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THE BRUSH CREEK BULLETIN Volume 5, Issue 6 July 2003   GROUNDBREAKING DEVELOPMENTS ALONG THE CORRIDOR   Affordable Housing Replaces Dangerous Blight in Blue Hills Partners in the Woodland Redevelopment Project took shovels in hand in June to celebrate the imminent construction of an affordable housing community on the former site of the Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Aged in the Blue Hills Neighborhood. The new development on the 4.25-acre site from 53rd to 54th Streets, Woodland to Highland Avenues, will include 20 single-family homes with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Each unit will have a detached garage and a front porch, reminiscent of the era in which other area homes were built. The first phase of the project is slated for completion at the end of the year. For more than a decade, neighborhood residents dealt with a monstrosity that blighted an entire city block. In hopeless disrepair, the site was a magnet for drug dealers, vagrants and illegal dumping. Little Sisters of the Poor had occupied the site for 60 years until 1982. When the subsequent owner, Experius Health Care Inc. of Oklahoma abandoned the buildings several years later, the buildings fell into disrepair. The June groundbreaking for Woodland Redevelopment Project represented the community collaboration that has made this housing initiative in the Blue Hills Neighborhood possible. In June 1997, then Housing Secretary Andrew Cuomo came to Kansas City to publicize the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s projects and programs. In a meeting, Blue Hills Neighborhood Association President Linda Spence stood up and pleaded with Cuomo to help then Mayor Emanuel Cleaver find the money to tear down the structure. A tour of the property was added to Cuomo’s visit and in 1998, the federal government agreed to provide $700,000 to help raze the buildings on the site. Demolition began in 1999, making it one of the largest demolition projects the city has ever undertaken. The $4.2 million project is a partnership of: Blue Hills Neighborhood Association, Swope Community Builders, Greenleaf Construction, Applied Urban Research Institute, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Housing and Economic Development Financial Corporation, City of Kansas City, Missouri, Greater Kansas City Local Initiatives Support Corporation, St. James United Methodist Church, DuBois Consulting, Inc., Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority, Reece and Nichols, U.S. Senator Christopher Bond, Rosemann & Associates, P.C., Public Improvement Advisory Committee and Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Historic Preservation.   Kirkwood Represents Largest Urban Residential Project In Metro Groundbreaking on the $150 million Kirkwood in June kicked off the first phase of construction of a new neighborhood two blocks south of the Plaza. Kirkwood, located between Wornall Road and Wyandotte Street, will include about 200 residential units in condominiums and single-family homes. It is the largest urban residential development project in the Kansas City metropolitan area. Work on the development’s infrastructure and Kirkwood Circle, the 13-story centerpiece residence, has started with the infrastructure to be in place next spring. The Kirkwood Townhomes and custom-built Park Homes are expected to be ready for occupancy next summer with Kirkwood Circle and The Grove at Kirkwood completed by the fall of 2004. As many as 30 units have been sold to date. The developer is Kirkwood Realty Company, LLC, an affiliate of DST Realty and SCOL, Inc. DST Realty is an affiliate of DST Systems. Looking forward to Kirkwood, a new neighborhood close to Brush Creek are (from left): William Dunn, Sr., chairman emeritus, J.E. Dunn Construction; Tom McGee, vice president, DST Realty; Keith Spare, president, South Plaza Neighborhood Association; Phil Hickman, president, Evergreen Real Estate Services, LLC; Terry Dunn, chairman, Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce and president, J.E. Dunn Construction Company. PARTING IS SUCH SWEET SORROW Terry Dopson (left) receives warm wishes from Marilyn Strauss, founder of the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival (HASF), upon his retirement as director of the Kansas City Parks and Recreation Department. HASF honored Dopson for his support of Kansas City theatre during his 15-year tenure as head of the Parks Department prior to the festival’s First Night presentation of “Hamlet” in Southmoreland Park on June 17. Mark McHenry, an employee of the Parks Department since 1976 and its deputy director since 1988, succeeded Dopson as the department director July 1. McHenry is only the seventh director of the department in its 111-year history. PARTNER UPDATES The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS) has elected Robb Krumlauf, scientific director of the Kansas City-based Stowers Institute for Medical Research, as a fellow of the organization. The 223-year-old academy