Kudos to Kansas City Mayor Mark Funkhouser for his bold budget proposal, which will attempt to balance the city budget all at once. Many citizens are up in arms over the plan, which seeks to carve $70 million out of the annual budget of the city.

The problem is that most services are only reaching a small percentage of the population, but eating up a large portion of the budget.

Funkhouser wants to close the Municipal Correctional Institution, cut $2 million from the zoo, $1 million from Liberty Memorial, and eliminate over 200 middle management positions in city government.

He also wants to consolidate city and county services that serve the same purpose, but require two different payrolls. The overall savings would allow for more police officers to be hired, the transportation budget to be inflated to actual costs (the city currently runs a deficit annually on its snow removal and street maintenance) and extra room for the city to cope with rising insurance and fuel costs.

The proposed cuts are not popular, but they are bold. It also is a staunch reminder of why Funkhouser was elected in the first place: to clean up the city budget. For once a politician is doing what he promised he would do while campaigning.

More Evidence of Climate Change:

The recent weather across America is more proof that global warming exists and is turning up the intensity. On March 14, a tornado went through downtown Atlanta, ripping a hole in the Georgia Dome and damaging hotels and the CNN Center.

That same weekend, it snowed in San Diego, California. Anyone who knows anything about San Diego knows that snow has a better chance of accumulating in Iraq. Mother Nature is not happy and she is letting us know in very unsubtle ways.

The Southeast is experiencing severe droughts, while the Pacific Northwest is flooding. Ninety-nine percent of the world's glaciers are retreating, and sea level is slowly rising.

One would think that an issue as important as this would be bipartisan. And since everyone has a vested interest in this, there should be bickering only about a solution to the problem, not if there actually is a problem.

The issue has split between Republicans and Democrats for years. Now, even the Presidential Nominee of the Republican party, John McCain, has come out and said that we need a solution to this problem. It is refreshing to see that no matter who wins the Presidency, global warming will be an issue that is not swept under the rug as the Bush Administration has done for more than seven years.

Graffiti Artists Deserve A Little Respect:

Of all the subcultures that Kansas City has within its boundaries, none is more overlooked than the graffiti artists. Everyone likes to go to the galleries on a First Friday and look at the new urban/ skate designs on canvas and apparel, but no one thinks about where these artists get their start.

Quite a few artists started out as graffiti writers, scaling fences and walls to get a high profile spot to display their street personas. Only through repetition and lots of "vandalism" did they get themselves visible enough to have a show. Once legitimized, these artists are hailed as cutting-edge and a positive thing for the community.

Before this though, neighborhood watch groups, police, and even City Hall persecute them for being a menace. Kansas City banned legal graffiti walls in 2006. In order to have graffiti on your building, you have to have proof that the artist was paid for the work. Otherwise, it must be cleaned up within thirty days or the owner of the business faces a fine.

This seems like an odd policy since the revival of the art community has helped rejuvenate the downtown development project. Think about it. If there were no First Fridays there would be no Sprint Center.

One would think the overall populace would look a little more careful at a sticker on a pole after spending their Friday night at a gallery that promotes random art, but unfortunately, this is not the case. I encourage everyone to take a second look at that graffiti on your street or on your commute because you might be looking at the developmental process for another rising star in the art community.

Presidential Primaries:

It now appears that the States of Michigan and Florida will have no say in the Democratic Nomination process. These states were stripped of their delegates after moving their primary elections up early. Both states were warned by Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean that if they moved their primaries up, they would have no say in nominating the presidential candidate. Now that this has happened, both state Governors are crying foul play.

Florida Governor Charlie Crist has said that the vote that took place on January 29 should be counted and the appropriate delegates awarded. Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm has made similar remarks about the election held in Michigan on January 15.

There are major problems with both of these proposals. Barack Obama's name was not even on the ballot in Michigan, and 40% of the voters that did show up declared themselves "uncommitted," which means they didn't want either of the two choices on the ballot, Hillary Clinton and Dennis Kucinich. Legitimizing this election would cast serious doubt on the American political process, since the memory of the 2000 Florida recount is still fresh in most voters' minds.

In order to find a solution, Chairman Dean recommended that both states hold a do-over election, and that the delegates from these new elections should be seated at the convention. The problem with this proposal is that no one wants to pay for it. Neither state has the $15 million required to hold another primary. The Democratic National Committee has said they will not pay for it, and the candidates seem less than willing to pay for it, even though they are both raising about a million dollars a day on their websites.

It seems to me that both of these Governors got caught playing a game of chicken and they lost. These Governors knew what the consequences were for signing the bills into law, and they did it anyway. The irony is that both of these states would have been huge factors if they had left their primary dates alone. Good for Chairman Dean for sticking to his guns and preserving the integrity of the primary process.

Tell us what you think. Write Spectrum at editor@mcckc.edu.

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