Abby Hoover
Managing Editor

The Kansas City, Mo., Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners unanimously approved renaming several connected thoroughfares in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on April 13.

The streets to be renamed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard are Blue Parkway from Elmwood Avenue to Swope Parkway, Swope Parkway from Blue Parkway to Volker and Swope Parkway to Brookside Boulevard. The boulevard runs along Brush Creek, past Martin Luther King Jr. Park, Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Center, the South Plaza area, and Boys and Girls Club. It intersects with Troost Avenue, The Paseo, and Prospect Avenue.

This vote comes five years after the Kansas City mayor and city council approved renaming The Paseo for King. In 2018, then-Mayor Sly James formed a committee to explore renaming a street in honor of King. In 2019, the City Council voted to rename The Paseo to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

In February 2019, the new street signs went up. A petition was started by a group of Kansas Citians to “Save the Paseo,” and they successfully got the measure onto the citywide ballot that November.

Voters strongly supported changing the name back to The Paseo, many citing that there was no opportunity for public input on the topic.

Then, Mayor Quinton Lucas directed the KC Park Board of Commissioners to gather public input on how to honor King’s legacy. They received hundreds of ideas over the past year and scheduled several public meetings.

Renaming this particular collection of roadways to honor King was brought forward by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Kansas City (SCLC-GKC). The Park Board and SCLC-GKC expressed their hopes that intentionally choosing an east-west thoroughfare will unite the city that has historically had both physical and racial boundaries.

Emmet Pierson, president and CEO of Community Builders of Kansas City at 4001 Blue Parkway, and Jeron Ravin, president of Swope Health Services, represent the largest landowners along Blue Parkway.

“Community Builders of Kansas City, along with Swope Health Services, have worked hard to cultivate the image and the feel, and the economic opportunity, along Blue Parkway,” Pierson said. “We’ve spent over the last 30 years doing that, we are celebrating our 30th anniversary this year. We’ve developed over $240 million along Blue Parkway. We are the ones that raised up Blue Parkway 25 feet to where it’s now land that’s developable and has value.”

Pierson said they have spent time and money building up the area – and have plans in the near future to break ground on a $100 million project – but voiced his concern about what the roadway looks like today.

“What’s this parkway going to look like as we move forward?” Pierson asked, adding that they are right to honor King, but need to look forward five years, and back 20 years, at the condition of the road. “We all know that we have a valuation issue on the East Side, particularly along Blue Parkway.”

Ravin asked that the Park Board invite their organizations to the conversation and to let this be the first step in honoring King, but realize there’s a considerable amount of work to be done still to the area.

“Today, we not only honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. but we also honor the many Kansas Citians who have the courage to participate in the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s,” Park Board President Jack Holland said. “Their efforts changed our city forever, and for that we’re all grateful.”

Since the new boulevard will remove the Volker name, the Park Board voted to rename Oak Street from 45th Street to 52nd Street to Volker Boulevard, through the Volker Campus of University of Missouri – Kansas City. It will have to be approved by the City Council, with a similar public process.

“As we went through this process, one of the things that we try and make sure that we do and it’s part of our naming policy is to respect the actions of previous boards,” KC Parks Director Terry Rynard said.

The council will also have to approve the accompanying renaming of portions of Blue Parkway, as they are outside the Park Board’s jurisdiction.

“This is the beginning of our way to honor Dr. King, but certainly not just a one-off,” Rynard said. “This is the beginning of what we hope will be a real recognition of his struggles, struggles for civil rights, and the struggles of this community has been through.”

Holland said the board is committed to continuing beautification of this route, adding that they are hopeful that it lives up to the honor that it’s been given, and they are confident that it will.

SCLC-GKC President Vernon Howard, joined by area clergy and supporters of the city’s newest boulevard, said for over 50 years the SCLC-GKC has been advocating for King’s dream to be a reality across the nation and in Kansas City, advocating for living wages, ending racism in both the public and private sector, quality healthcare, voting rights, and equity in education.

“The fight for civil rights in America has never ended, it’s only continued, it’s only changed forms,” Park Board Commissioner Chris Goode said. “This isn’t just a trivial street naming, this is so much bigger.”

Goode said King was slain 53 years ago, and there are still Black men being slain in a very similar manner.

“This is a moment for us to come alongside each other,” Good said. “The thing that I’m proud of about being a part of this process is that it really reflected what Dr. King stood for… It’s a moment for us to move forward, for us to look towards investment in the East Side of Kansas City. It’s a moment for us to bridge the divide that has long existed in the city between white people and Black people.”

Goode said Kansas City has the opportunity to stand as an example of what Martin Luther King Jr. boulevards across the country can be.

“What you have from us is a commitment that we will continue to improve it, to make it better, to build it out, to make sure business is there, to make sure kids know what’s going on,” Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said. “It isn’t just the improvements of Martin Luther King Jr. Park. It’s investment from our Central City Economic Development sales tax, and the shops at – not Blue Parkway – Martin Luther King Parkway. It’s our investments that take us all the way to [I-435]. It’s this investment, they finally says to everyone, ‘Kansas City – east to west, you matter, you’re important.’”