Toellner Tells it

100 Abandoned Houses -- and re-examining how we think about upgrading KCMO

Earlier today, I stumbled across a website that is essentially a photo essay entitled "100 Abandoned Houses" (hat tip PSFK)

100 Abandoned Houses is essentially a photo essay of the abandonment of homes in the Urban Croe of Detroit. Many of the houses are beautiful old homes that have just been left to rot and decay in the elements.

Detroit isn't unlike most large cities (although their situation may be a bit worse than most). They suffered the same fleeing out to the suburbs that all cities faced in the 70s, 80s and early 90s.

Now, the shells of homes are a reminder of urban flight, a sign of deteriorated/neglected neighborhoods, and a sign of the abandonement that many neighborhoods face. A photo essay like this could easily be done in virtually any large city in the United States -- and could easily be done in Kansas City. Heck, in Kansas City, it could likely be done in a short afternoon, and may only take walking a dozen city blocks to complete.  I addressed this some back in October.

Meanwhile, today, Yael Abouhalikah at the Star had a good column today about how Kansas City's reliance on TIF projects is eating into the city budget-- with 23% of every sales tax dollar now being used to fund TIF projects, vs being invested back into the city's decaying infastructure.

But in addition to money being taken away from tax revenue to pay for TIF projects, the amount of tax revenue that is coming is also decreasing -- in part, because of the displacement of tax dollars that comes from these TIF projects. If a new tax-subsided restaurant or entertainment district opens up, dollars that are spent there are moved from places that aren't subsidized, causing tax revenu to decrease.

Let me first say, I don't oppose the use of TIF money for redevelopment. It is a necessary tool. However, we, as a city, have not been very smart about how we use it. Instead of focusing the dollars to help with revitalizing old neighborhoods and fixing existing infastructure, we've tended to over-spend on projects that:

a) Require us to build MORE infastructure to support

b) Displace dollars (and residents) from fully taxable locations into these TIF developments

c) Continue to suck resources away from the city's old neighborhoods, further causing them to fall into disrepair -- even though we have so much visual evidence of the blight and problems this creates.

This isn't just a KCMO problem -- although tax programs to support development at Zona Rosa and in Shoal Creek certainly are contributing to the problem. Pretty much all of the cities in the metro have done this. Overland Park continues to build new shopping centers closer and closer to the Oklahoma boarder while older neighborhoods and shopping centers become blighted and abandoned. Shawnee continues to subsidize development further west, even though there are tons of abandoned strip centers on the eastern side of the city. KCK continues to subsidize development out at the Legends area, even though their urban core is struggling and older malls like Indian Springs are abandoned..

It's time to get back to helping the neighborhoods. In the long term, focusing subsidy dollars on rebuidling and repopulating urban neighborhoods is a benefit for the city. We can increase the populations in these neighborhoods (which increases tax revenue) without needing to build more infastructure (it already exists) -- and leaves less infastructure that has to be supported long-term. The improved density makes public transportation more viable. And it would remove the blighted abandoned homes that are more common in many neighborhoods than ones with people living in them. And these abandoned houses increase the feeling of disrepair (ie: Broken Windows theory), and provide a safe-haven for criminal activity.  Meanwhile, they hamper efforts to build communities and to have effective neighborhood watch programs. 

It's time to change the focus of our subsidized dollars...and put an end to the popularity of abandoned houses in our own city.

(Photos on this page were lifted from the 100 Abandoned Houses website and are located in Detroit.)

Running scared? Or pitching in?

Earlier this week, the Star did a 3 part series entitled "Murder Factory". The focus of the article is on zip code 64130 - the zip code that leads the state as being the address for the most murderers of any zip code in the state.

Many around the bloggoshere have criticized the Star's writing this piece, calling it everything from "Um, Duh" to writing something specifically for newspaper writer awards and not for their readers.

Those who know much about Kansas City know that the East Side is having major difficulties. While this article focused on 64130 (which is, essentially, on the map, the area south of 39th street), it could have just as easily focused on 64128, which is the area immediately North of 39th Street on the map. (By the way, this is the crime map through the first 3 quarters of 2008. Red areas designate Aggrivated Assault Hot Spots, Blue dots are murders). 

People who don't, or may live in distant suburbs, may look it as yet another reason to avoid this area. 

And that's why I meet this with such mixed emotion. On the one hand, creating awareness of the problem is good (it's amazing how blind people can be to the problems when they're out of their site)....however, if it comes with the idea that people should "stay away", then this article couldn't do more to hurt an area that needs more help.

