Bottomline.com celebrates the Yael reference in "Funkomania" video

02-18-2011
FUNKHOUSER TURNS TABLES ON STAR; SLAPS ABOUHALKAH     Almost from the day he took office, Kansas City Mayor Mark Funkhouser has been attacked on virtually every decision he has made by the Kansas City Star. 
     And his chief nemesis has been editorial writer Yael T. Abouhalkah.
    Star insiders have told Bottom Line that Abouhalkah feels that he singlehandedly directed his newspaper to endorse Funkhouser in the last election. However, when the Mayor started to make decisions that did not agree with Abouhalkah and his minions, Abouhalkah took it as a personal affront.
   Since that time Abouhalkah's attacks have often been ugly and personal. Other Star staffers---worried about losing their jobs in the ongoing downsizing at the paper--- have joined the fray hoping they can keep their jobs. 
    Columnist Mike Hendricks may have taken it the farthest when he took very mean-spirited and personal shots at the Mayor in a column, calling him "horse-faced" with a "face only a mother could love." He later was forced to apologize.
    With the primary election set for next Tuesday, Funkhouser has turned the tables and produced a video where he pokes "Yael" and some of his opponents such as Sly James and Deb Hermann.
    Like him or not, at least Funkhouser has the integrity to actually to respond to the Star's repeated attacks rather than simply be directed by them as previous Mayors have done. He knows the Star will never be "fair and balanced" when it comes to him.
     Maybe the newspaper should try a little "Funkomania," which the creative video says "is a persistent impulse to tell the truth even in the face of adversity."
     It would be a pleasant change for the Kansas City Star.


See full post here.

Mayor Funkhouser Releases Third "In His Own Words" Video On Public Safety

For Immediate Release:  18 February 2011     Mayor Funkhouser Releases Third "In His Own Words" Video On Public Safety The Mayor is proud to receive the endorsement of the Public Safety Concern committee.  Since the Mayor's goal in his second term is to continue to keep a watchful eye on the city's finances, and, to make Kansas City THE safest city in America, this is a high honor. “We make it safe. Clean so that it feels safe, safe in terms of actual crime and people will flock there” - Mayor Mark Funkhouser Kansas City is not the safest city in America – yet. The city has come a long way in reducing its crime problems. Property crime in Kansas City is down about 30 percent in the last four years. Violent crime is down about 19 percent. “But it's still way too high,” says Kansas City Mayor Mark Funkhouser. “We intend to make our city the safest city in the United States. And that is a doable thing.” Citing successful programs that have reduced crime and homicide in other cities, Mayor Funkhouser says the crime problem here is “a much more fixable problem than we ever knew.” In a new video, Mayor Funkhouser talks about crime and public safety in Kansas City. "Now that we have righted the finances, we see a clear path, with a lot of community involvement, to make this the safest city in America." The short video is the third in a series by Kansas City photographer/filmmaker Stephen Locke. In His Own Words offers Kansas City residents an unprecedented opportunity to hear the Mayor's thoughts on everything from making mistakes to his vision for the future of Kansas City. In the video, the Mayor notes that energy costs for suburban commuters will continue to rise. The key to bringing those middle-class families back to Kansas City is to take away the barriers that drove them out of central city neighborhoods in the first place. “Imagine you could live at 39th and Prospect, and be close to Downtown to work, to the Nelson-Atkins to all these kind of regional amenities,” Mayor Funkhouser says. “And wonderful old houses.” By expanding his plans for more community-based police, neighborhood improvements near schools and community involvement, the Mayor says Kansas City will be well on its way to offering residents those kinds of neighborhoods. “We make it safe. Clean so that it feels safe, safe in terms of actual crime and people will flock there,” Mayor Funkhouser said.           For More Information, Gloria Squitiro, Campaign Manager, 816-820-9751

Mayor Mark Funkhouser Releases The Second In A Series Of "In His Own Words" Videos

For Immediate Release:  17 February 2011              Mayor Mark Funkhouser Releases The Second In A Series Of  "In His Own Words" Videos On Jobs and Finance “You've got to make it clean, you've got to make it safe, you've got to make the infrastructure work” ~ Mayor Mark Funkhouser Some problems simply require good old common sense. Over a period of eight years, the former Kansas City Council pledged hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to secure financing for private developments – bars, restaurants, retail shops, high-dollar condos and the like. The result: Kansas City residents for the next generation will find that some of their tax dollars collected to pay for basic city services will go to pay instead for booze and baubles. That's the scenario that led Mark Funkhouser to run for Mayor in 2007. “Four years ago we were hurtling toward financial disaster,” Mayor Funkhouser says. In a new video, Mayor Funkhouser talks candidly about jobs and Kansas City's finances, and his plan to build on Kansas City's urban vitality by bringing middle-class families back to central city neighborhoods. The short video is the second in a series by Kansas City photographer/filmmaker Stephen Locke. In His Own Words offers Kansas City residents an opportunity to hear the Mayor's thoughts on everything from making mistakes to his vision for the future of Kansas City. Under Mayor Funkhouser's watch and using a common-sense approach advocated by the Mayor, the city has turned its finances around by curtailing the almost obsessive granting of tax breaks to dozens of real estate developers, by cutting costs and by being smart with the money. “We have done a remarkable transformation of the basic financial statements of the city, and we did it in the face of the greatest recession this nation's seen since the Great Depression,” the Mayor says in the video. “Cities (around the U.S.) are in tremendous financial trouble. Kansas City isn't.” The Mayor says the next step for Kansas City will be to continue its focus on revitalizing Kansas City neighborhoods. “If we bring middle-class people back, they bring with them their disposable income,” Mayor Funkhouser says. “They bring with them their community participation, their volunteering at the schools. And jobs are created, grocery stores are created, bowling alleys are created. Churches that are boarded up and abandoned will be reopened with vibrant congregations in them.” The Mayor says the same common-sense approach that turned the city's finances around will work in city neighborhoods. “Governments don't create jobs, markets create jobs. But the market is impacted by the things that government does. You've got to make it clean, you've got to make it safe, you've got to make the infrastructure work. If you do those things, middle-class people come back....and we're all a whole lot better off, and without raising taxes.” For More Information, Gloria Squitiro, Campaign Manager, 816-820-9751

"Funkomania" epidemic sweeps through Kansas City

For Immediate Release:  17 February 2011              Mayor Mark Funkhouser Releases "Funkomania"  A Humorous Get Out The Vote Video “You've just got a good case of the Funkomania.” It's T-minus five days and counting, and the future of Kansas City will be in the hands of voters on Tuesday the 22nd. In a new spoof video, the Campaign to Re-elect Mayor Mark Funkhouser is urging voters to get to the polls and vote yes to keep Funkomania alive in Kansas City. What's Funkomania you ask? It all started with a comment from Mayoral challenger Jim Rowland at a candidate forum. In a short video by photographer/filmmaker Stephen Locke, the Mayor's re-election campaign takes a light-hearted look at Funkomania and the affliction that could well be ailing some of the Mayor's challengers. “Rightly so, political campaigns are focused on the important issues,” Mayor Funkhouser said. “That doesn't mean we can't have some fun along the way.” The Mayor noted that the video has an underlying serious message. Every four years, voters in Kansas City have the opportunity to voice their opinion about how their city's future should be shaped. Four years ago, voters chose an auditor – a candidate with decades of experience in finding ways for city government to be more efficient – to be Mayor. In those four years, Mark Funkhouser led the City Council through a dramatic metamorphosis – turning the city's finances around, reducing government tax giveaways, cutting the cost of government, adding police officers, and assuring that Kansas City is among the most successful cities in the U.S. But what is Funkomania? “A persistent impulse to tell the truth, even in the face of adversity; a chronic case of being smart with the money.” For More Information, Gloria Squitiro, Campaign Manager, 816-820-9751

Funkomania

Mayor Mark Funkhouser Talks Finances "In His Own Words"

For Immediate Release:  17 February 2011              Mayor Mark Funkhouser Releases The Second In A Series Of  "In His Own Words" Videos On Jobs and Finance “You've got to make it clean, you've got to make it safe, you've got to make the infrastructure work” ~ Mayor Mark Funkhouser Some problems simply require good old common sense. Over a period of eight years, the former Kansas City Council pledged hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to secure financing for private developments – bars, restaurants, retail shops, high-dollar condos and the like. The result: Kansas City residents for the next generation will find that some of their tax dollars collected to pay for basic city services will go to pay instead for booze and baubles. That's the scenario that led Mark Funkhouser to run for Mayor in 2007. “Four years ago we were hurtling toward financial disaster,” Mayor Funkhouser says. In a new video, Mayor Funkhouser talks candidly about jobs and Kansas City's finances, and his plan to build on Kansas City's urban vitality by bringing middle-class families back to central city neighborhoods. The short video is the second in a series by Kansas City photographer/filmmaker Stephen Locke. In His Own Words offers Kansas City residents an opportunity to hear the Mayor's thoughts on everything from making mistakes to his vision for the future of Kansas City. Under Mayor Funkhouser's watch and using a common-sense approach advocated by the Mayor, the city has turned its finances around by curtailing the almost obsessive granting of tax breaks to dozens of real estate developers, by cutting costs and by being smart with the money. “We have done a remarkable transformation of the basic financial statements of the city, and we did it in the face of the greatest recession this nation's seen since the Great Depression,” the Mayor says in the video. “Cities (around the U.S.) are in tremendous financial trouble. Kansas City isn't.” The Mayor says the next step for Kansas City will be to continue its focus on revitalizing Kansas City neighborhoods. “If we bring middle-class people back, they bring with them their disposable income,” Mayor Funkhouser says. “They bring with them their community participation, their volunteering at the schools. And jobs are created, grocery stores are created, bowling alleys are created. Churches that are boarded up and abandoned will be reopened with vibrant congregations in them.” The Mayor says the same common-sense approach that turned the city's finances around will work in city neighborhoods. “Governments don't create jobs, markets create jobs. But the market is impacted by the things that government does. You've got to make it clean, you've got to make it safe, you've got to make the infrastructure work. If you do those things, middle-class people come back....and we're all a whole lot better off, and without raising taxes.” For More Information, Gloria Squitiro, Campaign Manager, 816-820-9751

Mayor Funkhouser Addresses the City's Successful Cleanup of the 2011 Blizzard

Baby It's Cold Outside... But Kansas City Survived

Mayor Mark Funkhouser addresses the blizzard of 2011

http://northeastnews.net/pages/?p=1196

By Leslie Collins

Northeast News
Feb. 9, 2011

Kansas City survived.

It didn’t barely escape the blizzard of 2011, but deftly adapted.

“Everybody said this was the storm of historical proportions,” Kansas City Mayor Mark Funkhouser said of the Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 blizzard during a Feb. 2 press conference. “Considering the magnitude of the storm, we came through this remarkably well.”

In two days, city crews plowed 15 million cubic feet of snow, he said.

On Feb. 1, Funkhouser declared a state of emergency for Kansas City but lifted that status during the press conference.

Although at least a dozen Kansas City ambulances succumbed to the slick snow, the city worked together to minimize the problem, he said.

When an ambulance became stuck, the crew would contact Kansas City’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and EOC would immediately dispatch another ambulance, along with a four-wheel drive fire department truck and other vehicles.

Usually the first ambulance was able to maneuver out of the slick spot, but on four or five occasions the second dispatched ambulance was used.

However, all patients were transported to the hospital in a timely manner and patient care was not impacted, Funkhouser stressed.

During the blizzard, approximately 10 to 12 inches of snow fell in Kansas City, but other parts of the state received more than 20 inches of snow.

At times, the snow fell at two to three inches per hour and wind gusts of 35 to 40 miles per hour caused near zero visibility conditions.

For the first time in history, Interstate 70 was shut down statewide, due to the hazardous conditions. Officials also shut down Interstate 44 from the Oklahoma border through Springfield.

This is only the fourth time in Kansas City’s history since 1888, that the city has had three separate calendar days with six or more inches of snowfall during the winter season, according to the National Weather Service.

Mayor thanks city employees, residents

Funkhouser commended both city employees and Kansas City residents for pulling together during the storm.

Neighbors helped neighbors and residents heeded warnings to stay inside, he said.

Timely snow removal resulted from planning ahead, training, money and time, he said.

Although many called the blizzard a “non-event” for Kansas City, Funkhouser defended the city’s employees.

“It’s a non-event because of the work, because of the effort,” Funkhouser said.

Kansas City Fire Chief Richard “Smokey” Dyer added to Funkhouser’s statement.

“When you’re not prepared, that becomes a major event,” Dyer said. “When you activate, coordinate and plan ahead, that’s when it becomes a non-event.”

Interim Kansas City Manager Troy Schulte thanked Kansas City residents for staying off the roads and for parking on one side of the street to aid in better snow removal.

“The residents were partners with us,” Schulte said.

Asked how the storm impacted the city’s budget, Funkhouser said those figures are still being calculated. However, he said, there are “adequate” monies in the city’s contingency and reserves funds to cover the cost.