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Independence, MO —
Who in the world would spread vicious and false rumors about the Independence City Council ordering that dogs and cats at the animal shelter be killed?
We’ll probably never know, but do know that was enough to get a lot of gullible people to send hundreds of emails to City Hall and presumably waste a lot of city staff time. Even the mayor had to address the issue – denying a patently absurd charge – at Monday’s council meeting.
Let’s look at it another way. Who would gain by such rumors gaining any traction? For starters, anyone generally wanting City Hall to look bad.
This is what we warned about in this space just before the April referendum on the police tax, which voters overwhelmingly defeated. We were worried that the particularly nasty tone of the debate leading up to that election would carry on.
There are unsettling hints that the campaign to smear City Hall – regardless of the facts and regardless of the cost to the community – continues. During the debate over what will become of the moribund Rockwood Golf Club, a flier went around somehow tying that issue to – you guessed it – the troubled development anchored by Bass Pro Shops. Now it’s the specter of dead puppies. These ideas play on the emotions and apparently get people fired up, but they are irresponsible and destructive. (As it happens, a new and larger animal shelter is coming in Independence. Jackson County is paying to build it, and the city will run it. The city’s current shelter meets the criteria to be called a no-kill shelter, and the new one should improve those statistics even more.)
The development anchored by Bass Pro is a bona fide mess and a legitimate black eye for City Hall. The developer’s failure to bring in more business and therefore his failure to make bond payments has stuck Independence with a bill of more than $10 million – so far. Is that affecting other things the city pays for or would like to be able to afford? Of course.
That does not, however, mean that every nickel the city spends is tied to some shady conspiracy in which all roads lead to 18001 Bass Pro Drive. It’s a good political club with which to hit City Hall – and we’ll see a lot of that between now and the next city elections in 2014 – but it doesn’t mean every one of those arguments has merit.
Debate Bass Pro on its own merits. Debate Rockwood on its own merits. Give the city and county a little credit for finally getting a new animal shelter built, something that will make this a better community. Debate rising utility rates on their own merits. Some of these things spill over into others. Most don’t. Don’t look for Bass Pro under every bush.
Who in the world would spread vicious and false rumors about the Independence City Council ordering that dogs and cats at the animal shelter be killed?
We’ll probably never know, but do know that was enough to get a lot of gullible people to send hundreds of emails to City Hall and presumably waste a lot of city staff time. Even the mayor had to address the issue – denying a patently absurd charge – at Monday’s council meeting.
Let’s look at it another way. Who would gain by such rumors gaining any traction? For starters, anyone generally wanting City Hall to look bad.
This is what we warned about in this space just before the April referendum on the police tax, which voters overwhelmingly defeated. We were worried that the particularly nasty tone of the debate leading up to that election would carry on.
There are unsettling hints that the campaign to smear City Hall – regardless of the facts and regardless of the cost to the community – continues. During the debate over what will become of the moribund Rockwood Golf Club, a flier went around somehow tying that issue to – you guessed it – the troubled development anchored by Bass Pro Shops. Now it’s the specter of dead puppies. These ideas play on the emotions and apparently get people fired up, but they are irresponsible and destructive. (As it happens, a new and larger animal shelter is coming in Independence. Jackson County is paying to build it, and the city will run it. The city’s current shelter meets the criteria to be called a no-kill shelter, and the new one should improve those statistics even more.)
The development anchored by Bass Pro is a bona fide mess and a legitimate black eye for City Hall. The developer’s failure to bring in more business and therefore his failure to make bond payments has stuck Independence with a bill of more than $10 million – so far. Is that affecting other things the city pays for or would like to be able to afford? Of course.
That does not, however, mean that every nickel the city spends is tied to some shady conspiracy in which all roads lead to 18001 Bass Pro Drive. It’s a good political club with which to hit City Hall – and we’ll see a lot of that between now and the next city elections in 2014 – but it doesn’t mean every one of those arguments has merit.
Debate Bass Pro on its own merits. Debate Rockwood on its own merits. Give the city and county a little credit for finally getting a new animal shelter built, something that will make this a better community. Debate rising utility rates on their own merits. Some of these things spill over into others. Most don’t. Don’t look for Bass Pro under every bush.
