Grant US Wisdom

During our summer travels, we have visited other presidential communities (see blog entry 8-11-10) to see first-hand how they preserve and promote their history.  We were overwhelmed when we arrived in Galena, Illinois, which is considered one of several hometowns of Ulysses S. Grant, our nation's 18th president.  This little community in northwest Illinios, population 4,329, is at least an hour and a half from the nearest interstate highway but has a tremendous historic district and commercial area.  It boasts of 40 bed & breakfast establishments, yet has just a fraction of the history and historic attractions that Independence has.  There are two tourist visitor's centers, one operated by the city and the other by the local chamber of commerce.  Yes, that's right; their chamber actively promotes heritage tourism in their restored historic railroad depot.  There is even a third center that also promotes tourism, sells souvenirs, and sells tickets to sites.  There are two competing trolley tours charging $15 per head.  House museum tickets go for $12 per head (compared to $5 here) and there were people standing in line at the front door.  We called ahead two weeks in advance to book a Saturday night at a B&B and were turned away from three B&B's because we were only booking one night and ended up staying in a hotel (which was full also).  The business district was lined with specialty shops, restaurants, and people spending money (with no one complaining about the economy).  And this community had neither a Presidential Library nor the presence of the National Park Service (NPS) to assist them with preserving and presenting their history. To top it off, there are five other cities in the nation (White Haven in Grantwood Village Missouri - National Historic Site operated by the NPS, Grant Cottage in Wilton New York - operated as a New York State Historic Site & Museum, Grant's Birthplace in Point Pleasant Ohio - operated as a museum by the Ohio Historical Society, Grant's Boyhood Home National Historic Landmark in Georgetown Ohio, and, of course, Grant's Tomb in Riverside Park in Manhatten New York) that all boast of President Grant sites.  And each of these six "Presidential" communities in four different states treat their single presidential site as a precious national treasure even though President Grant was routinely ranked in the lower quartile in importance considering all US presidents.  Meanwhile, back in Independence, the hometown of Harry Truman, who is listed as one of the top five US presidents, the community hosts practically all of his historic sites (except for the Grandview Farm) including a presidential library & museum, three boyhood homes, and the expanded National Historic Landmark District.  And if our presidential history was not enough, we are the most important community in the country for pioneer trails history, we have religious history, and history in the Civil War and Border War conflicts.  So why do we struggle in preserving our history and promoting our town for heritage tourism?  These blog entries over the last few years are intended to answer those questions and present how entities representing government, non-profit, church, chamber, and school have all worked independently to take focus away from our rich history and, in some cases, to disrespect and degrade not just our local heritage but that of this great nation.  It's no wonder that noted New York Times journalist, A.G. Sulzberger, wrote two years ago that one might conclude that Harry Truman is our community's "less favorite son."

Mortality Rate Goes Up on Spring Street

Just as we are learning of an exciting program from the City to take over 3 abandon, foreclosed, neglected, and derelict homes in the Truman National Historic Landmark District, it is becoming more and more clear (for those with their eyes open) how this part of the neighborhood has had a drop in investments and homes sell for the price of a cheap used car.  On Saturday, the 400 block of North Spring was victim to its second fatality (that we know of) within the last 6 months.  Four police cars, a crime scene van, ambulance, and an unmarked car full of detectives showed up in full force.  If you live on this block, you are more likely to be a victim of a crime, reside next to a sex offender, step on a drug needle, drop dead by the end of the year, and/or all the above.  And don't bother to ask public officials "What the hell is going on?"  Don't bother to tune in to the evening news or open the morning newspaper because you will find out that nothing really happened.  A building can disappear overnight, a duplex can expolode off its foundation, and two separate fatalities can occur, and nobody knows nothing about nothing, it's considered not news-worthy, and, for some strange reason, it's considered "normal."  One can easily see how an early plea to public officials concerning the presence of child rapist, Randy Lande, would be handled under those conditions.  And it's reminiscent of the death that occurred a while back just a few blocks away where a man died from the severe burns he received from a fire in his lap.  Nobody wanted to talk about that and there was nothing in the media to report, although there was short obituary in The Examiner that stated "he loved to garden."  I'm sure there was some "meth" to his madness even though his death was likely listed as accidental (if you can even find the public record).  As citizens are encouraged city-wide to participate in neighborhood watch and being aware of what is happening in the neighborhood blocks around you, here in this corner of the Truman National Historic Landmark District the policy appears to be "don't ask - don't tell."  It seems that the issue is not the need for more police (although we need more police) or that we need to dump federal money into sub-standard housing (although that is welcomed for the most part).  The reality is that there is little open and honest discussion about not just the presence of crime but the very few consequences for those choosing to commit crimes.  And there is very little collaboration between stakeholders.  Many of those who commit crimes do not serve time.  Some are sentenced to counseling.  Those who serve time always get out early.  Even with the most heinous and despicable crime committed against an innocent 8-year-old girl, the convicted criminal gets a reduced sentence because no one wants to sit through the horrific details that would be presented publicly during that trial, not to mention the public exposure of how the system failed to protect a child.  And if these types of problems are normal in the most important neighborhood in our city, then what can we expect in other neighborhoods?  We always look forward to new life coming to reinvigorate our historic residential neighborhood and contribute to our success, although carting out unsuccessful folks in body bags is not what we envisioned for creating these opportunities.

