On Tuesday, June 18th, there is an important mayoral election in Kansas City. While mayoral campaigns are full of promises, many of which will never come true, I think it's often best to look at what the candidate HAS ALREADY DONE during their time in office.
In this case, for my animal welfare-conscious friends in Kansas City, the choice to vote for Jolie Justus is clear. Justus has been a consistent and clear voice on the challenges facing the city's animal welfare policies. And I know these policies are important to many Kansas City residents -- as two years ago 70% of Kansas Citians voted for a tax increase to build a new city animal shelter (with very high voter turnouts, driven by a large volume of animal welfare voters). Meanwhile citizens in Kansas City donate 3x the money for animal sheltering services as the city allocates -- I can't think of another city service where people willingly pay more.
During her past 4 years on the city council, Justus has:
- Advocated for the building of a new animal shelter - which will finish construction late this year.
- Led the changing of city ordinances to allow for pets on patios at bars and restaurants. This was in response to city staff suddenly deciding to enforce a piece of the health code that prohibited animals on patios where food was served. Justus listened to her constituents (residents, business owners, non-profits) and worked with city staff to ensure the new code provided fair safety measures and was inclusive enough for fundraising and fostering events held at area bars and restaurants.
- Justus co-sponsored a resolution that guarantees the city's commitment to remaining a no kill community. Resolution 17058 states the "Kansas City Animal Shelter shall forever continue to save the lives of healthy and treatable dogs, cats and other animals by maintaining a 90% or more live release rate." This resolution actually had 11 sponsors; incidentally Justus's opponent was not one of them.
Justus also helped work through city codes so that BarK could open. BarK is a now-nationally recognized bar/restaurant/dog park on the city's riverfront that is a wonderful place for the city's pet owners. Anyone that has tried to open a business in this city has first hand knowledge of the massive amount of red tape it involves. Tack onto that adding dogs and food into the mix. Justus gets that pets are an economic development opportunity - something most candidates overlook even though we're in the heart of the Animal Health Corridor.
- Sponsored a resolution that the city audit their troubled animal control department. The audit highlighted dozens of areas needing improvement in the city's animal control division.
- Justus also sponsored a resolution to direct the city manager to pursue the privatization of the animal control field services in an effort to help reform that troubled department.
- Justus and her wife, Lucy, personally saved a hard luck dog that arrived at KC Pet Project, and orchestrated a rescue of two tame ducks that were left out at Penn Valley Lake. Animal Control was unable to capture the ducks, but Justus and others rallied to get them to safety.
Prior to joining the city council, Justus served as a State Senator in Jefferson City. While there:
- Justus sponsored the very first breed-specific legislation preemption bill in the state.
- When Missouri's Prop B passed, the state legislature repealed the ordinance. However, Justus worked with advocates to ensure key provisions were added to state code in order to help stop the worst of the state's commercial breeding issues. One of those provisions gave the State Attorney General power to prosecute neglectful commercial breeders when local law enforcement failed to act. She also worked to get over a million dollars added for enforcement. These changes led to the immediate closure of more than a dozen of the worst offenders in the state.
Beyond animal welfare issues, a few other things of note Justus has accomplished:
- Provided pro-bono legal services to countless kids in foster care, giving her a lot of knowledge of the challenges faced by some of the most vulnerable people in Kansas City.
- Has been a tireless advocate for small businesses.
- Whisker's Cat Cafe, BarK and restaurants that cater to dog owners on patios (such as Char-Bar and dozens of others) are mentioned above.
- Fought to allow Tom's Town Tavern to be able to sell more than just two types of wine (which was being contested by a singular property owner in the area).
- Changed ordinances to allow Cellar Rat, a local packaged liquor retailer, to sell individual pours of wine at their location, something previously prohibited.
- Led ordinance revisions that allowed for the opening of Howard's as a self-serve grocery store and another that allowed International Tap House to open with a patio.
- She also led the city's anti-violence task force.
- She also led the city's work in saving the Mayor's airport SNAFU. Due to Justus' leadership 75% of Kansas Citians voted to move forward on the building of a new airport after significant early pushback.
This is why Michelle and I are voting for Jolie Justus. And if others care about moving Kansas City's animal welfare (and many other) issues forward, they should vote for her too. Kansas City has come a long way in the past 8 years with regards to animal welfare issues. The shelter is performing better, a new shelter is under construction, and overall, the welfare of pets has improved a lot in Kansas City, but many challenges remain. The opening of the new shelter will bring with it many new challenges. The city's animal ordinances badly need revising. And the city's animal control field services badly need new leadership. 65% of households in our neighborhoods own one or more pets - these issues are important to a large constituency.
The city needs a mayor who will have these issues on their radar and push things forward. No one in the mayor's race is more qualified to lead this city for the next for years than Justus. And we're voting for her not just because of what she says she will do, but because of what she has already proven she will do and has already done. #JustusLeague
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