TKC BREAKING NEWS!!! KANSAS CITY HOUSING DEPT. SHAKEUP AT CITY HALL!!! TIPSTERS REPORT: SHIRLEY WINN IS OUT!!!
The local crisis in Kansas City's Housing Department continues according to the most KICK-ASS TKC TISPTERS . . .
Check it:
EARLIER TODAY A RATHER AWESOME TKC TIPSTER WROTE IN AND NOTED: (KC HOUSING DIRECTOR) SHIRLEY WIN WAS OUSTED FROM HER JOB AND ESCORTED OUT OF THE BUILDING!!! LATER SOME RATHER KICK-ASS TKC TIPSTERS CONFIRMED THE SORDID DETAIL!!!
Strange . . . Even the Kansas City Housing website has been updated and John Wood is listed as Interim Director.
I don't know if this news is good or bad for Kansas City but it definitely CONTINUES the long and TUMULTUOUS history for Kansas City's Housing Department that is now Mayor Sly's problem.
DEVELOPING . . .
Excellent. We need new leadership in Housing.
ReplyDeleteNow is a perfect time to work to redevelop our struggling neighborhoods with a focus on sustainability (versus money-pit fiascoes).
I hope Sly can help get this department back on track.
John Wood is absolutely and totally unqualified to head up this agency. His only attribute is he is BLACK and once again, that seems to be the over riding quality searched for in Kansas City government. Unbelievable!
ReplyDeletebitch got the foot in de ass as she kicked out de door!!!!
ReplyDeleteThey need an outsider to come in and clean the place up.
ReplyDelete90% of the management are unqualified hacks.
This is just a slice of what they have to deal with.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.jacksoncountylandtrust.org/proplist.cfm
The City has to pay (form the general fund) to maintain these properties. And it absolutely lacks the resources to do so.
Winn was absolutely a non-starter at Housing. We need local people to get involved. I have had meetings with the top City officials on this exact issue - they want *us* (as in you and I) to offer up a plan.
The plan is to allow us to take over these lots and houses and transform them into gardens and viable housing stock. It is a tremendous undertaking. We are talking about thousands of properties.
the City wants us to step up. I cannot do it alone. We have to find a way to get together on this. All of us. Even if we don't agree about everything, if we don't take the initiate, no one will.
http://www.jacksoncountylandtrust.org/
ReplyDeleteThere is it, just click on the "view the list" link and prepared to be floored.
It is an overwhelming problem and this isn't even the full list!
Please JW, save us poor folks. You so smart and classy.
ReplyDeleteI am not talking about rich or poor, I am talking about opportunity. Economic development opportunity.
ReplyDeleteDue to the extreme nature of the problem the city is willing to give a lot of ground. They are offering to absorb all the costs of plowing the lots, removing the trash, preparing the grounds. We have to work as a team to take control of our neighborhoods. These are economic development opportunities that the City is laying at our feet.
All we have to do is band together.
Agreed, it appears that many of the city staff in leadership positions are not qualified or experienced enough to handle the daunting issues that face their departments.
ReplyDeleteIt is not a matter of qualification or experience (that is another discussion) it is a matter of magnitude. The housing department doesn't have nearly enough resources to deal with blight. And until blight is dealt with, property values will continue to decline and people will continue to flee the inner city.
ReplyDeleteI am promising you that the City is willing to hand many or most of these properties over to us, but not as individuals. Only as a group do we stand a chance at fixing these problems.
Sounds Like J.W. has a real estate pyramid scheme he wants us all to invest in. Are you Katherine Shields' husband?
ReplyDeleteIs this a big deal? Who cares?
ReplyDeleteThere is no investment. The city just wants responsible people to take over the properties.
ReplyDeleteI already own more than I can manage as it is. I don't want personal ownership - I want a city that becomes the envy of all the world. I want micro-parks and fruit trees and beauty.
It is not for me, it is for the future generations, that I hope we can find a common ground on these issues.
Who the hell is this fake J.W.? If you own so many houses why don't you take ownership in those?
ReplyDeleteJ.W. where are you getting your information from? You are wrong a certain department received 1 million dolars and not even 1/10th of that money went to cleaning up the vacant housing property grounds.
ReplyDeleteAsk David Parks what happened to the clean ups that his department staged for the media?
Dumb ass the city doesn't own land trust property,they just play move the money game. Speaking about moving money reminds me to ask the question" Airrick L. West where is the money you conned out of KCMSD?
ReplyDeleteJW has his facts right. KC Cleanup is a joke.
ReplyDeleteI'm confused. Isn't the Kansas City Housing Department part of the city government and the Land Trust that JW keeps referring to part of the county?
ReplyDeleteAs I recall, the city passed an ordinance earlier this year that would give Land Trust houses to charities to fix them up and get them back on the rax rolls and also give vacant Land Trust lots to neighbors who live in and own property next to those lots.
When I checked on this with the Land Trust I was told before this could take effect the Land Trust Charter would have to be changed.
So it seems the city can recommend, but the county can do as it pleases.
As I understand it, Winn wasn't fired entirely. She was removed from Housing, and sent out to the Aviation department. Which is usually only the first step towards being fired, or a hellish limbo where people get sent when they've pissed somebody important off but there's no real legally sustainable justification for firing them.
