, or 3 on the block, that is a thing of the past. No one will allow their children to navigate around the cars of customers and farm workers, or to go outside without any kind of vetting of the strangers who can potentially have access to them. Not to mention that the more people on the block increases exposure to criminals. We may as well be opening our doors to them.

I cannot find an argument that shows, like Councilman John Sharp says (in other cities), helps to increase property values. What am I missing?”

“I will be speaking directly to HUNDREDS of clients in the KC Metro about this astonishing idea…no health department oversight, no zoning restrictions other than the size of the sign. When homeowners are struggling against watching the value of their homes diminish right before their eyes…taking what is supposed to be an appreciating asset and watching it turn into that much like a car note, we take it to the next level and allow our neighborhoods to be trampled on and turned into adult Lemonade stands…with little to no oversight…ABSOLUTELY AMAZING….Stop this now!!!!”

“Are you okay with the concept of a Farmers Market on your residential block? The council, on May 5, 2010, is on the verge of passing an ordinance that will allow people to run farm businesses from their front yards (side & backyards, too). This is a HUGE problem for not only property values, but quality of life and safety issues, too.

Mayor Mark Funkhouser encourages the entrepreneurship of it. Here are some of the things that can happen under this ordinance:
*Build a 14′ tall outbuilding/greenhouse/hoop house
*Post a 4′ tall sign in the front yard (no time/date restrictions)
*They can construct and put up a tent of any size, color design in front yard
*Set up a table of any size or style for display and selling in front yard
*Garden must only be 3′ back from front property line/street (can grow produce in front, back & side yards)
*Parking lots can be added on properties that are over 15,000 sf
*Can have multiple farm businesses on the block – signs, tents, table, workers & customers
*Will be run like businesses meant to generate income—from their home
*Have workers (no limit on the number allowed) to work on their garden/farm – during any hours of the day or night without limit
*Host a produce sale open to the public 7 days a week, any hours of the day and night, any season/year round- with no restrictions
IS THIS OKAY WITH YOU? The council needs to hear our voices.”

*It’s quite true, you know.  Allow this behavior and people will start putting up stands in their front yards ALL over the city!!!  There will be competing farmer’s market sprouting up from every person’s backyard.  It will lead to not only the selling of food, but the selling of t-shirts and salsa out of one’s front yard.*

While one might think that very last statement was sarcasm, it’s TRULY a fear that the NIMBY’s have concerning the passage of this ordinance.  However, in this day and age, I’m all for somebody making a buck on the side of their house or in their front yard.  I just wish they didn’t need a license to do it.  (That is what I’d leave out of the ordinance).

We need to start reconnecting with our neighbors and community.  If you have a problem with your neighbor, how about going and speaking to them personally instead of being a tattle tale and sicking the state on them?  How about having open dialogue with your neighbors?  Fear and negativity do not bring about positive change.

They think the mayor is the one causing people to leave over issues like this??  Maybe they just don’t want to live next door to a dictator neighbor… think about it!!!

We didn’t get all of the best pieces on video due to a lack of tape/battery, however, here’s what we did catch:

From Anderson Cooper’s Podcast:

Here’s footage from the entire interview:

One Liberty Restoration Project member’s take on the tea party from last year and this year:

The Kansas City Tax Day Tea Party celebrated at the Community America Ballpark this past April 15 was completely transformed from last years tea party…and not in a good way. This years tea party seemed more like an organized, statist political rally unlike the organic, quite spontaneous, tea party rally from last year that I attended at Liberty Memorial.

