The Truman Boyhood Home at South Crysler added a new
concrete parking lot to the front lawn area to supplement the gravel parking
area to the north side. This should go a
long way to support the 7 mailboxes on this once single-family home on this
very visible corner and entrance into our historic community. This property was actually highlighted in a
New York Times article published October 15, 2010 entitled "In Truman Homes, Reflections of a City"
written by A.G. Sulzberger, the Times Associate Editor, referring to
Independence as the "hardscrabble suburb" that "struggled in
recent decades to confront the many faces of urban blight." The article goes on to describe this property
as "decaying" and having the "reputation as a drug house"
in a community where our most prominent citizen was referred to as our
"less favorite son." Keep in
mind the NY Times reaches hundreds of millions of readers world-wide through
its newsprint and website. Our local
reaction to this publication was either ignorance of the article or dismissing
it as bad journalism from a writer who just doesn't understand us. This reaction is typical of the negative
press Independence receives. Rather than
providing leadership and investments in active and successful revitalization
and historic preservation programs, we prefer to throw public funds into
multiple PR and "rebranding" campaigns. We "pass the buck" for preserving
and interpreting the story of Harry S Truman to two federal agencies with our only
local responsibility to preserve and protect Truman's neighborhood and local
sites. How are we doing with that? You could ask City Hall but you would get the
same response for their assessment for everything they do. It's better to get the objective opinion of
an outsider representing one of the most respected media companies in the
world.
