Northeast News
April 22, 2015

Dear Editor:

I am writing to inform Bunny that despite her comments to the contrary, the Scarritt Renaissance Neighborhood Association is very clear about its core purpose and mission. And we are very clear about the definition of support. And we know that because we do not choose to take a position of either supporting or opposing an initiative, it doesn’t mean there is a personality conflict.

As a child, if I told my parents I wanted to do something because all my friends were doing it, their response was “If they jump off a bridge, does that mean you should follow?” They would suggest that it might be a good idea to think for myself and my real friends would understand why I had gone in a different direction and wouldn’t shame or blame.

Such is the case in the Thacher School issue. Just because others have chosen to support it, does not mean that Scarritt Renaissance has to or should. Just because in the “old days” neighborhoods supported each other regardless, doesn’t mean it is the best plan today. Nor does it mean that we are enemies. It just means that we don’t see the world the same way on that particular issue. It does not mean that a neighborhood should be faulted for thinking differently than the rest of the pack.

Indian Mound, which is the group spearheading the Thacher initiative did not give Scarritt Renaissance a letter of support for the new playground. Does that mean they hate children or Scarritt or does it perhaps mean something totally different? I don’t know, but I am certainly not going to find fault with them for this. Not all the neighborhoods give support to the [Northeast Kansas City] chamber/CID every time they request it. Should we draw some sinister conclusion and make something bigger of it than it is?

People opposed Scarritt residents working hard to remove transients from the neighborhood even when they were decimating our historic homes and making our parks inaccessible to our own residents. Should they have been beside us supporting our efforts? Perhaps, but if it wasn’t their way of thinking do I have the right to judge them negatively or harass them for not jumping off the bridge with us? They, like us, were thinking independently. We chose to fight that fight and they did not.

Let me remind Bunny that Scarritt Renaissance hosted the first meeting between the school district and the community well over a year ago to discuss the future of Thacher. There were no residents from outside of Scarritt, as I recall. It was our impression at that meeting and other subsequent meetings that the school district did their due diligence and based on what our board and members heard and discussed at those meetings, we chose not to get involved in the discussion any further. Scarritt Renaissance has its own goals for its neighborhood and its role within the community. Thacher doesn’t happen to be one of them. Are we constantly advocating to the chamber for new businesses on Independence Avenue? You bet we are. Are we strong believers that if we do systematic codes inspection with the city on our blighted properties that Historic Northeast will reap the benefits of that? You bet we are. Do we think that the time we spend building our partnership with the police department is worth every moment of volunteer time? Absolutely, for Scarritt and for HNE. Is having the president of Scarritt organize two community-wide cleanups every year a good thing for all of Northeast? Absolutely! Should I shame or blame because nobody else has stood up and said they will do them? I think not, because they are our neighborhood’s contribution to HNE.

The issue of extremely poor voter turnout has nothing to do with Scarritt not taking a position on Thacher. I suspect it has far more to do with people who don’t take their civic responsibility seriously, who read or hear that the city does nothing for Northeast and believe it and thus believe things can’t change so they don’t get involved. I also suspect that it has to do with the number of foreign-born residents who are not citizens and live here. Perhaps Bunny could highlight the various things that the city has done for HNE in the last two years and she could spearhead a voter registration instead of joining the Thacher shame and blame game.

I guarantee there will be other situations where Scarritt Renaissance takes a different direction than other neighborhoods and it will not mean that we do not value them or the choices they have made. And brace yourself, our board has already taken the position that we do not intend to write a blanket letter of support for saving every old school in the district as the Thacher group has requested. Again, we intend to address each situation separately and make our decision accordingly. That does not preclude residents from individually getting involved. But the neighborhood will not have a dog in every fight.

Sincerely,

Leslie D. Caplan

President

Scarritt Renaissance Neighborhood Association