Kansas City Struggles To Fix 71 HWY FAIL Despite East Side Input On Original Design

Again here's the deal  . . . TKC knows how this story went down because more than two decades ago we covered it for both KC Hispanic News & Dos Mundos . . .

EAST SIDE ELECTED LEADERS WERE INSTRUMENTAL IN DESIGNING 71!!! LIKE IT OR NOT, THE TRAGIC HIGHWAY STOPLIGHT IDEA BELONGS TO CONGRESSMAN CLEAVER & MAMIE HUGHES!!!

This is FACT backed up by newspaper reports, TV and so many, many wasted hours at community meetings. 

We're not mentioning this historical fact check as a political slam. At the time, the efforts of both Congressman Cleaver & East side legend Mamie Hughes garnered widespread support and were viewed as a great success in neighborhood and community advocacy.  Their hearts were in the right places, they just didn't know what they were doing or the horrific consequences of the highway monstrosity they would help to craft.

Here's the important part that is a disservice to the discussion . . .

Local news helps politicos blame bad design on the Feds but the horrible decisions that resulted in hundreds of lives lost belong to "community input" and racially-charged demands for stoplights on a highway. 

At the time . . . The thinking was that without stoplights instead of traditional overpasses, nearby biz would suffer.

Instead . . . 

Again . . . Crashes, holdups and random shooting claimed the lives of hundreds thanks to this poor design from politically active "leaders" who engaged in urban planning for all the wrong reasons and at a time without the popularity of the Internet to provide more information and alternative viewpoints.

And all this is prologue for the latest local effort that seeks to tacitly blame "racism" in an effort to start anew . . .

"Completion of 71 HWY wrapped up in 2001, serving as a direct link from downtown to South KC, but its placement came with a price. According to a city press release, over 2000 black families were displaced during construction, forcing people living on the east to cross the highway to access community resources like the Ivanhoe Neighborhood Council."

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com links . . .

Drivers weigh in on 71 highway as city aims to reconnect corridor

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas held a press conference Friday morning announcing improvements set to take place along 71 Highway.

Reconnecting neighborhoods: Kansas City, Missouri signs deal for 71-Highway project

"When this project was established, it was to expedite traffic downtown from south Kansas City. In the process of doing that, they did not realize the full consequences..."

Developing . . .