Neighborhood Revitalization – Gridlock on the Gridiron

The cover story in the KC Star Magazine from the Sunday paper is an article about Ralph Ochsner of Ochsner Hare & Hare, the creator and consultant of the Midtown / Truman Road Corridor (M/TRC) Neighborhood Revitalization project. It’s actually a good article and Ralph is brilliant and very creative but when discussing M/TRC, it requires a reality check. First of all, I believe it is important when doing the math and counting investments, the balance sheet should account for the losses. $85 million is a great total but we lost an $80 million hospital in the process. And if you read earlier blog entries, you may come up with several more items and setbacks to place in the loss column. Determining the overall success without accounting for the losses would be like playing a football game but only counting the scores from your team. In the article, a project was touted where “The front façade of that home was lying in the yard. Both stories were open to the elements, and a homeless guy was living in the basement.” The successful preservation of that circa 1853 building actually had very little to do with Ralph and M/TRC. It was a small group of neighbors who banded together, took the risks, and implemented that project while going all the way to Jefferson City to get the financial backing. In fact, some M/TRC Board members were, at the time, critical of the project while requests to M/TRC for financial support were refused. But with the assistance of neighborhood volunteers, the Truman Heartland Community Foundation, a group of architectural drafting students from William Chrisman, and the determination of a wonderful lady who wanted to contribute to a presidential neighborhood, the project was a huge success. The project got national attention on Bob Vila’s program, “Restore America” during the first season of a brand new cable TV network called HGTV. I’m glad to read in the Star Magazine that Ralph was pleased with the restoration of that Antebellum home but to somehow mention the project to a journalist while touting your accomplishments is misleading. But back to the football game, the half-time show is over, the score is dead even, and it’s time to put a fresh team on the field. We have great game plan thanks to Coach Ochsner, but the players need to actually read the plan, the players and the coach need to follow the plan, and finish with a victory before handing out trophies or awards.