About 10 days ago I added 4 platies to the tank. The next day one died, but everyone else seemed fine.

Yesterday one of my older fish died, but everyone else seemed fine.

Then, last night, every single fish in my tank died! This includes the 3 remaining new fish plus the 2 remaining old fish.

There were no signs of anything wrong with any of them yesterday, and today they are all dead. The temperature is right, aeration and filtration are good.

All of the dead fish were covered in white fuzz this morning, but I don't know if that has anything to do with it or if that's just natural decomposition. There was nothing on any of the fish yesterday.

Anyone have any ideas what could kill so many fish so quickly without any symptoms beforehand?

After the paragraph in the ordinance authorizing the rate increase, there is another paragraph that makes a vague reference to extending enforcement. It goes into no detail, and this paragraph has been ignored by the media and not openly discussed by the city.

Continued...

Currently, all on-street parking in the downtown loop is free on weekends and starting at 6pm weekday evenings. This has been a great tool for drawing visitors downtown to support local businesses. Many places have extended their hours and started opening up on Saturdays.

I now have it on good word that, sometime in May, City Hall is going to extend meter enforcement to 10pm and eliminate free weekends.

To some this might seem like a good idea for raising revenue. But that's looking at the small picture. Let's look at a few scenarios.

• Customer looks for bar or restaurant to go to and decides to patronize a local spot inside the loop. They park on the street and find the have to pay. Then, every hour, they have to stop what they're doing, go back to find their car, and drop in 4 more quarters. How many people are going to find that to be a draw? Small local business loses!

• Customer doesn't care where they are going but when they find they have to feed the meters every hour decide to park in a garage instead. And who has the cheapest garage? Cordish! But there's a catch... you have to get your parking validated.... by spending money in the Power & Light District. And if you have to spend money there anyway, most people may decide to just stay. Small local business loses!

• Customer realizes they can still park for free in the Crossroads and not have to worry about feeding a meter every hour. But if they do that, they may realize they might as well just go to a similar business in the Crossroads. Small local business downtown loses!
  

These small businesses have put a lot at stake in order to invest in a high risk area. Why would the city want to make things harder for them? Many of these places are already reeling from the effects of the first smoking ban and preparing for the devastating blow of the new smoking ban, could making it inconvenient for their customers to arrive be the knockout blow for many of these places? We're talking about hair salons that have Saturday hours, coffee shops, restaurants, and local bars. If these places go, there also goes the sales and property taxes those spots generated. (Meanwhile Cordish, exempt from property tax, and boasting the cheapest garage downtown, gets richer.)

Another thing to consider is downtown residents. Many of them rely on the free evening and weekend parking in order to make it easier for friends and family to visit. This will become a new factor that people will have to consider when deciding whether to move downtown.

Some people I have discussed this with are of the opinion that it's not a big deal. And I can classify those people into 3 groups. Group 1 is the anti-car zealots. Group 2 is people who enjoy hanging out at the Power & Light District and/or tend to hop from place to place rather than spend a long time at one place so don't understand the annoyance of constantly feeding the meters. And the third group is the people who say "but they can still park in the Crossroads for free"... all of whom so far have been people with strong ties to the Crossroads.

To this third group I offer a counterpropsal to City Hall's plan. Rather than eliminate free evening/weekend parking, let's install meters all throughout thee Crossroads. That's literally thousands of dollars of potential revenue every day not being collected.

NOW, FOR MY CONSPIRACY THEORY:

Why has this portion of the new parking fee code been kept under wraps? Because, I believe, the city plans to time the launch of the new enforcement hours with a major event at the Sprint Center, so they can issue hundreds of parking tickets to unsuspecting guests.

Which would be yet another brilliant PR move by this city.

Come on, City Hall. Scrap this ridiculous plan and find a better way.

At the very least, if you won't bee reasonable, give us 4-hour meters instead of the current 1-hour meters. That way people can at least enjoy their time out on the town without constant interruption.

This post is a final reminder of the free wilderness hike I am leading this Saturday at Monkey Mountain Nature Preserve in Grain Valley. It begins at 10am and should last about 2 to 2-1/2 hours. It will cover a distance of about 5 miles.

(If you're not familiar with the area, Grain Valley is KC's easternmost suburb... just east of Blue Springs on I-70.)

