Kansas City Illustrated; 820

For the very best of us supported public television local support for this program has been provided in part by it. Welcome to Kansas City Illustrated I'm John Masterman. Well Tuesday's election day the contest drawing the most attention is the one for mayor of Kansas City Missouri. The race to pick a successor to three term mayor Richard Berkley will lead off our program tonight with a long report by Deborah Holmes on the mayor's race. You'll see and hear the candidates and learn something

about the issues. Also tonight our amusements editor Randy Mason will look forward to the Robert Altman film festival here next weekend. Altman is the well-known film director who got his start here in his hometown at the Calvin company once the world's leader in 16 millimeter movie making. As we went along. We'll be back to politics in our Week in Review segment one of the participants will be a medical doctor who pulled out of the race in Kansas City. Jack Hardy information you first tonight a look at the mayor's race with reporter Deborah Holmes. John all eight candidates say they have a vision for the city and the leadership abilities to bring that vision to fruition. All say their ideas are prudent and cost effective but are they realistic. Let's take crime for example. Everybody's talking tough on crime and the need for more police. But where will the money come from to pay for more police. And will more police reduce crime. And what can the mayor really do about crime. Well my favorite answer to that question came at one of the candidate forums from Councilman Emanuel Cleaver who said

I don't know how to stop crime and the person who does know how to stop crime should not be running for mayor. That person should be running for God. Well on a more serious vein Klaver went on to say that his call for 100 or more police officers and two more police helicopters would not stop crime but would at least reduce police response time and increase the public sense that there is help out there. He envisions paying for that through getting rid of the city sticker getting rid of it or reducing the emergency portion of the utility tax and a slight increase in the earnings tax. We begin our look at the candidates with Councilman cleaver. He was the first to file. The other candidates will follow in the order in which they filed. Emanuel Cleaver has been counseling with the Fifth District for 12 years. He is the mayor pro tem for the city which means he stands in for the mayor when he's ill or away. Councilman and Mayor Pro Tem are just two of his titles. His third is Rev.. He's a Methodist minister. He has. Black Political Freedom incorporated.

Technically the mayor of Kansas City has a city charter making sure that agenda is carried out and example for the public relations manager form of government. He thinks the mayor ought to have power. One of the things that I intend to do is to appoint a charter change commission for the purpose of coming to the city with some proposed changes the only one that I'm asking for as the mayor powers. I think that the mayor should have powers to override either the city council that will essentially equip them with enough of a hammer to be able to push through the legislative. Packages that he or she sets forth. The reason that's important is because the public is going to like just one thing we know

whoever is elected I think is going to go into office with some kind of a mandate from the public and be in a position to deliver on what he or she promises as the architect of the so-called Cleaver plan which provides funding for projects American economic development have been neglected. I think there are some other developing areas of cancer that have probably not received the attention but it's primarily because they've been annexed over the last 30 years. I think that we're going to get into a really big fight if we start talking about trying to establish a new system for allocating the half cent sales tax for capital improvements. I mean there is no part of Kansas is going to say OK let's give the Northland our portion or let's give the fifth district our portion. Those council members are elected to bring home the bacon and they're going to fight for it. Now I do think that when we bring

measures before the public for capital improvements that there is a need to give special attention to certain areas in the north that happens to be one where we float some kind of major bond program. I would propose that we do a massive infrastructure program for the Northland. Sparring economic development in the inner city has proven to be extremely difficult. We have given. Opportunities for developers to come in with tax breaks or special benefit districts you name it we made made it available in terms of an economic development instrument. But in spite of all of that. We've not been able to attract developers. The only thing that I think we can hope for is to get black and Hispanic businesspersons. To to build their businesses in the central city. And I think we can offer them the same incentives. The problem of course is that we have so few of them that that are surviving in the first place.

Bryce Harris sees himself as a breath of fresh air for city hall. Harris is a vice chancellor of communications for the Metropolitan Community Colleges. He's taken a leave of absence from that position to run for mayor. His endorsements include the Westport citizen's Action Coalition the Citizens Association and the civic Council a group of business leaders that's come to haunt him. Some call him the candidate of the elite and a puppet. Criticism increased when it was revealed that while his permanent job he would be doing consulting work for United Telecom was chairman. I've had a consulting practice for 12 years. I went to work for United telecom 1979. And I worked for them numerous times over that period. I do not apologize one bit. For getting that contract and the several others that I have been working on. Well I've taken leave from the Community College district I have a family to feed anybody else and now this morning it's official I'm the poorest candidate now right.

