Author: Mary Rupert

Early voting in person starts Saturday

Early voting in person starts Saturday, July 23, in Wyandotte County.

Registered voters who want to cast a ballot in person in advance of primary Election Day may vote starting Saturday, July 23, at four locations in Wyandotte County, according to Election Commissioner Michael Abbott.

A new location was added recently, the Kane Community Center, 3130 N. 122nd, to help with early voting, he said.

Other early voting locations include the Wyandotte County Election Office, 850 State Ave., Kansas City, Kansas; the Joe Amayo-Argentine Community Center, 2810 Metropolitan Ave., Kansas City, Kansas; and Eisenhower Recreation Center, 2901 N. 72nd St., Kansas City, Kansas.

All of the early voting locations are open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, July 23. They also are open Monday through Friday, and next Saturday, July 31. For hours, see www.wycovotes.org.

Abbott said the new early voting location at the Kane Community Center will allow voters who live on the west side a closer location for early voting.

Wyandotte County recently has seen an influx of about 1,000 new registered voters since June 24, when the Roe v. Wade decision was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, Abbott said. Kansas has a constitutional amendment on the ballot that states there is no Kansas constitutional right to abortion and the Legislature has the right to pass laws to regulate abortion.

The day after the announcement of the overturn of Roe v. Wade, Wyandotte County had about 150 new voting applications, and since then until the registration deadline, it was getting 100 or 150 new applications a day, he said. Normally, the election office receives around 20 to 30 new applications a day before an election, he added.

He looked at the numbers after they had about 300 new applications, and around 150 of them were unaffiliated voters, he said, with the other half made up mostly of Democrats, some Republicans and nine or 10 Libertarians.

There were also some duplicate requests, with people trying to make sure they were eligible to vote, he added. Voters who want to check to see if they are registered to vote may either call the election office at 913-573-8500 or visit Voter View online at the Kansas secretary of state’s office, https://myvoteinfo.voteks.org/voterview.

The Voter View website also offers voters a chance to see a sample ballot, with the candidates on their ballot, the state representative district candidates and the wording of the proposed constitutional amendment.

Besides early voting in person, voters may choose to have an advance ballot mailed to them.

According to the election office, the last day to submit an application for an advance voting ballot by mail is Tuesday, July 26. The applications are online at the election office website, https://www.wycovotes.org/news/2022/6/22/qdaro2zj58i3154k66exwmuoau5vcz. Voters should return a mail ballot to any early voting location or Election Day polling place during voting hours, or any mail ballot drop box location by 7 p.m. Aug. 2. They also may be mailed back to the Election Office.

There are three drop box locations for mail ballots this year, Abbott said. These include one at the Election Office at 850 State Ave., Kansas City, Kansas; one at Edwardsville City Hall, 690 S. 4th St., Edwardsville; and one at the West Wyandotte Library, 1737 N. 82nd St., Kansas City, Kansas.

Recently, the Election Office added its own cameras to the drop box locations, he said. While the drop boxes have always had camera surveillance, previously they had piggybacked on the network already there, but had to have special permission to do so, Abbott said. With their own camera system, the Election Office is able to look at the mail drop boxes around the clock, he said.

One mail drop ballot box was eliminated from the former Bonner Springs City Hall location, after there wasn’t an agreement about the cameras, and another one was eliminated at Kansas City, Kansas, City Hall because it was not used very much, he said.


Those using the drop boxes need to put the ballot in the boxes before 7 p.m. on election night, Aug. 2, to count.

Those voters who place their advance ballots in the U.S. mail need to have them postmarked on or before Election Day, Aug. 2. The mailed ballots have to be received by the Election Office up to the Friday after the election, he said.

Those voters who think they are a little late but are sending their ballots through the mail before the Aug. 2 deadline should have the post office postmark it by Aug. 2, and it will be counted up to the Friday after the election, he said.

Voting on Election Day, Aug. 2, is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at assigned polling places.

Those who call the Election Office at 913-573-8500 or who visit the VoterView website at https://myvoteinfo.voteks.org/voterview can find out where their polling place is. The Election Office has mailed cards to voters telling them their polling places.

Polling places also are listed at a website, https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56606b47e4b0b9403ad6ff96/t/62d1b4424b9d63344a67fe40/1657910339110/PR2022_Voting_Locations.pdf. Voters are assigned to one of the polling places on Election Day.

More details about early voting locations, their hours and days open, as well as about mail ballots and voting on Election Day, are at wycovotes.org.

Luxury apartment project may reapply for grant from BPU

Developers of a luxury apartment complex on the east side of Kansas City, Kansas, may reapply for an economic development grant from the Board of Public Utilities.