So, if you're unfamiliar with the area, did you read the articles with the idea of running far away?  Or with the idea of pitching in to help make it better?

I work with a Christian-based after school program for kids that live over in the area -- and most of these kids live in some of the worst areas described in the article.  Working with these boys over the past 3 years has been a huge eye-opener of the struggles they face.

Of the 13 boys I have the opportunity to work with, none of them lives with both a mother and a father in the home. Several barely even know their father. They are great kids -- all of them -- but even that doesn't assure them of success. They're still kids. They make mistakes. But there is a big difference for them...

When I was a kid, I made mistakes.  I occassionaly hung out with a few of the wrong people. I was ornery. It was nothing major, I was just being an adolescent boy.

The problem is, for these kids, with so much crime and bad influences around them, one mistake in judgment could mean they end up in jail. Or dead.  Or with a rap-sheet that will make them unemployable at even the most basic of jobs (which is virtually all that will be available to them in the short term). Their mistakes have the possibility to be life altering (or even ending). It's crazy.

In so many ways, our society has failed these kids. We've allowed home after home in their neighborhood to become abandoned and run down. Their chances of getting a good education are virtually non-existent.  Crime is a way of life on their streets.  Every one of these kids, none of them older than 15 years old, knows someone who has been shot.  There are few jobs in their neighborhood...and our public transit system is inadequate for getting them to a large number of jobs in the city that exist outside of their neighborhood. 25% of the people in the 64130 area code live below the poverty line. 29% of those in the 64128 area code live below the poverty line. Only 68% even have a high school diploma.

For decades, as a city, and as a society, we have turned our back on these East-side neighborhoods. We've decided there is nothing we can do, or determined it is someone else's problem to fix.

It's not. It's a problem for all of us. And it may take all of us to fix it.

We need to improve public transit to other parts of the city so these kids have decent-paying job alternatives vs selling drugs on the streets. The additional income the residents of this area earn will come back into their neighborhoods --building equity for future business development.

We need to improve our schools -- giving them a chance for a good education. But this isn't JUST the school district's responsility. After-school programs can really help these kids learn the material, improve their study habits, and increase their chances at making it into college. I'm pretty amazed at how much kids have to know now. I have junior high school kids doing above-basic algebra. If they don't understand it (and algebra is hard), too many times the parent at home, who was also failed by our school system, cannot help them. So the kid is doomed to fail. Having people to help them, and encourage them through the frustration is essential to the kids' success.

We also need to provide kids with positive role models in their lives. They need to see people in successful positions in life and see that as an option for them. Right now, the positive role models are not there -- or at least less prevelent in their lives than the negative role models.

They also need to see couples. Like I said, ZERO of my 13 boys live with both parents. This lack of exposure to seeing men and women interacting responsibly with each other gives them no sense of what a husband/wife relationship should be about.  Too often, what they know of male/female relationships comes from rap videos, television and absentee fathers -- hardly our best sources for what life should really be like.

We also need our city's corporations to be gracious with time off and flex time for people who want to volunteer to help. I'm so fortunate that my company gives me 16 hours of "volunteer" time to help with any volunteer activity I want. I use is about an hour at a time so I can leave work early one day a week throughout the school year so I can be there for the kids after school. Companies should look at flex time and volunteer time as a way to give back to their community, as a way of encouraging employees to give back to their community, and an investment in their workforce in the coming generations.

And we need more people who will decide that it is not someone else's problem to solve, or wait for the city council, the mayor, the police force, the schools, or whomever to solve the problem. As a community and as a society we've helped create this problem....and it will only be as a community and as a society that we work together, each in our own little ways, helping maybe just one or two kids, or one family or whatever you end up doing, helping create solutions for a small piece of the problem. If we solve enough small pieces...you may just create a solve for the whole pie.

There are dozens of organizations out there trying to help. Not a single one of them has enough time, money, or volunteers to touch all the people they would like to touch. Find one. Volunteer for one. Quit waiting for someone to take care of it...or thinking the problem is too large to tackle.

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." —Margaret Mead

Here's part 1 of the Star's "Murder Factory" series

Part 2

Part 3

And a link to another program that is working to make a difference in the community.

And here is a link to the Be 1 of 100,000 Campaign.  The Be 1 Campaign is a program designed with the idea that every one of the 20,000 school kids in the KCMO school district deserves at least 5 caring relationships - -and through those relationships and support will rise up above their neighborhoods.

