Center Planning and Development Special Meeting Announcement

The Kansas City Neighborhood Advisory Council is hosting a meeting on the digital billboard ordinance on Monday, July 8th from 6-7:30pm at Metro Patrol at 7601 Prospect Avenue. Outfront Media billboard company, their attorney and City staff will be there to discuss the ordinance and answer questions.

The strong billboard law that was passed in 2007 does not allow digital signage on our billboards. This is now being challenged. Outfront wants to change nine of their highway billboards to digital and will take down smaller neighborhood billboards at a 7-to-1 square-foot ratio, in an attempt to gain public support.

We need neighborhood people there to say we support the current ordinance we passed in 2007 which has national recognition by Scenic America.

Please contact Carol Winterowd at Carol.L.Winterowd@gmail.com with any questions.

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Special Meetings of Center Planning

Center Planning and Development Council
SPECIAL MEETING
Tuesday, June 25, 2019
7:00 pm
Trailside Center, 9901 Holmes Road, KCMO 64131

Representatives from JPL Development LLC of St. Louis will present plans for the east side of 104th & Wornall Rd. The proposal will be a 3 story 160 unit apartment complex with three buildings, a pool and clubhouse. Please attend in order to ask questions and voice your comments or concerns.

In addition, Monday, June 24th from 6:00pm-7:30pm at the Trailside Center, there will be an Open House for the nearby Wornall Pines residents of the proposed complex. If you live near the proposed project, please attend Monday night’s meeting and feel free to come back for Tuesday night’s meeting as well.

Your Tax Dollars At Work

The City Manager deserves a bit of credit. At a community meeting he was told how difficult it was to drive on Blue River Road because of all the potholes, including down the center of the road. He promised to have it taken care of and within a week the potholes had been filled.

That’s as far as the credit goes. Whether due to bad fill or not being filled properly, many of the potholes are now back. It has, once again, become very difficult to drive this section of road. Although, driving this obstacle course does cut down on speeding.

Of course, Blue River Road isn’t the only place this has happened. East Red Bridge Road is not in the best shape, either. That includes one axle-breaker of a pothole that can’t be avoided if there is oncoming traffic. It’s been reported and yet…

Then there’s Grandview Road south of Red Bridge. It’s becoming just as difficult to drive as before the potholes were filled; yet another obstacle course.

I’m sure there are many other areas of the city in the same shape. I don’t know when the City decided repaving all the roads on a rotating basis was a bad idea; but filling and refilling potholes has to be worse – and I would think more expensive in the long run.

May Meeting of Center Planning [CANCELED]

Center Planning and Development Council
Tuesday, May 28, 2019
7:00 pm
Trailside Center, 9901 Holmes Road, KCMO 64131

This meeting was canceled due to threat of severe weather

AGENDA

Michael Shaw, manager of solid waste in Kansas City will speak on the revised trash program for homeowners. There have been numerous problems in the past and he hopes the service will be improved. In addition he will tell us the latest information on recycling (where it goes, how it is handled).

Kim Chalmers, supervisor for senior care at St. Joseph Medical Center will explain their new programs for seniors in the emergency department, in-patient areas and Sister Margaret’s Senior Clinic which includes free balance and gait training, nutrition counseling and peripheral artery disease screening. There is an indoor walking track open to the public.

Mayoral Forum at Ruskin High

There will be a mayoral forum featuring the two candidates for mayor of Kansas City: Jolie Justus and Quinton Lucas.

Date and Time: Thursday, May 30th, 2019, 6:30 P.M.

Place: Ruskin High School, 7000 E 111th Street, Kansas City, Missouri

Sponsors: The KC Star, with co-sponsors Southern Communities Coalition, The South KC Chamber of Commerce, Waldo Tower Neighborhood Association, South KC Alliance

Center Planning April Agenda

Center Planning & Development Council

Tuesday, April 30, 2019
7:00 pm
Trailside Center, 9901 Holmes Road, KCMO 64131

AGENDA

Bakul Desai, the new owner of the shopping center on the southwest corner of 99th & Holmes, sometimes known as Gomer’s Plaza, has been invited to tell us about his plans for the center. He is already initiating improvements.

Rod Jones, Managing Partner with JPL Development in St. Louis, will present plans for a 98-unit apartment complex in three buildings at 9201 Wornall Rd. It will include a pool and a clubhouse. The church would be demolished. It is expected to go before the City Plan Commission on Tuesday, May 21st.