There were a few reasons I had my reservations about attending this years tea party. First, this tea party was commercially advertised for months in advance. Second, if you wanted to have a table to help promote your organization, your cause, or yourself as a politician, you were charged $50. They also had suites available for those who were better off and could afford the upward cost of $350.00. Third, the tea party was held at a ballpark in the outskirts of western Kansas City, KS. How does having it in a confined area, such as a ballpark, help get the message the speakers were discussing out to the masses? You were literally in a bowl. And last, most of the people in attendance were fans of Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin. I’m sorry, but Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin’s views are opposite of those from which the original tea parties were started from. The Anti-FED, Anti-War, Anti-Left/Right Paradigm, Pro Sound Money, Pro Freedom, and Pro Individual stance originated from Ron Paul’s grassroots movement is where the original tea party started.

I went with the hopes of reaching a few new people to understand that taking on the Federal Government is the incorrect way to reach the change that they are seeking. Yes, I understand that the Federal Government has grown well beyond it’s limits, however, as Lysander Spooner puts it – “the Constitution has either authorized such a government as we have had or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case it is unfit to exist. “ Our mission then is to work on the local/state level and get the individuals in those offices to say NO to the federal government and work within the city’s/state’s own limits and power to take care of itself. Rallies once a year are great, but what are the tea party people doing the other 364 days a year to fight for liberties and freedoms in their own backyard?

The statist mentality at the tea party was almost overwhelming. I don’t believe that the people in attendance were ignorant by any means, I just think that they’re uneducated in certain areas. You can not be a libertarian and be pro-war. That is an oxymoron. You cannot fix a completely broken system, simply by saying no more taxes. There is not left or right paradigm, just as there’s no real difference between Coke or Pepsi. Voting in candidates as individuals who stand for freedom and liberty is one way to address getting the change you are seeking. However, the easiest way to take on big issues, is by starting on your city, county, state, level YOURSELF. Be pro-active in an issue. Keep your eye out for legislation up for a vote in your city council or by an entire city vote and make sure you take it on if it’s against what liberty stands for. ANY issue. I know many people that are rallying behind the freedom to vote for your local judges, legalize cannabis, ending eminent domain, putting at stop to the surveillance state, making sure no more taxes are raised on a local/state level, etc. People need to get out their and find an issue or two that they are passionate about and go fight for it!! Gather people together to protests, have weekly/monthly meetings about strategies for getting your issue voted on the way that you’d like to see it voted on. Go talk to your local city representatives, talk to your state representatives, state senators, and police department. Let them know that you’re a part of a group of peaceful people who just want to bring about a change towards liberty in your area. Localize, Harmonize, Educate, Active. Make your voice heard LOCALLY, because in the end, it will be heard NATIONALLY.

About 30 concerned citizens attended the meeting and were from all walks of life.

To start off, we each introduced ourselves, our ward, our neighborhood and any previous involvement in city politics.

Click here to find your ward.
Click here to find your neighborhood.

I gave a short presentation on the workings of the website. Basically the settings allow for everyone to take part in their own way; since emails can be turned off, some on or all on -depending on your own level of involvement.

Mark Ogier then gave a presentation on being the public in public meetings.
Be sure to check out the witness contingency and the public meetings calendar.

It was decided to also have an activist events calendar.

Something I forgot to mention- networking is encouraged! Please feel free to promote any groups you belong to at our meetings, there is plenty of table space for handouts and I will gladly post any events on our activist calendar.

There were concerns mentioned at the meeting but we didn’t have anyone taking minutes and I don’t want to try to list them for fear of leaving someone’s concern out; next meeting we will take note of the concerns mentioned.

Please let me know if:
Any meetings or events in the city are not listed on the calendars.
You are a member and would like your blog promoted on Neighbor’s blogs.
You would like to learn more about the website and setting options.
You have a speaker in mind for our meetings
All suggestions are encouraged!

Our next meeting is scheduled for March 6, 2010 at the Kingshighway St Louis City Library. Doors open at 9:30, meeting begins at 10 and adjourns at noon.

Special thanks to Brother Bob and Darin, the two videographers that covered the first meeting.

