The following article was published in the June 5, 2009 edition of The Parkville (Missouri) Luminary.

"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation." Thus began the Declaration of Independence. This fabled document set forth the conditions under which the fledgling USA made manifest its emancipation from its former colonial ruler, affirming itself "absolved from all allegiance" to the British Crown.

Perhaps it is a bit hyperbolic of me, but I must say that the municipality which governs the neighborhood in which I live is veering precariously close to "taxation without representation", or at least ineptitude on such a grand scale that we who find ourselves under the rule of Kansas City, Missouri's city government are hard-pressed to come up with sufficient rationale as to why we should remain so governed.

I'm well aware that government on all levels is stressed to the breaking point in terms of managing budgets. Government entities have to deal, on a large scale, with what each of us must deal on a personal level. There must be priorities, those issues which reside on the front burner of our metaphorical societal cooking appliance (of course, there needs to be something on the back burner, too). Anyway, somewhere on this mythical stove, Kansas City, Missouri has let the pot of good governance boil dry.

My neighborhood lies hard by Barry Road, near the northern tip of Weatherby Lake. About a year ago, it finally became apparent to KCMO that there was a major problem with the Barry Road bridge which spanned the northern tip of Weatherby Lake. I should add precariously. Everyone knew it was a lousy bridge, but, as if they'd been struck by lightning, city officials decided at one point it was no longer safe. That would have been fine, had there been a realistic plan to replace it. But, since Barry Road is in a state of perpetual "improvement", the plan, as it were, was to wait until the major widening/regrading project was ready to take place.

Big deal, right? What it has meant is that, anyone living west of Amity on either side of Barry must find alternate routes for their transportation needs. For something like 2 to 3 years. Through tangled 25 mph neighborhood streets, which are not meant to handle the additional traffic. On more than one occasion, we've witnessed emergency equipment moving as quickly as possible through our neighborhood streets - streets with pedestrians, some very young, some toting pets. Our neighborhood streets have seen an explosion of traffic, as people stranded by the closed bridge do what they need to do to accommodate their transportation needs. The quality of the streets has predictably deteriorated.

Since it is my understanding that it is a city's responsibility to provide for the common welfare of its citizens; and since, to my way of thinking, that includes safe passage to and from their neighborhoods; and since, based on their performance in this area as it regards my neighborhood, and, by extension, those neighborhoods immediately adjacent to my own, they are in arrears; and since, by outward appearances, the city is incapable of managing the affairs of those neighborhoods and facilities more geographically-relevant to City Hall than my own (see: raising funds to build the Sprint Center while still paying on bonds for major improvements to Kemper Arena [now sitting almost unused] for one example); and since our repeated petitions have been met with repeated injury; THEREFORE, I solemnly publish, and declare that our little neighborhood is, and of right ought to be free and independent of the city of Kansas City, Missouri.