One of the three Harry S Truman Boyhood Homes in
Independence is at 902 North Liberty Street is getting a nip & tuck-pointed
facelift. And it is with stone. And not just any stone. It appears to be a faux stone panel veneer
with an update in superfluous millwork. To
get an idea of what it used to look like, pull up the New York Times article from
October 15, 2010 entitled “In Truman
Homes, Reflections of a City” by A. G. Sulzberger and there is a feature
photo of the house with owner, Tracy E. Haley.
The article certainly provides an objective perspective of how well we
are doing as a community telling the story of Harry Truman, especially during
his “Wonder Years” growing up in the old neighborhood. The house featured in the article, with the photo
by photographer Steve Hebert, was a typical Victorian wood-framed home with
wood lapped siding, similar to the Truman Home National Historic Site a short
nine blocks away, only at a bit smaller scale.
Tracy is quoted as saying that she had lived there several years before
she discovered that young Harry Truman had briefly lived there. With this level of investment, is it clear we
do not need historic preservation standards in this corner of the Old Town? Even the National Park Service left out this property
and neighborhood block from the expanded National Historic Landmark District
boundaries taking away opportunities for valuable tax credits to offset
expensive restoration costs that comply with those standards. Keep in mind, Liberty Street is also the
predominate route for the three National Historic Trails that connect The
Square with the river boat landing on the Missouri River and is federally
designated. So in the spirit of the new townhouse
project also on Liberty Street between White Oak and Truman Road, which also represents
neo-eclectic and enigmatic styles and materials, we offer a salute to those who
have the audacity to not only invest in our historic community but also rewrite
history at the same time. To add a quote
by legendary rock band, AC/DC, “For those about to ROCK, we salute you!” Pun intended.
So what if a real estate developer makes promises and
agreements in order to receive favor either through rezoning hearings, a sales
agreement, receipt of public subsidies, special public financing, or to get a
bye on critical upgrades or on following preservation standards, or possibly
even all of the above, then renege on those agreements after receiving favor in
all of his demands? And what if he even holds the project up as a
hostage in order to receive even more public subsidies because miscalculations
and/or poor planning so he can further improve his profit margins for himself
and his investors/stockholders? Within
the financial world, they have a name for this and it begins with the letter
“F.” And so it would then lead one to
conclude that those public officials and legal counsels who allow this action
to take place while being complacent, and, in some cases, even offering praise
of the actions, would be considered accomplices in those actions. And let’s say hypothetically that if the
actions are, in fact, considered criminal acts, then the accomplices would be
participants in those crimes and would be subject to probes or inquiries into
at least ethics concerns if not corruption or worse. And the decision-making is done with private
meetings behind closed door and absent of community and national
stakeholders. Are we so desperate for
redevelopment in our historic community that we would lower our standards of
integrity for all who participate? Does
this sound like the community of one of the most respected US presidents who
coined the phrase, “The Buck Stops Here?”
To quote Richard Whately, 19th-century English rhetorician
& author, “All frauds, like the wall daubed with untempered mortar ...
always tend to the decay of what they are devised to support.” In other words, don’t be surprised to witness
the failure of these real estate projects initiated and founded on deception. These failures not only affect people and
property, but radiate throughout our historic community.