Some updates from around the city:

1/16/10 – Arlington Heights Redevelopment Meeting – Alderman Boyd speaks on Eminent Domain

1/21/10 – City Earnings Tax could be put to a vote
1/25/10 – Neighbors assume greater Responsibility for Trash in Soulard
2/04/10 – Consent Judgment orders city to remove leafleting law from the books
2/06/10 – Photos of Gateway to Liberty meeting
2/09/10 – Delor Street Plant Holders in Ward 14 – you paid for it
2/10/10 – City Budget Meeting was standing room only!
2/15/10 – Tax for Metro Link expansion
2/16/10 – Push for Local Accountability of Police
2/16/10 – Court hearing on Blighting of Northside -McKee’s Redevelopment Plan

I also wanted to share this important eminent domain petition update from Ron Calzone, if you attended the meeting, you already received the update below.

If you would like to be removed from this email list please reply to with subject line “remove from list”.

Eminent Domain Petition Update

We are 4 ½ years into the battle against eminent domain abuse in Missouri. Our foes are powerful and well funded – largely by our own tax dollars. They fear the loss of millions, even billions of dollars in redevelopment subsidies.

As you know, last month the Western Court of Appeals ruled in our favor in the challenge to our ballot titles. They handed down their ruling in an unusually prompt fashion once we got the full case before the three judge panel. I believe that was their reaction to the evidence of the Missouri Municipal League’s misuse of the court system.

In spite of a resounding “win” in court (the three judges unanimously ruled exactly as we suggested in our brief), it came only after a year long delay. That delay was on top of several weeks of delay by the Secretary of State and AG.

That delay may prove fatal to our effort in this (2010) election cycle.

Winning the Skirmish, But Losing the Battle – Then Winning the War.

The court battle was but one of many skirmishes (albeit a big one) in this fight for property rights. We have MML’s law firm on tape admitting, that their “main objective” in bringing suit was to delay the gathering of signatures. Even in their court loss, they have won their objective. They had to break the law to do it, but they achieved it, nonetheless.

That delay greatly hindered our fundraising. Right after the ruling things looked good. In just a few days we garnered over $200,000 in pledges – but then we hit a brick wall.

Donors we hoped we could count on were understandably gun-shy. Even though we were going to have more time than our “near miss” 2008 effort, it wouldn’t have been a comfortably larger amount of time. On the other hand, the volunteer base has grown tremendously. Success, though, will depend on a combination of volunteer and paid petition circulators.

Without the cash to pay full time professional circulators, it is best to conserve our volunteer efforts for another day.

Motion For Sanctions

The intentional use of the court system for purposes of delay or adding expense to your opponent is against the law. When such abuse occurs, the law provides for court ordered sanctions – including monetary payments to the damaged party.

MML’s illegal use of the courts has cost our effort hundreds of thousands of dollars and we have filed a motion with the court asking for reimbursement. It’s probably a long shot, but if the court will award enough, and do it soon enough, we may have a chance to hire the professional circulators and make it to the ballot this November. We have not totally given up on this election cycle.

A Punt May Be Necessary

Realistically, the odds of the court reacting fast enough and strong enough to our motion for sanctions are pretty slim. More than likely we will have to begin the entire process over this fall, after the November election.

The good news is that we should not have the same problems with court delays. We will submit the same petitions and should get the same ballot titles, which have already been litigated. There will be no excuse for the courts to permit such long delays.

Although we have not scuttled the effort for the 2010 ballot, the MO-CPR board – all unpaid volunteers, just like the many volunteer petition circulators — are sensitive to & understand your sacrifices for this effort. We want to ensure that your efforts produce the most fruit, so we suggest that volunteers hold off on gathering signatures and concentrate on other helpful endeavors for this and future campaigns.

Do things like:
• Recruit more volunteers
• Scope out and document places to collect signatures later
• Organize training meetings
• Help pass legislation that will prevent the sort of court delays that hurt us so badly.

Those things will help whether we go for the 2010 or the 2012 election cycle.

