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THE BRUSH CREEK BULLETIN Volume 7, Issue 5 September/October 2005   THE BRUSH CREEK CORRIDOR: WHERE THE ARTS FLOURISH Three arts organizations in the Brush Creek Corridor recently celebrated milestones in their ability to educate and enlighten. The following photos tell the stories of these advances. Kansas City Art Institute Breaks Ground on Painting Building Lawrence and Kristina Dodge and their daughter, Laurenz, help to create an original painting that doubles as a construction sign at the site of the new, $7 million Lawrence & Kristina Dodge Painting Building on the Kansas City Art Institute campus. The Dodges recently contributed $5 million to KCAI. Lawrence Dodge is president and chief executive officer of American Sterling Bank and American Sterling Insurance Services. Other major contributors to the building include the Hall Family Foundation and the William T. Kemper Foundation-Commerce Bank. Nelson-Atkins Museum Dedicates Ford Learning Center Missouri Governor Matt Blunt dropped in on art classes with pupils from the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art’s community partner, St. Monica School, after delivering remarks at the dedication ceremony of the new Ford Learning Center at the museum. The 22,463-square foot center includes seven renovated classrooms, the Educator Resource Center for teachers and youth development professionals, a state-of the art training room, and the Ford Learning Center Gallery. The center, which is the latest milestone in the museum’s $200 million campus enhancement and refurbishment project, was made possible by a $4.5 million grant from the Ford Motor Company Fund. Gov. Blunt was one of a number of civic leaders and dignitaries participating in the dedication, which preceded a community celebration the following day. Paseo Academy Unveils Conservatories Paseo Academy of Fine and Performing Arts students fill the air with sounds of jazz during an open house at which the high school’s Small Learning Conservatories (SLCs) was announced. Returning to the high school’s original pure arts concept, SLCs allow students to choose one of three areas of artistic focus: Creative Writing & Visual Arts, Dance & Theatre, and Vocal & Instrumental Music. Their education also includes strong teaching, mentoring and healthy peer relationships, which are part of a rigorous college preparatory academic program. The Paseo Academy currently enrolls 614 students. CORRIDOR’S PRIVATE INVESTMENT APACE WITH PUBLIC SPENDING Slightly more money is being spent on private development along the Brush Creek Corridor than the total amount of public investment that has been made to-date in the Brush Creek Flood Control and Beautification Project. Almost $104 million has been spent on the flood control and beautification project since construction on it started in 1991. Also since 1991, over $1.197 billion in private development, including commercial, retail, housing and institutional projects, have been built along the Corridor. “In reviewing the last 15 years of development along the Brush Creek Corridor, one could conclude public investment in the community’s infrastructure has led to considerable private investment, development and redevelopment from the Plaza, east to Elmwood,” said Brush Creek Community Partners Executive Director Carol Grimaldi. “It would also be reasonable to conclude continuation of the public investment could result in doubling the amount of private investment we can realize in the Corridor.” The examples of private investment include completed projects and some under development such as: campus and building improvements by Midwest Research Institute, the Kansas City Art Institute, and Rockhurst University; new housing developments in Kirkwood, the Blue Hills Neighborhood and the Mt. Cleveland Neighborhood; rehabilitation and reuse of existing, older structures to become the Crestwood condominiums and the Nutter Ivanhoe Neighborhood Center; new office and retail building and improvements in the Plaza; major expansions of Saint Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Visitation Church, St. James United Methodist Church, the Boys and Girls Club’s Thornberry Center and the Linda Hall Library of Science, Engineering and Technology; and, construction of the Swope Health Services campus, H&R Block Service Center, FirstGuard Health Plan Building, Kauffman Foundation, Shops at Blue Parkway, Stowers Institute for Medical Research; and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art with the museum’s subsequent expansion and the opening of Kemper East. Brush Creek Community Partners’ conservative estimate of private investment does not include projects by state agencies such as the University of Missouri-Kansas City or the Department of Conservation, with their investments in the Corridor since 1991 totaling over $63.3 million. Since 1999, the city has committed to providing $3 million a year for the Brush Creek Flood Control and Beautification Project. That commitment has leveraged an additional $13 million of public investment from sources such as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the State Emergency Management Agency. If the city’s level of commitment is sustained, it is anticipated the flood control and beautification project can be