One of the issues is education an issue many of his opponents say is a non issue for the mayor. The funding formula favors rural districts the mayor can go to Jefferson City take a leadership role in getting that changed the battell study says higher education can become an industry in Kansas City and it gives examples of targeted areas of education that can be focused on. The mayor can take a role in getting the business community come together. The mayor can take a role in making city hall a model employer getting city employees involved in their own schools and in the education of other students internships. The mayor can can be involved in forming a group in this city that includes school board members and parents and the philanthropic and business community to work on opportunities as well as problems in schools. The mayor can cause things in education to happen and cause this community to focus on. Paris also feels that the mayor can play an effective role in the fight against crime. And I think enforcement a mayor can participate fully in the police board and can do everything possible to try to to make adequate funding

available to put enough officers on the street and that's the really difficult part on the enforcement side the other thing the city can do is the city can get more involved with the county and the crack house problem because the city can basically. Make it difficult for them to do their business by looking at things like. Rodent inspection and code enforcement tack I mean we can go out with a new reason to make it difficult for crack dealers to do their business every single day. And we ought to do that we have to work with the county to do that not the neighborhood needs like sidewalks and street lights as well as upgrading streets and bridges in the city and basic services like sewers in the Northland are also priorities for Harris. But he says it's too soon to commit to a tax increase to pay for those projects. We can't start talking about increased revenue to the city until two things have happened. First of all we have to have made our government as efficient as as we can and showing that to the voters so that they have the belief and

trust that their elected officials are managing every dime of their money effectively. And then secondly we have to take a hard look at the taxing structure of the city and we have to decide if there need to be changes to make the taxing structure more fair. Kansas City is not overtaxed as it relates to other cities of similar size and even other cities in that home area. But we can't talk about increased taxes in the city until we've clamped down on that budget and looked at the tax structure almost fine wines and spirits in south Kansas City is how most people know it Lootie been a businessman for 30 years and owns a restaurant and gas station along with his liquor store. He feels his business experience would be valuable as mayor. You certainly can't run a city like you can run a business in fact there is evidence going on in other parts of the country where the cities are in fact going back over to private enterprise type. Of organization where many many of the city services and contracts are let out on bids to private enterprise with the city taking the best bed

and then administering the contract to perform those duties. And yes it can be done. Police protection. No it cannot be done on a private enterprise basis park and firefighting be done a private enterprise. But many of the other services can be so business principles when you're dealing with a budget which is really what the city has. You're looking for somebody there's a good money manager you can work well with people and and believe that they can do the job. And his years of business experience is one of the main reasons Moody has been critical of the cleaver plan. It's still all sales tax money borrowed against our future revenue. Plus that was orchestrated by the council. Without the public getting an opportunity to vote on it and that in my not in my estimation was not the correct way to do that. And from a businessman standpoint you think the financially that was not a prudent move.

No I don't believe it because we're going to come up at that point in time where we. Need to fund two different budgets out of that sales tax revenue. And there is no apparent anything in view to take care of the other items were being paid with that portion of the money that now is going to go for the development of the Jazz Hall of Fame area more than anything else moody sees himself as a truly independent candidate. He has no major endorsements and little money to run his campaign. But he says he recognizes the power and influence of the mayor's office. He knows how to make the most of that position and he has the power to get the attention of the press from the media so the dishes can be put out on the table to be talked about by all of the people in the city. And if he doesn't lead the issue will never get out there and then you'll have the infighting amongst the city hall people themselves.

Mama. And it's been one of the council members from the sixth district for eight years and he's been chairman of the finance and aviation committees during his tenure. He's a businessman with various investment citywide. He too feels his business experience could be vital to running the city. The reality is the only candidate thus far to say that the city doesn't need another landfill. I firmly believe that the land use is the most important thing and that if there are nonproductive pieces of property and poor areas of northern Missouri where we could productively put in landfills that we can solve our recycling problem by setting up transfer stations here where everybody would put their trash out just like they do today. The trash would go to these reste to these transfer stations they would be in an industrial area such as the Sheffield area or Leeds. And the trash would be sorted right there.

These would be economic development centers they would employ people and all the recycling would take place just like we have been talking about but without all the hassle of the individual having to go through that problem and then the land the trash what's left would be condensed compact and put on rail cars and taken out. It's been proven that it can be done for the same cost. That's what it's being cost today because these landfills are tremendous profit centers for the people that own them and also sees other possibilities in the areas of crime and police protection. I think that he can be a stronger force and voice in making the police department do some of the things that they've been reluctant to do. Number one number one they have because of their own petty jealousies or internal problems etc. done away with the reserve program which just a few years ago had three hundred fifty nine paid full fledged policemen patrolling the streets at night

