Tax Guardians

Feature: “Your Tax DollarsNot at Work,” January 3

Carolyn Szczepanski’s story on the Citadel Plaza project was great in-depth journalism — something one would have thought would have been in The Kansas City Star by now. I’ve wondered for several years what the holdup was on the Citadel development. This project is really frustrating for Research Hospital, which is caught in a neighborhood that most people fear to enter, let alone be hospitalized in! Only one statement in your story didn’t jibe. You mentioned that the Housing and Economic Development Financing Corporation lent the Community Development Corporation of Kansas City $82,000 to renovate two apartment buildings in the 5900 block of Benton Boulevard. Oops! Benton Boulevard only goes as far south as about 47th Street. At that point, it becomes the southbound leg of Swope Parkway. Benton Boulevard and South Benton Avenue are actually two separate streets that often run parallel to each other. South Benton Avenue begins at Linwood Boulevard and runs south from there. Benton Boulevard runs south from Linwood Boulevard to Swope Parkway and is generally three blocks east of South Benton. There is a logical explanation for this, but I won’t get into it now.

Gene Pike, Kansas City, Missouri

Café: “Cluck Yeah,” January 3

I am an avid reader of Charles Ferruzza’s weekly reviews in The Pitch. In fact, I usually wait until he reviews a restaurant before I give it a try.

My complaint/observation concerns his semi-constant comments about the “Johnson Countian.”

I have lived in Johnson County (103rd Street and Antioch) for seven years; I guess that qualifies me as a Johnson Countian. My brief bio: I grew up in Staten Island, New York. I attended the University of Kansas; at the risk of dating myself, the tuition was $1,400 a semester at the time, so I became a Jayhawk. After graduation, I met my wife (a Kansan), and we lived in Lawrence for seven years before moving to Overland Park to be near my work in Olathe. I now work in downtown Kansas City, Missouri.

I have essentially been to every restaurant Ferruzza has reviewed and many more. The majority of our culinary experiences have involved restaurants downtown. We eat when we travel as well, including at least two trips a year back home (New York). When we are not eating — which, probably to my doctor’s chagrin, isn’t often — we spend time at the City Market, Hyde Park, Brookside, the museums, the sports complex, etc.

Although I happen to live in Overland Park, I don’t believe I fit the stereotype of the “Johnson Countian” portrayed in your articles. In fact, I believe many of my friends, some of whom are also Johnson Countians, fall outside your stereotype as well.

Frankly, given the quality and thoughtfulness of your work, I am disappointed that you feel the need to group a great number of people into one category just because they happen to live in the same county.

Maybe you could use Lee’s Summit for the butt of your next joke? I hear “those people” sure like their strip malls almost as much as I do.

In any event, please keep writing because I will keep eating.

Bob Kuchar, Overland Park