State Sen. Phil Journey (in photo), R-Haysville, is also a lawyer who is currently representing perhaps the worst offender in the city’s recent campaign to fight blight.
Neighbors have been complaining about Gregory Gracey’s trashed property at 10th and Volutsia for more than a decade, to no effect.
After the city of Wichita filed an injunction against the property to have it cleaned up, Journey issued a statement saying he had gotten a local business to donate a trash bin and adding, “I think it’s unfortunate this community has chosen not to help one of its citizens.”
Remember: Blame long-suffering neighbors for blight — they should have cleaned it up themselves.
You wonder if Journey’s message would be the same if this rat hole was in his district.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
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48 Comments
One comment by a neighbor “He could not clean it up by himself in ten years it is such a mess!”.I LOL at hearing her say that, I do not know the true causes and what has happened in this situation.LoL my own kids threaten to take a picture of our yard and send it into “Redneck yard of the week”.But I tell them to make sure they explain that it is their fault for the most of the junk they store here.
What other type of comment would you expect to hear out of Phil Journey. He is a member of the same republican party that blames the poor for being poor! He probably believes that if Kansas were a more “business friendly” state, “market” forces would magically clean up his client’s crap. I’ve met Journey in the 2004 campaign, he’ll also probably put guns in the hands of his client to “exercise his right to bear arms” to protect his property. ROFL Journey is a joke. This whole situation is a joke.
Condemn the property, bull-doze the the house and the trash, haul it to the landfill and bill the slumlord and Journey.
It didn’t take a decade for the county and city to impose eminent domain to purchase property for the arena —
Uhh…don’t cross Phil Journey, he is probably packing heat. He’ll pump your dumpster of disdain full of holes.
Too many slumlords are getting away with not keeping up their properties. I’ve seen first hand how bad some of those places are in Midtown, no wonder families don’t want to invest in property there.The inspectors like to pick on resonsible property owners because it’s easy to get them to comply, meanwhile they ignore the horrible places close to downtwon that are filled with a lot of drug dealers, addicts, and other criminals who are the only ones that will live in those places because they’re so cheap.Nothing will ever become of Midtown until it’s cleaned up and that’s too bad because there is a lot of great architecture and beautiful old homes that could be restored. Midtown could be as beautiful as the Riverside area if the city paid some attention to it.
Ah yes…now blighted houses are the fault of Republicans too? Sheesh, Apophis, can’t you come up with something a little more original than claiming every ill in the world is the fault of the Republican Party, and every Republican that has ever drawn breath is spawn of the devil?
Your generalizations are getting old.
Addendum…Journey is an attorney. That defines his reprehensible behavior much more than what political party he supports. His blaming the community for his client’s disgusting habits is typical of attorneys…and pathetic.
Well
If you read the link? This one doesn’t make any sense.
The neighbors are supposed to clean up the property because Journey got a dumpster delivered? They are to blame for not doing so?
Seems like even the city can’t make this guy clean up. How can the neighbors force it?
From what I’ve seen of the property on TV, the owner literally uses the place as a dump. If the neighbor’s cleaned it off, the guy would probably be like “hey thanks, now I can pile more in”
I’m sure sentencing him to 18 months in jail will motivate him to get it cleaned up.
raptor………….if you haven’t figured it out, the old “republican party” is dead. In the past 20 years it has been hijacked by the radicals, especially the religious right. It IS the fault of today’s republicans, they only look out for themselves and their narrow world view.
If the owner of the property is physically able to clean up the property, then by all means force him to clean it up even if it takes a couple of deputies standing guard to do so.
No more coddling these lazy bums. If they want to trash it up, they need to be treated harshly.
Ok, Adophis..I have it now. This guys trashy yard is the direct result of Republicans? How about typhoid in Indonesia? Human slavery in Thailand? My difficulties with my sister?
Of course..all the world’s ills can be blamed on the Republicans. Thank you for clearing that up.
If this property ownder has money to hire Journey as his lawyer then why does he not have money to get his trashed property cleaned up?
Of course, if Journey were the attorney for the City then his version of this entire situation would be reversed.
Actually, raptor, Apophis explained his reasoning quite well. You may certainly continue ignoring what he actually said if you wish.
There is a delicious hypocrisy to it all–requesting “community help” for a property owner.
