Category Archives: Tony_Botello

There are 7 Council Ladies currently serving Kansas City, Missouri and until recently I never really noticed the impact of this historic female domination of local politics.

What finally stood out to me today, after 3 years, is that the ladies on the Council stick together. This fact was clearly demonstrated recently when Mayor Funky gave Council Lady Jan Marcason the boot from not one but two committees. In council session today, KMBC newsie DeAnn Smith noted that the ladies piled on the Mayor in a way that wasn’t at all sexy. It gets worse, Northland Council Lady Deb Hermann led the charge and then just came out with a written statement challenging the Mayor’s decision in defense of her homegirl Jan.

Check it:
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Let’s talk about alternatives during the decline of dead tree media.

For the most part, TV News coverage is more important, influential and more widely viewed than anything written in the daily newspaper. Unfortunately, most of it is crap. Of course there are exceptions, Michael Mahoney is one of the best political reporters in Kansas City and he regularly breaks important stories. Also, Russ Ptacek has taking investigative journalism to the next level with his series of reports highlighting contamination at the Bannister Fed Complex.

But other than that, it’s mostly live, late-breaking video footage of house fires and the aftermath of car crashes.

Still, this season there seems to be an extra emphasis on storm chasing.
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While so many in this town live in fear of young people of color, what’s funny to me is that the nearly complete lawlessness and nastiness of so many white, middle-class students isn’t given much consideration.

I have examples:

Recently, hybird gangs in the suburbs were highlighted by local media. These are basically groups of young white dudes who want to take listening to Eminem to the next level and don’t mind if a few people get hurt in the process.

And, getting it on in school is apparently what’s hot in the streets for the according to a Monday report out of Overland Park.

It’s gets worse.
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It was an interesting week in this cozy little cowtown. Not much changed but there were certainly noteworthy events that once again proved that hiding from the rest of the world is a local skill we’re still trying to perfect.

I’m not sure there was a grand theme to events in the news this week but they ran the gamut from slightly embarrassing to somewhat scary.

Let’s have a look:
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Let’s start this with a simple fact.

Kansas City Star reporter Dave Helling is the “Gold Standard” of local journalism. EVERYONE working in local media agrees that he is a thoughtful reporter and a consummate professional.

That doesn’t mean he can’t be wrong.

Back in the day, Helling was on KCTV5 “Truth Busting” local politicos and that’s part of his solid reputation as a reporter who does his best to be objective. But now, thanks to the Internet, more than ever it’s newsies getting busted and without patting myself on the back too much. I think that’s what happened to Helling recently.
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The Mayor’s Schools First failure at The Sprint Center marked one of his biggest public embarrassments so far but it didn’t go down in flames because of a lack of effort.

Mayor Funkhouser employed an interesting tactic in promoting his event that the Star claims only drew 250 people. Of course the Mayor disputes the figures but what he doesn’t mention is the old school Hollywood method he employed to get the crowd.

The Mayor put on an award show and called it a town hall meeting. And people, no matter how much they hate any public official will always consider getting a prize.
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Constant layoffs and a brain drain from local newspapers don’t speak well for the industry’s future.

Pitch Editor C.J. Janovy has called it quits and I can’t say I blame her for wisely jumping ship to a much more secure but far more boring gig as the Director of Communications at the University of Kansas Medical Center.

What does it all mean?

Only dimwit commenters would suggest it’s merely a personal decision that doesn’t have any implications for the local newspaper industry. Obviously, this is a vote of “no confidence” from the Pitch head honcho and says a lot the fate of her dead tree rag and so many others whether she admits it or not.

Let’s start off with a bit of backstory: Did you know that Hearne hired C.J. at the Pitch for her first local big-time writing gig?

It gets even more interesting from there . . .
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Mixing local entertainment and politics isn’t usually very much fun but this morning Johnny Dare’s tirade against Parks Board Member Aggie Stackhaus was a local radio classic.

Calling a local politico a “snatch” is certainly something I can respect. I was lucky enough to just tune in just as he said it. I normally listen to motivational tapes in the morning mixed in with disco & hip-hop but a friend called me and suggested I take a listen. The moment was classic because, from what I could tell, Dare’s staff was laughing along with him up till that point but once the word “snatch” was put into play everybody but Dare was incredibly quiet.

For at least a half an hour the highly rated and widely celebrated Dare tore into Stackhaus with a vengeance that he usually reserves for child molesters.
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I’m really starting to hate Kansas City.

This week featured a great many recycled dumb ideas and repeated futile gestures. During the last Mayoral election perennial candidate Stan Glazer proposed a Ferris Wheel akin to The London Eye on the river front to attract more tourists and revenue for this cowtown. In retrospect I don’t think it would be that bad an idea but not for tourism; just to remind locals that we always try the same failing strategies over and over in this town — And I think that’s the new age definition of insanity.

Still, it’s important to take a look at the week in local failure if only so we can be accurate in our repeated mistakes:
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For the most part the Kansas City sports scene is amazingly pathetic and other than the people who are getting paid to follow it, I always wonder why anybody would waste their time.

Sadly, sports in this cowtown crosses over into to the political world because our teams are mostly run by vampires who must feed off of Jackson County to sustain themselves since JoCo and other suburban fans have their entertainment subsidized by a largely brokeass district. This sorry situation is the result of local politicos who constantly walk around with their hands out and for the most part elected officials who don’t have to make a phone call before casting their vote.

And all of this leads us to hockey in Kansas City Proper or the lack thereof.