The Yards II project was turned down for a $425,000 grant at the July 6 BPU meeting. The BPU has an economic development fund that occasionally makes grants to projects.

Appearing at the July 20 BPU meeting, David Wingerson, a development associate with Flaherty and Collins Properties, told the BPU board that the project would not move forward without the funding.

He said the economic development request would have helped the developer pay for a water line extension to the north.

Phase 1 of the project current is underway, and phase 2, which is less in scope, will cost $21 million more in the current construction market, Wingerson told the board. “At this point, the project is a no-go,” he said.

He added the developer also was open to suggestions on how to reduce some of the costs, discussing how they could pay for some of the lines.

Rose Mulvany Henry, BPU board vice president, who is on the BPU’s economic development committee, said the request for more than $400,000 would have been on top of almost $900,000 it would cost the BPU to extend the water line. In addition to that was an expense to the BPU to extend the electric line for a few hundred thousand dollars, she added.

Together, that would have meant an additional $1.1 million the BPU would have to absorb for this project, she said. The return on investment just wasn’t there, she added.

The BPU committee determined it would be fiscally imprudent for the ratepayers to bear, she said.

Mary Gonzales, BPU board president, said there was some funding in the BPU’s economic development budget that it would not be averse to using, but it couldn’t amount to $1.1 million.

Jeff Bryant, a BPU board member who is on the economic development committee, said he looked at this as luxury housing, a for-profit initiative. It’s not low-income or senior housing, he said. The project also is not going to be a large employer here, the committee believes.

“We have to go back to our ratepayers and tell them why their rates would go up,” he said. It’s hard to justify a for-profit business, he added.

The apartment project is in an area near the state line; the name refers to the former stockyards area. It was described as more than 200 units near State Line Road and American Royal Drive.

BPU members agreed that Wingerson could resubmit the grant request to the BPU committee for a smaller amount.

Wingerson said the apartment project was receiving 20-year tax increment financing from the UG.

Bryant said that if the developer resubmits the economic development request, he would like to know the number of anticipated employees. The BPU also requested to know if more assistance is being received for the project from the UG.

Bike program helps at-risk youth in Wyandotte County

Martin Cervantes Sr. is making a difference in the lives of local at-risk youth with the Lowrider and Leadership Club. (Submitted photo)

by Mary Rupert

High-risk youth in Wyandotte County are being helped through a program that focuses on working on bicycles and attitudes.

Martin Cervantes Sr. said the program started about three months ago, and about 10 students are involved in it currently.

Some of the students in the program are involved with the court system, on probation or house arrest, he said.

The Lowrider and Leadership Club is the project of Cervantes, with assistance from the Olathe Lowrider Bicycle Chapter, and space provided through the KCK PAL (Police Athletic League) Program. The bike program is allowed to use space at the PAL location at the former St. Mary’s Church on 5th Street.

The program provides a basic bicycle kit to youths. For those youth who have failing grades, they will have to bring up their grades to get customized items for their bicycles, such as a seat, handlebars or paint, he said.

If they’re on probation or house arrest, they have to stay away from any violations, and follow rules and regulations, he said. When they do that, the program helps them customize the bicycles, he added.

When the youth graduate from high school or receive their GEDs (general education development certificate), they will take the bike home, he said.

“They earned the bike,” he said. “They’re more than welcome to stay in the program and help us mentor other youth.”

Cervantes said they also have other used bicycles that are donated to the program. The youth clean up the bikes, repair what needs repairing and then give them back to the community to kids in need, he said.

The group has gone to different activities in the community to show off their bikes, he added.

A youth who graduated from high school last month chose to keep his bicycle in the shop, come back and continue to work on it, and continue to help mentor youth in the program, he said.

Currently the group is working with youth who are 13 to 18 years old, in ninth to 12th grades, he said.

“Our main goal is to mentor them and help them graduate from high school,” Cervantes said. “The mentorship is the biggest part of the program. We bring in guest speakers to speak to them, learn from other people the things that can be done with their lives, by sharing or listening to others’ experiences.”

Besides being allowed to use space by PAL and receiving help from the Olathe Lowrider group, the Lowrider and Leadership Club here also has received some funding from the Drug Enforcement Agency, he said. The funding allows them to buy bikes and parts to customize them, he said.

While working on their bikes, the youth also have some other requirements that Cervantes has set, such as doing a good deed every day for someone in need, and making their bed in the morning, he said.

Cervantes is in touch with community corrections, court services, local police and judges. He has chosen to work with the at-risk youth to make a difference in the community.

“It’s a challenge, but I love it,” Cervantes said. “This is my passion.”

For more information about the program, visit https://www.facebook.com/groups/1597040587301669/?ref=share.