Things Change but Stay the Same

Lost returned to television tonight. From a write-up in the paper, all the cast is full of hope for the coming season. In an interesting dichotomy, many in the sixth district are feeling lost and without hope. A lot of promises were made by city council candidates last spring and there was a feeling that we would finally have representation at city hall. The reality is, things couldn’t be farther from the truth.
An email to Cathy Jolly’s office elicits a message that she doesn’t have access to her email. WHAT? She’s been there nine months and can’t access her email? One of her platforms was accessibility, but we’re not sure she understands what that means. She doesn’t answer emails, she doesn’t attend meetings, or else shows up late and leaves early; whatever it takes so she doesn’t have one on one time with her constituents. City hall insiders say she’s never at city hall. It’s hard to understand how she can represent anyone when she never has contact with them to know what they want.
While everyone is rightly attacking Jolly for her absences, John Sharp’s record isn’t much better. He was seemingly everywhere before he was elected, making promises to just about everyone. Now he seems to be incommunicado. Not only did he not show up for his regular Second Friday meeting this month, but he didn’t even care enough about his constituents to send his aide to represent him.
Not long after he was elected he was collecting email addresses so he could keep south Kansas Citians informed about what was happening at city hall and in the community. If anyone’s received one, I’d like to hear about it. He also said he would reinstitute quarterly meetings. Hhmmmm. He didn’t actually say WHEN he would do that.
Of course, he got a lot of face time on television as he was promoting his Bannister Mall Plan. You know the plan to build a Wizards stadium on the old Bannister Mall site. Under that same plan, the old Wal-Mart area will become office buildings. Apparently, a lot of fill will be needed for that because they’re going to close the unique and historic Benjamin Ranch in order to use the dirt for fill. You never hear Mr. Sharp mentioning that.
Apparently he's not good at multi-tasking because he doesn’t seem to be doing much besides promoting the Wizards deal. He made several promises during his campaign, but now has seemingly turned his back on a lot of people.
Many in the sixth district couldn’t wait for the end of the Chuck and Alvin era. The problem is, it’s still with us.