City of Topeka - State of the City Address

Mayor of Topeka | State of the City Address

The state of the city is just fine. But there is much to do, and the question for us, that must be addressed soon, is what we are going to do about some of the problems and some of the opportunities that are before us.

These are difficult times for many Americans. Some have lost their jobs, many have seen the value of their savings drop precipitously and many are concerned about their future. For these Americans, and those who are worried about their situation, I want to tell you a story.

It was my birthday. The economy was in a big nose dive, the stock market had fallen dramatically and the family savings, I would later learn, were pretty much gone.

The unemployment figures were startling, the housing market was in the tank, retail sales fell well below expectations, businesses were failing and the government was talking about what actions it could take to bail out the banks and to initiate programs to put people to work repairing the country’s infrastructure.

That was exactly the situation on my fourth birthday, April 5, 1934.

My mother and father probably thought things couldn’t get much worse, but they were wrong. It stopped raining, and the winds roared across the plains, year after year, eroding the fertile soil and causing tens of thousands of Americans from Texas to Canada, to leave the Great Plains and seek jobs elsewhere.

The government did what it could under President Roosevelt’s “New Deal”, initiating programs, identified by letters like WPA, CCC, and TVA that provided jobs for those who couldn’t find them in a private sector suffering from 5 years of deep, world wide depression.

My mother and father probably thought things couldn’t get much worse at that point either, but they did.

On December 7, 1941, the Empire of Japan attacked U. S. Military facilities at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. 3,500 American servicemen died that day, the beginning of our involvement in a war that would not end until nearly 4 years later.

I can make a comparison of those early years of my life to what is happening today because I was there and I am here. And I can understand the tragedy that some across this nation have or will endure.

I can recall in the 1930’s, how men would appear at our back door—yes our back door—and offer to work for a sandwich and a piece of pie. Fully 25% of Americans were out of work and couldn’t find a job, and I can only imagine the tragedy of a man so down, so destitute and so embarrassed because he had no money for food, that he had to humble himself in this way.

Those were tough times for a lot of people, and let me illustrate to some of the younger folks here tonight, what life was like even beyond the depression, beyond the drought and beyond the war in the 1930’s and early 1940’s.

Among the highest temperatures on record in Kansas, occurred during the 1930’s--105°, 110°, 113° were not unusual at all.

We had no air conditioning, but we had a fan, we could play in the hose and take a nap in the basement where it was cool.

We didn’t have refrigerators, but we had an ice box, and the ice company delivered a block of ice to our house each day.

We didn’t have TV, but we had a radio, and each day, at 1:30 PM, my mother could hear “Stella Dallas”, at 5:15, the kids could listen to “Jack Armstrong, the All American Boy”, and on Sunday evening, it was the “Jack Benny Show”, with his wife Mary and butler/chauffer Rochester.

In addition to not having amenities beyond a fan, a radio or an ice box, we didn’t have vaccines, so we had to survive childhood diseases, including mumps, measles, chicken pox, diphtheria and polio.

When we went to the dentist to have a cavity filled there was no Novocain—try that to test your grit.

For operations like having your tonsils out, the anesthetic was Ether and it made you sick, well beyond a really sore throat.

If you didn’t pass a grade, you took it over. No social promotion in those days.

If you misbehaved in school, there were some options:

a) a paddling by the principal; or
b) your parents got a call to have a talk with the principal about their son; or
c) you could get expelled.

There wasn’t much misbehaving or truancy in schools with such a policy.

And when you married, you took an oath to “love, honor and obey until death us do part”.

I have taken this time to point out that things change. Today, everyone it seems has a TV, a refrigerator and air conditioning. We have Novocain, they’ll pass you just to get rid of you and it appears the first marriage is a trial run.

We’re presently experiencing bad times, but we will recover to once again grow and prosper.

I use these examples, as I said, to point out that everything changes, nothing stays the same, and we cannot let this economic glitch that we are suffering today, apparently brought on by incredibly bad business practices and unparalleled personal and corporate greed, cancel or delay our efforts to make this city special once again, a clean, well cared for, safe and growing city with all of the amenities necessary for a desirable quality of life.

We have the best of virtually everything here now. It is Kansas, but we have hills and streams, a river running through the city, we are surrounded by lakes and reservoirs, we have four seasons, clean air, a solid economic base of successful businesses, Washburn University, an outstanding regional medical complex, a state of the art library, a grand performing arts center and much, much more.

And - we are the capital city of a great state, Kansas.

So, how is this city doing? It is doing very, very well. Let me point out a few more things.

We finished our last fiscal year in excellent financial health. We met our revenue estimates, held down our spending, kept the mill levy essentially the same as the previous year, and had a year ending General Fund cash balance equal to 9.6% of the General Fund expenditures. Nearly 10 million dollars.

