Things to read while you sit shocked — SHOCKED! — that people who live in the poorer areas of Ohio, West Virginia and Virginia are having to wait much longer than people who live in the wealthier areas to have their power restored following last week’s storms:
Kansas City’s efforts to make a good impression for the rest of the world are bittersweet for residents of some inner-city neighborhoods who are asking why it took a baseball game to get city officials to do something about blight they say has been ignored for decades.
Missouri State House member Brandon Ellington:
“I think it’s a travesty,” he said. “The only time these poor neighborhoods get any treatment at all is when out-of-towners come to the city. It’s a lot like China before the Olympics. The infrastructure repair they’re doing now is only so the east side we know won’t be seen by out-of-towners.”
The sad fact of life: your elected officials will work to improve the lives of your area’s poorer citizens in direct relation to how much heat they’ll get if they don’t.
