Category: Opinions

Analysis: Top stories of 2014 in Wyandotte County

An architect's drawing of the Downtown Parkway District represented the promise of economic development, one of the top stories of the year 2014 in Wyandotte County. (Architect's rendering)
An architect’s drawing of the Downtown Parkway District represented the promise of economic development, one of the top stories of the year 2014 in Wyandotte County. (Architect’s rendering)

by Mary Rupert

What were the top stories of 2014?

Here are a few “trend” stories that topped the list of stories that reflected life in Wyandotte County during 2014.

They are not ranked 1 through 10, but instead they are all important trends that were seen this year.

The promise of economic development
2014 saw the promise of extensive economic development throughout Wyandotte County.

While not particularly a year for a great deal of building activity here, it was a year when important announcements were made about future projects.

The announcement of a major national development, the U.S. Men’s Soccer training facility, was made for an area near I-435 and Parallel Parkway, at the Schlitterbahn property. That area also saw national attention when Schlitterbahn opened the world’s tallest water slide this year. Nearby, plans were announced to expand the auto mall on Parallel Parkway near I-435 to include several auto dealerships, as well as a discussion to build a convention center or events center in the Village West area, possibly near Hollywood Casino.

As the west side continued its expansion, community leaders tried to address a long-time feeling on the part of residents of the east side that they were being left out of economic development, a feeling that for years continued to drive a wedge between the different parts of the community.

Several meetings were held under the leadership of Mayor Mark Holland to develop a Downtown KCK Healthy Campus plan, now called the Downtown Central Parkway Plan, which includes a grocery store and a community center near Big 11 Lake in the general area of 11th and State Avenue. The project reached the point where it became a redevelopment master plan this year. Besides a community center, one of the major points of the redevelopment is a grocery store downtown.

One of the other “food desert” areas of Wyandotte County was changed with redevelopment in the Argentine area.

During 2014, under the leadership of Commissioner Ann Murguia, the Argentine area saw a new Walmart Neighborhood Market open, which carried groceries. The area also had another new grocery store there, a Save-a-Lot. The Walmart redevelopment took place on the site of a remediated Superfund site, the former Structural Steel property.

Besides downtown and Argentine, redevelopment projects took place during 2014 at the Fairfax levee area for commercial and industrial projects, at new elementary schools for the Turner and Kansas City, Kan., districts, and at Wyandotte Plaza at 78th and State Avenue.

The redevelopment of Wyandotte Plaza, including this view of the old grocery store area being transformed into a new Marshall's and PetSmart stores, is an example of the "trickle back" theory of economic development in Wyandotte County, according to one developer. (Staff file photo)
The redevelopment of Wyandotte Plaza, including this view of the old grocery store area being transformed into a new Marshall’s and PetSmart stores, is an example of the “trickle back” theory of economic development in Wyandotte County, according to one developer. (Staff file photo)

The Wyandotte Plaza redevelopment included a new Price Chopper grocery store to replace an existing one; stores that will be added there in the future include Marshall’s and PetSmart.

It was at the Wyandotte Plaza and State Avenue corridor redevelopment celebration in December that a developer with RED Legacy, Dave Claflin, who was in on the original Legends development, advanced the “trickle-back” theory of economic development in Wyandotte County, linking current redevelopment throughout the county to the efforts to build The Legends a decade ago.

“It was really commendable to the citizens of Kansas City, Kan., and the Unified Government to start the investment out there at The Legends and Village West,” Claflin said at the State Avenue celebration. “This is the payoff. This investment is starting to trickle back east.”

It will take 2015 to determine whether the residents accept the trickle down theory in Wyandotte County.

Increasing diversity
Also during 2014, there was a renewed emphasis on increasing diversity among public safety employees in Kansas City, Kan., and reaching out to the minority community in the wake of the Ferguson, Mo., incident.

The mayor started an effort to increase diversity after seeing a Fire Department recruit class graduation in February. The mayor’s task force drew more interest after a summer of protests in Ferguson, Mo., over the shooting of a young black man by a white police officer.

Interim Police Chief Ellen Hanson addressed a group of citizens during 2014. (File photo by William Crum)
Interim Police Chief Ellen Hanson addressed a group of citizens during 2014. (File photo by William Crum)

The Kansas City, Kan., Police Department under the leadership of Interim Chief Ellen Hanson, made a huge outreach effort, speaking across the community to many groups in order to increase communication and improve police relationships with the community. In December, the Police Department announced plans to emphasize courteousness, as well as to start a survey and feedback process with the public.

At the same time as these efforts were being made to increase diversity, community activists here were working on other issues, such as trying to fill the vacant Unified Government Commission, 1st District, at large seat. Another vote to fill the seat ended without gaining the necessary majority. A court challenge to require the UG to fill the seat, open for more than a year, failed, and then a legislator from Wyandotte County, Sen. David Haley, drafted legislation to be introduced that would outline steps that could be taken to fill vacant commission seats.