The hike is free and while moderately challenging, isn't too difficult. This is a beautiful natural area and the weather on Saturday is expected to be nearly perfect. This week's rain does mean there will be some muddy spots, but it also means the intermittent waterfall in the park should be flowing nicely.

I'm expecting a small turnout on this hike as many people seem to be afraid of nature, so if you're interested please sign up!

All of the details and the sign-up form are found here: http://www.kctourwalk.com/walk4.html

Wondering where the park got its name? So does everyone! This area has gone by that name for over a hundred years and no one knows why. A few years ago the Examiner looked at the question:

Local historians in Grain Valley and Oak Grove chuckle when reciting the legend of a circus train wreck about 100 years ago that resulted in a band of monkeys taking refuge in the trees on the hill.

"That¹s the prevailing story I got from the older people I talked to years ago," said Ken Reeder of Grain Valley. "The prevailing story was the circus train, but after talking about it, people used to grin and say, 'That¹s where the kids used to go to monkey around.'"

...

Archivists are stumped. They can¹t produce any documentation of a train wreck, and they say if there was a train wreck in Grain Valley, it would have made the newspapers.

Full Article

If you want to see it look quickly, one of my co-workers just called over there to let them know.

UPDATE: They're fixing it now.

To commemorate this event I have prepared the following list of long-time small family owned businesses that I believe will be the first to fail or at least scale back operation because a bunch of goody-two-shoes felt that it was their business to stick their noses in other people's business. And as these businesses suffer, there goes KC's desperately-needed tax dollars!

The Cigar Box - Since the new ban stupidly includes cigar bars (yet specifically exempts billion-dollar casinos!!!) I don't see this venerable institution lasting. Hello.... did you really think you'd not smell smoke walking into a place called "The Cigar Box"? Ludicrous!

Shooters This little dive on North Oak is one of the smokiest bars in KC. Since its customers can find alternatives in cities that recognize private property rights less than 5 minutes away in any direction, I fear for its longevity.

In Waldo... once the smokers leave for Raytown, Grandview, North Kansas City, or KCK I fear the market will be oversaturated. I expect 2 bars to go under. Flo's Poke-a-Dot, Tommy Farha's, and Fin's Waldo Bar are high on my list of concern.

Doc Holliday's on 40 Hwy. Now playing under the same rules as Independence, I don't think there's room for both it and The Tool Shed as customers flock to Raytown and Blue Springs.

Broadway/Midtown Corridor We'll see 1 or 2 places closed up in midtown, with KCK so close by. The News Room, Chez Charlie's, or Davey's Uptown may be in danger.

Harry's Bar & Tables This is my long-shot candidate. I've already seen business drop with the current 9pm rule for smoking in places that serve food. I fear that maintaining 2 restaurant/bars with a diminished customer base may become too much of a strain. With Harry's Country Club being better suited for outdoor smoking, the Westport companion might not survive.

I really hope I'm wrong as I enjoy all of these places and want them to do well. But if I'm right, the voters of KC have no one to blame but themselves when their favorite bar closes or the next budget crunch hits.

Let's begin by making one thing clear: I am a non-smoker.

On April 8, Kansas Citians will be voting on whether to repeat the existing smoking ban that went into effect 10 days ago and replace it with a new ban that will only allow smoking in places backed by deep pockets. This is a bad measure and needs to be defeated. There are simply way too many things wrong with Proposition 3.

Proponents of Proposition 3 claim that if you vote for their ordinance, smoking will finally be banned in Kansas City restaurants. The thing is, smoking is already banned in Kansas City restaurants. In all Kansas City restaurants. The only exception is that restaurants may allow smoking after 9pm if and only if two conditions are met: that the restaurant has a bar within it, and that it becomes a 21-and-up establishment after 9pm.

This leaves the choice up to the restaurants that meet these requirements. They can decide for themselves which is more economically viable: to allow smoking after 9pm or to remain family-friendly after 9pm. This is a fair compromise. It lets the market decide, just as it should be in a free and open society.

Proponents of Proposition 3 use the phrase "bars and restaurants" as if they are the same thing. They are not. These are two distinct classes of businesses and smoking bans have very different effects on them. Restaurants make the majority of their money from food sales and are usually family-friendly places. As a result, restaurants are, on average, not impacted financially either way by smoking bans.