And here is a link to the Hopecenter, where I volunteer.

Are you pitching in to be a part of the solution? Or are you running scared which helped create this problem in the first place?

Making KC attractive for those with options (part 4)

Yesterday I covered the first four areas where KC can improve and is doing well in keeping up with what people view as being the most important part of their quality of life. Now I'm going to address the next 3 items.

Culture/Leisure

With a few exceptions, Kansas City excels here -- and is getting better. Kansas City has great concert venues. The Sprint Center has been hosting a wide variety of events and concets. The Midland has been recently remodelled and by all reports is beautiful. The Uptown is an awesome venue and is hosting more concerts now as well. The Music Hall and Starlight Theater continue to bring in travelling broadway-style shows -- and Starlight has been hosting a lot of great concerts as well. The recent Music Hall renovations will help them attract shows they were unable to host only a few years ago. 

The new performing arts center is rapidly taking shape and will be a beautiful addition to downtown -- on top of hosting  a wealth of events from the Kansas City Symphony, Lyric Opera and the KC Ballet. Add this to smaller venues and Jazz Venues like the Gem and the Folly Theater and we have a great array of music choices.

The creative class in Kansas City is also making national headlines with a host of local art galleries in the Crossroads and now venturing out to neighborhoods in midtown and along Troost. For art on a larger scale, the Nelson Atkins Museum continues to be a world class art museum and the Bloch Building addition has been getting rave reviews. Museums like the Steamboat Arabia Museum, Science City, the Negro League Baseball Museum and American Jazz Museum at 18th & Vine, and the newly renovated World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial combine to make KC a haven for wonderful cultural opportunities.   

If it's bars, night life and great food your after, the Power & Light District, Westport,  Crossroads,  Plaza, and Martini Corner offer a diverse range of bars, restaurants, night clubs and fine dining -- including many nationally renowned fine dining restaurants and chefs.

No other place in the metro can compare, and few places in the midwest outside of Chicago can compare to what Kansas City brings to the table. If residents can continue to support the cultural places and restaurants, and the private sector can continue to invest in our museums and cultural centers, KC will continue to provide a lot of things to do for the residents here.

Health

Kansas City has a lot it can work on in this arena. Kansas City ranks very poorly in outdoor activities. Many of its parks are woefully underutilized. Many tennis courts don't have nets on them, there are few biking/running trails, almost no bike lanes on roads, few hiking trails and little neighborhood walkability.

However, we have a nice roadmap from which to work with for making up for this gap. Several years ago, Loose Park was given a large private grant that provide for increased care, maintenance and beautification for Loose Park. In the process, Loose Park has become the crown jewell of the KCMO parks system. 

But better yet, the better maintenance of city parks has expanded beyond Loose Park. A couple of years ago,Gillham Park was added to the "increased improvements" list. The park has since gotten an upgrade in new playground equipment that is frequently used. The trees and brush in the southern part of the park were cleared out and much work has been done to improve the running paths and stairs in the park (with more work to come).  Picnic tables have also been added to the south part of the park. The result has been a dramatic increase in park usage -- more running, walking, biking, dog walking, frisbee tossing, etc. And the increased usage has caused people to feel more safe -- which has FURTHER increased park usage.  More help for Gillham Park is in the works as they will soon be adding more playground equipment and replacing the outdated swimming pool with a new splash park.

The momentum has continued. Last spring, a private resident donated money for the same type of service for Hyde Park (the actual park, not the neighborhood).  The funds have been used to rebuild crumbling stairs, repave tennis courts, more frequent mowings, and brush removal. The net result? A park that used to be a safe haven for the homeless, people doing drugs, and even an o ccassional prostitution deal (yeah, I'm still scarred for having stumbled upon that) has become a park used for all sorts of activites -- tennis, mountain bikers, walkers, dog walkers, movies in the park, picnics, etc. The pictures in this section were all take a couple of weeks ago of the new and improved Hyde Park.

If you include the idea of private dollars going to fund improved parks that will encourage people to get out and be active, the possibilities are endless for improvements. Veterinary groups, dog food companies, and animal health companies could fund the building of dog parks.  Bicycle groups, or manufactures, could help fund more and improved bike trails in places like Swope Park or the completion of the Brush Creek trail. Companies that market to kids could improve playground equipment in city parks (Build A Bear Workshop and Kaboom! have partnered to do this in many neighborhoods across the country already). We could hit up running shoe or apparell companies for support for more, better and lighting for running trails. Neighborhoods and private citizens could fund smaller neighborhood parks. You get the idea. Promoting this type of private involvement in our parks, and removing red tape for these projects, would be a great solution to improving these park spaces.  And the increased park usage would help lower crime rates in these parks too...an added bonus.

