Author: bcroan

2025-06-12 Art Committee

Billy at Merriam Grand Station

Now I’m no fine art connoisseur, but I attended Merriam’s Art Committee meeting, outdoors at Merriam Grand Station last Thursday.

Billy at Merriam Grand Station

I was disappointed they didn’t use Dierk Van Kepple, Merriam’s local, established glass artist. Not as disappointed as I was by the rusting welds and the caulking and adhesive marks from missing “don’t touch” signs.

Isn’t stainless supposed to be rust-proof?

But Matt Pennington at Drake Development got to choose what they spent our TIF dollars on, and they chose Leopold Gallery from Brookside.

The meeting ran about an hour. The video opens with Paul Dorrell, founder of Leopold Gallery, introducing himself and the glass artist Tyler Campbell. Paul made some remarks disparaging MAGA (5m42s)…. because…. that’s on topic???? And bragging about raising the price of local art.

Paul Dorrell name-dropped Matt Pennington several times and then commented “MAGA is dangerous and we’re not going to talk about it. They’ll cook their relatives.” he said again.

Can we not just have rust-free art in this city without injecting Divisive National Politics into it, Paul? I know a couple people in attendance had drinks from 30hop next door so maybe he’s not normally like that.

Paul mentioned I-5 in Riverside did the steel, using machine welding to achieve the precise compound twists. It leaves me wondering how so many of the elements are 5-10 degrees crooked and the weld beads so irregular… Also how did they not notice that before shipping it to Merriam?

Preston Brigham spoke next, about the murals painted in Merriam Grand Station. They were much better done, free of corrosion, and full of thoughtful detail. Thank you Preston!

2025-06-08 Council Meeting

Time stamps I spoke at:

42:57 58:50 1:20:45

Not at all my first meeting nor my first time speaking by a long shot. First time wearing a name tag though.

……

I’m speaking at the first council meeting in June about ALPR. I’ve spoken before about it. I will reference two abuses that took place in KS. I wanted to paste my notes here for later reference

Automatic License Plate Readers are going to court as a 4th amendment violation in Norfolk VA.  It’s probably not the first time, but it’s only getting more notable.

Merriam is subject to the same constitution.

Actual district court case: https://ij.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/2024.10.21-1-Complaint.pdf

I have asked our police chief to disclose in the annual report, the number of ALPR and other cameras used by his department to surveil peaceful, law-abiding free people in public places.  Darren has so far not been forthcoming with that information.

He has gone to council to request funding for new ALPR installs before, so I was very surprised when one day I was preparing to speak to council about it and the receptionist at MPD told me that was secret information (just asking the NUMBER of active cameras) and I never got an answer out of the cheif either.  That’s fishy.  

The number of cop cars or cops should also not be secret.  We’re not operating a nuclear submarine here in Merriam.  We should be open and transparent.  We should be proud and our public officials proud, of every part of their department.  And if we’re not proud of the number of ALPR cameras we have, we should reduce that number not conceal it.

The problem I have with ALPR is that the government should not indiscriminately create specific, identifiable, and searchable records of law abiding people without their consent.  It’s ripe for abuse, and not what my tax money is for.  Law was enforced plenty well before it, and we should not be dependent on it now.

The lawsuit goes into more detail about this and other violations.  If they ever put out a call for plaintiffs in Kansas, you can bet I’ll be all over it.

And Kansas may be on their radar…  An officer, and also a chief in Kansas have already been caught using ALPR data to stalk their exes https://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article291059560.html  If two were caught just this year in Kansas there are no doubt more than two who got away with it.

ALPR systems do not require officers to submit probable cause to a neutral judge!

In a similar case (Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle v. Baltimore Police Department) the Fourth Circuit struck down an aerial surveillance program precisely because it created record of where everyone in the city of Baltimore had gone over the past 45 days.  Surveilance from high altitude of people in public.  ALPR is just that, at ground level.  And it is just as wrong.

SOME of the ALPRs in Merriam today: https://deflock.me/#map=15/39.015233/-94.691076

other abuse:

https://www.kwch.com/2022/10/31/kechi-police-lieutenant-arrested-using-police-technology-stalk-wife

San Francisco Woman Pulled Out of Car at Gunpoint Because of License Plate Reader Error

New $40 Million debt

“PAYABLE FROM UNLIMITED AD VALOREM TAXES” Well, that just sounds lovely….

When we as a city took on the debt to finance the new community center, there was a public vote. That was about a $30 million dollar project. The public should have the right to vote on debts this large.

Well I just saw a public notice today… Our current city administration is planning $40 million dollars of new debt:

Don’t just take my word for it. Read it for yourself: https://thelegalrecord.net/LR-CITIES.pdf page 13 of the PDF.

This in relation to the new North Merriam Grand Marketplace with the 12.5k sqft grocery store and apartment building.

A 3 year old today will JUST be learning to drive by the time we pay this debt off if our current government is successful at pushing this through without a public vote. And they probably will be.