The fight against Kansas City economic disparity continues as eco-devo schemes threaten to drive out the poor in favor of even more condos . . .
KSHB: A controversial study on crime within a concentrated area of Hyde Park has caused some residents to fear that they may soon be pushed out.
Sadly, Kansas City housing has never been a strong priority for any elected official. So it'll be interesting to see how this one plays out.
Remember that last week we blogged on the petition to stand up to this bit of Kansas City eco-devo disparity and gentrification. Sign up!!!
They have the same problems here as the zoo, except here it happens every day created by the same people. If you are familiar with Troost, this is hands down the worst intersection for crime on Troost
ReplyDeleteIsn't Eugene Morgan the spouse of Democrat State Rep & Teacher Union Chief Judy Morgan? His comments below about "poor folks" is suspiciously racially biased ... What makes this any different than the increase presence of KCPD on the PLAZA??
ReplyDeleteBut other residents of Hyde Park such as Eugene Morgan, president of the Hyde Park Neighborhood Association, applaud the study. He hopes it will open a dialogue about reorganizing Hyde Park residents in public housing.
"It's not a good thing to have a high concentration of poor folks in one huge building. It just causes more problems than it solves. We should be looking at ways to disperse that population in good housing that residents want to be in," Morgan said.
What an embarrassment to City Hall. Mayor Sly and City Council bowling team needs an increase focus on dispelling HATE rather than legislating HATE like the Kansas legislature. Can't we all get along together in KC?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.kansascity.com/2014/02/14/4824795/discriminatory-bill-embarrasses.html
The problem here is Jim Glover. Watch as he tries to push this problem to the Northeast.
ReplyDeleteI was completely embarrassed and offended by what Gene Morgan said. I know Gene and Judy well and have supported Judy. I lived in the Bainbridge when I was a struggling college student for three years. I'd probably still live there had I not gotten married and bought a house 4 blocks away. I love this area. You would think he would know that not all of Bainbriddge is section 8 and that the word "poor" describes a lot of people. I didn't have a problem living at the Bainbridge, some loud neighbors here and there, and we had that domestic violence incident that turned deadly but that could happen anywhere. But overall I liked living there. Truthfully, the problems came from up the street in some of the smaller complexes and were more relegated to the exterior elements of the building. One thing I can tell you is that on numerous occasions I saw police stop and question random black men for no apparent reason. I would guess that a lot of the crime stats come from outside activity and policing in the neighborhood. This appears more to be a grab for some prime real estate and desire of these aging Hyde Park people wanting to live in the city as long as they don't have to live among "those people". Really embarrassing Gene. Oh. I'm a white woman who walked the area frequently, still do and never felt threatened or insecure.
ReplyDeleteThe solution should be obvious. If people want to live in the Bainbridge they should not commit crimes. If crimes were not being committed, there would be no problem with the Bainbridge. The place is decidedly not a dump. Many units were redone not too long ago and are very nice. It is embarrassing to go by the building and almost always see a police car or ten there.
ReplyDeleteI can get behind that. (I'm the one that lived there 3 years). I'm okay with a zero tolerance crime policy. And you are right, the building is beautiful. I do have to say that most of the time I saw police in front of the building it had to do with loiterers and exterior elements. Some of that police presence is constitutionally questionable but I know area residents have been on KCPD to patrol (harass) the Bainbridge patrons and neighbors. But being poor in itself is not a crime. If I were a single person living on my income I'd still be there. Or worse, a single mom. I met a lot of great people living there. I can't tell you how many times I got help carrying groceries or whatever. That's the thing... white people see a guy with dreadlocks or braids and make assumptions based on stereotypes. If you would get beyond that and have a simple exchange, a brief conversation you'd realize your fears are completely unfounded. All of this makes me want to go back and fight for the 95% of residents who are good people and shouldn't have their homes taken away because of a stupid few.
DeleteMaybe Stalder can come down to your neighborhood and stink up the joint.
ReplyDeleteGawd that new 41 website sucks
ReplyDeleteGene, Judy and their anti-poor "folks" Hyde Park neighborhoods should read the Blight Study and see how they are being taken for a "ride" down a primrose path. They should also read HUD's response to the City's actions against affordable housing http://www.eaglepointco.com/html/images/HUDBacks.pdf
ReplyDeleteShame on Hyde Park Neighborhood Association and City Officials! Another poor use of tax payers dollars!!!
Whom is subsided more... MAC Property Management or the residents of the Bainbridge, Linda Vista & Georgian Court Apartments?
ReplyDeleteORDINANCE NO. 140023
Authorizing the City Manager to enter into a funding agreement with the Planned Industrial Expansion Authority of Kansas City, Missouri for blight remediation in the Armour Gillham PIEA Planning Area in the amount of $2,500,000.00.