True bars, on the other hand, make very little money on food sales and are not family friendly. These are places where the food menu might consist of a bowl of mixed nuts on the bar and assorted bags of chips behind the counter. These are not places people go to to live a healthy lifestyle and are not places that anyone under the age of 21 should be. They are places for adults to kick back and relax with other adults. On average, bars lose 4 to 11 percent of their revenue under a smoking ban. This statistic is not from thin air, this statistic was cited by The Kansas City Star on Sunday, May 30. The Star has come out in support of Proposition 3 yet was unable to deny this fact.

Prop 3 supporters claim that nonsmokers will indeed replace smokers in greater numbers at all of these bars. But after a year this has not happened in Independence. It is also not happening in Lee's Summit. The only businesses seeing level or increased sales are "bars" that are actually restaurants and usually national or regional chains, and bars with deep enough pockets (and enough land) to construct semi-enclosed heated outdoor patios. For everyone else the sales have plummeted and not improved. The fact is... people who are nuts about nonsmoking generally do not go to small family-owned bars that don't server food and will not even if their ban passes.

That 4 to 11 percent drop in revenue at true bars translates into a 4 to 11 percent drop in sales tax revenue for Kansas City. We are currently in a financial crisis. The police budget has been cut (meaning fewer officers to enforce any ban, not to mention fight real crime), the street repair budget has been slashed, parking fees are going up, and jobs are being slashed. This is NOT the time to be enacting ANY measure that will reduce sales tax revenue, even if it's just a little!

Supporters say that if this ban passes, so much of the metro area will be under smoking bans that smokers will have no choice but to keep patronizing their favorite bars. But this is not true. Even if proposition 3 passes, nearly half of the metro area will still allow smoking in bars. No one would have to drive more than about 10 minutes to reach a nonsmoking bar. KCK, Riverside, North Kansas City, Blue Springs, Raytown, Grandview, Belton, Gladstone, and Claycomo, among others, allow smoking in bars and don't have a ban on the table. These places will clean up in sales tax revenue at KC's expense. In fact, even half of the population of Johnson County that lives under a smoking ban lives in one of the cities who made an exemption for private clubs. In those cities many bars have become private clubs to allow smoking and are doing better than ever.

I keep hearing the "but but but it works in [California/Florida]" claim. Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. But those regions have a warm or mild climate most of the year. We do not. We have about 6 to 8 months tops out of the year that the weather is good enough for drinking on an outdoor patio. And even if one state (Missouri or Kansas) passed a statewide ban, the other state would have to pass one as well. No other city in America is as equally divided by a state line as we are.

Prop 3 supporters talk constantly about how smoking should be banned in public places. That's all fine and dandy. But bars are not public places. They are private property, whose owners have the right to tell anyone to leave for any reason. Therefore, as long as their invited guests are on their private property, the owner should have the right to determine what legal products those guests may use on his or her property.

I hear claims from Prop 3 supporters that the government is well within is rights to regulate safety issues in private businesses, and they cite things such as asbestos, kitchen cleanliness, proper electrical wiring, etc. But even in spite the fact that it has been shown that second hand smoke in a typical smoking bar is no more dangerous than the exhaust fumes of sitting in bumper to bumper traffic, this claim does not hold water. All of the workplace safety issues cited as examples are hidden dangers. The fact that a particular bar allows smoking is not a hidden danger -- it is blatantly obvious. This allows both the patrons and the employees to make their own informed decisions as to whether they want to be there or not. They won't know if there's asbestos or bad wiring so they need protection from that. Smoking is obvious. You can choose to either be around it or not without government intervention at all.

Finally, if smoking bans are not bad for business and small businesses will supposedly thrive, and if it's for the safety of patrons and employees, then why is it that if passed then Proposition 3 will allow smoking only at casinos, at the sports complex, and at Cordish's gigantic Living Room covered outdoor bar in the Power & Light District? Don't patrons and employees of these places deserve the same protection? Or is it because Kansas City has a lot at stake in these places and is willing to let small businesses take the hit but not these billionaire-backed operations?

Proposition 3 doesn't even make an exception for cigar bars and tobacco shops -- places where products are often sampled before purchase. That makes no sense at all.

Proposition 3 is clearly a losing proposition. We must VOTE NO and let Kansas City's existing compromise smoking ban have a chance to work.