For the record, Kansas City is a horrible market for hockey but that’s not the only reason the Canadian past time has never generated much excitement in River City.
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Just like most of their lame coverage of Kansas City’s two-day-old history The Star’s layoffs don’t make much sense either.

While some of my least favorite writers keep on collecting a check, the so-called “paper-of-record” doesn’t make the obvious cuts. No one has benefited from this anomaly more than Star Reader Representative Derek Donovan.

Don’t get me wrong, I hear Donovan is actually a really nice guy. He’s a big time David Bowie fan and even worked with the icon on an Internet project. But there’s no denying that as a Reader’s Rep his professional career is part of a dying breed.
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All of the important people in Kansas City were at the wedding of Will Gregory and Erin Leigh Curtin this weekend.

From what I hear it was the event of the year and a great many Kansas City movers and shakers were in attendance. Except The Star’s Joyce Smith, of course. Will is the best PR dude in the City and Erin is no slouch in her own right. And because these two are somewhat friendly with this blog I decided to skip the celebration, if only because my presence at places usually brings everybody down. Not only because I’m a horrible person but also because I haven’t been able to put a sentence together without cussing for the past five years. Also, I’m not sure if pestering bridesmaids would be “just cause” for a sexual harassment suit but I’m pretty sure I could make it close. Get the picture? I’m a horrible guest. So, I stayed home and a wonderful time was had by all.

Hearne had his own lame excuse for not making it to the blessed event. Continue reading →

I’m here to help despite the fact that the Internet is where good intentions usually end up as syphilitic encounters on craigslist.

So, if d-bag Internet readers are on the blogs today that means they probably forgot about the woman who is responsible for their lowly existence because she was too lazy to give a BJ. Nevertheless, there is still time to mark this occasion with something not-so-special that might leave the door open to an inheritance check or at least some free laundry.

So here are my last minute mommy’s day ideas for sons that aren’t quite as horrible as Oedipus:
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I think we learned a lot this week, or at least we were reminded that the only thing that matters in Kansas City is the safety of white women — Which isn’t a bad thing, just the way of the world in this cowtown. In much the same way that there’s no politico who will ever REALLY do anything about this town’s old and busted infrastructure and all of the potholes on local streets.

Still, there some other topics that dominated the headlines that are worth reviewing or at least lamenting until the next racially divisive struggle is upon us.

Check it:

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There is an aspect of The Star Layoff Story that has yet to be examined. It’s far to simple to cry crocodile tears for the folks who were let go. In fact, I’m a bit more concerned with who made the cut.

One layoff after the next there will be clueless folks and pouting Star employees who will still tout the company’s business acumen. I imagine that they’ll keep doing this until the company is eventually sold off again and all but a skeleton crew remain.

Think about this: Obviously, the days of newsprint published on Dead Trees are rapidly coming to an end. Someday sooner than we all think the Star will be just another Web page and their competitive advantage will completely disappear. Every day the declining circulation and demographic that indicate folks don’t read the paper anymore puts them even further behind the broadcast outlets.

Still, media analysis on a grand scale is far above the pay grade of Star newsies grinding away every day. And these last remaining personalities at the so-called “paper of record” are the folks who really interest me.
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Local media are missing the point in their tizzy over Wednesday’s arrest in the Waldo Rapist Case. All of Kansas City wanted to help put an end to the brutal rapes that occurred in Waldo AND BROOKSIDE but the panic among these white enclaves was nearly just as objectionable. Continue reading →

So, Hearne just broke the story that the crown jewel in the Screenland Empire is soon to switch hands. But where does this leave the Kansas City’s beloved Movie Theater Mogul Butch Rigby? Rather great sources note that the guy and a few of his closes associates will now be doing business out of his house. But there are still the other links in the local Screenland chain to examine that also indicate it is going through tough times.

First, a bit of back story. Rigby wasn’t always the toast of the Kansas City film scene. Continue reading →

I enjoy keeping myself apprised of the fears of white people.

Not so long ago, the thought of interracial dating terrorized a great many folks. In Arizona, so many Mexicans has sparked people to throw out the Bill Of Rights and endorse a police state in order to save residents from Day Laborers. The thought of African-American young people using technology to organize has to be a big part of Plaza panic especially when a few Saturday night fights are thrown into the equation.

In addition to all of this there’s always the long-term threat of demographic shifts that keep real estate agents in business and homeowner nervous.

Let’s start with the fact that, other than Oak Park Mall, indoor shopping centers have always been a tricky business in the metro. And then let’s finally acknowledge that lots of people in this town get scared when a mall “goes Black.” There have been many anonymous Internet blog hints which use scare tactics and claim that Independence Center is on its way to becoming “The New Bannister Mall.” But over the past few years traffic at the mall has held up. Likewise, it’s continually feared that Ward Parkway will go the way of the now nearly abandoned Landing Mall.
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Among so many d-bag Internet commenters there is a long standing myth that Kansas City’s African-American Community deserves an inordinate amount of crime and violence because “they” don’t cooperate with the police.

Today, victims speaking out against Plaza violence disproved that stereotype. Continue reading →

Let’s get off the beaten path for a bit.

When people talk about activities, they often refer to state sponsored/taxpayer subsidized drinking and/or eating. Or maybe posing at The Crossroads, for the really adventurous. It’s a vicious circle that probably ends in diabetes and explains why so many people complain that there’s nothing to do here.

Therefore, because I’m all about public service and mocking people. I’ve compiled a quick list of local activities and what they might reveal about participants. Don’t stereotype with this list, it’s simply a cursory glance at some local entertainment options that might be suited to people who are tired of seeing movies every weekend.
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