and weekends and other times. They have now through a systematic process trying to get rid of this work that down to only 28 now and that's wrong. And that did put more policemen on the street. Secondly we had a civil defense police force that worked out of city hall that they had traffic direction and that that should be reinstated. There was about one hundred fifty people that did this voluntarily and they it again freed policemen to do what they do best work on crime. As for finding ways to bolster revenues for an already tight city budget says much of the population can and should be consulted before agreeing to any tax increases. There is one former mayor among those running for Mayor King was mayor of independence from 1974 to 1978. He's currently an attorney in private practice. He often represents developers endorsements include Kansas City progress organized labor and the Sierra Club Kings

association with developers and the fact that he pays little in the way of property taxes. It has been called into question by Bryce Harris. The Harris campaign is charging that Dick King doesn't pay his fair share of property taxes and that he lives on tax evaders property. Well it is true that Dick King lives on tax abated property and for the time being his property taxes are pretty low. But that's primarily because he lives here in the Union Hill area just south of Crown Center Development a collection of homes townhomes in apartments was made possible because of tax abatement. The city has offered tax abatements as an incentive to developers for years to build in areas where they might otherwise not build. Probably the best known example of a development on tax abated property next to Union Hill is Crown center which of course is owned by hallmarks whose political action committee supports harus in response to the other criticism by pointing out that he is also represented neighborhood groups and is not practiced.

He says a priority. The key to the destruction would be the establishment of a Department of Human. Rights. There's an ombudsman Clearing House role that I propose to go in the department but that's not the most important thing it would do. The department would start out by putting together a comprehensive plan for how we provide social welfare services to poor people all over the city. If there was a private agency or a county state or federal agency already doing it there would be to coordinate if nobody was taking care of the French dense storefront neighborhood health centers for preventative health care. Then it would be up to that department to devise a program bring it to the council get it funded and start doing it. The other main priority of the Qing administration would be to bring jobs and economic development back to the city especially north of the river. He says there are ways to fund all of his proposals. Missouri has the lowest effective tax rate on businesses of all of the 50 states and it doesn't trouble me therefore to look toward a payroll tax which will be assessed on corporations only and not on their workers. In

regard to any of the changes that I'm proposing that are not going to have funding from other sources. There are some shifts and priorities that can be made there's also some administrative improvements that are possible. I got into a detox of a cation and treatment for indigent drug addicts when I found out Renaissance West one of the few places they can go under it's residential and not medical It's got a good reputation but it has a 60 day waiting list and a lot of the people that are on the waiting list don't make it back because the rest are killed or something else happens to dissuade them from getting treatment. We need to overcome that in the first place I thought the law was a recently passed County Tax about 4 million dollars of which has been collected for treatment and I was surprised to find that only about a third of that money has actually been allocated. The mayor is a community leader can shine his spotlight on that situation can mediate can get involved in the process and say rest get this money out of the streets where it's doing some good work.

Joanne Collins is probably one of the busiest people running from a. 17 year Council veteran from the 3rd District never misses the chance to point out that she's a member of 37. The directors of various civic organizations She works part time for United misery bank as a business development and client service specialist. First and foremost the mayor needs to set the agenda for the city tell me they are from a government we are a form of government that is to come together with a coalition building and I think that's a part of the problem with the head because the actually can see Missouri city government has done some good things and it all appears this in capital infrastructure we haven't put enough emphasis on humankind and I think that's where I'm going to put more emphasis. Once we get the capital infrastructure you expand Bartle Hall we've got to invite tourism in but we've got to make our citizens feel good about themselves. And she says the city and some major business law says the mayor can help turn that situation around. We have an Economic Development Corporation which I serve on the board of and they quite frankly haven't been funded appropriately to market Kansas City Missouri. We compete with the region and when someone says we don't have a Chamber of

Commerce and we say can see Missouri Chamber of Commerce because it's a greater Kansas City. So we need to have individuals in economic development corporation can do that with a few more dollars and market to diversify business opportunities that we have in Kansas City and provide the support. Does the mayor have enough that the kind of clout that the mayor except turns on the personality of the mayor can have a. They can work together with the first group of decision makers. The Greater Kansas City greens just thrown its support to Craig Roland Roland as president of his own environmental and industrial market research business. Rowland says there is an answer to the thorny question of where to place a landfill in Kansas City. We actually. Go through a process by which we compost the garbage we said you residuals and what I mean by residuals is what's left over after you've reduced recycled and compost and yard waste it's the really worthless stuff and that is what happens when here too for a regular type of

landfill that stuff breaks down very slowly emits methane gas and subject to odors. You can also get other vapors out of it. What I think is the coming thing in waste management and what we should do here is to basically to pre stabilize this material to get rid of its nuisance value and then I think we can have then I think the issue of where to put the landfill has to do with the exist in a land use issue. The Environmental issues are his strong suit. Bowman says no plans for the city will work until there is economic justice for all. And he says improving the mass transit system in the city could be part of that economic equation. Environmentally banters hopefully there will be less pollution. People get people out of their cars more so we save that we save energy on the other hand mass transit helps the poor people in the center city to reach some of the jobs north and south so one of my priorities either prove through persuasion or However I can do it