completed from State Line to the Blue River by the year 2017 at a total, additional cost of $59.24 million. PARTNER UPDATES R. Crosby Kemper, III has been named the permanent executive director of the Kansas City Public Library. Kemper, the former chief executive officer of UMB Bank and UMB Financial Corp., was appointed the library’s interim director in January. In addition to the downtown Central Library, Kemper oversees nine branch locations, including the new Plaza Branch Library, which serves 239,000 in-district customers and approximately a million and a half people from the greater metropolitan area. James C. Olson, chancellor of the University of Missouri - Kansas City from 1968 to 1976 and president of the University of Missouri from 1976 to 1984 died in August. He was 88. In his retirement, Olson led the Truman Library Institute board, the Missouri Arts Council, the Society of Fellows at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and the Civic Council of Greater Kansas City. In 1999, then-Governor Mel Carnahan appointed him chair of the Missouri Commission on the Affordability of Higher Education. A life-long historian, Olson wrote several books with the most recent one, Stuart Symington: A Life, earning him the Missouri 2005 Curator’s Award for Scholarly Excellence. Several new appointments have been made within Swope Community Enterprises (SCE) as part of organizational changes being made within SCE. Kelvin Simmons, formerly vice president of Swope Health Services, is now president and chief executive officer of Swope Community Builders. Verneda Robinson, formerly chief human resources officer for SCE is now chief operating officer for Swope Community Enterprise Services. Jimmy Brown, formerly vice president of Operations for Swope Health Services (SHS) has been named SHS’s vice president and chief operating officer. Saint Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City has been ranked first for high quality health care services by consumers in the metropolitan area, according to the National Research Corporation (NRC) 2005/06 Consumer Choice Awards. NRC’s study of the highest quality and image for overall health care services includes 200,000 households representing 400,000 consumers in the continental U.S. Saint Luke’s Hospital was the only Kansas City area hospital to receive the award and it has ranked first in the Consumer Choice Award every year the NRC has presented it. 2005 graduates of the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Dentistry scored fourth in the nation on the clinical National Dental Board Exam. Additionally, results of a recent Kansas City Health Department survey reveal the dental school provides dental care to: one in every 25 Kansas City residents; one in 15 of Kansas City’s African-American residents; and one in 13 of Kansas City’s lowest-income groups. The Heart of America Shakespeare Festival is producing Henry V next summer, its 14th season. The 2006 season will run June 20 through July 16. It is only the second history staged by HASF, which provides free, professional Shakespeare in Southmoreland Park. This year 21,000 people attended performances of Much Ado About Nothing. BCCP MEMBERS CONTRIBUTE TO ART DOWNTOWN The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art and DST Systems, Inc., recently unveiled Putto 2x2x4 (2005), a work they commissioned by internationally renowned sculptor and Kansas City native Michael Rees. The work stands along 12h Street between Broadway and Central Avenue. Putto 2x2x4 (2005), part of Rees’s “monster” series, includes an 18-foot sculpture accompanied by an animation on a 6-foot by 9-foot outdoor video display. The sculpture, a museum purchase with funds provided by DST Systems, is the second selection in a project to place five works of contemporary sculpture in downtown Kansas City. SCHOOLS HELP HURRICANE VICTIMS Institutions of higher education outside the Gulf Coast have been in a unique position to help people affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita by offering venues for college students to continue their educations. In addition to students, faculty and staff raising funds, soliciting blood donations and collecting essential supplies to help victims, three Brush Creek Community Partner members are welcoming displaced students to their campuses. Rockhurst University has enrolled 27 displaced students from New Orleans area universities for the fall semester. Rockhurst, along with many other colleges and universities, is not billing these students. Rockhurst has also offered several university-owned houses to families whose critically ill children will remain in hospitals here for extended stays. The Kansas City Art Institute’s announcement two days after the first hurricane that it would admit any student who was studying Studio Art and Design or who was working toward a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree will bring at least one new student to Kansas City. There are also three KCAI students whose families were touched by the hurricane and the campus community has rallied to support these individuals. The University of Missouri-Kansas City fielded dozens of admissions inquiries after Hurricane Katrina. Of 51 students admitted, 37 elected to attend school here. UMKC is currently getting calls from hurricane-affected