Sorry, I disagree, Rage. This trashy yard has absolutely nothing to do with political parties. Adophis first post is blaming the Republican party for the actions of an individal attorney. There is no correlation except in the traditional “blame Republicans for everything” meme.
This ridiculous situation was best summed up by Suza..the guy has money to hire an attorney, but not to clean up his yard. And, then the attorney tries to shift the blame. Has nothing to do with partisan politics..just a local lazy bum and his hired attorney.
Does the guy actually live in the house?
“You wonder if Journey’s message would be the same if this rat hole was in his district.Posted by Randy Scholfield”
Randy, Journey does have these kind of rat holes in his district, really, I am not kidding!If you don’t believe me then go and look for yourself.
JR – I don’t think Journey’s client lives there.
Gee, Phil, whatever happened to the philosophy of personal responsibility? I thought that was a cornerstone of your Party.
Well, an attorney DOES have to advocate for their client–I just think it’s a real giggle that Journey is making a argument that he would condemn as liberal nonsense as a legislator.
Spot on, Rage…it is a totally ridiculous claim. Yes, an attorney is bound to defend his client..but that ‘defense’ of blaming the community is beyond reason.
I do agree with Adophis on one thing..bulldoze the place down and bill the slumlord AND his attorney!
I’m all about helping out someone who is unable to help themselves. However, there is something very wrong about this guy and his acts. He has willfully and continuously defied the people, the law. Not only did he NOT stop using that property as a dumping ground, he continued to do so almost like spitting in the faces of others who live near there.
So no, in this case, this is not a community should pitch in and help thing.
Raptor, we agree! That hasn’t happened for awhile.
Suza, you posted exactly what I was thinking. How can this guy hire a lawyer at what? $100 an hour? but can’t find the cash to hire some college boys to load up a dumpster?
A new development is going in at the corner of 21st and Andover Road. The special taxes for water and sewer etc is 24,000 dollars.
If the city bought these blighted neighborhoods and sold the land to developers, they could put in brand new communities with no specials, and the increased tax base and business growth would quickly pay back the city’s cost.
But no, we’d rather have a 250 million dollar arena, heigh ho . . .
Hey, wait a minute here! It is too darn bad that Ole Phastdraw Phil did not contact Randy Scholfield to pull some strings and get the City to lease the trash bin from us good people at RENT A CENTER. We would have thrown in a low Quality Chevy to sweeten the deal. And got some good front page for Randy’s loyal underwriters at the same time! A big win-win for all but those who are stupid enough to believe in the existence of independent journalists.
In partial defense of Phil it is possible he got assigned this case by the Courts.
I think it is sad that phil journey is blaming the neighbors for his clients mess. He says that we the neighbors should help clean this up. We the neighbors didnt allow this to build up over the last 20 years. Even if we wanted to go in there and help it would be impossible considering all of the hazardous material that is in there. Not only should phil journey have got the dumpster donated he should have gone over there and helped his client pick up the trash instead of putting the blame on neighbors who have to live next to this rathole evryday. Im sure that Journey probably hasnt even been to 10th and volutsia to see this dump himself nor would he live next to it either. Phil Journey is a joke and cant believe that he is the best prospect out of haysville to represent that district in topeka. I have also heard that Phil JOurney also supports payday and cartitle lenders who are putting kansans into huge debt traps. Check his campign finance reports ie “LOANMAX”. It seems as though he likes slumlords as well as loan sharks. Doesnt something seem wrong about this considering he is a state senator?
Our goal is not to see Mr Gracey sit in jail but that the property be cleaned up immediatley and the city has the power to do that but are dragging their feet also. You should see the size of the rats that come from underneath this dump. It is terrible i would challenge anyone who has read this to drive over to 10th and volutsia and get out of your car and see what the city has allowed to build up right in the middle of town. It is ridiculous!
I think it is sad that phil journey is blaming the neighbors for his clients mess. He says that we the neighbors should help clean this up. We the neighbors didnt allow this to build up over the last 20 years. Even if we wanted to go in there and help it would be impossible considering all of the hazardous material that is in there. Not only should phil journey have got the dumpster donated he should have gone over there and helped his client pick up the trash instead of putting the blame on neighbors who have to live next to this rathole evryday. Im sure that Journey probably hasnt even been to 10th and volutsia to see this dump himself nor would he live next to it either. Phil Journey is a joke and cant believe that he is the best prospect out of haysville to represent that district in topeka. I have also heard that Phil JOurney also supports payday and cartitle lenders who are putting kansans into huge debt traps. Check his campign finance reports ie “LOANMAX”. It seems as though he likes slumlords as well as loan sharks. Doesnt something seem wrong about this considering he is a state senator?
