September 21, 2011

This nosey li’l newspooch got wind of some interesting, though less than relevant, discussion that took place in one of City Councilwoman Jan Marcason’s council committee meetings last week. Instead of discussing important community issues, such as infrastructure, trash or crime, the discussion centered around how to micromanage 5Ks, 10Ks and other marathons that take place in Kansas City. Seriously?

Note to the honorable councilwoman: Instead of wasting air space yakking about how to properly stage a foot race, maybe a more relevant and productive discussion might involve the rebuilding of the city’s urban core or how to make doing business in the city a little less cumbersome! Leave the foot races to the Track Club.

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I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream. The signs are down, the DQ product is out, but the same smiling faces are still dispensing ice cream and tasty treats at their building near Independence and Chestnut. Touting her trademark Beehive hairdo (recently voted Best in Kansas City by readers of The Pitch) Esther McMurray and her husband, John, will remain a staple of the Avenue and plan on offering some pretty nifty specials to keep the loyal customers rolling in. This li’l newshound will be first in line for the new mix of cool treats!

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Kudos to Northeast Arts KC for showing real community leadership last Saturday by turning a boarded up building on the Avenue into a work of art. The group, with the help of some local artists, painted portraits on the boards covering windows of an abandoned building. Unfortunately, the leadership team of the Scarritt neighborhood voted that future projects like this would not be encouraged, basically telling the volunteer artists they were persona non grata for future projects on other abandoned buildings within their realm.

Note to Scarritt top dogs – continuing to operate with your head in the sand and fostering a Boulevard social club mentality will only exacerbate the us vs. them mentality earlier leadership teams fought so hard to overcome. Neighborhood gentrification comes from the bottom up, not the top down. With board elections coming in a few months, here’s hoping the leadership vacuum currently in place is kicked to the curb in favor of a board with a better grasp of how to unify, gentrify and upgrade the quality of life for everyone in their neighborhood, instead of the select few who live along the neighborhood’s Boulevards.