The 2012 Election Cycle is Near

2012 sounds like a long way off, but it starts this November 3rd. If we punt, and the odds are we will have to, we will have a much longer, more comfortable time to collect the many signatures we need.

While it is true that we will have to put up with two more years of the injustice of eminent domain abuse, our likelihood of success will be much, much greater. We must not forget, our fight is very much like that of the Founding Fathers against King George – and they had to fight 8 long years to win freedom!

We Will Win The War!

For me, personally, it is disappointing to think that we may have to drag this out two more years – I would like to go on to other projects. I stand undaunted, though, and will continue the fight until the war is won! I have talked to many of you in the last few days who have expressed the same resolve.

Together we will win – we have to because at the root of it, this war is for Economic Freedom and Economic Freedom is the foundation of ALL of our liberties.

Justice for all!

Ron Calzone and the rest MO-CPR Board
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Ron Calzone, chairman
Missouri Citizens for Property Rights
33867 Highway E
Dixon, MO 65459
Phone: (573) 759-3585
Cell.: (573) 368-1344

http://www.mo-cpr.org

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We stand here 46 years after the assassination of John Kennedy. You don’t have to like the man, or the title of President. We’re here to honor an action. It’s an idea that no matter who you are, the pedigree you came from….the views you’ve had in the past, Liberal, Conservative, Anarchist or Socialist….The ability to recognize a danger to the American People and stand up as a Patriot is within all of us.

I don’t expect everyone to like Kennedy’s policies or his family. But His speeches struck a chord in the hearts and minds of men. and with one action, he attempted to remove some of the hidden corporate slavery of the debt machine. Executive Order 11110 was a chance to be free and with 3 shots in Dealey Plaza that chance was silenced.

JFK Once Said: “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable”

In March, Liberty Restoration Project as well as our allies across the country recognized a threat to peaceful revolution in the name of the MIAC Militia Report…and uncovered other threats in the other MIAC reports…all of them demonizing grassroots movements as violent extremism that pose a threat to government.

Missouri Law Enforcement declared activists their enemy with 4 words I quote: “You Are The Enemy” As hard as they tried to deny it, it was clear in black and white. They said violent people support Ron Paul………Violent People Might Just Have Bumper Stickers…Violent People Attend End The Fed Rallies

I say Violent People Might Wear Underwear and Drink Pepsi too, where is that listed in the report?

The other reports demonize groups on the grassroots Left…. I don’t care what you think about these movements or the actions some fringe members of these movements have taken, the point remains that the entire grassroots accountability movement from the right and left are both being laid out as too dangerous to be allowed because of a few bad apples.

Committees of Safety…The New Black Panther Party…Here’s one I heard Glenn Beck demonizing…Copwatch, a non-partisan group that documents police-citizen interaction so that either party may use that documentation in a court of Law. That is potentially violent extremism?

There was another report warning that people in Prison might just join Al Qaeda….I wonder if that goes for Bernie Madoff and Ken Lay types who have used Wall Street to loot our economy of billions….our private prison system and the consistant crackdown on nonviolent self-destructive offenders is never addressed when they parade the terror boogeymen.

The First Hearing about these reports occurred the SAME DAY that an extreme abortion activist walked into a church and gunned down one of the most well known Abortion Doctors in the country.

Before I had even heard of the shooting, this one instance of an extreme act of murder was being paraded by Law Enforcement in front of this state’s legislature as proof that we all need to be profiled as dangerous.

The Mainstream Media immediately jumped on board, tying extremism in with “Militias” and “Anti Government”

I Have the Government RIGHT HERE…it’s called THE CONSTITUTION and if anybody is ANTI Government it’s the people who would dare work against it. On the contrary, Gathered in front of me is a bunch of the most pro-constitutional government people in this region.

I have since seen several Mainstream Media reports where they do exactly what the MIAC center has done. They look to the politicized Southern Poverty Law Center for their boogeymen.