Meet the Neighbors

Again, I think Kansas City shines in this area -- but there is always room to grow. Strong neighborhood organizations are essential for KC - -built around parks, churches, community centers, etc. There are many strong neighborhood groups - Hyde Park, Union Hill, Ivanhoe, Westport, Westside, Scarritt, Squire Park etc are great neighborhood groups that are devoted to improving the areas they serve. This is important for people -- especially folks with young families. If we can continue to promote strong neighborhood groups -- particularly in low-income areas, the whole city will improve and benefit.  But I will say, that I feel more connected in my neighborhood now than I ever have in any other place I've lived in my entire life. Front porches and unattached (or non-existent) garages are a huge improvement socially in neighborhoods to back patios and attached garages that exist in the suburbs.

Tomorrow, we'll talk about how to help the urban poor.

Attracting those with options to Kansas City (Part 3)

So over the past couple of weeks, I've been talking about some of the problems that are plaguing KCMO. We've established that there are a lot of problems that have been caused from the flight of the 70s.  The lack of population and tax revenue has caused us to decline in services and quality of life. We've also noted that due to some demographic trends, there is ahuge opportunity for Kansas City to position itself in the next 6 years or so.  So today, I'm going to use theMoney Magazine list of what is important to people in quality of life to discuss how we should make KC more livable for a middle to upper class young professional group that is growing and will be the future tax base for our city.  Later this week I will tackle how to work with the urban poor who are already here.

Financial

The financial part of people's lives is very important -- especially as we stare at the next few years when our economy is likely to struggle. People want to know if there are jobs available and if they're stable. This, of course, is very cyclical. Because companies want to relocate to places where there is a skilled work force of people who can work at a relatively affordable cost. In so many ways this is a BOOM opportunity for Kansas City. Kansas City is centrally located in the US, which makes doing business here easy when people need to travel to other parts of the country. Because Kansas City's cost of living is 20% below the US average, people can, and will, work for less money here than they need in places on the coasts where the cost of living is significantly higher.

Kansas City must continue to create an enviornment where skilled people with options WANT to live (read on) and more companies will want to relocate here to tap into that skilled, affordable work force.  The more jobs that come here, the more people will want to move here because of the job opportunities. The city should market our affordable (and well educated/skilled workforce), along with some incentives for company (don't sell the farm though) to build a large number of jobs for people to move to.

Compared to the rest of the metro,KCMO contains about 36% of the jobs in the metro, with 5 of the top 10 zip codes for jobs in the city (and the top 2) are between the downtown airport and the Plaza. It continues to be the center hub of commerce in the metro.

 Housing

With an average home cost of $140,000, housing in KC is very affordable compared to national averages. But additionally, KCMO is blessed with GREAT housing stock -- filled with older homes with historic features.  Many of KC's older neighborhoods have beautiful homes from the 1890s-1910s -- but also great "newer" neighborhoods that sprung up during the 1920s, 30s and 40s. Kansas City was blessed with having growth from 1900 - 1930 that created a LOT of great homes that still exist in great neighborhoods today. KCMO also has many new neighborhoods north of the river that allow for people who prefer newer homes to older homes. This diversity of housing, plus the affordability of the housing, is a huge plus for people seeking to move to Kansas City.  We should not only market this, but also provide incentives for people moving into some of the neglected older neighborhoods in the city with the wish to restore the homes to their previous glory. 

There are several such programs in this city, including the Westside Housing RAMP Program, that need to continue, and improve, to encourage the redevelopment of these once great neighborhoods. Private neighborhood groups, churches, businesses and individuals can ALL work to create and promote these programs. It is also likely that corporate sponsorships are available through companies like Home Depot and Lowes.

Education

There are two elements to equation. One is higher education -- where KC has some major opportunities to excel. KCMO has great college education programs and must continue to support our local universities.  Rockhurst and UMKC offer great graduate training and MBA programs. KU Med School offers training and teaching in health professions -- a field that will definitely need to grow over the next decade as our baby boomer generation ages and has greater health needs (and also to fill in for the large number of boomer doctors that will be retiring in the next decade or two). This, along with the strong Metropolitan Community Colleges,  and strong opportunities with the KU Edwards Campus, Kansas City is certainly strong in this area.

