JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC

James Atlas, a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times, had an excellent article in the Times’ Sunday Review section.

The gist of it is that the ever-widening gap between the haves and the have-nots is reflected in airline travel, just as it is in daily life.

“This stark class division should come as no surprise,” Atlas wrote. “What’s happening in the clouds mirrors what’s happening on the ground. Statusization — to coin a useful term — is ubiquitous, no matter what your altitude.”

Despite the fact that the airlines logged about a billion passenger trips last year, Atlas continued, “We’re all going everywhere and nowhere at the same time.”

Atlas

Atlas quotes from historian Niall Ferguson’s new book, ‘The Great Degeneration,” in which Ferguson noted that the United States once “was famed as a land of opportunity, where a family could leap from ‘rags to riches’ in a generation.”

“Now,” Atlas said, extending the thought, “it can’t even leap from economy to business. You can make some progress in small ways: the gold club members get to board before the silver club members. The passenger who earns a certain number of miles is rewarded with a complimentary drink. But those in the back of the plane can fight all they want over their status. They’re still not getting any more leg room.”

I’m sure Atlas is correct, but in my travels I really haven’t noticed the gap widening as much as he describes. I was on one flight recently — Frontier, to Denver, I think — where the leg room was extremely tight. But on Southwest, which I try to use almost exclusively, it still seems OK. And I don’t see anyone getting preferential treatment once on their planes.

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Also in The Times’ Sunday Review, our friend Robert Finn, bishop of the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese, got a mention from op-ed writer Frank Bruni.

Bruni

Bruni’s main topic was New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who as archbishop of Milwaukee several years ago, got permission from the Vatican to transfer $57 million into a trust for Catholic cemetery maintenance, where it might be better protected “from any legal claim and liability,” in his words. He was trying to shield the funds, of course, from awards in priest sexual-abuse cases.

Bruni wrote:

”…Over the last few decades we’ve watched an organization that claims a special moral authority in the world pursue many of the same legal and public-relations strategies — shuttling around money, looking for loopholes, tarring accusers, massaging the truth — that are employed by organizations devoted to nothing more than the bottom line.

“…In Kansas City, Mo., Rebecca Randles, a lawyer who has represented abuse victims, says that the church floods the courtroom with attorneys who in turn drown her in paperwork. In one case, she recently told me, ‘the motion-to-dismiss pile is higher than my head — I’m 5-foot-4.’

“Also in Kansas City, Bishop Robert Finn still inhabits his post as the head of the diocese despite his conviction last September for failing to report a priest suspected of child sexual abuse to the police. This is how the church is in fact unlike a corporation. It coddles its own at the expense of its image.”

Come on, Bishop Finn, the gig is up: Get outta here!

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A recent Gallup poll had some interesting statistics regarding what Americans consider their main source of news. Fifty-five percent said TV; 21 percent said the Internet; nine percent said print; six percent said radio; and two percent said word of mouth. The survey was conducted June 20 to 24, and 2,048 adults were surveyed.

Poor print…It just keeps on a fadin’. I could cry a river.

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In the barber shop yesterday, I was reading the paper while waiting my turn, and a guy in one chair said something like, “Is it my imagination or has the paper gotten narrower?”

The barber and I said, yes, we thought the width of The Star had been shrunk, once again, relatively recently.

To which, the guy in the chair immediately responded:

“First, they cut the news out of the paper, then they cut the comics out of the paper, and now they’re cutting the paper out of the paper!”

It was hyperbole, of course, but wickedly funny…

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Last, we come to Charlie Wheeler, the former mayor who is getting kicked out of his house west of Loose Park because he is far behind on his mortgage payments to James B. Nutter & Co. A couple of months ago, after the The Star reported on the situation, Jim Nutter Sr. gave Wheeler a one-month reprieve, with an evacuation deadline of July 1. I’ve been going by Wheeler’s house periodically, and yesterday the front window coverings were open and it looked like the house might be fairly clear on the inside. But a car that I believe belongs to Wheeler’s son Graham was in the driveway, so I was pretty sure that Wheeler, his wife Marjorie and Graham were still living there.

Later in the day, I saw Charlie’s and Marjorie’s daughter, Marian, at Cosentino’s Market in Brookside, and I asked her what the story was. She said her parents had received another extension, this time until Aug. 1.

I swear, it won’t surprise me if Charlie doesn’t leave until the sheriff’s deputies show up with an eviction notice and accompanied by heavy lifters hired by Jim Nutter.

Come on, Charlie, think about your good name…Get outta there!

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It’s hard to get enough of California, isn’t it? So, by popular demand (well, I’m sure Smartman wants to see photos from the Reagan Library), here are more photos from our recent trip to LA and vicinity.

(By the way, if some of you could not open yesterday’s post, with the first round of photos, I apologize. I don’t know what was wrong; I just hope this one poses no problems…If you’d like me to send you a link to yesterday’s post, send me an e-mail at jim.fitzpatrick06@gmail.com. Maybe that will work.)

In light of the “new airport” controversy in Kansas City, I want to start off with four photos from LAX. Then, we’ll move on to recreation.

This is how a modern terminal building should look — open, welcoming and featuring plenty of natural light.

This is how a modern-airport food court should look.

