Dorri Partain 
Managing Editor

The Independence Avenue Community Improvement District (CID) oversees improvements along Independence Avenue. These improvements include trash collection, beautification, and assistance in a program referred to as GRIME, CRIME & CHIME. The CID’s crew of 10 Urban Street Ambassadors includes Butch Butner, who has been a familiar face on the avenue for the past 9 years.

Butner lived in Historic Northeast during his first years as an ambassador, but now makes the daily commute to our familiar neighborhood from North Kansas City. Butner said his favorite part of his many duties is cleaning up the Avenue, along with planting flowers and caring for them. He also likes meeting different people that walk along the Avenue, though sometimes that’s a challenge too.

One incident he’ll always recall is encountering a mother with 4 children and overhearing one of them saying,“Mama, I’m hungry”. When the mother responded,”I’m trying to find some food”, Butner stepped up and offered them $10.00 so they could eat.

CID Team Resource Manager Laura Birdsong said, “Butch has a heart of gold and goes above and beyond to help others.” Likewise, Butner said he enjoys “working with extra good people. They help me out a great deal.”

Butner likes to keep busy and spends his time off stocking shelves for a family-owned ethnic grocery on the Avenue. His hobby is fishing at local lakes around Kansas City and also Lake of the Ozarks or Columbia. “Wherever there’s water, there’s fish,” said Butner.

If you see Butch collecting trash or watering flowers, stop and say Hi and Thank You.