Compare that to the financial condition of our state and other cities whose fiscal policies have them begging for help from a federal government in worse shape than they are.

And let’s give credit where it is due, to City Manager Norton Bonaparte and his staff, and to our often maligned City Council for making this happen.
Crime is down in Topeka, particularly in the area of crimes against people. The areas of crime that cause us to be somewhat higher than we should be are vehicle break-ins, auto theft and drive offs at gas stations, all of which can be reduced if citizens will take some basic precautions.

Let’s give credit here to Police Chief Ron Miller and his officers, whose leadership, with the help of the Safe Streets organization, Neighborhood Watches, the Operation Hot Wheels program and Crime Stoppers will soon allow us to realize Barry Feaker’s dream to make Topeka the safest capital city in America.
Over the past year, planning for the development of the city’s Riverfront, and the resulting expected revival of our downtown, has continued. With the leadership of Chairman Mike Hayden, and the good work of Riverfront Authority members Doug Kinsinger, Ralph Skoog, Bob Sachs, Larry Tenopir, Beth Fager, and Secretary Susan Mahoney, along with those who served before them, a plan has been adopted by the authority.

The next step is implementation of that plan, and I urge all of our citizens to support this important effort.
Since last summer, some 2,000 Topekans have participated in the Heartland Visioning project spearheaded by Bill Moore, President of Westar, and Dr. Jerry Farley, President of Washburn University working in concert with William Beteta. The result is a document that gives voice to thousands of Topekans as to what their vision of Topeka is, and how best to achieve those goals.

It is a grassroots endeavor that envisions a capital city with a revitalized downtown; a fully developed river front; an improved quality of life for our citizens; an educated work force and an attractive and safe capital city. Our elected officials must implement this plan.
Economically, our latest unemployment figures show an unemployment rate of 5.4%. Compare that to other cities in the nation and you’ll have a plethora of reasons why we live in and love this city. If 6% of our citizens are unemployed, then 94% are. If 5% of our city’s mortgages are in default, 95% are not.
And, thanks to the work of Doug Kinsinger and his Greater Topeka Chamber of Commerce staff, we expect to be the site of a 450,000 square foot distribution center for Home Depot that will employ initially 350 new employees, with the expectation that number will rise to 600 in the near future.

Although we are often our harshest critics, this is a fine city, a good place to live, to work, to start or grow a business, a good place to raise a family, and we should be proud of our past and optimistic about our future.

I believe that with all my heart, but as I said, there is still much to do, and the decisions your elected officials will make in the weeks and months to come are absolutely critical in determining this city’s future.

We need, initially, to do three things first.

We must review our charter ordinance, after nearly four years of operating under its provisions, to address some flaws and inconsistencies.
We must place on the April 7th ballot a proposal for a modest increase in our local city sales tax, ½ of one percent, to address the problem of a serious deter-ioration of the city’s infrastructure.
We must elect a council and a mayor who can and will work together to address the needs of our city and seize the opportunities that exist here.

Let me briefly speak to these 3 needs:

Our Charter Ordinance.
The review of the charter ordinance is necessary because it is flawed. It is an ordinance developed under the city’s home rule authority, and is unlike any other in our state, all but two of which are authorized by statute. The only other non-statutory form of government in Kansas is the Unified Government of Wyandotte County in Kansas City, Kansas.

The flaws are many and I will bring to the council, as I am authorized to do in our current charter, amendments that will address those flaws and shortcomings.

I will note just a few of the defects of Charter Ordinance No. 94, although there are many, some large, some small in importance.

The power of the legislation is vested not in the city Council, but in the Governing Body, which is defined in the charter ordinance as the mayor and the council.
The power to override a mayoral veto is not authorized in the present charter as it was in the previous charter ordinance, raising the question of whether or not the council actually has veto authority. That question is now before the court. I have never questioned that authority, nor have I voted on ordinary ordinances or resolutions.

But these two omissions suggest that the oft referred to “Weak Mayor” actually has the power to vote on legislation, veto legislation if he or she doesn’t agree with the majority, and the council cannot override that veto. This charter ordinance didn’t create a weak mayor, it created a potential tyrant who could cast a deciding vote on legislation, veto it if he or she opposed it, and the council couldn’t override that veto.

Additionally, we need to clearly define the duties of the Mayor, Council, City Manager and Deputy Mayor, which is not the case in our present ordinance.

And we need to consider, in my opinion, a change in the election and make up of our city council to include some members being elected at large and some from districts. I believe we should also reduce the number from 9 to 7, and that all should be on the ballot at the same time, which is not now the case. Presently, 5 members are elected, and 2 years later, 4 are on the ballot. I believe this change would increase public interest and participation in the Spring elections, where presently, less than 20% of the voters participate.