This is the kind of airy, natural-looking bar area that a modern airport should have.

This is how an entrance to a major terminal — with one, large security area — should look.

Ceremonies before the Angels-Cardinals game in Anaheim on July 2. Don’t be misled by the number of empty seats. Attendance exceeded 39,000. (The Angels won 5-1.)

Our gracious hosts during our trip, Roger and Suzanne Johnson of Arcadia, and a friend from St. Louis, Mary Buttice. (Arcadia is in north central Los Angeles County.)

The group behind us…Movie stars, I’m sure.

A street in Arcadia.

Independence Day, Arcadia.

At the entrance to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley. (Simi Valley is northwest of Los Angeles.)

Reagan’s 1984 presidential parade limo.

A jet engine on Reagan’s Air Force I plane. The plane takes up an entire section of the library facility.

While recovering in the hospital from John Hinckley’s assassination attempt, Reagan was on a breathing tube for a few days and couldn’t talk. So, he communicated by writing notes. This one says, “What does the future hold. Will I be able to do ranch work, ride etc.”

On a plaza, just behind the library building, a section of the Berlin Wall.

A view of the surroundings from behind the library. As Smartman said in a recent comment regarding the library, “The exterior panaromic views are spectacular.”

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It’s been a while since I brought you one of my world-famous photo blogs.

As most of you know, I’m a dedicated urbanite, and usually I bring you photos from cities, such as Denver or  Berkeley/Oakland.

But last week, Patty suggested we go out into the Flint Hills for some exploring and relaxation. Great idea, said I, and off we went on Saturday to the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, west of Emporia. The preserve is owned by The Nature Conservancy and managed by the National Park Service and The Nature Conservancy. A Park Service staff member described the preserve as “one of the last places in the world where it’s still quiet.”

Amen.

In addition to walking several of the trails in the preserve, we moseyed around the nearby towns of Cottonwood Falls (Pop. 901) and Strong City (Pop. 543).

Long ago, the towns, which are about two miles apart, were connected by a trolley car, which ran straight up Broadway in Cottonwood Falls and ended right in front of the Chase County Courthouse, the oldest operating courthouse in Kansas (early 1870s).

Here’s some of what we saw. I strongly recommend this trip. We spent two days there, although it could be done in one, if you pushed it.

The ranch house on the Preserve, formerly the Z-bar Ranch. The house was built in 1881 for cattleman Stephen F. Jones.

The landscape wasn’t the only beauty in the area.

From the Gateway to the West, Patty looks for signs of life.

Oh, oh. Somebody call the sheriff!

One of many great views.

One-room schoolhouse, which operated from 1884 to 1930.

The desks are not original, but the bench at front left is.

Towns in Chase County, then and now.

Chase County Courthouse

County Commission meeting room

Another interior view

Bird’s eye view, from third floor of courthouse.

Sassy, the tour dog.

The Emma Chase Cafe on “the strip.” Quaint but not very good. How can a small-town diner screw up liver and onions and fried chicken?

House advice at the Emma Chase (although the pie isn’t that good either).

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Dumping the three-terminal, KCI layout got a big boost today from Kansas City Star business editor Keith Chrostowski.

In a Star Business Weekly commentary, Chrostowski laid out, logically and unemotionally, why we need to build a modern airport terminal.

He acknowledged the “40-year love affair” that Kansas City has enjoyed with KCI and noted in the headline that “breaking up is hard to do.”

Chrostowski

That was an excellent way to get the readers’ attention, affirming the warm feelings that many people have for KCI, before weighing in with a set of facts that makes it clear that KCI needs a complete overhaul and new design.

Here are some of the points Chrostowski made:

— As it is, KCI has lost any hope of becoming a hub and essentially is a “fly-over” airport.

— KCI has “16 security stations manned by hundreds of Transportation Security Administration staffers compared with one checkpoint and relatively few TSA staff at most big airports.”

— Once through security, passengers are “trapped” in the barren gate areas.

— Connecting passengers often have to go through security at KCI, even though they already cleared security at their origination point.

— The interior design is antiquated, and the curve of the terminals tends to give travelers the impression that they are in a small airport.

— The loss of flights over the years, coupled with KCI’s “underwhelming impression” has dragged the city’s economy down.

Just as I did yesterday in yesterday’s post, Chrostowski reinforced the point that the money to retire construction bonds would not come from the city’s General Fund but from “a designated revenue stream of fees on airlines and fliers.” Yes, $1.2 billion is a lot of money, but investing it in a new, modern terminal would be far from wasting money, as many people have suggested. It would put us back on the aviation map and would provide the local economy with a tremendous boost.

Finally, Chrostowski noted that most of the money spent on a new airport “would go into the pockets of local contractors and thousands of area construction workers.” Can’t beat that, can you? As the political consultants will tell us when it comes time to approve a bond issue in order to proceed, it would be a major investment in Kansas City’s future.

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Bravo, Chrostowski! You did a great job of methodically ticking off the reasons why we need to “toss over” this decades-old romance with KCI.

And now, let me say it with a little less restraint:

Let’s dump this damn airport as soon as reasonably possible and get on with building an airport that our children can be proud of and that will serve Kansas City’s needs for decades to come!

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