Secondary education though is a HUGE problem for KCMO. These problems are well documented, and I addressed them at length last year - -you can read those recommendations here, here,here and here. I still think giving more control to the schools on a micro-local level (although keeping funding flat across the entire system) is a key to letting people feel like they have more control over improving the public school system. Until we can build out the solutions to the public schools, KCMO needs to promote the deep charter school systerm as an alternative for people to realize that not all of the schools in KCMO are a problem.  But we are, sooner, rather than later, with the help of school board, the city, and individuals and private businesses, need to completely address and overhaul the public schools. This cannot continue.

Quality of Life

This is broad -- but the three biggest elements on the money list for this are low crime, short commute times and air quality. 

To tackle the easiest one first, I think the commute times is a huge advantage for KCMO. Again, with 36% of the jobs in KCMO, and majority of those concentrated in downtown, Midtown and the Plaza, living in KCMO is close to jobs for people. And as gas prices go up, and the desire for long commute times goes down, people will WANT to move into the city vs continuing sprawl into Northern Oklahoma. But in addition to being close to jobs, we MUST provide multiple avenues for people to reach their jobs -- this includes good roads, better bus routes, light rail (yes, light rail, and more on this on Friday), bike lanes and bike routes, and a more pedestrian-friendly city that allows people to get to work the easiest and in the most prefered ways.

Crime is a bit tougher, because so many pieces are interconnected. Improving the schools will improve crime because youth will have more options than crime to make money.  Improving the number of jobs available and the access to these jobs will improve crime. We'll address these later this week when we talk about helping the urban poor.

Making Kansas City more livable is also help with crime -- as empty/abandoned homes, neglected neighborhoods and yards, etc will not provide safe havens for drugs, prostitution and other crimes. But in order to bring people into the neighborhoods, they will have to feel safe.  The single best way to improve crime in the short run is through increased police presence and judges who will lock up habitual criminals. A couple of weeks ago, at a neighborhood community leaders meeting, Police Chief Jim Corwin announced that he was submitting into next year's budget a request for 50 more police officers to serve KCMO. This MUST HAPPEN. In fact, give him 75, or 100. Seriously. Until people feel safe in their homes in KCMO, people will not move to the city. Until we get these people to move to the city, we will not have the tax revenue to make some of the necessary infastructure improvements anyway. Until we fill in some of these empty homes with people who are willing to fix them up and improve the neighborhoods, we will continue to have safe havens for criminals, making law enforcement harder.

Nothing improves the safety of a neighborhood like people out walking their dogs, playing in yards and parks with their children, jogging, sitting on front porches, and looing out for others. BUT PEOPLE WILL NOT DO THIS UNTIL THEY FEEL SAFE!  Let's investment spend in our police force. Improve the police presence, and get people feeling safe living in KCMO again. When they do, and they begin to spend time in the neighborhoods, the "bad guys" will not be pushed out. Once we get the neighborhoods shored up, neighborhood watch programs can again be effective. Put increasing the staffing of the police force is crucial for the success of the city. It must happen. And must happen now.

Tomorrow, I'll address the final three quality of life factors.

Attracting those with options to KCMO (Part 2)

On Monday, we looked at the things that make a city livable -- and lead to a strong quality of life in Kansas City.  Improving these amenities will be EXTREMELY important over the next 5-8 years if Kansas City is going to position itself to grow into the next couple of decades.

If you look at demographics (I do), there are more 18-24 year olds in this country than at any point since the 60s. Since 1998, the number of people 18-24 has increased by about 15%. The population of 15-17 year olds has increased 10%. And this younger generation is looking to be the most educated demographic in the history of this country -- with at least three area universities (Mizzou, Missouri State and KU) welcoming in their largest Freshmen classes in the school's histories. This is a trend across the entire US - -and over the next 5-8 years, these people will be flocking to US cities - -in search of jobs, homes, places to live, diverse cultural experiences, night life and a good singles scene. Kansas City will be in a great position to attract these people to the city. And if they see Kansas City is a place they can raise a family, they will likely stay -- but the amenities must meet the demands of a young, affluent and well-educated population.

But if they stay, they will reward the city by paying a lot of money in taxes, and by being a young, energetic, and well educated employee base that will attract employers. There are 8 key factors that will contribute to the overall quality of life of these people as they move to KC. Tomorrow, we will address each one, some thoughts on how to improve them, and who should be responsible for doing so.

