When an 8% Boost Feels Like a Punch

In a move that would make an overeager bodybuilder blush, Jackson County’s proposed 2025 budget pumps law enforcement spending up by 8% while mental-health grants remain flat as a Kansas summer day. Meanwhile, commissioners coyly suggest redirecting a mere $3 million toward addiction recovery and affordable housing—an amount that wouldn’t cover half the rehab beds in Lee’s Summit.

“We’re just listening to the people,” one commissioner told me—after the public hearings wrapped up.

Troost Avenue: Band-Aids and Bullet Points

On Troost Avenue, where a 12% uptick in non-fatal shootings has residents checking life insurance policies more often than mailbox mail, the county’s piecemeal approach feels like putting a Band-Aid on a bullet hole. Just last Tuesday, local resident “Alex P.” attempted to mediate a noise complaint outside a vacant storefront and ended up getting stabbed—a vivid reminder that our “community-first solutions” need more than community pottery nights.

Proposed fixes include:

• A $1 million youth mentorship fund (because mentoring is cheaper than morgues)
• Co-working spaces in Marlborough—if you can dodge the stray bullet in the parking lot
• Community mediators riding shotgun with patrol cars (we call it “copsploitation”)

Transit Toll and Public Health Pains

While the budget earmarks extra dollars for sirens and SUVs, Metro riders have suffered a 5% drop in service hours since 2023, leaving shift workers stranded in East KC. Dr. Elena Martinez rightly argues that fare cuts are cute, but what we really need is route expansion and better lighting—especially after months of COVID-19 data arriving later than my sourdough starter. The Health Department’s three delayed reports and a mysterious $450,000 no-bid contract scream for an independent audit (and maybe a magician to make that contract vanish).

Crossroads, Crooked Grants, and Cultural Cuts

In the Crossroads Arts District, Simone Reid warns that relying on one-off city grants is like building a gallery out of pizza boxes—it looks decent until it rains. The arts get $1.2 million from the city, while tourism–driven rent hikes swallow four times that. Our beloved local artists deserve a community land trust, not back-alley studio squatters or overpriced sidewalk chalk festivals.

Jackson County, if you want less violence and more vitality, start by reallocating funds where they actually matter: people, not just patrol cars. Otherwise, the next time someone says “we’ve got your back,” they might just mean “we’ve got your siren.”