Another topic being addressed by community activists was that of the mayoral election process and changing a UG rule that did not allow commissioners from certain districts to “fall back” into a commission seat if they ran for mayor. The situation was illustrated when Commissioner Nathan Barnes of the 1st District ran for mayor, and had to give up his commission seat to do so. In the same election, Commissioner Ann Murguia ran for mayor, but being from the 3rd District, she was able to continue in her commission position. Activists argued this year that because the 1st District is always up for election at the same time as the mayor, never rotating, it was a rule that was not fair to the predominantly minority 1st District.

Sadly, 2014 also was the year that a white supremacist from Aurora, Mo., was charged with capital murder in the April shooting of three persons in the parking lot of the Jewish Community Center in nearby Overland Park, Kan. While not involving Wyandotte County, the event sent shock waves through the metropolitan area.

Election 2014
The fall election saw low voter turnout in the urban areas of Wyandotte County, as compared to high voter turnout in the rest of Kansas.

The airwaves were bombarded with negative political ads from out of state, so it was hard not to know that an election was taking place.

Observers told the Wyandotte Daily News that the determining voters in the statewide races in this election were moderate Republican swing voters in neighboring Johnson County.

Voter apathy in Wyandotte County has been the topic of discussion, with theories ranging from a lack of contested positions in eastern Wyandotte County to get voters interested, to disillusionment or disgust on the part of voters with the national political scene.

Economic upswing and continued struggle
A nationwide economic recovery continued in 2014. In Wyandotte County, one of the areas showing promise was in building permits. New single-family housing was showing a 20 percent increase over the previous year, according to building permit data. Commercial building permits were showing a 245 percent increase over the previous year in Wyandotte County.

Despite the improving economic picture, there was indication of segments that had not yet improved. Wyandotte County experienced the phenomenon of thousands of people lining up for free food distribution during 2014. While improving a few percentage points, the unemployment rate here continued to top the state’s list.

The largest construction project listed this year in Wyandotte County was a public one, the U.S. 69 Missouri River Bridge replacement, estimated at $72 million.

That was followed by the new Oak Grove Elementary School on Oak Grove Road in the Turner district, at $13.8 million; a new 120-unit assisted living building at 2300 N. 113th at $13.8 million; a new $10 million Residence Inn hotel at 1877 Village West Parkway; and St. Margaret’s Lofts senior apartments at 759 Vermont, a $10 million project, according to UG documents on construction permits.

If you have a comment on the top stories of the year that you would like to share with our readers, email it to [email protected]. Be sure to include your name and contact information.

Column: Upswing in violence hits Wyandotte County

Window on the West
by Mary Rupert

There has been an upswing of killing and violent crimes this past week in Wyandotte County.

There was a fatal drive-by shooting overnight in the early morning hours Tuesday, and that followed a couple of home invasions on Monday. A deadly drive-by shooting was reported Friday night, along with one Saturday and one Sunday morning. There were four homicides within the past week.

After a crime rate that had been low for a long time, the numbers suddenly are up. Residents should be outraged at the violence. There’s no good reason for it. Many hearts have been broken and many lives have changed forever because of it. It’s not fair to a community that has been working hard to bridge the gap between its differences. It’s not fair to students in Wyandotte County to have to worry about violence as they take their exams.

We’ve heard a lot of theories and speculation about it this week.

Perhaps, one person said, some of the authorities ran off a lot of the criminals from a neighboring city and they decided to cross the state line and locate here.

Or, maybe it is a gang war going on, and it started with the shooting of a girl a few weeks ago. It is our guess that at least some of the crimes are related, but not necessarily all of them.

Maybe some people are desperate for money as the holidays are nearing, and are doing things they don’t usually do, like burglaries.

Officially, probably not much can be said about whether any or all of the crimes are related.

We think the likelihood of some of these being gang-related is high. If they are gang-related, we are now at a reactive stage where what can be done is to increase our awareness and notify the authorities of anything that looks suspicious. Parents need to try to stop the retaliation that some youths may be engaging in. Try to keep youth busy and interested in activities, and make sure you know where they are. Arming more kids for self-protection is not a good idea, in our opinion.

For the future years, however, parents and community leaders need to work harder right now to find places where youths feel like they belong, in order that they do not feel the need to join a gang. Parents of pre-teens need to get their kids into organized youth groups, team sports, organized musical groups, pre-career groups and other youth activity groups that have adult leadership in order to help the youths find their place.

To reach Mary Rupert, editor, email [email protected].

UG’s mayoral election process under review by Justice Department

Window on the West
by Mary Rupert

The Unified Government’s mayoral election process is being reviewed by the Justice Department.

Alvin Sykes, a human rights activist, said he returned Wednesday from Washington, D.C., where he met with representatives of the Justice Department to discuss whether the UG’s mayoral election process is a violation of the Voting Rights Act.