is to get better service for people in the center cities so they can get out to these jobs I think that's a critical thing. Bowen says improvements in the mass transit system could be paid for through higher gas tax which would also discourage people from driving so much. Last but not least John Birmingham Birmingham is the minister of the compassionate ministries and has been outspoken on issues such as gay rights. Some people have. Concern over Reverend Birmingham the Birmingham says he's not imposing his beliefs on others. Only a politician for the city. In the city is going to be the model of a nation. Abortion like gay rights is going. To. Have to Christians but they do have and that's the thing that's missing in our city government.

Birmingham sees drugs as the major problems of the inner city and says it's time to appoint a drug czar to go after the dealers. And he wants to establish a 20 drug rehab center. Not only that but even. YOUNG MAN. They have too much time. The hands. You know. Go to the to the gym and sports sports. People get a life together. At them. Affordable housing is another of Reverend Birmingham's priorities and one of the reasons he is opposed to the proposed district. All of these millions of dollars are going into these these entertaining structure with almost no money going into housing. People have to wait two or three years just to get to get a House race relations was another issue of

concern. Many of the candidates example by speaking out incidents occurred and the mayor's influence could be used to go to the that the captains of industry and talk with them about the need to break out of some of the traditions that they put in place that prevent minorities and women from achieving at the highest levels in their cooperation we cannot have any glass ceilings in Kansas City. And certainly if you look. At the highest points of Kansas City corporate life you will find very very few minorities. If you look at the in the boardrooms in Kansas City you'll find very very few minorities. And I think the mayor's got to be willing to sit down with the corporate leaders and say hey this is a problem that is going to wreck our community. What I have done over the past three or four months is just talk to an awful lot of people involved in minority business development and involve some of those people in my campaign and. They have said to me

We believe that there needs to be a pooled capital fund for Minority Business Development. We believe that it doesn't stop there that there must also be a pooled logistical support for Minority Business Development similar to what you see in the majority community. They have said that we believe that. That that there are ways that the city can influence minority business growth through its own contracts and purchases. So are you saying that if you're elected the city will see some appointments. Minorities but I'm really saying more than that a parent could be patronizing and symbolic tokenism as the phrase that was used in the 60s but I'm talking about is actually including minorities in the process of deciding what goes on in the city. One of my strengths has been working with an U.S. Commission on Civil Rights State Advisory Committee and myself from a point as a state commission on human rights. I know I know that we have to have

both individuals who are foreign against an issue but those who individuals who are not called quote have to have a pass through approval. And we have some of that going on in Kansas City in probably too much in the governmental as well as the business community. And I plan to bring individuals that are not only the leaders of the community but the younger leaders of the community. Those are the candidates and some of their views most voters will have a lot to think about over the next few days. They must ask themselves. Leave Kansas City and who should leave Kansas City. What other aspect of this campaign that hasn't really been talked about that much is experience. But the two term limit there's only going to be perhaps two maybe three council members returning so everybody else will be new. And Joanne Collins Bob Whelan and Emanuel Cleaver are suggesting that a city with so many new council people coming in is going to need a mayor who knows the ropes whatever that you know that and concern me so much is the fact that there's

nothing binding these candidates together. There's no party loyalty. This is a primary election in the sense that it is the first election but it's not a primary election in the sense that the parties are picking candidates. So there's there's no reason to think that there's any unifying conviction to be held by all members of the Council on the mayor except that new blood new faces that's what we heard in the November election over the two term limits and that that's what everybody's promoting is that this is a new era for city government. Well I understand that that is a Korean-American addiction to have all new people in elections. You don't want all new people in the in the operating room when you're undergoing surgery do you you want all new reporters covering news for you. While that's so do you want all new people running your government. Well that depends on who you talk to I mean some people say that that having There's nothing wrong with having all new people would bring a fresh approach to things but there are other people who have equally valid concerns just like you do that with nobody with a few people in there

who have any experience who's going to be running the show. But how is it going to be run like this. It will again the thing that concerns me is that the council candidate from this district and the council candidate from that district have not done a lot holding them together there are no coalitions banded here. The political clubs have their slates but there's nothing to indicate that a group of Councilman believe the same kind of thing about the same kind of issue. Not really. Probably in the sense that you're looking at but there are some I think who have common goals I think everyone is talking about fixing up the neighborhoods and doing something about the Northland But again it's generalities we don't have a lot of specifics at least not what you're looking for anyway. Thank you. Let's take a break from politics now and look forward with Randy Mason to an event soon to occur here next week the Kansas City Film Commission. Yes there is a Kansas City Film Commission will honor Native son Robert Altman the famous movie director for the festival featuring 16 of his films. Altman got his

