Kansas City News Blog

By DAVID MARTIN

The citizen satisfaction surveys that Kansas City Mayor Mark Funkhouser prizes as a performance measure indicate that his approval ratings fell 18 percent in the last nine months.

The new survey, released Wednesday, showed "significant decline" in 32 areas, including the leadership provided by elected officials. Only 23 percent of residents say they are satisfied or very satisfied with elected officials.

The survey was conducted in July and August. A previous survey, done in November and December of 2007, found that 28 percent of residents felt satisfied or very satisfied with the city's elected officials.

For Funk and the council, the loss of esteem is similar to the one that occurred during the sixth season of American Idol, which featured Sanjaya, Melinda Doolittle and the crying girl. Ratings for the season finale -- Jordin Sparks took the crown -- were down 19 percent from the previous season, won by Taylor Hicks.

Said a media critic of Idol after the disappointing Season 6 Nielsens came in: "People are getting tired of it." A lot of residents surely feel the same way about the drama at City Hall.