Getting people with options to move to KCMO

Last week, I highlighted many of the things going on in Kansas City. In order for Kansas City, MO to fix a lot of its problems, it's going to need some money and dedications from the city administrators and the private sector. However, in order to get money, it's going to need to fix some of the problems.  If no one wants to live here, we're never going to increase tax revenue. I highlighted two major needs for the city -- attracting new people to the city, and improving the conditions of the poor in KC. 

For the next two days I'm going to talk about attracting new people to KCMO - -and what we, as a community, can do to make that happen.

First off, let me say that I think attracting new people to the city is vitally important. New people -- people who have options of where to live -- bring in incremental tax revenue. They can fill empty and abandoned homes and neighborhoods. Most are well-educated and skilled -- and an attractive workforce when trying to attract new businesses to the city.

So to discuss what we need to do to attract these folks (which I'll do tomorrow) -- let's first discuss what it is these people look for in a place to live. This is very subjective. Not everyone looks for the same thing when it comes to choosing a place to live. However, I think there are some overall things that people look at when choosing a place to live. I'm going to start with the criteria for Money Magazine's "Best Places to Live judging criteria, and tailor them just slightly.  This at least provides a little objectivity to the criteria. So here are the criteria used in the Money list and some thoughts about each. Tomorrow, we'll talk about how to improve these (and some suggestions on who should be responsible).  If we could improve all of these areas, there is no doubt that KCMO would be the crown jewel of the metro - and a very desirable place to live. Which is great for all of us.

1) Financial  - Are there good jobs available? Are taxes affordable? Is there job growth?

2) Housing -- Are homes affordable?  And are they the types of homes I want to live in?

3) Education - Availability of Universities for higher education. Secondary educational system. High test scores for students.

4) Quality of Life-- Low crime, short commute times. Money also puts Air quality in here...

5) Culture/Leisure - Movie theaters, bars, restaurants, Libraries, Museums

6) Weather --- I'm going to skip this one tomorrow -- because let's face it, it is what it is. And if you don't like it, wait 'till tomorrow when it changes.

7) Health -- They defined this using stats like Hypertension rates, diabetis rates, and BMI -- however, I want to redefine this a bit. Are there opportunities for people to be healthy and live active lifestyles. This will include quality parks, good running trails, biking trails, bike routes on public streets and overall neighborhood walkability

8) Meet the neighbors - Money has a buch of dorky criteria on this one. I'm going to redefine this as quality neighborhoods. Are they interesting? Are the neighborhood associations active in neighborhood improvements? Is it easy to meet people? That sort of thing.

I'll talk about these tomorrow in detail.

So we're back to broken

Over the past few days, I've talked a little about how Kansas City has gotten into its current state of affairs. For the past 30 years people have been leaving the urban core: leaving a declining population of people to pay for infastructure, crime protection, codes enforcement, public transportation, etc.

Meanwhile, many in the urban core's situation has become more dire, because they no longer have easy access to jobs.

It doesn't take much reading of the news and around the local blogs to see that this has created problems.

MSNBC did a piece on abandoned KCMO homes due to forclosures (hat tip TKC) While it's true that many neighborhoods have been BADLY hit by the forclosure market, many were littered with abandoned homes well before the foreclosure mess. Interestingly, the area MSNBC highlighted was one that I mentioned not having many jobs available in it on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, crime continues to be a problem in the urban core -- and this year, violent crime in particular is way up,as Kansas City is on pace to have the most homicides its had in over a decade. Many of the people interviewed that are dealing -- nearly daily -- with the homicides cite the lack of educational and employment opportunities that are leading to a sense of hopelessness and thus, violence.

Meanwhile, abandoned buildings and abandoned homes continue to provide blight, and safe havens for people who are intent on doing harm.  

The solutions to the problems are many -- because it's not a simple set of problems. But there are many steps that we need to take to improve the living conditions in the KCMO. There are two main areas that need to be addressed:

1) Improve the living conditions and opportunities for the people who are poor and live in these communities already.

2) Convince people who currently do not live in KCMO that it is a good place to live.  And by "convince", sometimes I mean we'll need to create a Kansas City that is a good place to live.

We'll address each of these opportunities separately next week.

Where the jobs are

Ok, so before I get into solutions to help our struggling urban core, there is one thing I need to be sure we're all on the same page with. That is, where the jobs lie in Kansas City.