movie making star in the building at Troost and Truman Road a building that's being torn down to make way for expanding the technical education center next door. An era is ending. Here's Randi. That's right John. Before there was video there was cell not just 35 millimeter that features were and still are shot on but 16 millimeter the format most often used in sales meetings in school assemblies. Chances are very good that at least some of the educational and training films you've seen Industrials as they're known came through the Kalvin Company A Kansas City business that grew from one room to a seven story complex complex that turned out so many talented filmmakers it came to be known as Cal Tech a. We did hear cars going up

and. Street cars and you know I came to work. I was 17 years old and I think I was. Just you know I was in all and the first time I thank Jerry Dyer. But the collapse back on. And I couldn't then I just turn around and say Jack can't do this. Yeah and I walked out advice to get his kind everybody was very very understanding. Finally I you know I've got say same sex take four and clap it between them. These two cameramen spent well over 50 years working for the Calvin company. In fact Wayne was one of the last ones out when the IRS finally padlocked it in 1906. In recent years parts of the building had been used as a drug

rehab center. The activity just a faint echo of the days when the biggest sound stage is between Chicago and Los Angeles lured clients from around the country. And get hundreds of people busy not only making movies but also processing and printing them anywhere from five rooms. Then when you've got a month. To shift sometimes 7 days a week. You know it was unusual to know that you look back on it was. Totally contained. I mean it was the whole film business contained in one building you know their laboratory editing. The direction writing everything was right there you don't find that very often. Now you know people are all fragmented. The company even manufactured something to play the films on a 16 millimeter projector called The movie might weighing in at under 30 pounds and develop some say on a bet between founder and his engineering

partner Lloyd Thompson. Producer Director Gene Carr fondly remembers visiting the man they call the cow. That is Johnson County home and he had put he had near allies his entire house so this is himself he didn't hire it to be done. And you tell people that who don't who didn't know Cal and they would probably think that it was rather poorly executed but it wasn't it was just acts like he was very. Create an intelligent kind of guy in his basement I remember in his home he had a machine shop and if he had an idea about something as he wanted to do for instance a little projector that you had I'm sure that basically was his idea. Best of all you have a knack for hiring good people especially as the war was winding down and business really beginning to rev up people like the production department. Dawn Hoffman had to.

Figure out how to counter the special effects with lighting and filters and color gels and. I found it very fascinating. The most interesting part about it was only about a generation earlier than that and things like color and sound were barely in their teens. Patrick quickly realized the more sophisticated effects like a split screen that were easy to do in 35 millimeter took some innovation to pull off in 16. One of his favorite directors to work with Calvin because he encouraged experimentation was a young Kansas City and named Robert Altman. Together they churned out traffic safety films sports training programs even a film for the VFW that particularly in this black and white print bears more than a little resemblance to the common man would go on to direct my.

Paddocks assistant on this one was a very young art Goodell. Who remembers having their clothes but not the camera gear stolen during a ball game in Detroit and then heading off to Boston with minimal guidance for all three minutes worth of this. You know there's no way I can use more than that. Is it going to stand here. And then just say can practice planning or do I gotta go someplace I've got a good idea for a way out but I wouldn't say he was very good handling people. He could get them to do what he wanted to without being a true shaver rough or unkind. Tell him a joke can ease the pain of doing something they might not really want to do. I have never argued too much

and in time anybody disagreed with him or maybe somebody said what he had said. His standard reply was If that's true you know Altman did begin his feature filmmaking career in Kansas City first with horns of pop and then in 1955 the delinquent for which he asked Charlie paddock to imitate the lighting of the asphalt jungle. After a career that seemed such commercial highs as MASH and Nashville and lows as hell when Tess Altman's bounce back strong this year with Johnny Cash. This is not a Hollywood approach to filmmaking has often been attributed to the lessons learned during the Calvin year of official self-sufficiency. Not to mention certain personality traits. He didn't really recognize. That something you couldn't do he just refused to believe that he. Would do that kind

of a candle in that particular way. We want to do it another way. And he just could never just stop and say this is all I can do. Jim Lance should know. At one point he went out to Los Angeles with all the money and also shared an apartment with Altman's brother in law another Calvin alumnus who made good in Hollywood. These days you probably know. Voice of time then going on. From my neck but in the 50s and 60s Bill year out was the busiest actors playing roles in Calvin industrials. Little vignettes made to as he puts it tell some kind of painless story sad case if you might know TONY JONES He's in the movie business a place where you could regularly pick up some extra cash and a little exposure have lots of appeal for area actors and media folks. Art Ellison and Charles Brady both put in some time on the giant service

