Itās a Family Business - ā¦!
As ANOTHER delay in the voting on the āhideous developmentā is approved by Olathe (for Oddoās 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 ā¦
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 Departmentās fishy chaos was fully olfactorable: the fix was in, as it were. The agenda announced that Planning Staff were backing the Oddo ātown Centerāā¦. 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 gameā¦ Whatās is this? - āOk, youāre on āthe listāā - āwell who are you speaking for?ā - āAre you for or against the development?ā āDo you intent to make a presentation?ā āThe deadline for presentations in tomorrowā āThe deadline for presentations has passedā āThe deadline for presentations is Saturday, itās Sunday, it was Fridayā¦ā If you answered āwhat happens when I call or email with my intention to speak in the public session of the Olathe Planning Commissionā, you were rightā¦ 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 āthe publicā what about the ārequirementā of providing comprehensive introductionsā¦?! Anyone objecting had to provide full personal details. Developers didnāt. 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 thatās just how Olathe thinks it has to be - but we know first hand that aggressive developer-HOA owners like to know whoās āgetting out of lineā ā¦ 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. Itās uncomfortable - to say the least.
So already some people were put off. We KNOW that because they told us. People who donāt 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 whoās names are only repeated after heads dip and faces dart back and forth - checking out the room - āhimā¦ well hereās what I know about himā¦ā
For sure there are certain types in this world who culture an air of ādonāt get in my wayā 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 bureaucracyā¦ that prompts thoughts of true discomfort.
What next seemed to have more than just the tang of the fishmongerā¦! The Applicant - (i.e. Oddoās Gang) was granted as long as it liked to speak - as many āprofessionalā 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 āDONT ASK ANY QUESTIONS, JUST DONāTā¦ā. 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, Olatheā¦! )
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 āhis turnā to speakā¦ 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 āhome-field advantageā of the kind the developerās lawyer enjoyed. Developer Esq. had no clock on his words - he could joke and banter; thank everyone on the Commission; āoh and Staff, and my agent, and my producers and my long suffering wifeā¦.ā (We began to wish it were an Oscar speech - at least the music might have welled up and spared usā¦! ) Then the Oddogineer, the Oddarcitect, the entire circusā¦ 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 āGreenā because they say it isā¦! What a hoot they wereā¦
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. (Itās funny how that phrase āthe right to petitionā - implies it might not be just being granted a favor by a Planning Commission Chairā¦ itās almost like we had some - wellā¦ right! To be thereā¦)
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 ā¦ While speaker after speaker opposed Oddo - the surprise what how it all ended. The shock of the evening was the two āTurkeys for Christmasā. A married couple who both said, literally, āno one wants to lose their freedom - but letās speak nicely to our kidnappers and ānot spit in their eyeā. After all - we are going to be spending a lot of time together. And they are the boss!ā Iām 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 coupleās prized Maltese in an Oddo Developments secret location. Perhaps an unrentable apartment unit - sorry, āluxury apartment unitā - somewhere in Darkest Leawoodā¦?
So right to the end - as a bunch of HOA-controlling developers all got to speak after the actual HOA membership and then Cedar Creekās 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 youāve ever eaten a dead fish raw of the beach. You havenāt? Are you sure? Well let me tell you - you havenāt missed anything - especially not if you were there to object to Oddo on March 11. You got the taste - and it was spot onā¦!
Shame on Olathe, Kansasā¦! Shame.
They misspelled the last bitā¦!