students interested in its winter semester. ROCKHURST PRESIDENT STEPPING DOWN The Rev. Edward Kinerk S.J. is stepping down as president of Rockhurst University next June. He has been president of the Jesuit university in Kansas City since 1998 and was the first alumnus to have been named president of Rockhurst. A search committee has been formed to appoint his successor, who will become the 14th president of Rockhurst University. Fr. Kinerk During his tenure, Fr. Kinerk significantly expanded recreational and athletic facilities at the campus, including the 16-acre Loyola Park, the expansion and beautification of the campus quadrangle, featuring a new 93-foot bell tower, pergola and fountains, and construction of the Greenlease Art Gallery. A $50 million fund-raising campaign was successfully completed in 2002. In 1999, Fr. Kinerk changed the name of the institution from Rockhurst College to Rockhurst University to more accurately reflect the nature of its program offerings, which today includes five graduate programs. In 2001, he renamed the School of Management as the Helzberg School of Management in honor of donors Barnett and Shirley Helzberg. Conway Hall, which houses the Helzberg School, was completely renovated in 2002. Following his tenure as President, Fr. Kinerk expects to take a sabbatical after which he will receive a new work assignment from the Jesuit provincial. “It was a tremendous privilege to serve as President of the university I attended,” said Fr. Kinerk. “I cherish the relationships I have made both on campus and in the Kansas City community.” Fr. Kinerk served as a member of the Brush Creek Community Partners Board of Directors from 1998 to 2004. KAUFFMAN FUND SUPPORTS TRUMAN CENTER AT PLAZA LIBRARY The Kauffman Foundation has made a $2.1 million grant to fund the conversion of open space at the new Plaza Branch Library into a state-of-the-art presentation and meeting space that honors President Harry S. Truman. A collaboration of the Kansas City Public Library and the Harry S. Truman Institute in Independence will result in a central location for civic, political, literary and intellectual engagement by making President Truman’s history more accessible to midtown audiences and the community at-large. The new library space at 4801 Main Street opened last April. Support for the new Truman Center comes from the foundation’s Kauffman Legacy Fund. BOB LANGENKAMP FINDS BALANCE IN DEVELOPMENT PLANNING Robert Langenkamp started out planning open spaces, then he worked in urban planning, and he focuses on economic development. As a member of the Brush Creek Community Partners’ Board of Directors, the three elements come together in balance as he supports the residential, institutional, commercial, and parkway development along the Brush Creek Corridor. Bob Langenkamp But as Assistant Director of Kansas City, Missouri's City Planning and Development Department, Langenkamp admits he’s particularly interested in how and where neighborhoods will fit into the Corridor. “I think it’s important to try to fill in some of the gaps and continue to pursue redevelopment that supports and strengthens the residential areas both north and south along Brush Creek,” he said. He points out that with Brush Creek residential development planning, housing types will vary from single-family homes to higher-density apartment complexes matched to the site, traffic access, adjacent development and other factors. “Some areas may be designed to draw in customers from outside the Corridor, and some locations will be developed on a small neighborhood scale,” Langenkamp said. “But for all, we want to do development that enhances the whole Corridor.” He’s confident that is happening. “One of the things I like about working with BCCP is the recognition that it takes a lot of different partners -- for-profit, nonprofit, public, private -- all the parties are involved, pitching in to accomplish these things.” And he appreciates that those partners are not a homogeneous bunch. “Each person has a background, expertise and perspective that brings a variety of views and forces you to examine issues from a whole spectrum. If, for instance, it was just made up of neighborhoods, we’d miss some of the wonderful balance we have.” With degrees in park and open space management and city planning, Langenkamp worked in Columbia, Missouri for several years in planning, housing, economic development and transportation activities. Since 1989, he has worked for the City of Kansas City on virtually every major city redevelopment project, including the KC Live Entertainment District and the Richards Gebaur multi-modal development. He may negotiate finances, implement or monitor projects, and serve as liaison between the city and the Economic Development Corporation. Langenkamp also serves on the Downtown Council Board of Directors. William Dietrich, the council’s president and chief executive officer, finds Langenkamp a central working partner on a range of projects. “Bob’s strengths are: he stays at the table, he is a great facilitator and looks for common ground rather than differences,” said Dietrich. “Bob builds consensus in a very pragmatic way by looking at the real issues, and he works toward doable solutions to problems.” Langenkamp is also a member of the Kansas City Port Authority board.