said in a written statement this month that it has elected 187 people to its 2003 class, including U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan; journalist Walter Cronkite; philanthropist William H. Gates Sr.; and Nobel Prize-winning physicist Donald Glaser. Last year, two Stowers researchers – Drs. Joan and Ron Conaway –were elected to AAAS Fellowships. Rev. Emanuel Cleaver, II, has been named a Distinguished Fellow by the University of Missouri-Kansas City Henry W. Bloch School of Business and Public Administration and Great Plains Energy, Inc. The Great Plains Distinguished Fellows program was established to honor business and civic leaders who provide significant contributions to the Bloch School's teaching mission. Cleaver, senior pastor of St. James United Methodist Church and former Kansas City mayor, instructs "Managing Urban Economic Development" at the Bloch School, offering his civic expertise to students. Cleaver gives students a glimpse into the practical side of the political arena while also presenting many day-to-day challenges leaders face when building and nurturing communities. Cleaver is a member of the Brush Creek Community Partners Board of Directors. Dave Smith, president of Boys and Girls Clubs of Kansas City, has been honored by the National Conference for Community and Justice, for his work in fighting bias, bigotry and racism locally. Smith and Al Mauro were presented the Distinguished Citizen Awards for their work in leading the Kansas City, Missouri School Board. Mauro and Smith have served as president and vice president of the board, respectively, since 2001. The national human rights organization honoring Smith recently celebrated its 50th year in Kansas City. Jim White, senior program director of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) of Greater Kansas City, has received the national LISC’s President’s Award for the second time in a row. LISC President Michael Rubinger complimented the local LISC for its work with U.S. Senator Kit Bond of Missouri in helping secure federal funds to support LISC's capacity building work with community development corporations (CDCs) all over the country. The Greater Kansas City LISC's communications program was also recognized for increasing local awareness of CDC work and progress in core city neighborhoods. White is a member of the Brush Creek Community Partners Board of Directors. The Kansas City Neighborhood Alliance recently observed the 20th anniversary celebration of the Neighborhood Self-Help Fund (NSHF), which has become a reliable source of neighborhood small grant funding. In the 20 years since the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation challenged Kansas City to match a three-year grant, more than 900 grants and $2.5 million to 200 metropolitan neighborhood organizations have been distributed. Grants have been used for minor home repair, youth activities, job training, and neighborhood crime prevention, enhancements, communications and social events. The program also offers grant writing administration and reporting skills training to neighborhoods. KCNA administers the program, which is supported by 26 funders including the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation. UMKC was selected as one of only three recipients across the United States and Canada to receive the Award for Excellence from the Government Finance Officers Association. This is the association’s most prestigious award and recognizes UMKC for making significant contributions to the practices of public finance in its plan “Budgeting for Excellence – Creating New Standards for Higher Education Financial Management.” This award recognizes UMKC for making significant contributions to the practices of public finance in its plan. UMKC receives this award at a time of intense budget crunching, when the university has been working diligently to create a plan that demonstrates its commitment to public accountability. The University of Missouri-Kansas City has announced the transition of several of its deans. Betty M. Drees, M.D., has been appointed dean of the UMKC School of Medicine, making her one of only nine women deans in the continental United States leading an accredited M.D. granting medical school on a permanent basis. She has been with UMKC since 1998 and has served as interim dean of the medical school since 1991. Nancy Mills, Ph.D., R.N., will retire in August after nearly 12 years as dean of the School of Nursing. In her tenure, she increased the size of the nursing program, more than doubling its enrollment and tripling the size of the faculty. A national search is being conducted for her replacement. Jeffery B. Berman, associate dean for faculty, is now the interim dean of UMKC’s School of Law. He will serve in this role until a national search for the successor to Burnelle Powell, dean of the law school for more than eight years, is completed. Karen McCoy, chair of the Sculpture Department at the Kansas City Art Institute has been named the lead artist for the National Bicentennial Commemoration