---------

On a side note, I was at Harry's Country Club earlier this week on a night that's normally reasonably busy (even in winter), but was too cold for the patio to be open. Business was so slow that they sent servers home early and closed the kitchen early. But as soon as 9:00 hit and the ashtrays came out, business picked up substantially. Coincidence?

It's that time of year again, time for me to announce the schedule of my Spring group walks. These walks are FREE, all you need to do is register. So if you want to get out to get some exercise, meeet new people, and see our area up close, sign up!

Saturday, April 26: Monkey Mountain Nature Hike

A 5 to 6 mile walk at Monkey Mountain Nature Preserve. Operated by Jackson County Parks & Recreation, Monkey Mountain is located between Grain Valley and Oak Grove on the east side of the metro area. This moderately challenging hike features an impressive variety of scenery and wildlife. Parts of the hike are in open meadows or on well defined trails, while others parts cut through rocky outcrops or go off-trail. There are some steep elevation changes, but the scenery and wildlife make it well worth it!
Details and Registration: http://www.kctourwalk.com/walk4.html


Sunday, May 18: Mid-Metro Walking Half-Marathon

At just over 13 miles, this pleasant but challenging walk will traverse several beautiful and interesting neighborhoods in two states and three counties. Those scared by the mileage should note that this walk is a little bit shorter than KC TourWalk 1. :) We will begin at Macken Park in North Kansas City, MO and walk to Porter Park in Prairie Village, KS. A picnic lunch will be provided and return transportation can be arranged for those who need it. The walk will begin at 9:00am at Macken Park in North Kansas City, MO, then proceed south to Porter Park in Prairie Village, KS. Our progress will be broadcast live on the web, info about this will be posted about a week before the date of the walk.
Details and Registration: http://www.kctourwalk.com/walk5.html

For complete details on both walks and also for future information on the Summer schedule, please go to my group walking web site at www.kctourwalk.com.

Hope to see you there!

My friend Ken has an assload of DVDs. Literally hundreds. And for years they have been mostly unusable, stored in boxes and giant plastic tubs because there was just no place else to put them.

For as many years he has dreamed of having an entire wall converted into a built-in display case to house all these DVDs. But, each time he'd get close to this dream, something (usually moving) would scuttle the project.

So this past weekend he decided to go for it. Since I've done some minor construction before he called upon my "expertise", and I headed over on Saturday morning to get started.

After staring at the wall for a bit and brainstorming he sketched up a simple line drawing of what he wanted. Based upon the design he presented, I took measurements of the actual space and then began my calculations. After a little while I had a revised drawing indicating how many shelves could actually fit into the space.

With the drawing in hand, I then calculated out how many cuts of wood I'd need and at what dimensions, how many L-brackets, how many screws, etc.

The final shopping list:

• 34 pieces of lumber, cut into 11 different lengths
  
• 124 L-braces
  
• 31 long wood screws
  
• 249 short wood screws
  
• 12 long nails
  
• 11 finishing nails
  
• paint
  

We headed off to Home Depot with the shopping list, a trip that would take nearly 3 hours. After finding the appropriate lumber we discovered it was a quarter inch thicker than I had estimated, so I had to redo all my calculations. Next was the Tetris-like task of figuring out the smallest combination of various sizes of boards to buy that could be cut into all the lengths we needed. Then it came time to find some poor schlub to do the cutting.

The first chump we found told us it would take a day to do and we'd have to leave the wood behind and come pick it up the next day. We believed him. But after getting passed from desk to desk trying to find someone to write up a cutting order, Customer Service found us a some young kid to talk to back in lumber. He looked at our order, said "no problem," and had it all cut for us in about 20 minutes.

We got back to Ken's house and I prepared to anchor the first support board to the wall. Ken handed me his drill.

"Ok, where's the drill bits?" I asked.

He handed me a phillip's screwdriver bit.

"No, the other kind," I said.

He then flipped it over to reveal a flat-blade screwdriver.

"No, I need actual drill bits," I said.

"Oh, I don't have any of those," he replied.

So, back to Home Depot we went. :)

Once we returned, I decided that before getting into the construction I'd first fix the faulty wiring in his kitchen light switch that had been driving me crazy. Then, with that repair made, I got to work and found the going to be quite a bit easier than I expected.