SALES TAX
The proposal to increase the city sales tax by one-half of one percent is necessary, if we are to repair our deteriorating infrastructure. Topekans are well aware of the conditions of our streets, curbs, gutters, sidewalks and alleys, many of us have seen water pouring down gutters after water mains break, and red drinking water continues to be a concern in some parts of town.

The question before us is simply this, should we do something, or should we do nothing? If we do nothing, the city will continue to deteriorate physically, and when someone finally addresses the problem the cost will be much higher.

If we are to do something, it costs money. We have only 2 sources of funds adequate to repair our infrastructure, the property tax and the sales tax. 40% of our sales tax revenues are paid by persons who do not own property in our city, but enjoy its amenities.

So a sales tax is the best option to fund the repair of our streets, etc., and it will hopefully be put to a public vote, if approved by a 2/3 majority of the City Council.

It is a critical election for Topeka, for if it fails, another sales tax election could not be held for two years at the earliest.

The last need I spoke of, is to elect a group of people to our City Council , some probably will be incumbents, some will be new, and who can work together for the benefit of the entire city.

If we seek public office to implement some personal agenda, if we use our election only as a stepping stone to some higher office, if we elect persons who have biases that make cooperation difficult, we will continue to flounder in our efforts to move this city forward.

I will tell you honestly, that in my 30 years of service in the state House of Representatives and the Senate, that I recall sessions where significant issues were debated, including the death penalty, abortion, right to work, liquor by the drink and school finance, where there were passionate debates by people who cared deeply about these issues. But never once, do I recall, the conduct of the members of the Senate or the House, to be anything but civil and proper and respectful of the others person’s position.

That is a goal we should require of our elected officials.

In the next 76 days, we will to a great extent, determine what the legacy, as regards our city, of our generation to the next will be.

Will it be that we saw needs, but did nothing? Or will it be that we saw needs and acted. Acted despite an opposition that has another point of view, a point of view that has merit, but in the end, a point of view that only delays what we know must be done, to a time not specific.

Their siren’s call is simply to do nothing and to not increase taxes under any circumstances.

We must reject that.

I was once asked, early in my term as Mayor, what my vision for Topeka was, and the answer I gave was in retrospect, disappointing. Let me give that a try again tonight.

I’d like to see a well cared for city whose streets are newly paved or overlaid, where curbs and gutters that long ago crumbled and disappeared, are newly replaced.

I’d like to see neighborhoods where homeowners and landlords maintain their property and obey our city codes, and if not, it will be brought to their attention by an adequately staffed code compliance department working in concert with neighborhood police officers.

I want our city parks to be well maintained so people can enjoy their beauty, free of weeds, and trash, where the grass is mowed and the trees and bushes are trimmed, the gardens cared for.

I’d like to see a regional zoo, perhaps by the Kansas River where the animals are seen as they might be in the wild.

I’d like to see a revitalized downtown with a theater, a grocery store, nice restaurants, an entertainment area, additional lofts, an expanded farmers market, small stores, all made possible by a city, county and state partnership to beautify the area and encourage development.

I’d like to see a river front development with walking trails along its banks, a weir to establish a pool of water for all kinds of activities, with private firms establishing offices there and with apartments that would overlook the river.

I’d like to see a further reduction of unnecessary public signage which greatly detracts from the natural beauty of our city.
I want an expansion of our inmate work crew program so that each low income neighborhood could benefit from inmates cleaning up vacant lots or working in their park.

I want to see a police department fully staffed so that drug dealers, gangs, prostitutes and thieves will know they are in danger here.

I’d like to see a resolution of the differences between the city administration and our fire department for it has continued too long and is harmful to both this city and to our fire fighters.

I’d like to see the city’s general obligation debt paid off over a period of perhaps 20 years, freeing up funds now appropriated for debt service to be used in other areas.

I’d like to see our city regain its swagger and have pride in who we are and what we are doing here.

That’s not a complete list, but it’s a start.

If these things are to happen I want to be a part of it and so tonight with my wife’s blessing and hopefully with your support, I am announcing my candidacy for another term as your Mayor.

In conclusion, let me say how proud I am to have been your Mayor for the past 4 years. Mayor James McClinton said it was the best job he ever had, and it’s the most fun job I’ve ever had as well.

We can repair our infrastructure, clean up our neighborhoods, revitalize our downtown, develop the river front and make Topeka a garden spot of the Midwest.

But our greatest asset is our people who every day, in neighborhoods across the city, work to help their neighbors. They contribute, even in these bad times, record contributions to United Way, they freely donate blood for those who need it, they organize neighborhood watches to protect their property and their neighbors, they participate by the hundreds in our Spring clean-ups, and provide Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners for those less fortunate than we, and Dr. Mark Saylor, on his own, started a volunteer group to trim the trees and bushes in our city parks, working cooperatively with the City Forester.

So how is the state of the city? In the words I often heard from my dear friend, Governor Mike Hayden, it’s Real Good.