9. The MACO Northcreek Housing project, a development to bring low-income rental duplexes on property that included a prominent hiking/biking trail marked with “National Historic Trails” signs that connects four city parks and a presidential library, was finally approved for public subsidies from the Missouri Housing Development Commission (MHDC) in their second attempt of applications for 2016. During private meetings in the final hours for the public approval processes for rezoning in 2015, the community was blind-sided by support from two officials from a trails preservation group, OCTA, a group that ironically advocates for the preservation of green space adjacent to our National Trails. The befuddlement continued in 2016 when the Independence City Council actually pulled a Resolution of Support for the project scheduled for their vote on August 1. Supporting projects with these resolutions has been routine. The Mayor and most of the Council instead sent their support for the project in a less visible and quieter manner away from the TV cameras directly to MHDC with form letters. More to report about this to come in 2017.
8. After breaking multiple commitments made to the Church, their own tenants, neighbors, several city commissions, the City Council, and even the Independence Public Schools, work to dump more public money into Heritage House, an Urban Renewal era albatross, begins. Even federal officials from HUD judged the project as a negative impact to adjacent nationally designated historic resources, i.e., the Owen-McCoy House and the Truman National Historic Landmark District, due to the heavy and uncontrolled traffic on the short 180-foot-long dead end street, Ridgeway Avenue. The city befuddled traffic issues by erecting NO TRUCK signs, then refusing to enforce them. A new north entrance to the 11-story tall apartment building to relieve neighborhood traffic while improving site access for emergency vehicles, adding ladder truck access to the north side where there is none, and improving delivery truck access, a win-win solution first suggested to the city four years ago, was considered too costly for out-of-town investors in spite of receiving financial subsidies from every level of government. The project will still not meet current life safety codes after renovation and will be supported by a single fire hydrant connected to a circa-1884 and undersized water main. Sounds like a project that is preordained to either receive an outstanding achievement award from the locals or end up on the evening news.
7. Speaking of the Owens-McCoy House, Ridgeway Avenue, and awards, a project to document deterioration and differential movements of the clay brick and lime mortar walls adjacent to Ridgeway Avenue using the latest in 3D laser scanning technology received an annual award for “Innovation in Preservation” in March. No, it wasn’t from the City of Independence. It was from Historic Kansas City Foundation. The project made the lead story on the front page of the Kansas City Star on October 8, 2015, the same day the KC Royals began their storied World Series run in postseason play. Engineering and information technology students from UMKC and Notre Dame were involved while turning the project into college credit. The effort concluded that deterioration and wall displacements are three time worse on the walls facing Ridgeway Avenue, the same walls exposed to heavy truck traffic, than the other exterior walls. So the lessons learned for these young students involved processing data, engineering, and city planning.
6. We are entering
our third calendar year for the construction of the Market Square Townhomes
under the guidance of seasoned architect, Jim Gamble, and developer Ken McClain.
In its completion, it will bring an
entirely new architectural style, “Enigmatic Neo-Eclectic”, to the Historic
Square, thus, adding further to the diversity (and confusion) in styles and housing types for
the Truman National Historic Landmark District and its setting. The extended construction schedule adds
perplexity to the entire project since the project team asked for an expedited approval
process because of a deadline for a tax credit (?). That emergency ordinance was passed by the
City Council, of course, resulting in public land, an entire city block, gifted
to McClain without an open public hearing or design standards to follow. So was
the construction actually expedited and was the deadline achieved? Now the history of his property that included
early 19th-century businesses supporting the pioneer trails has
another chapter.
5. There was a
sighting of Randy Lande, the child sex offender, who raped an 8-year-old
neighborhood girl. No, he didn't break out of
prison, but his mug shot appeared again on every TV set in every corner of the
state. He was living in an unsupervised
group home in the Truman NHLD because of Cass County Prosecutor, Teresa Hensley,
who was running for Missouri Attorney General on a record ironically of
protecting children. Her Republican
opponent brought up the Lande case in televised political campaign ads. The voters responded appropriately. This is the first time anyone has been held
accountable for creating this situation.
But group homes such as these continue to put children in harm’s way in
Independence.
4. Jeffery Wahl, the
other sex offender who ended up firing 11 bullets into the flesh of two of his
neighbors was finally put away in 2016.
No, he was not put in prison. He
was placed in a mental institution where, after treatment, could eventually be
released to, yes, a group home. There
are several within view of the actual location of this horrific crime with
mental patients and, yes of course, no supervision. The cycle continues.
3. The Beauty Rest
Motel, a historic motel complex made up of small cottages near 24 Highway &
Salisbury, was demolished in September.
I use the term historic because professionals conducting a historic
survey listed and documented the property in a study funded by HUD almost 4
decades ago. The celebrated project
resulted in a book entitled "Independence" and published in 1978 with
a photo of this property. Due to decades
of owner neglect and our issues with vagrancy, this property became blighted
and a source for crime so all the buildings were removed. But this failure was turned into a victory
party with photo-ops for politicians, TV cameras, and newspaper articles. Even the children were involved in swinging
hammers at those "bad" buildings as we raise a new generation of
citizens responsible for our community stewardship.
2. Each year the
historic community within and associated with City Hall takes a loss. 2016 was no exception in the loss of Christina
Leakey from Neighborhood Services who got her start working with Historic
Preservation. Christina has been a strong advocate for Historic Preservation
and Neighborhood Revitalization while introducing programs and resources
outside our community to assist historic neighborhoods. Her strong work ethic allowed her to take on
extra responsibilities at City Hall while the department downsized to meet
budget restraints (that’s a whole other issue).
When your professional contributions make a positive impact not only in
your local community but also in a National Historic Landmark District, that is
truly something to be proud of. Thank
you, Christina Leakey.
1. After decades and
decades of holiday seasons on the Independence Square, this season City Hall
decides to stop that traditions and blames it on budget short falls. But don’t be a Scrooge! The citizens and taxpayer do have a public
building that not only had a large Christmas tree with seasonal decorations
scattered throughout, and even had a live Santa Clause. It’s called Bass Pro. Taxpayers paid for a significant part of the
development including the building that houses Bass Pro. And, I understand, we are still making debt
payments on that development that are leading to budget shortfalls. Wait a minute, I get it now! The cycle continues.
So 2016 was a banner year for drama, deception, hypocrisy, questionable
politics, conflicts of interest, low standards for redevelopment, lessons not
learned, and the disrespect of our rich heritage. Sound like a plot for a movie or mini-series or
the recent presidential campaign. And as
with previous years, we continue to be content with a large National Historic
Landmark District with only minimal protection and an underperforming Heritage
Tourism program. The sad saga continues
on and on and, unfortunately, we have a front row seat.
