KC Mayor James Emphasizes Reading

Kansas City Mayor Sly James delivered his state-of-the-city message yesterday to a crowd at Bartle Hall that included the mayors of five other local communities.

The mayor spoke of a new attitude of cooperation and respect at City Hall, and he reaffirmed his commitment to manage with lagging revenues, start catching up on deferred maintenance and bring a streetcar system to downtown. But he said his most important initiative is a volunteer project.

“Over the next three years of the project, we anticipate over 750,000 volunteer hours to accomplish the goal of preparing each child to read at grade level by third grade,” said James.

James praised the contributions of former mayors Dick Berkley, Emanuel Cleaver and Kay Barnes to the development of the city. He did not mention his predecessor, Mark Funkhouser.