Northeast News
February 4, 2015

Dear Editor,

In perusing the multiple letters to the editor, all of which seem to have complaints about living in Northeast, I felt the need to plant an idea in the heads of D. Marra, Mr. Melton, Mr. Koenig, and “Northeast Resident”: Life in Historic Northeast is what YOU make it.

My boyfriend, his five-year-old son and I moved here in September 2013 not knowing what to expect, but with the attitude that we would protect our little block. Crime has dropped significantly around here since we moved in, as have illegal dumping and codes issues. It involves being alert, having a telephone and/or the internet, and being willing to believe that things will get done. It’s easy, and not time consuming at all. We both work full time, and still manage to take enough action to see visible changes happening every day.

Let’s start with “Northeast Residents” letter. If you have problems with your neighbors leaving out bulky trash or dumping garbage wherever, call 311. Report a codes violation, not a call for bulky item pickup. Report it EVERY TIME. That trash WILL be picked up and the owner of the property it is in front of will be cited by codes. They will give you a report number, so you can call back and check on the progress of your report. If you have access to the internet, look on the city’s parcel viewer to see who owns the house, and attempt to start a dialogue with them about the problem. A lot of times landlords are not aware this is happening, and I have even seen evictions come out of situations like this. The cleanliness of your block can be changed because of YOU. Don’t give up. Your Northeast is what YOU make it.

Next up, D. Marra. My response to you is this: neighborhoods grow and change. The dynamic changes, the people change, the businesses change. While I understand that this is not the Northeast you moved into 58 years ago, my reaction to your adversity to diversity is this: open your mind a little, and try new things. Support a local Latino business, like a market or a restaurant. Try new things there. Soon you will see how friendly our Latino (or Somali or Vietnamese or Sudanese or Ugandan or…) neighbors are, and how happy they are to have your business. And as for gunshots, report them EVERY TIME. It might take a while for the KCPD to get there on a call for gunshots, but they WILL check it out. Call again and again, even if you feel like it’s not working. It will. The more police presence there is on your block, the less gunshots you will hear, guaranteed. Make your 59th year in Northeast the year you reclaim your front porch. Your block can become quiet and safe. Your Northeast is what YOU make it.

Third, Mr. Koenig. The KCPD cares very much about the Northeast. My experience has been that if you approach these men and women, who are short-staffed, work very hard, and constantly experiencing budget cuts, with calm and respect, the more likely they are to respond to your calls and concerns. Also, call East Patrol and set up a ride along with a couple of officers on a weekend night. See with your own eyes what it is they have to deal with every evening. Understand, also, that police calls are like triage in the Emergency Room. Just as a bout with the flu is less urgent than someone who has been stabbed multiple times, so are gunshots a less serious situation than other crimes, especially on New Year’s Eve, one of the busiest nights of the year for KCPD. Do the people across from you rent? Use the parcel viewer online (a marvelous tool!) and let the owner of the home know you do not appreciate the way they are behaving. Additionally, unless your neighbors were shooting directly at your house, those officers were correct – those bullets hitting your house most definitely could have come from as far as I-70. Bullets travel a LONG way. But that is beside the point. I think it is important for us to have realistic expectations of our police department. It takes an hour to book someone into the jail downtown. That is an hour that those police could be on the streets. If they pull everyone in for traffic warrants and acting a fool, we wouldn’t have any of them on patrol. They’d all be downtown wasting time and taxpayer money booking non-violent criminals into jail. And moving violations are no fun, I agree. But in my experience it never pays to say anything more than “yes, sir” or “no, sir” when I get pulled over, regardless of whether or not I think I deserve it. If you truly believe it is wrong, go to the court date and plead not guilty. That’s what the court system is for. And yes, there is a decrease in crime in Historic Northeast. I have seen it with my own eyes. In conclusion, try to change your viewpoint. I know this might sound crazy, but find ways to MAKE FRIENDS with the officers that serve your area. They are good people who work hard. They really are. Your Northeast is what YOU make it.

And Mr. Melton, I have to agree with Leslie Caplan. You don’t live here, so you have no idea what is going on here. And visiting a couple times a week is not the same as living here. I mean, there are cities, for example New York, that I love to visit, but I can’t say that I know what it is like to live there. BECAUSE I DON’T LIVE THERE. There is a sense of community and a quantity of neighborhood action here in Northeast that I have not seen in any other Kansas City neighborhood I have lived in. And that’s why I stay. OUR Northeast is what WE make it.

Jessie Mathews

Northeast resident