WHEREAS, the Newbern Project is a multi-family housing development within the Armour Gillham PIEA Planning Area, as such area is proposed to be expanded by PIEA Resolution No. 1567; and
WHEREAS, completion of the Newbern Project will significantly contribute to blight remediation in the Armour Gillham PIEA Planning Area; and
WHEREAS, the City desires to identify appropriate additional funding mechanisms to support completion of the Newbern Project; NOW, THEREFORE,
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KANSAS CITY:
Section 1. That the City Manager is hereby authorized to execute a funding agreement with the Planned Industrial Expansion Authority of Kansas City, Missouri for blight remediation in the Armour Gillham PIEA Planning Area in the amount of $2,500,000.00 from funds to be appropriated from the Industrial Development Authority of the City of Kansas City, Missouri - Uptown Theater and Midtown Redevelopment Projects Midtown Business Interruption Fund.
Section 2. That the City Manager is authorized and directed to execute the funding agreement in substantially the form attached to this Ordinance with such changes and clarifications as are determined necessary by the City Manager.
_______________________________________
Approved as to form and legality:
My read is that MAC Properties receives more public $$$ than the "poor folks" at the Bainbridge. What a pity city hall is working full time on relocating Section 8 housing than dealing with the community wide violence in KC - for example the recent Zoo gun violence.
ReplyDeletehttp://cityclerk.kcmo.org/LiveWeb/Documents/Document.aspx?q=2YI4LVzS9DHY715FdLBr6YOci9ufAFp0jxrk2VvnrBHsgJxW6isuHibWS46jBDNi
What does urban panning expert BryBry Stadler think, though?
ReplyDeleteI won't decide til I read his hilarious cartoon take down...
Hipsters from Northeast should make everybodyys neighbrohood decisions for them.
Sorry All, but the Study is VALID and the buildings WILL receive incentives and WILL be renovated.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeletePlease consider signing the Armour Blvd Community petition & show KC isn't a community of Hate & Prejudice ...
http://www.change.org/petitions/mayor-sly-james-kcmo-city-council-and-kcmo-city-planning-commission-demand-ethical-and-lawful-treatment-for-residents-of-the-bainbridge-housing-complex-and-all-low-income-armour-corridor-housing?utm_campaign=petition_created&utm_medium=email&utm_source=guides
Add to the Shame Councilman JIM GLOVER. He needs to read the City Code of Ethnics
ReplyDeletehttp://library.municode.com/HTML/10156/level3/PTIICOOR_CH2AD_ARTXVCOET.html#fn_59
And someone should file a complaint... maybe the residents of the Bainbridge, Georgian Court & Linda Vista
https://survey.kcmo.org/fs.aspx?surveyid=b10baedc13140108914291be7d9697f
Anonymous 3/19/14 11:52 am
ReplyDelete"Sorry All, but the Study is VALID and the buildings WILL receive incentives and WILL be renovated"
It doesn't add up and is counter to the facts - see below article from Ch 5.
Buildings already renovated and the so call "Blight" study notes the $30+ million rehab in early 2005 and their is NO current physical blight. Crime also is noted in the blight study has been reduced since 2008. . .
Who did this poor work of a Blight Study and how much did the city pay for it????
KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -
Career criminals are on a blacklist of sorts in Kansas City.
It's called a restriction zone and it bans known repeat offenders from
entering certain high-crime areas.
The Armour Boulevard Restriction Zone is bound by Walnut Street on the west
and The Paseo on the east, 33rd Street on the north and 37th Street on the
south.
When someone known for committing crimes over and over again is placed on
the list, they cannot enter the area and, if police catch them entering or
in it, their probation can be revoked and they can be sentenced to jail
time.
"We are hearing a lot more gunfire in the neighborhood. There has been a lot
more break-ins, home invasions," said David Albright, a Hyde Park
neighborhood resident back in 2009.
In 2009 neighbors were fed up with high crime rates near Armour Boulevard.
Police and an assistant city prosecutor created a restriction zone to keep
repeat offenders out of the area.
"It essentially was in place for about a year and a half. There was very
positive feedback from the community and police and then it sort of faded
out," said assistant city prosecutor Abby Mueller.
The restriction zone project may have faded away, but crime did not. In 2013
police were called to a former apartment building at 525 E. Armour Blvd. 111
times. The building now sits empty.
"Police approached me with 'could we revive this restriction zone?'" Mueller
said.
With the restriction zones now back in place, police and city prosecutors
identified 13 people as repeat offenders in the Armour Boulevard area.
Currently three people are banned from entering the area. The rest of the
people on the list are waiting for their day in court.
Neighbor Janet Ross said she supports the use of the restriction zone, but
says police and prosecutors can't reduce the high crime rate without the
help of low-income housing landlords.
"They need to become honest landlords and take care of their properties.