stations that could be altered to fit a sponsor's needs. Of course as the budgets got bigger so did the names war correspondent Bob Considine. E.G. Marshall Walter Cronkite Anita Bryant and Johnny Cash all made their pitches. John Carradine he was really a proper spirit which was the name of the show. And we had to build up this entire sat. On stage and then tear it down in the first after of torn down. There is for. John another nameless actor I was carrying to work with oh here absolutely unbelievably good gene Carr says nice things about nearly all the top flight talent he worked with. But if you push him really hard he can think of at least one exception. The Art Linkletter. Very difficult. Nuff said. Long before you came to work for Calvin knew about the place through its annual workshop attended by the industries

after joining the team he worked on among other things projects for clients like Now Caterpillar and somebody if we could and couldn't do it for the reasons we might be otherwise occupied so we would carry the greatest places to work in the world. But the management which by the way in the early 60s following the passing of it was a time of great uncertainty. New technology is looming larger and larger on the horizon. Part of the reason. For years Charlie ran a studio in the basement of his duplex. He says though if it

hadn't been for his kids he probably wouldn't have been able to make the transition into video at the right time. Meanwhile the new management of Calvin already. In the country with branches all over the country powerhouse. And. Interestingly enough working long hours into building his own grandfather and Bill he was able to finish his first film about the demise of the building downtown and realized he was hooked. Because there was a little bit of an organizational disintegration going on in the

management. I was able by default to become a director you know to be able to walk on the set and have people with their hind camera with 20 years saying once you get a shot of this over here and then have the editor say Well I think if you can get me at such and such and the sound person saying Be sure you go in and do and so I would learn from these people with all this incredible background. Essentially that is the legacy of the Kalvin Company has left Kansas City after the last of its services were phased out in the early 80s a wealth of talented technical people remain there for the past the traditional long. That was proven recently when local crews played a big part in the making of several movies here like Charlie Patrick and John Altman have successfully set up shop. Others like Wayne sharp and Harold have found new places to apply some of their knowledge. More and more now are retired or gone. After I sold my part of the corporation and retired supposedly Then I went to work at the university teaching. And I taught there for six years.

And I. Many times. I found myself quoting Larry sure when it was the vice president of Calvin company to my students things that I had learned from Larry sure wouldn't things that I had learned at the Kalvin Company when I worked there. This is some 40 some years later the new center building as it was originally known was put up in hopes that the city would be moving in that direction. It didn't happen. Soon it will join such long gone structures as the old model down the street or Robert Altman and Calvin crews often had a drink or two after work in the early 80s. The last hope was that the huge sound stages might somehow attract a buyer. We had a group of investors who were committed to it and got us sort of halfway down the line. Then they pulled out without any warning. And. That was the last chance for the building.

I didn't think anybody would knock it down. I just thought it was a great building and I know it cost to renovate it though. Because it deteriorated over the last years ago. I spent so many wonderful years here that. In a way I hate to see it go. But it's the end of an era. No. More. I was kind of hoping that they would implode it you know blow it up. And I was going to I was going to shoot that. I've got a high speed camera that I was on. Think that I'm that way they're all. Gone. Another of the notable folks who passed through the doors of Cal Tech would have to be Hughes RUDD The CBS News man had worked at the Kansas City Star then served a couple year term at Calvin as a writer. Also our own graphic artist Carol Sherman. She met her husband Andy while working there. Despite the amazing number of Excalibur nights around town it's hard to find footage from those days. The library was sold to the New York stock footage for him and only bits and pieces seem to be available. Not so with the feature films of Robert Altman.

As mentioned there will be a 16 film retrospective of his work at the Crown Center theaters March 3rd 4th and 5th featuring a workshop with Altman himself on the final day. If you'd like to know more about it you can call this number 5 3 1 3 2 2 3. That's 5 3 1 face and that's it for this week from back here in the corner. I'm Randi Mason. Was. Have you been thinking about buying a new car. I should maybe go out to the lot to kick a few tires. Possibly take a test drive. Well if you do you'll have a new best friend because the automobile business in Kansas City has as bad as its ban in a long time. I'm Tom Gallagher let me hear what those in the business have to say that will tell you why you're in the driver's seat.

If you plan to buy a new car in the near future that's on the next Kansas City Illustrated joining us tonight for a look back at the events of the week is J.W. Hardy M.D. once a candidate for mayor of Kansas City Missouri his name remains on the ballot but he's not running. And we'll talk about why. Also with us Deborah Holmes of the Kansas City Illustrated staff. Barbara Bailey's city planner political observer and Gymkhana Lee journalist author college professor and sometime media critic. Before we get on with political matters or elective politics the Kansas City school board this week are the new school superintendent watermarks an innovative man who spends a lot of money. Yes and apparently you would not want this man to balance your checkbook for you because he's left in the Richmond School District in California just outside of San Francisco on some serious financial problems that's not funny thing but 60 million is what they're looking at they're asking the legislature for like 25 or 30 million to the least help to make payroll.