Paved with Good Intentions!

The road to the Temple and the Truman National Historic Landmark District is paved with brick and good intentions but it looks like h**l.  The present design was thoughtfully developed by the best professional landscape architects in Kansas City that public money could buy.  Yes, our Midtown / Truman Road Corridor (M/TRC) Neighborhood Revitalization Corporation hired those consultants and the City of Independence spent the money to give us these brick pavers.  Someone should have suggested to M/TRC way back then that having this type of landscape feature requires a little maintenance, not to mention some pride of ownership.  Ironically, this picture was taken on property owned and maintained by, you guessed it, M/TRC.  We've stated the obvious before but it deserves to be repeated again and again and again..........  The organization that is now getting public money to promote neighborhood revitalization has to lead the community and set high standards for neighborhood stewardship (their own standards), especially when making official judgments of other property owners on whether they've maintained their property good enough to keep their tax abatement.  The picture was taken the day after the Major League Baseball All-Star Game at the Harry S Truman Sports Complex when tens of thousands of visitors were in the KC area visiting tourist sites and spending money.  It is also adjacent to a triangular piece of ground that was supposed to be a beautiful landscaped park to be turned over the City.  Currently, Independence Parks & Rec does not have the budget to maintain additioinal parks due to, in part, added Parks & Rec responsibility at the Falls at Crackerneck Creek, not to mention overall city budget shortfalls for debt payments for the same development.  Under the guidance of the award-winning M/TRC Neighborhood Revitalization Plan, this block and the adjacent block bounded by Lexington, River, Maple, and Union Streets had to be clear cut of buildings to create a better view and path towards the Temple from Truman Road (not sure that goal was achieved).  It is interesting that out of all the structures (primarily historic) that were bulldozed on these two blocks, the one structure M/TRC chooses to remain is the architecturally-unappealing and marginally-maintained Convenience Store who's more recent goal was to introduce cash-and-carry hard liquor into the neighborhood.  Unfortunately, the operators of the store are not the only ones out of touch.  Good folks with good intentions are represented on the M/TRC board and staff, but it should be no surprise that they do not live near this area, and in some cases, do not even live in Independence.  The current leadership like to blame the economy and lack of money for the current state of affairs here and in many other areas of town.  From my observation, there are some very basic principles of civic pride and responsibility and, in the spirit of Harry Truman, just plain common sense that we seem to miss.  Maybe we should work on those while we sit back doing nothing hoping for the local economy to turn around.

Virtual Tour - Circa 2006 Pleasant Street

Technology is great!  We now have the power to virtually travel through any neighborhood in any city from our laptop computers or even our smart phones.  And from the bird's-eye-view mode, we can view an entire neighborhood block to study the historic and architectural setting of our important landmarks.  One of those powerful virtual tools is Bing Maps.  From Bing Maps, you can view the 300 block of North Pleasant Street in the Truman National Historic Landmark District and you get quite a shock.  You see a pile of burned rubble where the Victoria home used to sit at 306 North Pleasant Street.  The arson fire occurred there back in 2006, but the image of its aftermath has continued to be burned in our memory in cyberspace for over 5 years and potentially many more years to come.  This image actually gives you a very interesting perspective of the view shed surrounding the Truman Home National Historic Site and the Truman Neighborhood.  You can most definitely see the results of our poor planning and our obsession for convenient parking.  Each of the buildings in the Truman Neighborhood is not so valuable by themselves but, as a whole, represent a priceless collection and setting for the one of the most important landmarks in the country.  And with President Truman's leadership in the world regarding the rebuilding of post-war Europe, the establishment of the United Nations, the early recognition and support of the State of Israel, and his containment of Communism, one could argue that the Truman National Heritage sites & districts deserve to be listed as a "World Heritage Site" (another US presidential site already is).  Unfortunately, local folks tend to have difficulty thinking beyond our city limits or past the next debt payment from our retail investments.  And folks at the national level do not always look beyond our national borders.  Because we as a community forget about this important history, we, at best, take it for granted and, at worst, disrespect it, and even worst, hand out awards to folks who disrespect it.  As our nation tries to carefully and meticulously reconstruct the vintage buildings and neighborhood surrounding Abraham Lincoln's home in Springfield, Illinois, we carelessly bulldoze homes, wait for a neglected church structure to collapse under its own weight, and say "good riddance" to an abandon Victorian structure on Pleasant Street that disappeared overnight because of a criminal arson.  Even in the small rural community of Lamar, the State of Missouri has been acquiring property around the Truman birthplace home to protect its setting, even though he had lived there only 11 months as an infant.  Will future generations try to put back the missing pieces of the Truman Neighborhood?  And if they do, will they speak kindly of our efforts in community stewardship?  A generation from now, will City Hall still be pumping water down the fake waterfall at Crackerneck Creek?