Our goal is not to see Mr Gracey sit in jail but that the property be cleaned up immediatley and the city has the power to do that but are dragging their feet also. You should see the size of the rats that come from underneath this dump. It is terrible i would challenge anyone who has read this to drive over to 10th and volutsia and get out of your car and see what the city has allowed to build up right in the middle of town. It is ridiculous!
fed up
Are you for real from that area?
If so you have my sympathies. I wish there was something any of us could do.
I got an idea.
Have the city appraise the land AS IS. Then use eminent domain. Give this guy the appraised value of the land AS IS and 39 cents.
JR – if this property were a well-maintained building serving the public for a non-profit the government would already have moved to condemn and sieze it.
Interesting information about Journey’s campaign contributions.
there is something you can do, call the city manager and tell him to clean up this prop ASAP. I dont know if eminent domain is the answer either. All i do know is that this dump affects the property values of everyone around it. even if i wanted to sell my home i wouldnt be able to get $100 for it next to this dump. If Journey is concerned about peoples property rights maybe he ought to consider this. The lady in the news article was recently denied home owners insurance because they said that the dump, which is right next to her was a huge fire hazard. If the city wants to stop blight they should start out by eliminating this eyesore from my neighborhood. If they cant do that then stop blight isnt anything but a bunch of talk. The neighbors have lived with this dump for too long and its time for it to go. It just frustrates me that this type of thing is allowed in certain parts of town.
Sheesh and I get grief cause I got an old Lincoln that doesn’t run right now parked on the street!
Hey fed up and Ben?
If there really IS hazardous waste on the site does that not warrant attention from the feds?
J R – yes, it does. And I would suggest that if the City refuses to act perhaps fed up might contact KDHE. They have a local office in the Finney office building.
Phil’s an attorney. He’s hired to advocate for his client. Sometimes it’s tough to defend the indefensible, but ya gotta do the best you can.
Wanna blame someone? Blame the right person – the landowner – not the attorney. This is simply the Eagle’s excuse to take pot shots at Journey.
Valid point GMC – and I suspect court-appointed. But you have to admit it IS ironic.
P.J. is a gay gun-toting trash-talking blame-thrower with enough insanity to seek public office and force the rest of us to hear from him. (or so i’m told)Fred Koch
GMC dont get mad because the eagle is telling the truth. I know it hurts, You are right the property owner is to blame and Journey should be doing the same blaming his client instead of shaming the neighbors for not offering their help. We live here and have seen this dump build up over the years, There is some reason that phil journey is interested in this case, and i think the eagle plainly saw through JOurneys strategy of champoining for property rights. He shouldnt mix politics in this way because it affects the people like me who have to live by this dump. He should just do the right thing and sign the abatement so the city can do all of us a favor and clean up this mess.
Lets not forget the city either they have alot of responsibility here! Councilman Carl Brewer should declare this an emergency in his district and demand that this be removed ASAP! Brewer plans to run for mayor, would you all want a mayor that allows 20 year old trash dumps in his district? I wouldn’t. He talks about respectable leadership WELL BREWER LETS SEE IT!!!!
The city has the power to overstep the court stuff if they would declare this property an emergency situation, which means that the property poses a serious health risk. Which in deed it does. So i dont understand what the city is waiting on someone to get ill and die!
GMC
Phil Journey did the inexplicable here.
He blamed the neighbors for his clients mess.
Ben -For the record –Journey is not a court appointed attorney for the City Municipal Court.
But he is a former public defender for Muni Court.
Ya JR, that explanatin is pretty indefensible. But it appears he has a pretty indefensible client. He has to argue his client’s position, indefensible or not.
We should take care not to attach a client’s moral position to that of this attorney. They’re not the same thing.
That’s all I’m saying. The Eagle knows that; they’re not that naive.
They just took an opportunity to take a cheap shot at Journey.
Cheap shot?
Ask “fed” if he or she thinks it is a cheap shot.
Something does not smell right here. And I mean more than what it must smell like to live next to this dump.
Journey’s services as an attorney can’t come cheap. TOO he seems more interested in the APPEARANCE of addressing this problem as opposed to actually doing something.
