To Ms. Vickie Turnbow,
It is a pleasure to submit my plans as a mayoral candidate for Raytown, MO. Dr. Martin Luther King had a dream. Like him, I also have my own dream. I strive to become the Mayor of Raytown. I want to serve this community in the most effective manner, with high morals and ethical standards.
I am Anwar Khan. I have been a devoted citizen of Raytown for almost 30 years. I’ve been married for 32 years, with two children–both of whom went to school and graduated here in Raytown.
I myself graduated from Lincoln University with an MBA (Masters in Business Administration). I have served as chief accountant with Black & Veacth, International. I worked as the Director of Research at Lincoln University. I served as Assistant Director of Finance for the Housing Authority in Kansas City, MO. I also held the position of Director of Financial Aid and Veteran’s Affairs at Penn Valley Community College. For the past 30 years, I have been the owner of a small business, Fragrance World, LLC., and currently serve on the Board of Directors for the Villa La Paz Homeowners Association. I am also a national organizer of the Democratic Party, Asian American Caucus. I am acting as Executive Secretary of Jackson Couty, Missouri Democratic Party.
Through the political process, voters choose the best candidate. In turn, this elected leader brings hope, opportunity, and progress to the community.
As a concerned citizen, I have closely followed city council meetings. Many times, Raytown’s residents are concerned with the issue of community safety and security–i.e., crime. Also, the problem of property maintenance. The fact is, that Raytown has too high a crime rate. As well as an overall negligence maintaining property. This makes our city look bad and diminishes our quality of life here. Consequently, Raytown’s real estate value has declined. Also, business and economic growth is lacking. The city’s revenue and budget is shrinking. It is clear Raytown’s administration is not functioning at their full potential. We are suffering. I have many ideas to reform Raytown. I want to bring a fresh approach to the city’s administration. I love Raytown; this is my home. As mayor, I will stimulate economic growth and improve our city with the following platform: creating a safer and more secure community by the reduction of crime; strict code enforcement to maintain property; improving infrastructure; job and business development; and smart money management, including budgeting and drawing funds from outside sources. My plan to reduce crime has several approaches. We need to educate and train convicted felons to find jobs after prison, cutting down on repeat offenses and the recidivism rate. We need to utilize the latest technology and forensic science in solving crimes. I want to incorporate the D.A.R.E. and Scared Straight programs into Raytown’s schools, educating our youth about the consequences of criminal activity. We need to use undercover strategies and police officers working in Raytown’s Police Department. I want to enforce a strict curfew at night for adolescents and teenagers. We need to establish Neighborhood Watch Programs throughout the community. I will encourage open communication between the city’s administration, department heads, aldermen, police and emergency services, chamber of commerce, business leaders, and residents of Raytown by holding town hall meetings for open discussion about concerns and issues as they arise. Improving property maintenance will help to reduce crime because dark and abandoned buildings can be a safe haven for criminals. To evaluate a city’s performance, several factors are taken into consideration, such as but not limited to, the crime rate, real estate values, the city’s revenue and budget, property maintenance, the unemployment rate, new business development, the school system, and overall, the city’s administration. My opponent says it is time to celebrate, despite obvious defiencies in most of these variables as they relate to Raytown. I say it is time for hard work, determination, and muchneeded change.
As a city leader, I wanht to acknowledge and rcognize all the previous mayors and the founding fathers of Raytown for all thier contributions, including our current mayor. I want to follow in thier footsteps and continue to improve the city.
God bless Raytown.
Anwar Khan
Mayoral Candidate
Raytown
“It is a pleasure to submit my plans as a mayoral candidate”
–Where are the plans? Your post waxes philosophical about perceived problems and generic approaches you might take if elected, but no concrete, actionable items and the methodology you will use to demonstrate measurable results. Let’s take for example “strict code enforcement”. A concrete, actionable item would be to allocate a percentage of time of city employees/neighborhood services officers to actively seek out violations of code enforcements, then demonstrate progress by showing the increase of resolutions to these violations pre and post changes.
On the items you did provide “plans” for:
On the topic of D.A.R.E. in schools, isn’t that part of the “Combat Tax” that I’m paying into Jackson County?
On the topic of “undercover strategies” – do you have a link to research as to what exactly you are talking about and how it will assist our police force?
On the topic of “strict curfews” — I could swear there is already an ordinance for this. Are you suggesting it isn’t being adequately enforced, and that part of you being elected will be to work directly with the police force to step up enforcement?
On the topic of “dark abandoned buildings” being criminal safe-havens – do you have an example of this? Are you suggesting there is a crime syndicate running somewhere in Raytown?
While I agree you are spot on with your assessment of the situation, if I were grading your dissertation, I’d give it a D. We’ll see what the voters grade you at the polls.