All of my numbers are pulled from 2006 numbers provided by MARC.

First of all, we should note that there are roughly 982,000 jobs in Kansas City. Of those, 354,000 (36%) are in Kansas City, MO -- which is roughly the same percentage of the population KCMO makes up of the metro population.

The zip codes with the highest number of jobs are as follows:

64108 - 33,600 jobs - Roughly the Crossroads area and Crown Center

64111 - 27,400 jobs - Midtown and the Plaza -- 31st street to 46th Street, State Line to Oak

66210 - 26,700 - Overland Park - 119th St, College Blvd and Corporate Woods

66215 - 26,000 - Lenexa - 79th to 107th, Quivera to Lackman - outside of the hospital there, I don't know what the major employer would be in that area.

66062 - 22,600 - Olathe - East of I-35 to roughly Quivera, 115th to 183rd, Garmin, 135th street area

66211 - 22,500 - Leawood - Town Center, Yellow Freight and the Convention Center

64105 - 21,800 - Very roughly the part of the dowtown loop west of Main.

64116 - 21,500 -- The downtown airport and the area along Highway 9 north of th river

66061 - 20,300 - Olathe -- the area West of I-35 South of K-10. I honestly thought this was all farmland

64141 - 19,400 - This is downtown somewhere -- I'm not exactly sure

66219 - 18,600 - Lenexa - This is the new office corridor North of K-10, between Lackman and Ridgeview

66212 - 18,200 - OP - Switzer to Lamar, 83rd to 107th. This would be most the stuff along the Metcalf south of 83rd.

64114 - 17,800 - KCMO,State Line to Oak, South of Gregory

66251 - 17,500 - OP - Sprint

66214 - 17,400 - OP - basically Oak Park Mall

64120 - 16,700 -- KC - The East Bottoms Area

64153 - 16,400 -- KC  -- KCI

These zip codes make up 37% of the jobs in the city.

A couple of other zip codes of note:

64126 - 1,900 - 34% of the population lives below the poverty line

64127- - 4,300 - 31% lives below poverty line

64128 - 2,300 - 29% lives below the poverty line

64130 - 4,633 - 25% live below the poverty line

These four zip codes are four of the most decimated in the urban core by poverty and abandoned housing. They also have very few jobs available.

A lot of numbers thrown out there...but I we'll start pulling it all together in the next few days.

 

 

 

How'd we get in this mess?

 Last week I started this little series with the mention that KC, like many urban cities, is broken. Crumbling infastructure, bad schools, abandoned homes and crime have all taken their toll on the city. Before I get into some solutions to problems, (solutions that we ALL are responsible for, not just our elected officials), I think it's important that we look back and see how we got into this situation. While this will be a very simplistic overview (there are many other micro trends that got us in this situation), I think the larger overarching trends are extremely important to get us on the same page.

Let's start by sharing the population changes in Kansas City since 1880:

1880 - 55,785

1890 - 132,716

1900 -- 163,752

1910 -- 248,381

1920 -- 324,410

1930 -- 399,756

1940 -- 400,178

1950 -- 456,622

1960 -- 475,539

1970 -- 507,087

1980 -- 448,159

1990 -- 435,146

2000 -- 441,545

2006 -- 447,306

I think this is really important for a couple of reasons. #1, Kansas City saw huge growth from 1900 to 1920 -- seeing the population double during that 20 year period. By 1920, Kansas City was the 19th largest city in the United States. It was during this time that much of the housing in Kansas City's urban core was built -- neighborhoods like Hyde Park, Old Hyde Park, Sante Fe, Oak Park, the areas along the Paseo and Benton Boulevard all came into being during this time. Following this growth, the 20s were another big decade for the city, with major entertainment areas like the Plaza opening during the 20s, Liberty Memorial (1926), and the construction of Municiple Auditorium and the Music Hall which opened in 1932, the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art (1933)  

Growth in KC was solid through WWII -- seeing a sharp rise in the 40s and 50s due to the Baby Boom -- and even through the turbulent times of the 60s, the population continued to grow. It was in the late 60s and early 70s that brought us the Truman Sports Complex (1972), Kemper Arena (1973) and KCI International Airport (1972).

However, the 1960s were filled with other changes. Desegregation was beginning to take place, with upscale blacks now being allowed to move into "white neighborhoods" for the first time ever. As these black people moved in, many whites began moving to other areas. Then, in 1968, following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr, race riots broke out across many cities in the US -- including in Kansas City -- centering around the Linwood and Prospect area.