Announcement
The South Patrol’s 2nd Annual Health, Wellness and Safety Fair will be Saturday, April 27th from 11am to 3pm at 9701 Marion Park Drive. There will be free health screenings, blood pressure checks, diabetes screening, cholesterol checks, self-defense and fitness awareness. The first 50 families will receive a FREE bag of fruits and vegetables.

City Council Candidates Forum

This month’s meeting of the Southern Communities Coalition will feature a forum for candidates for Kansas City council. Please note the change in venue.

Wednesday, April 17, 2019, 7:00 P.M.
Knights of Columbus
5111 E 112th Terrace (Off of Grandview Rd.)
Kansas City, Missouri 64137

• City Council Forum
  Candidates for the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th at-large districts
  Candidates for 5th and 6th in-district seats

Updates will be given

If Hickman Mills schools are closed, the meeting will be cancelled

Center Planning March Meeting

Center Planning and Development Council
Tuesday, March 26, 2019
7:00 pm
Trailside Center, 9901 Holmes Road, KCMO 64131

AGENDA

Jason Klumb, attorney for Center Point, Bannister Transformation and Developmment LLC, will provide an update on the progress in transforming the former Bannister Federal Complex.

Joe Blankenship, 5th District long-range planner, will tell us about projected development areas along Bannister Road from Holmes Road east to Lydia Avenue, including the former Bannister Federal Complex. He will present the Red Bridge Area Plan suggestions for that area.

Vickie Wolgast, president of the South Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, will share business ideas about the Bannister corridor. This area presents an opportunity for economic growth, and some would like to see an improved, viable corridor. What are your ideas on how to transform the area? This is a time when business and residents can work together to upgrade the area. Please come to the meeting with your ideas.

Update on the proposed used car lot at 701 E Bannister Rd on the southeast corner.

Meet the candidates for the Center School District. The candidates have been invited to tell us who they are and why they are running for the board positions. The candidates are, for one-year terms: Stephen G. Stricklin, Johnathan Decker, and Danielle Charise Quinn. For three-tear terms: Ronald Fritz, Beverly Cunningham, Cecelia M Bell, and Sammy (Sam) Cook. The election will be held on Tuesday, April 2nd.

SCC March Meeting

Southern Communities Coalition Meeting

Wednesday, March 20, 2019, 7:00 P.M.
South Kansas City Patrol Station
9701 Marion Park Drive
Kansas City, MO 64137

Guest Speakers:

Mr. Troy Schulte, City Manager

Ms. Geri Haile, branch manager, Mid-Continent Public Library, 9253 Blue Ridge Blvd.

Update on programs, etc.

Ms. Kim Chalmers, St. Joseph Community Liaison of The Senior Care Service Line

New programs at the hospital

 

If schools are closed, the meeting will be cancelled.

Something’s Fishy, or I’m Crazy

In the continuing saga of school closings in Hickman Mills, there will be a board meeting tonight to hear the superintendent’s recommendations. Probably not many people are aware of the meeting. At last week’s board meeting it was stated that a decision will be made this Thursday at the regular meeting, but nothing was said about tonight’s meeting. Are they trying to keep the public in the dark?

If you go to the district website, which can prove difficult to navigate, you can find tonight’s meeting listed. A perusal of the agenda will take you to a PowerPoint the superintendent apparently intends to make, but there’s something fishy about it. If you look at the budgets for this year and the next three, you’ll find the bottom line is about $2.5M short. Why would that be? Have the board members actually checked the figures or are they taking someone’s word?

Further, the preliminary budget the board approved on June 21, 2018 for the 2018-2019 school year shows a beginning fund balance of $9,844,549.43 and an ending balance of $10,785,563.79. The Superintendent’s proposal, however, begins what is budgeted for 2018-2019 with only $6,552,460.45 and ends with $7,720,007.64. Perhaps that difference has to do with the amount the school district lost with the discrepancy in Cerner’s taxes; but if you take a closer look at the 3 year budget projections shown to the board at that June meeting, those numbers don’t seem to add up either.

Not being an accountant, or even finding large numbers to be especially friendly, I can end up thinking I’m going insane as I add and subtract such large figures; so that could be one explanation for what I believe to be discrepancies. I also tend to the paranoid side, so another explanation could be that someone is trying to hide something. Right now I’m leaning toward the latter.

The board’s goal is to cut $5.5M. The $2.5M missing in the superintendent’s proposal is almost half way there, so maybe three schools don’t need to be closed. One has to wonder if the superintendent is more concerned with what is best for the children she’s responsible for and for the community, or having large fund balances. There simply has to be more to this story and it’s not being shared with the public and possibly/probably not the board of education.