Parks Board "Kohned" by Crappy Art

Herb Kohn (pronounced "con" - as in "I conned the Parks Board into doing something stupid") is a Big Time Big Shot. He's one of a select group of insiders who get stuff done in this town, because they can make or break politicians with a phone call. When I attended a Swope Health Services fundraiser/roast of Mr. Kohn last year, I saw politicians from the state, local and national levels all show up and praise him. The guy has serious sway.

Yesterday, for God-only-knows what reason, he decided to use his sway to help an artist/client use one of our prettiest parks as a personal gallery for kitschy, cloying, crappy figurine art. For the months of October and November, Kansas Citians will be subjected to six monstrosities littering the lawn of the charming Mill Creek Park, home of the dignified Nichols Fountain. A gallery will sell miniatures and paintings of these pieces to whomever has more money than taste, and the city will get 10 percent of the money to use for kid's art education, so, perhaps, Kansas City's future generations won't put up with crap like this.

I'm disgusted on several levels:

1. Why Mackenzie Thorpe? Why not somebody local, or, at a minimum, somebody capable of producing something less annoying?

2. Why Mill Creek Park - one of Kansas City's prettiest parks and one of the most-photographed sites in the city? Why ruin all those photos?

3. Why did the Parks Board buckle to such a misguided idea?

The answer to all three questions is the same, of course. "Because this is what Herb Kohn wants." Let's just be happy he didn't want Precious Moment figurines put up in Loose Park.