Also during the time of the racial tensions in this country, the crime rate was also going up -- with both all crime and murder rates peaking in 1975 and then again in 1980.  While there were likely a lot of reasons for this increase in crime, much of it can likely be attributed to the high number of people between the ages of 15-24 that were there post baby boom. Youth in this age group are the most likely to be involved in crime and from 1975-1980, we had the highest number we had the highest number of people in this age group in our nation's history and they made up the highest percentage of the population in the country's history.

So, between 1970 and 1990, many people who could leave the city did -- flocking out to the city's suburbs. Overland Park, KS had a population of 21,110 in 1960, but that increased to 111,790 by 1990. Lee's Summit went from a population of 8,267 in 1960 to 46,418 in 1990. Olathe, KS grew from a population of 9,850 to 63,440 in that period.

One other point I'd like to make here. The idea of "white flight" isn't 100% the work of white people. While most of the original blacks who moved into these nice urban neighborhoods in the 1960s and 70s were of middle and upper class backgrounds, even their kids moved to the "nicer", newer neighborhoods in the suburbs during this time period.  This left in these urban neighborhoods mostly only the original middle class dwellers who never moved out, and the people who were not able to afford the city's new neighborhoods.

The net result for Kansas City was a decrease in population -- and not only a decrease in population, but a major shift in the relative wealth of the population. So while Kansas City was picking up the tab for some major investments made in the late 60s and early 70s, the revenue from taxes was decreasing at a dramatic rate. This meant a decline in some public services, and a decline in the ability to maintain infastructure. 

Further complicating things for Kansas City proper is the fact that much of the city's growth oer the past two decades have come in the Northland. With this growth came a need for major infastructure costs to keep up with this growing population up North. All of these costs came to the city's urban neighborhoods.

Meanwhile, the poorer and older residents of the city were becoming less able to keep up with the rising costs of home repairs to the 60-70 year old homes that they were living in in the urban core, causing them to fall into a state of disrepair. Currently 29% of the population of the 64128 area code (Which is centered basically at Linwood and Prospect) lives below the poverty line -- and median HH income is less than $23,000. In the Kansas City, MO school district (which would be KCMO, and Jackson County), 35% of the children are living below the poverty line.  

All is not lost however.  Kansas City proper still remains the center point for jobs in the metro. Meanwhile, there is becoming a huge population of young professionals who grew up and spent life in the suburbs that are now seeking an urban lifestyle and culture. Kansas City is in a great position to capitalize on these opportunities...but it will take a full-scale effort by everyone in the community to make it happen. But it will be important to make Kansas City a desired destination for people to live. We must act fairly quickly however, as the window of opportunity may be quite narrow. 

Up next. The opportunities, and how to make KC a desired destination. 

Broken

  On Tuesday, I mentioned the home in North Hyde Park that had raw sewage seeping into the street.  It's very unfortunate, but the raw sewage problem is the least of Kansas City's infastructure problems.

Kansas City's urban core is struggling. Like many cities across the US, it got abandoned and neglected in the 60s, 70s and 80s and in spite of efforts for a comeback, it has a long way to go. Many streets in the urban core are just littered with empty, abandoned and neglected homes. It's not uncommon in many parts of town to see more than half the homes on a given block to be very clearly abandoned. In fact, the two pictures on this blog posting were taken from the exact same spot -- on opposite sides of the street from each other.

The empty homes provide a lot of problems. Who wants to move into the house next door to this place? There are fewer neighbors on the street to provide popular and effective neighborhood watch programs.  They also provide safe havens where people who want to engage in criminal activity can do so away from public streets and infastructure.

There aren't easy answers.  And virtually every city in the country is dealing with many of the same issues. Over the next week or two I'm going to talk about the problem. I'm going to discuss some of the issues that led to this situation.  And discuss some things that can be done to

improve the situation. And it's not just the job of the City Council and the mayor to fix it. Clearly they play a role, but they're not the only ones.  We're all responsible. And it's on all of us to help fix it. The city's businesses, taxpayers, citizens, churches, government, the school board -- we all play a role in trying to fix these problems.

And we will all benefit if we do.

But it won't happen if we just have press conferences declaring war on weeds (clearly).  It's going to take some guts. It's going to take some rolling up our sleeves and getting our hands dirty. And it's going to take a committment from a lot of people to make it happen.

Next up: How we got in this mess.