By Joe Jarosz
Northeast News
March 18, 2015

KANSAS CITY, Missouri — It may take a village to raise a child, but neighborhoods help run a city.

Earlier this month, Major Rick Smith, along with the help of Public Information Officer Jason Cooley and Sgt. Cory LeMoine, brought together neighborhood association and community business leaders for a discussion on the importance of strong neighborhood leadership presence. Roughly 15 people attended, representing neighborhoods from all across the East Patrol Division coverage area.

Smith ran the meeting, leading the discussions then opening the floor to the attendees. First, everyone mentioned something their neighborhood has been working on over the past year. Many associations talked about neighborhood clean-ups, park improvements and social gatherings. Pat Clarke, president of the Oak Park Neighborhood Association, is using basketball to reach the youth in his neighborhood. If the kids want to play basketball, they’ve got to clean the court and surrounding area because, as Clarke noted, there is a heavy trash problem.

“With me, it’s about building relationships and sometimes we have to go to drastic measures,” Clarke said. “My conversation with them is I didn’t do this for me. In 30 years, when they come back with their sons, they’ll be able to say they remember when this [park] was first open.”

The group also discussed how strong partnerships, especially with the Kansas City Police Department, are imperative to building strong neighborhoods. Leslie Caplan, president of the Scarritt Renaissance Neighborhood Association, said regular meetings with city officials — the city manager, members of the prosecutor’s office — has lead to a systematic codes inspection schedule for early April.

Tom Ribera and Laura Remy, the husband and wife team behind Independence Plaza Council, have worked closely with area businesses, apartment complex management and nonprofit agencies in the area because a lot of residents in their neighborhood come from a lower income background. Remy said forming partnerships with area businesses helps with funding for events and activities in the neighborhood.

“We’re engaging with a nonprofit to target our area for computers,” Ribera said. “That way we can get the kids in the area up and running and computer ready.”

After the meeting, Smith said he thought the gathering went very well. Throughout the morning, he said he saw many people taking notes on how to better their leadership skills or improve their neighborhoods. He was pleased to see people spreading the wealth.

“People walked away with something,” Smith said. “What we have are neighborhood leaders who aren’t as strong as others. That’s not a bad thing either. The whole idea for this was to show people there is a reward to the work they’re doing and that reward is a strong neighborhood.”

Smith was pleasantly surprised by how little crime issues were discussed. Attendees talked about events they hold and how they get residents, and the KCPD, involved in what they’re doing. Because of the range of topics discussed, Smith said the police didn’t have to be there. But they’re happy to be facilitators.

“I think there’s more that can be done,” Smith said about the possibility of hosting more meetings in the future. “It might go in a different direction in the future, but I’d like to see it evolve. People left with everyone’s contact information. More people have additional resources to use now. That’s good stuff.”