Was this a little pursuit that here I mean when you have state and you know it's even a word as it were. I'm sure it is a word yeah yeah yeah likely yes acted quickly. Yes. The state asked federal judge to appoint a manager for the school district and the school board responds but suddenly naming a new school superintendent and whether or not I mean Julia hill head of the school board Julie Hill did say that she felt the board felt pressured to get something done by the state but by the same token there are a lot of people asking. You know you could have like taken a couple more weeks and found out a little more about this guy they interviewed a couple of the Board School board members apparently And but only a couple. And they all understood the financial crisis that the district their is in but felt that if they brought in their own financial manager someone from the business community they'd be able to handle that end of it whether or not that's the case I don't know.

Furthermore I think it looked sounded from what I've read in The Star The reporters interviewed people in the other cities where he also ran into serious problems. But the school board did not know. Is that what you understand when it was that they were trying to forestall the appointment by Judge Clark of a superintendent czar. And so they are dumped into one of the state's request to have someone to abolish the school board and handle. I mean there's nothing that you can do about it now really. But I hope that this doesn't turn out to be another folly for the school district has this guy apparently as well know reffing big plans but no box to back up those plans. Well Doctor it is. Just have to wait and see see how it goes. It makes me a little bit nervous of course that they get somebody like this at the last minute and then they haven't gone to the trouble of checking him out the way I would want to check them out I just hope that if they can find a financial person that it will be somebody of stature who can really help them out. I think the

last two people are the least one of the people that was involved with this before was one of our AT&T executive Bob Barrett and I'm not sure but the fellow that followed him might have been another one of our AT&T people especially as this calls for the notation that you are a retired doctor who worked for a team to not quite know what the brain is. Reconcile that I cannot humanity when I do doctors. Yeah I'm still an AT&T doctor I'm not quite retired networker but my promise was I was going to retire the day I was sworn in as Maire. But I'm going to retire one way or the other. No Jack I said this seems to be the appropriate moment to ask this question. Why did you retire from the race. Oh why did I retire from the race well I suppose partly because I probably shouldn't have gotten into it in the first place and I got into it in the first place because reading all of the nasty comments in the star I suppose in other places over a period of many many months

reading nasty things about the council reading things about Dick Berkeley and so on and finding myself saying Well geez I can do that well and you know and then when Dick announced that he was not going to run again even long before they put the limit on. I thought well here's a window of opportunity let's jump in and see what we can do and I've since learned that the three people from the council who are running are not as bad as what I'd been led to believe they were the other two people who are doing battle with each other now or are both pretty pretty sharp people. And the other minority candidates for the most part Ed and Craig are are are pretty good people and so on and I felt as we went along I felt more and more like a fish out of water and I just decided that I didn't have the background I didn't have the time to gather the information I needed

to conduct an intellectual campaign and I'd ask you know the Berber you've been to numerous forms with candidates for mayor how was Jack doing well. I think I think you summed it up really and that is that there are a lot of issues that you have to be very well-informed on in order to participate at the same level as the people who've been involved in these issues over a long period of time. There are lots of them right. Yes. So was an education on your part right you're very much of an education and along the way I learned a lot about these people. And and I've learned that for the most part they're they're basically good people and not all selfish you know central in something or you know just because it seems to me and I'm serving that there were a number of them that you really hadn't done a lot of thinking about ahead of time. Yeah that's right and I learned a lot about the issues. But I learned that there was so much I didn't know might not be the only candidate to learn something or they didn't know about the issues and they may be better at bluffing their way

through. But I didn't want to do that. I faced things the way they were and then there's my back Barbara coffee kind of dozing at one point asked me a question she was through asking a question I didn't remember what you asked about so I passed. What about money. I mean did you point to raise any money at all there and I didn't think of that. An early effort to do so. I put a few bucks of my own in and very little. And one of the first pieces of advice that I got early on from a couple of guys I know who are state legislators in other states was Don't spend your own money. And so I put very little of my own money in and then I said I sent out some bills so to speak. Well Jay do you think it's possible to win if you don't have the money for television commercials I'm afraid it isn't. Obviously this says a lot about what's going on in our country as far as I'm concerned. Because if you go back in history far enough it used to be a civic duty to run for office or to the city for an

office not to run for one because they had to trust George Washington's arm to get him to be president of this country and today is George Washington's birthday we should take note of that as the President's Day was celebrated Monday and that included Chester a Arthur. But today is the real Today is the real danger of yours. I want to mention several people who will not have television commercials leading to Tuesday's election and those are the six people six men running for mayor of Kansas City Kansas. There's also an election Tuesday for mayor of Kansas City Kansas the incumbent Joseph stanning a junior is running again. And we're going to put the names up of these candidates I wish we could go into some detail about them but we just are going to do that today. Jack JJB mind was kind of a hearty perennial of candidates over there John fried environmentalist David Haley who worked for