Historic Preservation Program is Setback Three Decades

In the proposed fiscal year 2012-13 austerity budget for the City of Independence, the Historic Preservation Department has reached an all-time low.  In fact, we are now approaching the level of funding that City Hall put in place in the mid 1980's, during an era when the demolition of historic buildings were considered a religious sacrament and appointments to the Heritage Commission were selected to make sure historic preservation did not happen.  The current budget proposed for Historic Preservation is only $45,856 compared to the budget 10 years ago of $174,112 under the leadership of Mayor Ron Stewart and City Manager Larry Blick.  The proposed budget today is one-fifth of what it was then (accounting for 10 years of inflation).  And back then, we had a viable M/TRC Neighborhood Revitalization Program and an active city-wide not-for-profit for preservation working diligently to preserve and revitalize our historic neighborhoods.  Mayor Stewart even received an award for his leadership in turning the historic community around and making things happen.  Boy, those were the days!  Today, we seem to be struggling in both old and new areas of town.  And our struggles in the new parts of town are draining resources from Old Town, with little hope for changing priorities.  During this budget crisis, one would expect to lose a few years of progress.  But three decades?  I've always heard that a community that forgets its past is doomed for failure.  Maybe that's part of the explanation of the current state of affairs in Harry Truman's hometown.

Independence Preservation - Asleep at the Wheel

It looks like we are getting a "crash course" in how vulnerable out historic resources are here in the Truman National Historic Landmark District.  Late last week, a vehicle hit a power pole on Truman Road at 3:00 am and sent the high-voltage power line tumbling to the ground.  The drive was reported as "Asleep at the Wheel" and likely compromised by more than just sleep deprivation.  The overhead power pole could have very easily fallen onto one of the Wallace Homes at the Truman Home National Historic Site and could have resulted in irreparable damage, fire, or worse.  If that would have happened, Independence would, again, have made the national and international news in a not-so-positive way.  The Truman National Historic Landmark District is one of the few Landmarks in the country that has a 4-lane state highway running through it.  In fact, the traffic coming from the west rolls through routinely at higher speeds expecting to be stopped by only lighted traffic signals.  The residential-scale 4-way stop sign at Delaware Street is regularly missed and automobile accidents occur there all the time.  In fact, I've been involved in a hit and run accident at that very corner from a vehicle that ran through that intersection without stopping.  And heavy truck traffic and city buses can literally shake historic buildings on their foundations.  "Asleep at the Wheel" is a good description of the local revitalization and preservation efforts, which is unfortunate for one of the most historic communities in the Midwest.  At least the good folks at the National Park Service are aware of the problems and were concerned about the recent accident on Truman Road.  Thankfully we have the National Park Service here in Independence doing what they can to protect the interests of 300 million US citizens.  But it's time for locals to get back in the driver's seat and steer clear of disasters before we end up in the national and international media, again.  And for the 20,000 visitors per year who tour the Truman Home National Historic Site, please look both ways when you cross the street (don't assume the cars are going to stop), watch your step on the crumbling sidewalks, and make sure your automobile insurance is up-to-date.

It's Half-Time in the "Finial Four" Challenge

It seems we have casualties of the extreme weather which includes foul winters, dribbling April showers, and how 'bout that recent madness in March.  Mother Nature has descended on the Square with a "full courthouse press."  If you notice at the top of the clock tower of the historic courthouse, each of the four corners is supposed to be topped with urn-shaped "finials" perched on pedestals connected with balustrades in a very classic style of colonial revival architecture.  The design of the 1930's renovation of the courthouse was driven by the highest elected official of the County of Jackson, Judge Harry S Truman.  Even though the existing finials are a product of the award-winning courthouse exterior restoration from only about 10 years ago, each is in a state of severe deterioratioin, one on the southest corner had actually fallen off last year, and a second one fell off this week.  Yes, we are now 2 for 4 which makes it half-time in the contest of guessing how long it will take for the last one to drop.  If you look cl;oser, you can see at least one of those finials resting in the main roof gutter where it could also be contributing to other problems with keeping the building water-tight.  To the county's credit, they followed strict historic preservation standards in going with wood materials and even following every detail from the original blue prints dated September 2, 1932 that included Harry Truman's signature and stamp of approval.  The county's restoration was most definitely award-winning, but why do we already have failure with the finials?  A lot of experts agree that many of the products and materials that were available 80 years ago were a much higher quality than what is readily available today, especially when it comes to wood.  The worst thing that could happen to our investments is that they fail prematurely and actually contribute to deterioration to other historic elements because we were compelled to strictly follow historic preservation standards.  We have advancements in building materials that perform exceptionally very well in restoration projects.  Taking advantage of higher-performance products does not compromise historic preservation but can actually enhance historic preservation.  And giving property owners more flexibility when it comes to alternative materials will make historic preservation more agreeable and make it easier to initiate discussions on expanding the existing small local historic district, which seems to be the primary dilemma with local preservation efforts.  The City of Independence Heritage Commissioin and city staff needs to recognize this when they review projects with respect to preservation standards in the Truman Heritage District.  To emphasize this point, I suggest we have a city-wide contest for citizens to guess the exact time and date for which the last finial falls.  It's likely to go down to the buzzer.  And the winner could clain to be the champion of the "Finial Four."