It's not safe for the neighbors or the people who are living in those
apartments," Ross said.
Neighbors hope they will continue to see positive change in the historic
Kansas City community.
Prosecutors said they cannot release the name of the banned criminals
because it is for law enforcement use only. They did say that of the three
people who are currently banned, one person is headed to court for a
probation violation hearing for being back in the area.
Police also set up restriction zones near 27th Street and Prospect Avenue,
the Independence Avenue area and the 39th Street Corridor.
Former Kansas City Police Chief James Corwin and former assistant city
prosecutor Todd Wilcher initiated the restriction zone project. At the time
in 2009 there were six homicides that happened inside the small Armour
Boulevard Zone.
Copyright 2014 KCTV (Meredith Corp.) All rights
@11:52 Pat Sterrett of Sterrett Urban LLC did the Blight Study. I'm not going to waste my time arguing with you and I don't care about the opinions of the talking heads at KCTV 5. The Study is VALID and the condition of blight WILL be accepted by the Planning, Zoning, and Economic Development Board. If you wish to have future conversations, I will gladly have them at my hourly rate of $350/hour. Have a nice day.
ReplyDeleteAdd to the wall of SHAME Pat Sterrett of Sterrett Urban LLC!
ReplyDelete$350 / hour shows the true face of who is really against these "Poor Folks" (code for ...) and pusher of the INVALID Sterrett "Social Liability Blight Study". Development lawyers & consultants who benefit on the backs of minimal wage folks and minorities ... with city hall blessing ...
Isn't Jim Glover vice-chair of the City Council Planning Zoning and Economic Development Board?
Why is a high concentration of "poor folks" necessarily a bad thing? Why is a high concentration of not-poor folks better?
ReplyDeleteSeriously. This is an assumption and I would like to know what the basis is for it.
Does anyone know?
Or is it because it's poor folks who are angry because they're poor? So it's really a high concentration of angry folks, and where there's anger, there's violence? Or where there is not enough potential legitimate income, people turn to higher risk, illegal sources of income?
Who did all the stealing that led to all these folks being poor?
ReplyDeleteIf I were able to qualify for Section 8 and were living in a subsidized apartment in the Bainbridge (and some of those digs are really nice), I'd do my best not only to behave myself but to make sure my neighbors did, too, since that apartment could go the way of the free days at the zoo. A few good apples can spoil a good thing for everyone.
ReplyDeleteThe $350 an hour was probably facetious. I don't know of any attorneys that are worth that much, although it's possible the city pays that rate on the friends and family plan.
Online petition reaches 100 signatures in support of Section 8 residents ...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.change.org/petitions/mayor-sly-james-kcmo-city-council-and-kcmo-city-planning-commission-include-bainbridge-armour-corridor-low-income-housing-residents-in-the-decision-making-process?utm_campaign=petition_created&utm_medium=email&utm_source=guides
The petition in not in support of against section 8 tenants. The petition is clearly about the people's right to choose. City of Kansas City is taking advantage where they can and always, always, its against people who can not fend for themselves. There are people who are on Section 8 and they lead a decent life. This action presumes that all section 8 tenants are the lowest of the low. Low life people occur in every class including the very rich. Funny how Sly is claiming how the people East of Troost need this and that; but as soon as he finds those same people West of Troost the same result. This is a race issue. Nothing more and nothing less. Social blight my foot.
ReplyDeleteThis "social blight" concept sounds very creepy and I think that sort of thing is along the lines of why citizens need the right to have firearms. At some point this sort of shit will culminate to the point an ultimate form of justice is necessary.
ReplyDeleteYep, we need firearms to defend ourselves against all the bad elements in that area. They have harassed our gay neighbors walking down the street, caused another neighbor to abandon their house on Harrison, Lufti's even left because of the crime, two barbers on Troost have been murdered, someone inside the building murdered, a woman raped on the street in broad daylight...HUD is violating their own policies by concentrating poverty in one building.
ReplyDeleteMac Properties Has DEEP Pockets. Jim Glover has his hand in them!
ReplyDeleteI was on the security team that the owners (California) brought in around 15 or so years ago. The Hyde Park Neighborhood Association had a 2 million dollar lawsuit on the books and the owner were trying to defend by cleaning the place up.
ReplyDeleteThe problem was that local management was not supportive of the agenda that was put into place. We would identify the criminal element that needed to be removed, and despite what we were told, and what the Ad-hoc groups were told, no evictions took place. We would identify the drug dealers, and what eventually happened was the management found a way to get rid of the security guards that were doing what they were hired to do and protect the ones that were not.
There were good people in Bainbridge then, and there likely are now. The problem is that the drug dealers and gang-bangers are running the show and they've likely gotten control over management and maybe even security. Until you can clean house, actually get rid of the criminals and protect the law-abiding residence, you're not going to clean this place up.