Top Ten For 2014

10.  The year started with a bang.  Actually it was 11 bangs from the firing of 11 bullets on the morning of January 21.  No it wasn’t a patriotic salute.  It was Jeffrey Wahl, registered and convicted child sex offender, who fired 11 bullets into the bodies of two of his neighbors over a minor dispute leaving them both near death and now disabled.  He lived just a block away from Randy Lande, the other sex offender who raped an 8-year-old girl in the neighborhood in 2011.  Both these dangerous predators lived near the intersection of Spring & Farmer Streets, near a faith-based child care center, a homeless shelter for families with children, the home of our First District Councilwoman, and the entrance into the Truman Neighborhood National Historic Landmark District.  This neighborhood corner is the same place where there were 2 mysterious deaths in 2012 with no reporting in the media or even the neighborhood newsletter.  Maybe Jeffrey will get a reduced sentence just like the deal Randy got to avoid a messy trial that shows the side of Independence crime that city leaders do not want exposed.

9.  Down the street from Spring & Farmer is the beautiful McCoy Park that is attracting some attention also.  3 to 4 sexual assaults have occurred either in or around the park area in 2014.  One of those was actually inside the Public Library.  The park is popular to vagrants getting kicked out of other communities because of the generosity of faith-based programs, adjacent to the climate-controlled newly-renovated library with public restrooms, close to a metal recycling business where they can get cash for stolen pieces extracted from abandon and occupied buildings, and the availability of dumpsters at the Thriftway grocery store where they can also panhandle, shop lift, and buy liquor.  And to top it off, children play there and they can shower with them in the spray park.  It’s like the “Promise Land.”  IPD doesn’t have the budget and/or manpower to appropriately deal with the issue.  In fact, a “Top Ten” ranking from a real estate research site in April named Independence one of the most dangerous small cities in the country.

8.  The Missouri Highway Department (MODOT) responded to the vagrancy and crime problems in August at McCoy Park at their US 24 Highway concrete bridge over Delaware Street by painting “NO TRESSPASSING” directly on the bridge at multiple locations to inhibit human inhabitation under the bridge.  Ironically, this unsightly piece of our nation’s crumbling infrastructure was added to our expanded Truman Neighborhood National Historic Landmark District in 2011.  Now tourists are greeted with these messages of “NO TRESSPASSING” as they drive under the bridge to enter the beautifully landscaped and manicured front lawn of the Harry S Truman Presidential Library & Museum.

7.  Independence Parks & Recreation has taken steps toward providing a new playground and ball field specially designed for children with special needs and wheelchairs and used private money.  But they chose McCoy Park, one of the hilliest parks in town, and built it into the hillside requiring costly expenditures of earth moving for the site.  The playground still sits incomplete while the ball field has yet to host the multitude of events promised for special needs children.  Several pleas to add security cameras to protect children and these costly investments have been considered by City Hall as unnecessary in spite of Numbers 8 through 10 above.

6.  At the annual meeting of the Missouri Housing Development Commission (MHDC) in May, it announced again that the Maple Avenue Apartments located within the Truman National Historic Landmark District is on the “Watch List” for poor management and maintenance of the facilities.  This marked the 19^th consecutive month for being on the list making it one of the worse facilities in the state being monitored by MHDC.  Ironically, the City of Independence and the M/TRC Neighborhood Revitalization Corporation continues to honor the owner with tax abatement for maintaining its facilities to the highest level of standards.  I guess housing standards in Independence are much lower than those state-wide standards established in Jefferson City.

5.  There was a huge fire on 24-Highway at November 14^th at 314 W. US 24 Hwy, the abandon Fender Building, former home to Town Square Property Management, the Community of Christ property manager of choice and manager of the Section 8 rental properties in Heritage House Apartments.  The building appears to be completely gutted and a complete loss.  Unfortunately, this burned-out building is viewed by visitors coming to see the Truman Library and, ironically, is within view of Fire Station No. 1.  Thank God Poppy’s Donut Shop was spared.  The fire occurred during time when the Public Library across the street was closed to the public while they were updating their I.T. system making library facilities unavailable to vagrants looking for warm place to stay after the temperature dropped. 

4.  There is some good news with the three National Stabilization Program (NSP) properties on North Pleasant and West Farmer all located in the Truman National Historic Landmark District.  Two are actually renovated, one of those was recently occupied, and renovation work has started on the third one at 419 N. Pleasant, a property vacant for at least 10 years and formally owned by the First Baptist Church.  It has taken more time to complete the renovation of these 3 small homes than the construction of the $80-million-dollar Event Center.  You can most definitely see where the city’s priorities are.

3.  Superintendent Larry Villalva of the Truman Home National Historic Site mysteriously disappears.  His tenure included cutting visiting hours for the main house by nearly a third while closing indefinitely the Grandview Farm House and the newly renovated Noland House.  These reductions were in response to a 5 percent “sequester” budget reduction mandated by the federal government.

2.  The Chamber Pot continues to be flushed.  The Independence Chamber of Commerce fired their CEO joining the ranks of others in the last few years that have inadvertently disappeared from our community.  He was the only ICC leader who actually understood the economics of historic preservation and heritage tourism making his disappearance a loss to our history communities.  I guess he was not prepared to take on the rebuilding of ICC in addition to actually trying to refocus the group towards the great historical assets of our community.  We wish him success. 

1.  Independence Heritage Commission serving at the direction of the City Council with representation from the Truman Library and the Truman Home National Historic Site continues to be satisfied to perform “reactive” reviews for the demolition of burned-out and abandon buildings throughout town rather than “proactive” preservation planning.