“M/TRC-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E”

The Examiner reported correctly in their headline “Hope for Truman Road Corridor?” when they placed the question mark at the end. The Midtown / Truman Road Corridor (M/TRC) Neighborhood Revitalization Program started out strong, but its record has most definitely been questionable of recent years. They supported the demolition of two homes in the expanded National Historic Landmark District that were also judged to be historic by the City’s Heritage Commission. Then they did not follow through to make sure the developer filled in all the empty spaces. They cleared land in an “Urban Renewal” style with the promise of putting in a park and some housing. Now we are spending public money for mowing and maintaining empty lots. Some of these vacant lots had been called in for code enforcement (in other words, conditions that contribute to “blight”). They continue to operate with staff and board members who live in other parts of town or even other cities. Church representation on the board has always had a priority over representation from neighbors. They continue to send money to the Kansas City consulting firm of Ochsner, Hare & Hare (OHH), for helpful advice? I realize that the economy is bad but we’ve been working at this for 15 years and there was plenty of time to get this right when the real estate market was strong. The extra $38,425 the City Council has budgeted for this year doesn’t appear to be buying anything new but the continued bureaucracy of maintaining an approved group of property owners who are not paying property taxes. Actually, the sidewalks in front of some of those approved properties are in horrible condition. It seems the neighborhood would be better off to invest an additional $537 dollars to hire a full-time police officer (starting entry-level base salary of $38,962) devoted to this neighborhood and let the M/TRC Board (with church representation) solve their own budget problems. If I recall, the M/TRC Neighborhood Revitalization Plan was actually developed by the RLDS Church and OHH (maybe they would be interested in contributing). It seems the reputations of many are on the line. Those who are actually paying their taxes and those at the national level concerned about the fate of a valuable Presidential Neighborhood deserve more effort from the community to get this right.