By Joe Jarosz
Northeast News
August 5, 2015

Kansas City, Missouri — Third District at-large Councilwoman Melba Curls was ready to move from government work to the private sector in 2006.

That year, she left the Missouri House of Representatives after four terms as a state representative. But that retirement was short lived, because in 2007, she ran, and won, for the Third District at-large seat. Eight years, and many committee meetings, later, she’s leaving government work again. During her time with the Kansas City City Council, she served on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Legislative committee, Public Safety and Emergency Services committee and the Neighborhoods, Housing Healthy Communities committees.

Like any elected official, there are projects she looks back at fondly. Having lived in the Third District all her life, she said when the city was able to help bring an Aldi grocery store at 39th Street and Prospect Avenue, she was excited for her neighborhood.

“We used the term food desert for that area because that’s what it was,” Curls said. “So the fact that we were able to get that opened was a plus for the neighborhood because we were working on that for years.”

Other projects she was glad to have lent a hand in creating include Seven Oaks Senior Housing and the St. Michael’s Veterans Housing. Over the last couple years, Curls was one of the main components to securing the new location for the Leon Mercer Jordan East Patrol Campus and Crime Lab Campus, located at Prospect Avenue and 27th Street.

“We’re proud of that, too,” Curls said. “There was a lot of transparency with the community because we wanted to get a lot of input for what people wanted to see and what was offered from the campus. It’s a good area, and we’re excited to see it there.”

Curls has been at the forefront of so much change, that when her children visit from out of town, she said they’re always surprised to see what is new in the city. Development takes time, though, she added.

“There are probably more vacant houses in the Third [District] than anywhere in the city,” Curls said. “People want to see these turned into development, but that takes time.”

Development is something Curls hopes to see her replacement, Quinton Lucas, work towards for the Third District.

“I want to see projects that have already started come to fruition, like the Linwood Shopping Center, to further feed the people in the area,” Curls said, adding recently a grocery store was announced as a tenant for the center, but more stores will hopefully follow.

And just because she’s leaving office doesn’t mean she has plans to slow down, either. Curls is a member of a variety of organizations and boards and plans to continue the work she’s started with them. She said she also plans to volunteer more, too.

“I think the last two councils set an example for the future,” Curls said. “We didn’t always agree, but we worked together to try and make this city a better place.”