Is it rude to speculate that there is more to this property than meets the eye and Journey is trying to protect his client or friend from deeper trouble? I mean like the trouble you get into when the feds and EPA get involved?
Ten years is a LONG TIME to not do anything. Maybe there is a reason why?
“Speculate?” I try not to, JR. I’ll stick to the facts, as best as I can determine them. I’ll leave the conspiracy fantasy to folks like you.
“Journey is trying to protect his client or friend from deeper trouble?”
That’s EXACTLY his job, JR. That’s exactly what he’s hired to do.
You continue to confuse the moral position of the client with that of his counsel. They are not the same thing. A defense attorney is not a bad person when he defends a bad person. BTK’s attorney didn’t become an instant serial killer, nor does he (I think he; I don’t remember exactly who represented BTK) share any moral responsibility for BTK’s actions.
Blame the property owner, and rightly so. But attacking the attorney is a cheap shot.
Point taken GMC
But Journey’s defense of his client did not have to go as far as blaming the neighbors for the problem. That was idiotic and the Eagle is correct to report it. It speaks to Journey’s character.
I’m gonna take a drive later and see this eyesore. (The dump I mean not Journey or GMC : ) )
Anybody got directions? What is Bitting near?
There are real problems with blight in many area’s of the city my fear and I suspect I’m correct is that even with the new anti-blight measures that the worst areas will continue be undressed while some Dennis Rader wannabe will be out measuring people lawns with a ruler. Or hassling old ladies because of paint chips on there window sills.
The address is at the corner of 10th and volutsia which is 3 blocks south of 13thst and west of hillside it right on the corner. you cant miss it. GMC I agree with you whole heartdly.Fed up
JR
This may be a small point, but I think an important one. Bear with me:
“But Journey’s defense of his client did not have to go as far as blaming the neighbors for the problem. That was idiotic and the Eagle is correct to report it. It speaks to Journey’s character.”
Speaks to his character? I don’t think it does. Let me tell you why.
An attorney is bound by his ethical obligations to argue the position of his client. He need not agree with that position; he may even find it to be personally repugnant. But he must argue it (or quit – he’s not required to represent any particular client, except for appointed criminal defense).
Phil’s stuck, it appears, with an indefensible position. He made an indefensible arguement, if you assume that what the Eagle wrote is what he said (I would NOT assume that!). That speaks to his client, not to the attorney. The Eagle – and you – are attacking the wrong target. On the other hand, I’m sure Phil is being nicely compensated for taking that heat for his client.
An example:
I once had a defense attorney accuse me of racial discrimination in making a Batson challenge to the use of a peremptory strike. (Batson holds that it violates equal protection to dismiss potential jurors for racial/ethinic grounds). I was deeply angry at the time; he was essentially accusing me of being a racist. But the initial anger passes; the attorney was arguing a legal position, not a personal one. He had to protect his client’s legal options. After the defendant was convicted and in turn, the appellate attorney argued that I was a racist and made a Batson argument. I just finished writing the brief for the Court of Appeals, and had to argue that issue again. Did the trial attorney or appellate attorney think I was a racist? I don’t think so. Attorneys argue positions. They don’t necessarily agree with them. But they have to argue what is in their client’s interests (and when you have little to argue, you grasp at straws. A Batson challenge is usually grasping at straws).
I know we often want to blame the lawyers. And sometimes we lawyers deserve it. But lawyers represent CLIENTS, who’s positions they represent. It is the CLIENT’S position, not the lawyer’s position, that is being argued.
GMC
Sigh….
I don’t have your legal training. There are those who tell me I should have been a lawyer. I don’t think I could be.
I am GLAD that we have a system that encourages judicial advocates and defenders for even those who would SEEM the least deserving of defense or advocacy. NO lawyer basher am I. The folks who do that work are heroes.
John Adams was the greatest of revolutioary patriots. Yet he found it in his conscience to defend a British colonial governor.
SO I understand Journeys duty to defend his seemingly indefensible client.
But here is where my problem with Journey is and why I say the Eagle was correct to report this matter.
>>> Journey issued a statement saying he had gotten a local business to donate a trash bin and adding, “I think it’s unfortunate this community has chosen not to help one of its citizens.<<<
See? He is not in court.He is issuing a statement with his own personal shot at the community. It would be interesting to read the rest of his statement. But as it stands it is an indictment of the community. This matters because besides being an attorney, Journey is a public servant.
I say again, the Eagle is correct to report it.