Few local politicians have the balls for something like this…  Mayor Barnes appears as June Cleaver on the cover of camp for this year’s Gay Pride Festival.

13 Comments so far

1. Hajkar on May 28, 2006 5:13 pm

   What is the story behind thid image?

2. ChrisM70 on May 28, 2006 11:58 pm

   I would like to give Mayor Kay a lot of credit for just acknowldedging that gay & lesbian people exist in KC! My guess is most politicians in the area wouldn’t even say the word gay unless it was followed by the words “Marriage ban”, or “abominiation”.

   I know that she is on her way out of office, but it’s a nice gesture to show that she knows that it takes all kinds of people to make a great city. Keep bakin’ Kay!

3. Tim on May 29, 2006 6:08 am

   Try to imagine a mayor of any other comparable size city in the Midwest doing this. Kansas City is nowhere near as backward as some people believe. The only bad thing I can say about Kay Barnes is it’s too bad she can’t run again.

4. mean on May 29, 2006 10:08 am

   Hahahaha. Yeah, right. Like being an inept, corrupt, cronyist moneywaster is made TOTALLY OK because she MIGHT have non-radical views of homosexuality.

   Idiots.

5. ChrisM70 on May 29, 2006 10:50 am

   mean (if that is your REAL name):

   I don’t think anyone said that her acknowlegement that gays exist make everything she has done “totally ok”.

   However, I do notice that since she has become mayor there are ACTUAL PEOPLE living downtown. There are lofts, stores, and arena, a new library and lots of life in our town.

   Now, is it possible that Mayor Barnes has put all of this stuff on a city credit card that one day will come due and put this city in crippling debt? Possibly. But, had you seen any progress in this city before Mayor Kay?

   She’s willing to take risks. That should count for something.

6. BlogKC on May 29, 2006 12:46 pm

   Barnes certainly deserves huge credit for her relentless focus on rebuilding Downtown. Predecessors paid lip service to it, but she actually made the committment and got things done. A healthy downtown is something that is very expensive, but will pay off big time for the city and its suburbs.

   Unfortunately her successor will inherit a billion-dollar sewer bill, chronically underfunded neighborhood services, and increaselly fewer options for paying for all of it.

7. mean on May 30, 2006 7:58 am

   I disagree. Barnes had relatively little to do with it. There is a nationwide cultural shift bringing young people downtown in every city. As with every other trend, KC jumped on board late due to the ineptitude and suburban focus of our leaders and their idiot policies. We are just now where we should have been ten or more years ago. I’m glad to be there, but I don’t see any reason to start praising Barnes. She only did the obvious thing…or what was the obvious thing a decade ago.

8. Craig Morea on May 30, 2006 10:33 am

   Mr. mean is spot on. The downtown revival started before she became Mayor. It’s a cultural and demographic shift that she can’t take credit for. Does the arena contribute to downtown’s revival? So far, I don’t see how it can. But if downtown revives, maybe it can drag the arena along with it — reversing cause and effect from what the arena’s promoters have said.

   And as for the hip pro-gay gesture. Look at the political angle and you’ll see it’s very smart. And, it is no profile in courage.

   It’s still cool. Just don’t point to it as meaning anything other than that Kay Barnes knows (or Glorioso knows) politics.

9. Pendergasted on May 30, 2006 10:47 am

   The trend back to downtown was certainly underway before the Barnes administration, but can you name any other local leader that has so vigorously promoted downtown? No one else took it on as a priority and stuck without all eight years.

   There are several tangible developments that Barnes is responsible for. For example, the arena and the Power & Light District. She is directly responsible for the MODESA legislation that is paying for those two projects. Neither Cordish nor AEG would be in KC without MKB.

10. Tim on June 3, 2006 7:20 am

    Anything worth having is going to cost. But sewers, streets, etc are only going to cost taxpayers less if there are more people in KCMO to share the burden. That means giving people a reason to come to, or at least not flee, the urban core. Kay Barnes is a great mayor with a vision for the future. Not perfect, granted. But she’s made a lot happen, and she’s done what a mayor is supposed to do. My hat is off to her, and I’m baffled that some people don’t want to give her ANY credit.

11. KC Person on June 12, 2006 2:44 pm

    I’d be curious about what everyone thinks are the qualities of a good KC mayor in general. That is, forget about individuals for a moment, and think about what are the signs of a good mayor of Kansas City. Are they measurable? Are they such that we’d know when they weren’t there? I’d like to see what profile we come up with before we measure actual individuals against it.

12. Yea Right on August 8, 2006 3:50 pm

    It takes no “balls” to pander to the LGBT special interests if you don’t have to stand for re-election.

    It’s a publicity ploy, and in VERY bad taste….but what else is new…..

13. Roundup : BlogKC on June 1, 2007 6:52 am

    […] State Senator Jolie Justus on the cover the festival book.  It’s a good follow-up to last year’s cover with former mayor Kay […]