By JOSHUA PHILLIPS
Northeast News
May 16, 2013

Plans are underway for the Independence Avenue Community Improvement District to begin, and Rebecca Koop has been busy starting said plans.

Koop, owner of St. John Gardens and Executive Director for the Northeast Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, has been occupied with the first major CID event which will be held this Saturday, May 18. The Independence Avenue CID will commence with planting and clean-up west of the Independence and Prospect node and east to approximately the Apple Market on Independence Avenue. The clean-up and planting will begin at 8 a.m. and continue through noon.

“Picking up trash, weed-whacking, just general beautification (will be done),” Koop said. “Anyone can show up, but it is a community-wide cleanup. You are going to be seeing volunteers all over the place; they are not just focused on the avenue.”

Trucks will be located at Budd Park and at The Concourse to take trash from the cleaned up areas. In addition, residents can drop off tires at Budd Park. The Northeast Kansas City Chamber of Commerce and other neighborhood associations will provide blue bags for trash pickup.

“If we get enough people in critical mass of different areas all wanting to clean up, it is like foam with little bubbles that just consumes the entire area,” Koop said. “It is all beautification things.”

Koop planted black-eyed Susans and daisies at St. John Gardens, which will be transferred to the beds along Independence Avenue during Saturday’s event. Volunteers are needed to help with the planting, she said.

“There are seven round planters so I want to make sure I have a focal point in the center and that will be the larger plants,” Koop said. “They are not going to overfill with flowers, they are going to have spots of color.”

Irises were planted along Independence Avenue last year, and since Iris is Greek for “rainbow,” Koop said the beautification project can provide more color for the CID.