A new judge for E-Jack?

State Senator Matt Bartle of Lee’s Summit is proposing two new judges at Jackson County’s Independence courthouse, citing a population explosion in eastern Jackson County (EJC, Eastern Jack, E-Jack, etc). One judge would be new and the other would transfer from the county’s KC courthouse. While we’re happy to hear that Senator Bartle has finally turned his attention from prurient matters to more practical ones, we wonder if moving a judge from Downtown to Independence is the best idea.

While EJC is certainly seeing a lot of new construction, the overall population growth is not explosive. Much of the growth in Lee’s Summit and Blue Springs comes from people leaving older parts of EJC like Independence and Raytown. Meanwhile, to the west, Downtown has become hottest market in the region and redevelopment is spreading to many other parts of the urban core. Perhaps if we had competent county government it could undertake a good review of the entire judicial system to determine its needs. Instead, we have individual constituencies fighting over the scraps.