Itâs a Family Business - âŚ!
As ANOTHER delay in the voting on the âhideous developmentâ is approved by Olathe (for Oddoâs benefit - so he can try to get a winning vote by manipulating the Council Member numbers), now apparently moved to May 7, you just can not help getting the feeling that there is something rotten in Olathe âŚ
Review of the Planning Commission March 2024
More than one voting, tax-paying, law abiding homeowner noticed that smell. It was the smell of fish. An odd thing to smell at the March 11 Planning Commission meeting. But there it was.
Before the meeting even started the Olathe Planning Departmentâs fishy chaos was fully olfactorable: the fix was in, as it were. The agenda announced that Planning Staff were backing the Oddo âtown CenterââŚ. a WHAT? The smell wafted across the room as the planners presented their incoherent jumble of fish-taco-word-salad.
But before even the rotten presentations - much more was causing a stink. Lets me explain - using a game⌠Whatâs is this? - âOk, youâre on âthe listââ - âwell who are you speaking for?â - âAre you for or against the development?â âDo you intent to make a presentation?â âThe deadline for presentations in tomorrowâ âThe deadline for presentations has passedâ âThe deadline for presentations is Saturday, itâs Sunday, it was FridayâŚâ If you answered âwhat happens when I call or email with my intention to speak in the public session of the Olathe Planning Commissionâ, you were right⌠Multiple homeowners reported that they were met by a number of such responses, put through 20-questions and/or fed contradictory instructions. Not very welcoming to the public.
Talking about âthe publicâ what about the ârequirementâ of providing comprehensive introductionsâŚ?! Anyone objecting had to provide full personal details. Developers didnât. No one else did - for them it was all corporate offices and company anonymity. There was that feeling again; the entire process belonged to the developer - NOT to the public. Perhaps thatâs just how Olathe thinks it has to be - but we know first hand that aggressive developer-HOA owners like to know whoâs âgetting out of lineâ ⌠and developers making lists is ominous.
Also we are all aware that there is a modern day air of menace - even here in Kansas - that there never used be. A menace that stalks those who exercise their right to petition government. Itâs uncomfortable - to say the least.
So already some people were put off. We KNOW that because they told us. People who donât want to be on lists - even a list run by the haphazard chaotic planners in the Olathe City planning department. (Perhaps particularly them - given the potential for juveniles to be vindictive!). People want to stay off the radar of those whoâs names are only repeated after heads dip and faces dart back and forth - checking out the room - âhim⌠well hereâs what I know about himâŚâ
For sure there are certain types in this world who culture an air of âdonât get in my wayâ and most of us civilians would rather just oblige. Fair enough in a rough and tumble world. But only so long as you can count on such people NOT also controlling the levers of the state or its many layers of bureaucracy⌠that prompts thoughts of true discomfort.
What next seemed to have more than just the tang of the fishmongerâŚ! The Applicant - (i.e. Oddoâs Gang) was granted as long as it liked to speak - as many âprofessionalâ voices as they wanted, (no opportunity for the public to challenge them or ask them any questions, of course! In fact the Commission Chairman made it clear from the start âDONT ASK ANY QUESTIONS, JUST DONâTâŚâ. And if you were in any doubt about his seriousness - there were armed police all around the room..! Yes in Olathe, not Nicaragua, Nigeria or a Nazi client state last century, OlatheâŚ! )
Any one else feeling chilly yet?
But then there was time. Time itself. An abundant resource when developers speak - was as precious and limited as our diminishing rights when it came to the objectors turn to speak. The Preserve Our Neighborhood group paid to have a planning-expert lawyer present - and guess what, he was the Only professional treated like a schoolchild by the Planning Commission.
He patiently and respectfully sat and waited âhis turnâ to speak⌠for 5 - Big Clock timed - minutes. Despite repeated advance requests and even appeals to the City Attorney and the Commission to be afforded a usual professional courtesy of a full 15 minutes. No. Not for him was there to be any âhome-field advantageâ of the kind the developerâs lawyer enjoyed. Developer Esq. had no clock on his words - he could joke and banter; thank everyone on the Commission; âoh and Staff, and my agent, and my producers and my long suffering wifeâŚ.â (We began to wish it were an Oscar speech - at least the music might have welled up and spared usâŚ! ) Then the Oddogineer, the Oddarcitect, the entire circus⌠all were given untimed talk time. Who needed to keep track anyway - these guys were great entertainers (with all their tall tails about how no one can count (stories or feet) and how anything is âGreenâ because they say it isâŚ! What a hoot they wereâŚ
No, the lowest of the low in Olathe City Hall is being a voting, tax-paying, law abiding homeowner participant exercising his or her right to petition government. (Itâs funny how that phrase âthe right to petitionâ - implies it might not be just being granted a favor by a Planning Commission Chair⌠itâs almost like we had some - well⌠right! To be thereâŚ)
Being lowest on the totem poll also meant we had to stay in line. Literally and figuratively. And the order of that line also generated a distinct odor of sushi ⌠While speaker after speaker opposed Oddo - the surprise what how it all ended. The shock of the evening was the two âTurkeys for Christmasâ. A married couple who both said, literally, âno one wants to lose their freedom - but letâs speak nicely to our kidnappers and ânot spit in their eyeâ. After all - we are going to be spending a lot of time together. And they are the boss!â Iâm pretty sure that was the speech. (I could be wrong as I was vomiting into an airline sick bag during their particular 5 minuteses)! One really has to wonder if Ricardo Oddometer himself is holding that coupleâs prized Maltese in an Oddo Developments secret location. Perhaps an unrentable apartment unit - sorry, âluxury apartment unitâ - somewhere in Darkest LeawoodâŚ?
So right to the end - as a bunch of HOA-controlling developers all got to speak after the actual HOA membership and then Cedar Creekâs own Stockholm-syndrome couple were afforded a helpful dead-last-but-one and dead-last place on the speaker roster - the fishy smell of things did not go away.
The entire sorry, sad, statist and stage-managed kabuki left a terrible taste. You know what I mean if youâve ever eaten a dead fish raw of the beach. You havenât? Are you sure? Well let me tell you - you havenât missed anything - especially not if you were there to object to Oddo on March 11. You got the taste - and it was spot onâŚ!
Shame on Olathe, KansasâŚ! Shame.
They misspelled the last bitâŚ!