of the Lewis & Clark Expedition for events in Louisville, Kentucky this October and in Clarksville, Indiana next March. McCoy has been a member of the KCAI faculty since 1994. For the Lewis & Clark project, she will help select, collaborate with, and teach a local creative artist how to use a community-based process as a tool to create work. PARTNER PROFILE Irish Museum and Cultural Center Goals The goals of the Irish Museum and Cultural Center are to celebrate the history and culture of the Irish people and to build a facility along Kansas City’s Brush Creek Corridor at Swope Parkway and Woodland where all people in the Kansas City community can gather, share, celebrate and support cross-cultural events. Key partners Kansas City Parks and Recreation Commission and Department, the Kansas City Public Library, and Brush Creek Community Partners Key features planned Performance space, auditorium, meeting hall, reception area, museum and library, genealogy and archives area, traveling exhibit museum space, and facilities to support catering. Facts * Plans are drawn for a 15,000 square-foot building on land leased for $1 a year from the city. * Planned costs are about $2.5 million for the center’s construction and $1 million annually for its operation. * A hotel is proposed adjacent to the center and parking and meeting facilities may be shared. * The Irish Museum and Cultural Center was formed as a not-for-profit corporation in 1996. * More than 230,000 Kansas Citians claim Irish ancestry. * Kansas City has the third largest St. Patrick’s Parade in the nation. Irish Culture Spreads Along Brush Creek Kansas City seems to have Irish culture to spare. It spreads throughout the city and even spills out onto the streets sometimes. But between the music, art, history, genealogy and social gatherings, a space was needed to become home to these activities, according to Jim Kalmus, president of Kansas City’s Irish Museum and Cultural Center. In 1996, a group, most of whom can trace their lineage to the Old Sod, gathered to create their vision of a center where Irish culture would be shared and that would support interaction throughout the community. The city supported the idea and in 2000, the Kansas City Parks and Recreation Department offered parkland at Swope Parkway and Woodland, part of the Brush Creek Corridor, for a $1 a year lease. “With the Bruce R. Watkins Center on one end of the Brush Creek and the Irish Center between that and cultural institutions such as the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art towards the other end, we can help establish a cultural corridor than can serve very diverse groups throughout Kansas City, and be part of this dynamic community,” Kalmus said. To date, architectural plans are drawn, relationships are being developed— the group recognized the value of being a Brush Creek partner early on — and a building capital campaign is scheduled. But the center isn’t waiting for its physical space before demonstrating its cultural interests. Last March, the center, in partnership with the Kansas City Public Library, sponsored an exhibit on 150 years of Irish immigration. The exhibit was on loan from the Irish American Heritage Museum in Albany, New York. “This exhibit perfectly supported our mission to share the Irish heritage, and provide opportunities to educate and create a dialogue with all cultures in the Kansas City area,” said Kalmus. Next March the center and library will co-sponsor an exhibit on the Irish famine to coincide with the opening of the new main downtown library. Other center activities have included: * Annual Gala, honoring someone sharing Irish ancestry who has greatly contributed to the Kansas City community. Award recipients include Larry Moore and John McMeel. * Children’s program with storyteller and singer/songwriter Jim Cosgrove. * Author’s presentation/discussion/book signing with Kerby Miller, Ph.D., University of Missouri - Columbia history professor, whose research formed the basis for the PBS documentary “Out of Ireland.” * Genealogy workshop with emphasis on Irish families. * Evenings with "Angela’s Ashes" author Frank McCourt and "How the Irish Saved Civilization" author Thomas Cahill, and Broadway star Irish tenor Ciarnan Sheehan. And while it’s called the Irish Center, Kalmus notes, “The Irish have a interesting history of arts and culture, immigration, discrimination, divisiveness and inclusiveness that lends itself to educational and cross-cultural sharing opportunities.” “We plan and hope to work with our Brush Creek neighbors in a variety of ways,” Kalmus added. These activities could include art projects with students at the Paseo Academy of Fine and Performing Arts, meetings support with the hotel planned across the street, more lectures in partnership with the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and many other community outreach efforts. Apparently there is enough music, art, gatherings, history and other cultural activities to fill a space along Brush Creek and spread throughout the Corridor and the city.