The UG charter sets out the process of running for election for mayor, and the staggered terms of the UG commission districts are the issue. Commissioners who run from certain districts in Wyandotte County will always have to give up their seats to run for mayor, while other commissioners will be able to parachute back to the commission seat for another two years.

Sykes said it has turned out that the mayors in the past several years have come from commission districts where they could parachute back in case they did not win election. However, candidates such as Nathan Barnes, from the historically black 1st District in northeast Kansas City, Kan., ran for mayor and were not able to come back to the commission because of the staggered terms.

Sykes said the Justice Department is reviewing the election policy to see if it violates the Voting Rights Act. If it finds enough reason to proceed, the department can then open an investigation and file a lawsuit, he said. Under the Voting Rights Act, it is not necessary to prove intent to discriminate in order to move a case forward, he said. The act is based on discriminatory effect, and intent and motivations are not necessary to the case, he added.

If an investigation is opened and a lawsuit is filed, a solution may be sought, such as finding a way to make it an equitable policy for any commissioner who wants to run for mayor, Sykes said.

Although there are some other cities in Kansas where commissioners have to give up their seats to run for mayor, while others do not, what makes this situation different is there is a majority black district involved, Sykes said.

As it originally was developed, the policy on mayoral elections and districts stemmed from vote totals in 1997, Sykes said. The four commissioners who had the most votes in 1997, when the UG Commission was first elected, were elected at the same time as the mayor, while the weakest four commissioners’ districts were on staggered terms, running again two years later. Sykes said there did not seem to be any intent to discriminate when this policy was made.

Charter changes that might be made to rotate the commission terms would solve the problem, he believes. Another possible solution could be to change the term for the mayor. Also, all the commissioners’ terms might be changed to coincide, with all running at one time, he said, as in the House of Representatives.

Commissioner Ann Murguia said recently that she believed there was a discussion currently underway to change the charter ordinance so that commissioners don’t have to give up their seats to run for higher office, and that some commissioners were in favor of a change.

UG Attorney Jody Boeding said last week that she was not aware of any formal proposals yet on the commission level on the topic of changing the charter ordinance to change the staggered terms or the timing of the mayor’s election.

“I think that it is fundamentally the right of all people to have an equal and fair chance to be elected to office in this community and in this nation,” Sykes said.

This instance is a “second-generation” type of violation, he believes. The “first-generation” violations consisted of rules against individual voters trying to exercise their right to vote.

Sykes said former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said earlier this year that what’s most representative of what remains to be fought in the Civil Rights and voting rights movement are policies and procedures that appear to be fair on the surface but actually have discriminatory effects.

“I think that the people here are good, but I also think we need to step up to best practice type of policies and procedures, functions in government, so we can be a great city,” Sykes said.

1st District, at large commission seat

Sykes also had been working on the 1st District, at large UG Commission issue. The seat has been unfilled for more than a year; the UG Commission deadlocked on votes more than once, unable to reach a majority of six votes on any candidate.

The UG is not intending to bring it back for a commission vote, and the position is open until the election in the spring of 2015. When contacted earlier, the mayor’s spokesman said the mayor wanted the position filled, but the commission could not reach six votes.

Boeding said recently that the mayor had brought the issue back to the commission fairly recently, and the vote failed. It had already failed about three times previously. Now it’s so close to the filing time for the open seat and the spring elections, that the person would only be appointed for a couple of months before it would be time to run again, she said. The spring primary is usually in March, and the general election is often in April.

A lawsuit filed by Carolyn Wyatt, a resident, in Wyandotte County District Court to try to get the UG to fill the seat was not successful because of lack of standing. One of the candidates for the position might have had standing to file a case, however, Wyatt was not one of the candidates who submitted their names for the position.

Judge David Boal in his decision also said that the court has no authority to fill the seat, as that is a “legislative, discretionary, political process not subject to a writ of mandamus. Apparently recognizing this, at the arguments on these motions Plaintiff shifted ground somewhat and argued that she sought an order requiring the Commission to ‘keep voting,’ implying that finally someone would perhaps wear down and change his or her vote. This Court has no doubt about the Mayor’s and Commissioners’ ability to read the tea leaves and if any of them thought 6 votes were available for a candidate the issue would be on the agenda.”

Sykes believes that the failure of this lawsuit, and the lack of action in filling the seat, may help in the long run with the effort to get the Justice Department to look at the mayoral election issue, because he believes there are now two issues involving UG elections.

“Collectively that may be a blessing in disguise, to have heightened scrutiny by the federal government,” he said.

Sykes said Sen. David Haley, D-4th Dist., is preparing a bill to introduce in the Kansas Legislature that would require that all vacancies in elective offices throughout the state of Kansas to be filled within a certain number of days, and would give alternatives such as a flip of the coin or a special election.

To reach Mary Rupert, editor, email [email protected].