By Leslie Collins
Northeast News
March 16, 2011

Approximately 40 people gathered at 9th and Van Brunt March 14 for the Northeast Community Center groundbreaking ceremony.

Attendees included area residents, neighborhood association presidents, representatives from the Kansas City Missouri Parks and Recreation Department, Congressman Emmanuel Cleaver II, 3rd District City Council members Sharon Sanders Brooks and Melba Curls, among others.

More than 50 years ago, Northeast was promised a quality community center, said John Fierro, president of the KCMO Parks and Recreation Board.

For 10 years, Northeast has gone without a center, he said, but that will soon change.

The 9th and Van Brunt site spans 12.4 acres and will feature a new parking lot, event plaza with outdoor amphitheater, a concessions building, trails, outdoor lighting, and one competitive soccer field and two practice soccer fields. The center itself will offer a fitness room, swimming pool, gymnasium, meeting rooms, among other amenities.

The goal of the center is to enhance the quality of life for those in Northeast and offer a sense of community, Fierro said.

“This is a worthwhile project,” Cleaver said. “In just a short while, boys and girls will be able to play soccer all across this area.”

For Curls, the Northeast Community Center was one of the first projects she heard about upon being elected to the city council, she said.

“I’m glad it’s going to come to fruition,” Curls said. “Let’s all work together and it will be done soon.”

Indian Mounds Neighborhood Association President and steering committee board member Scott Wagner commended Northeast, pointing out that four to five years ago, there were no soccer goals in the area. Now, 10 area parks have soccer goals.

“Let’s turn some dirt and kick some balls around!” he said.

Above: It’s official. Community leaders and area residents brave the snow to attend the March 14 ground breaking ceremony for the future Northeast Community Center site at 9th and Van Brunt. See page 17 for story. Leslie Collins