Sanger in 1987 has since had a kind of a falling out. State Senator Bernardi can and. BD can and as you call it he's critical of Senator for for relying on over liners at City Hall including the city administrator David Isabel Steven Nicholson who wants a more business like approach to things. It's always good to run on there's no doubt it's a universal law issue. And Josie Stanger Jr. the incumbent who cites progress made in the Senate and against whom no charges of any sort of. Integrity lapse of than made which in Kansas and Kansas politics are sometimes unusual. Yeah yeah yeah. David Isabel question may come up because that has been a thorny issue in Kansas City Kansas for some time I think

for you know another event of the week. We've got a we just got to next year here is a section of USA Today today and we're going to pay some you know the people who get national recognition out of this area. That's not technically students right. Like sure you're William Jule college in Liberty Missouri one of the 20 students in 1901 all U.S. a college academic first team selected by a panel of judges for their outstanding blend of scholarship initiative creativity and leadership and their desire to use their talent to help others track Clevenger daughter of Clayton and Eloise Clevenger of Peculiar Missouri a senior at William Jewell College who founded intergenerational Academy in which older adults teach children youngsters assist seniors. GOD I WANT THAT I GET A LIFE. Yeah that's good. Now we have to hear from Jim here on his weather forecasts for the whole you know my forecast when I if I have my notes seriously because you mention television advertising and Dr. heartless

without it but I have here mind my forecasts and the colors as an old ad man. Every candidate has to have a have a color let's take Bryce Harris's color which doesn't work to defeat the wimp image that he has and that the bad thing he has going for him in the in perceptual terms is that he's a made man he's been created by Johnson County carpetbaggers. So what he has to do and what he was it was this is image that image going to advertising not just image stuff. And so his strategy is to act real tough run a lot of negative ads against developers and can prove you know prove that he's a tough guy and appear in shirtsleeves. My forecast is a loser. You've got Dick King and his colors red meat angry pig nature's effect if that sort of thing is image as of course as a real tough guy and another carpetbagger former pair of independents and he's got to defeat DAB so what he's doing is saying things are a mass and I can fix him cause I've got experience and I am my own man. See this this is a slogan. And and he's going to be for things. He's a native

and he's effective. My forecast he's going to make the playoffs. Emanuel Cleaver colors are red and white and in the background we must admit it black. His image is one of the problem images that he's one of the inefficient city council members that it's responsible for the lethargy of so-called in the city and it isn't. Yeah I think so. And his strategy it seems to me is that I've got vision I've got leadership I did the cleaver plan and never mind that there are a lot of sorry Barbara I think that black man and white Yeah. Yeah well he does have that and I'm glad to see it in my forecast is that Emanuel Despite the relative lack of television advertising money will make the playoffs I think you'll be in it. Then you have the well on and his color bad choice it's Jimmy Carter green remember the Carter campaign versus green and we know what happened to Carter his image is the same one I belong to this inofficial the city council when would that go away. Well once but then what happened I mean. GREENE Yeah help him on his strategy I think is can do I got the experience and a whole series of things like I'm married with three children. I

think we're going to. He's well those are my forecasts. I think that Bob will take votes away from Bryson has got a solid plan. Why would you throw your support to Jack when you pull out of the race. Actually I didn't throw it to anybody but I'm glad you asked the question because I think that it rather the answer will be that Kansas City could be ready for a black mare. Kansas City could be ready for a female there. And you know that would be. Course that would be Joanne Collins and enjoy. I'm impressed with Joe and Collins very much still and I've got a lot of other people whose behavior in the format is your first letter. Maybe I may not. Well next week we'll talk about the results and next time one can study Illustrated world. Also look at the besieged automobile business. OMG our story will reflect more than what everybody knows anyway that sales are off. And of course we'll review more than the election results will have some other

outrageous opinions and do some other things such as checking in on how Governor of Penny's tax plan is looking and Bekah where Donna poetess has been spending this week. So join us next time. The staff of Kansas City Illustrated enjoy Masterman good night. Local support for this program has been provided in part by United telecom and its long distance company U.S. sprint. Nothing wrong and your vision worth what you can you will support a public television station. Local support for this program has been provided by modern tour providing escorted tours in the U.S. and around the world.

Next Great performance is a Russian love story by story adapted by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright David. To man one together or one long song. A tale of temptation.