I’ve now seen Three CNN and MSNBC reports teaming up with the SPLC demonizing Oath Keepers, a group that is asking Police, Vets, and active duty military to read this Constitution, Reaffirm their oath, and if their commanders should ever give them an order that would turn our forces against the people, to refuse it.

This constitution scares the HELL out of these Corrupt Media, Corporation, Banking, and Political Party Power Brokers.

They say these things are threatening, and that they use the reports as valuable tools to prevent crime. Ladies and gentlemen, they use these tools because they are afraid of the peaceful revolution and they know that if they create a big enough fear climate, their system will accumulate so much power that a violent outbreak would mean pure victory for them. Violence legitimizes the fear climate and at Fed buildings all across the country today we send a message back that the First Amendment IS PEACE AND PEACE IS WINNING IN THE HEARTS AND MINDS OF MEN.

Another JFK Quote: “The Word Secrecy is Repugnant in a free and open society.” There has been NO AUDIT since the Fed was created in 1913. They used to offer M3 reports on Cash Flow….not an audit…it’s like me giving the IRS a letter saying that my books are okay and not offering any receipts or documentation…but for years they at least gave us that…but now they’ve stopped and when asked why, they said that Monetary Supply has grown so large that it was not worth it to print it all on paper and give to Congress. For almost 100 years the bankers scheme has gripped American Economic and Monetary Policy. Now I know economy speak turns people off so let me repeat that in layman’s terms…Bankers control the future of Jobs and Your Money and they aren’t telling anybody how they’re handling things and when people demand they give answers they tell us to take a hike…..I say it’s time for Ben Bernanke and Tim Geithner to take a Hike and take the rest of the Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan crew with em!

Friday’s Wall Street Journal Front Page Headline: “House Panel Attacks Fed, Treasury.”

The Audit will get a vote in the House. It is a small victory, that comes with a huge sacrifice. In order to get the bill past the special interests of the committee, it had to be attached to Bailout Legislation. Lets face it though, They will always continue to pass their bailouts and their corruption, but this time if they want it, they’re going to have to help us expose the secrecy of the Federal Reserve.

I Repeat, Peace IS WINNING THE HEARTS AND MINDS OF MEN!

Even if the Audit does not make it through both houses, I want you people to understand the meaning of the word on that LRP shirt we sell. Vigilance. Very rare that a battle is ever won with the first strike. One Year Ago we had a rally and march right here…in the days leading up to that rally I had several conversations about Gold and The Fed where I could not get one person to agree with me that accountability was important or that inflation was dangerous.

I had Liberals tell me that we needed the “Fed Credit Card” to continue government programs….I Had Conservatives tell me that attacking the banking system didn’t sound very “Capitalist”

Ladies and Gentlemen The Central Bank and Graduated Income Tax Are not only planks of the communist manifesto, but provide the mechanism for the entire platform of communism.

So for the much of the 20th Century while our country was in war all around the world fighting “Communism” We had communism established right above our heads.

They say that an Audit would endanger the system. It’s in Danger either way. They say that The Fed Must be “Free” from political influence. It’s influenced either way.

One Last Thing To Remember as we wrap up, for 233 years, this nation has strived for one thing. Freedom. From the Founding Fathers gathering as Minute Men and fighting the red coats to escape the tyranny of British Kings, to the Underground Railroad and the Abolitionist movement trying to prove to a nation that African Americans were indeed humans with rights, to the Civil Rights movement and the fight of many Americans to just be able to walk into a school or voting booth. We have now come full circle. Just as our Nation began to fully honour our commitment to All Persons Being Created Equal, We’re being told that our Economy is above all.

The bankers stood in front of Congress and the Media, You still hear people parroting the line every single day.

They HAD to concede to the bankers, or the economy would have collapsed.

Ladies and gentlemen. The Bankers put a gun to the head of the prosperity of an entire nation of FREE people, and said You now become economic SLAVES or we will Kill the economy.
There is only one answer to a threat like that: GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH!