Infrastructure

Funk’s View

$13,000,000,000.  That’s $13 billion, folks.  That’s how much work we have to do on Kansas City’s infrastructure.  That is about $27,000 for every man, woman and child in Kansas City.  Building repair, streets, curbs and gutters, sewers, sidewalks, water lines.

Nothing tears down a community’s quality of life, and the citizen’s impression of the city’s ability to deliver basic services, like breaking an axle in a huge pothole in the street or having a sewer back-up in your basement.

Funk on the Job

The city “balanced” its budget for too many years by shuffling aside and ignoring the basic infrastructure.

No more.

Since my election, we have brought infrastructure issues squarely before the public. We have developed responsible plans to address them.  We now have a plan to address our combined sewer overflow problem, an issue that wreaks havoc on our residents’ basements, our creeks, and our streets during every heavy storm.

Under my leadership, the City Council this year allocated more than $67 million to rebuild city streets, make neighborhood sidewalk and curb improvements, make infrastructure repairs at the Kansas Zoo, ADA compliant traffic signals, and complete other neglected infrastructure projects.

We’ve returned our attention to our neighborhoods, and to the citizens who so depend on us for vital services.

Funk’s Action Plan

I’m not done yet.

My School’s First initiative calls for the city to focus infrastructure repairs on the neighborhoods that surround the city’s schools.  In essence, I want to make islands of safety around each and every school so that Kansas City is a city where kids can walk to school.  And a city that honors our elderly by making sidewalks safe to walk on. 

We will study alternative management plans for some city services, such as waste treatment, that could provide a faster and more economical fix for long-term problems.

I’m not shy about saying that I kept my promise made during the last campaign to get rid of most of those blasted metal plates covering up big holes in city streets. During the next four years, we will focus on the streets and sidewalks in city neighborhoods the same way we focused on those horrible roadway plates.

In addition to looking at alternative management plans for some city services, we will focus on our partners in the neighborhoods, our partners in the schools, our partners in county government to seek out grants and other new funding sources to get more work done more quickly with the money we have so that we continue to be Smart With The Money.