I began by mounting boards to his walls to anchor the shelves to. I then anchored the main central support across the top of his fireplace, erected the four primary vertical supports, and then added the first row of shelves to stabilize it:

Once that was in place, I was able to continue adding shelves. But I quickly discovered that the kid at Home Depot wasn't quite as precise with his cuts as I'd hoped, as the board lengths deviated by as much as 3/4" from the intended lengths. Fortunately I had brought my power saw so we were able to make minor corrections as needed.

By 10:30pm I was exhausted, so I organized the remaining lumber by intended purpose, gave Ken detailed instructions about how to proceed, and let him have at it so I could go home.

Around 3am he emailed me that it was finished, and on Sunday, he painted.

Last night I went over to play video games and I was astonished when I saw the finished piece. It looked better than I had anticipated, and except for a minor glitch of miscounting and being 2 boards short (which Ken fixed Sunday with a third trip to Home Depot), I was impressed by how well my ScooterMath™ had prevailed once again. :)

Here's the finished result, with most of the lighting installed and about half of his DVD collection in place:

UPDATE: Here's it is with all the lighting installed and all the DVDs put in place...

Not too bad if I do say so myself!

This past weekend I volunteered with the Kansas City Host Committee and answered questions for dozens of out-of-state visitors at the Crown Center hotels.

I love Kansas City but I was blown away by how good of a time the people who stopped by the booth were having. They all really seemed to love our city. I even had some Oklahoma people tell me they like it better when the games are in KC than in Oklahoma City.

The bar I was asked about most frequently was Paddy O'Quigley's (??), and the restaurant I was asked most about was Jack Stack. I also gave directions multiple times to Lidia's and City Tavern, Pierpont's, both d'Bronx locations, Mama's, The Cashew, Grinders, The Majestic, Mango Room, Manny's, Margarita's, Taqueria Mexico, Plaza III, Arthur Bryant's, and Oklahoma Joe's.

Several people asked me where the closest movie theaters were and one family laughed when I showed them how to get to th Cinemark on the Plaza as they had just returned from the Plaza. (They were all to happy to go back though!) I'll be nice next time being able to direct them to the AMC downtown.

I also had a few people who were interested in specific shops that were only at The Legends. But as soon as they showed them how to get there the reaction was the same for all: "Oh, that's way too far. Never mind, How do I get to The Plaza instead?"

The hardest question I received was where someone could go to rent video games. I gave the person the address of the Westport Blockbuster but told them to also check the hotel concierge in case the hotel had any available.

People kept telling me repeatedly how good of a time they were having and how much they loved Kansas City. I only fielded two complaints:

1. Several people complained about the fact that for some reason you can't get channel 38 in KC's hotels ... the channel the games were on.

2. That our public transportation sucks. People who took cabs had no complaints, but those who relied on the KCATA had difficulties. There were complaints of slow to nonexistent service (shuttles that were supposed to run every 15 minutes were nowhere to be found), buses switching their sign to 'out of service' and driving off while people stood stranded, difficulty finding the southbound MAX stops, the poor placement of the MAX stops, etc. The cry was loud and clear for a fixed, reliable, easy-to-identify form of public transportation. There was a definite cry for light rail.
   

I had a lot of fun answering people's questions and hope it helped make a lot of visits better. I can't wait until 2010 when I can do it again!

By the way I received 0 complaints about parking even though some of the visitors chose to drive their own cars to the games. Returning guests told me their parking was free or cheap and that they found spaces right away. I myself spotted 3 free spaces less than 1 block from Sprint Center shortly after the K State game started Friday night, and my friends who came to meet me later all managed to park within a block of the arena as well. Sorry, TKC, you were wrong again! (I notice he's been awfully silent on that subject after pressing it so hard last week. ;) )

For the past few months I have watched from my office window as the American Flag atop the Jackson County Courthouse has rapidly deteriorated with no action being taken to fix the situation.

To the left is how this flag looks today... a tattered tightly-wrapped strip of cloth barely hanging on by a single eyelet. It has been this way for at least the past several days.

What kinds of message does that send when a government building cannot propery display the Flag and treat it with respect? What kind of image does that send to the tens of thousands of visitors who will be able to see that flag as they descend upon downtown Kansas City this week?

UPDATE (March 12): The flag has just been fixed!

When the city of Independence banned smoking in its bars, many wondered "What will they ban next?"

I found the answer this weekend taped to the door of a popular Independence pub/eatery...

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out -
because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for my balloons - and there was no one left to speak for me.