Mayor Mark Funkhouser’s $6,300 carnival/town hall meeting Monday night at Sprint Center

Mayor Mark Funkhouser is holding what amounts to a $6,300 school carnival at the Sprint Center tonight at 6:30.

Funk is promising “a fun family event” with “prizes, entertainment, local celebrities, RenFest performers, demonstrations and face painting.” Does Chris Stigall count as a local celebrity?

This is all Funk’s way of luring you to the Super 8 Sprint Center so he can win you over with his Schools First initiative, which received a chilly reception last week. Even Funk’s weekly newsletter foretells a heavy push on Schools First.

At the Sprint Center, the Mayor will fully explain how Kansas City has

gotten into this state of disrepair — why we have such broken

neighborhoods and schools — and how he intends to fix the problem. And

while some of the information will be a little disheartening, the Mayor,

along with several of your Council members, will also show the many

success stories that exist throughout our city.

But let’s get to the prizes because that’s what the people care about in this city that works. You could win tix to the Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Miami Heat game or concert tix to Michael Buble, Tim McGraw, Justin Bieber or Tom Petty, which are better prizes than the goldfish I won at my elementary school carnival.