ReplyDeleteOK - here is the deal. Yes, Land Trust is part of the County government. What happens is, the properties that are not purchased at the City Delinquent Tax Auction (one is coming up this Aug 29) are shifted to the Jack. Co. Land Trust.
ReplyDeleteI can take you to the office - the process is that you give them money (depends on if the lot is residential, commercial or improved as to the amount). They appraise the lot. For unimproved residential lots the appraisal fee is usually $100 and the lots usually sell for $500. The appraisal fee goes toward the cost, so you put up an additional $400 and the lot is yours.
I own one lot through that I acquired through Land Trust. I also own two other lots and one house. I own them outright, no debt. Just my way of doing things....
Anyway, before you buy the lot I suggest you do a title search. Easy to do, First Floor of the City Building downtown, there is a dedicated computer - I can show you how to do it. You are looking for any past liens or outstanding covenants. Assuming there are none of these, you pay the $500 and, voila, you own a lot.
The City has to pay to maintain the lots nobody owns, see. And then they send a bill to the County, and the County never pays the bill. This year alone the bill is up to $600,000. No chance the County is going to pay this.
So I had a long conversation with several people, people you likely know by name. And they and I agreed that it is in the best interest of the City to allow regular folks (like you and me) to take these properties over, *regardless* of what the county thinks.
And so with the approval of the City Atty and the Director of Neighborhood Services and the City Manager, that is exactly the deal that we struck. They provide the clean up, the people with the large-scale tiller shows up, and they plow the field, and the we can do pretty much whatever we want with the land, provided we don't turn it into a waste dump or a junk yard.
But I cannot do this alone. There are 10 or so lots in my immediate neighborhood alone (in addition to the three I already own). It is too much for me to do alone. I need more labor. No, not for the lots I own. I take care of those. For the rest of the lots.
Depending on where you live, there are likely vacant lots and vacant buildings. I am saying that I have it in writing that we can take these over and make something out of them. No strings attached, no money down, and they do most of the up-front hard work.
Any takers?
Whatever you think about this, the fact remains: Shirley Winn surely loses.
ReplyDeleteJW, you have your description only partially right. The Land Trust is a separate govt entity that is comprised of 3 representatives - one from the city, one from the county and one from the school district. These 3 persons are the trustees and they make all the decisions on who gets properties. The process is as JW suggested, but the 3 trustees make the decisions.
ReplyDeleteis it this issue that made Circo's face so puffy?
ReplyDelete@ 10:00 pm
ReplyDeleteRight, there is a back door deal that goes down behind closed doors and out of reach of the Sunshine (in a manner of speaking) where it is decided whether or not the appraisal is sufficient.
Ii *do* think that part of the process needs to be a bit more transparent. For *many years* a lot of people who would prefer to remain unknown benefited *greatly* by getting properties for, well, nothing.
I am talking amazing properties. Oh, it was all *perfectly legal* before the Tribunal System, right?
Dirty, dirty skeletons hiding in those closets there at the Jackson County Land Trust.
How awesome, they even translate it into espanol to bring the gardeners in. Sounds pretty shady all around
ReplyDeleteJW-This is 6:24. A friend and I went through the process recently. It went very smoothly, and the price for the vacant lot was reasonable, but again, the ordinance the city passed in February 2011 (110072) is not being followed.
ReplyDeleteHere is a link to that ordinance:
http://cityclerk.kcmo.org/liveweb/Documents/Document.aspx?q=cE6fUz0mNHgcC6mEXaC%2fqOINyar90%2fgeKx7FaYBBx0%2frFbpOpiUZreVkJ2yeGin0
So again, it seems the city council can pass what it wants, but the Land Trust can ignore what the city council passes.
By the way, what neighborhood are the 10 lots in?
Potentially the first informative reader comment I have ever read on TKC. Thanks, J.W., and good luck!
ReplyDeleteTen+ vacant lots around 10th and Prospect.
ReplyDeleteRegarding ordinance 110072:
Section 3. That the Mayor and Council ***urge*** the other taxing jurisdictions in Kansas City, Missouri, holding any interest in the properties held by Land Trust to relinquish the same in the public interest....
Notice it says "urge" and not "orders". Crucial distinction.
But I am saying that the City will let *ordinary citizens* take control over lots, and put community garden on them. They (the City) will even arrange to clean them (remove trash) and till them.
But it takes a group of concerned people to manage something this big.
The ball is in our court.
Thanks JW. It sounds like this is the city council's way of not doing something and making it look like they're being productive.
ReplyDelete10th & Prospect is not near me, but I suppose it could happen anywhere in town.
It was the City Council's way of standing up for our rights and promising that they will have our backs when it comes to urban revitalization.
ReplyDeleteIt is not their job to fix it - we don't need more nanny state fixes! They are going one better - they are letting US take the initiative.
Maybe if people could be adult about it and see it as an opportunity for self-determination (rather than a failure of government to be a nanny) we would already be advancing our goals of making this city a better place.
And yes, it can happen anywhere there are vacant lots held by the Jack. Co. Land Trust.
So let's do it!