By Leslie Collins
Northeast News
June 8, 2011

For several years, community leaders in Historic Northeast have discussed implementing a Community Improvement District (CID) along Independence Avenue. Now with the help of the city, it could finally become a reality.

One of the major setbacks for Northeast has been finding the funding to begin the CID process and Northeast isn’t alone.

“There’s a lot of upfront money that you have to have to deal with a variety of different costs, which for areas like ours and others is very hard to come up with,” said 1st District City of Kansas City Council member Scott Wagner.

That’s why Wagner proposed implementing an $80,000 CID/Neighborhood Improvement District (NID) Revolving Loan Fund. His proposed ordinance passed 11-0 during the June 2 City of Kansas City Council meeting. A windfall provided monies for the fund. Through a recent cell phone tower settlement, the city received approximately $120,000, and the previous council decided one-time dollars should be spent on capital improvements, placed in a reserve or used for one-time only expenses, Wagner said.

“We took it as an opportunity to say here’s a one-time only expense that can have a tremendous benefit and also dig into the capital improvements part, too,” Wagner said.

Communities seeking to establish a CID or NID will be able to borrow from the fund and will work with the city on a repayment plan.

Asked why communities form CIDs, Wagner listed several reasons, which include improving infrastructure, promoting an area and addressing crime and safety issues. NIDs address similar issues, but focus on residential areas.

Northeast slated to use funding first

Northeast will be the first to use the revolving loan fund, Wagner said.

“In many respects, Northeast will be kind of a test case,” he said.

Through Northeast, the city will be able to fine tune the process and create templates for future applicants, he said. Northeast and other communities will also have access to the city’s legal and planning staff to assist with the process and cut down on costs.

“One of the great things about this (CID/NID) ordinance is that it gives us a jump start,” Northeast Kansas City Chamber of Commerce President Bobbi Baker-Hughes said. “There are other community improvement districts in the Kansas City area, including Main Street, Waldo, the Southtown area, as well as the downtown and City Market area, and those models have shown that a CID can have a huge effect on the economic development of an area.

“I think one of the things a CID does is identify the problem niches that a community has that is not being focused on by either the city or other entities.”

Baker-Hughes said the Northeast Chamber will serve as the sponsoring organization of the Northeast CID and will form a steering committee to gather public input on what issues to address. The next step is to approach the business owners within the proposed CID boundaries and encourage them to approve forming the CID, she said. Fifty-one percent of the business owners within the CID must agree to form the CID, since their businesses will be taxed to fund it, Wagner said.

Revolving fund to help HELP

“The idea of creating a CID revolving loan fund is critical to us,” said Michael Seward, executive director of Northeast’s HELP (Health, Education, Labor and Public Safety) Center.

One of the goals of the labor network board was to create a CID in Northeast, he said.

“That was really the top priority for our labor network,” Seward said. “It was a huge elephant to tackle, but it’s exciting to see how the labor network has really chipped away at it. To learn it (CID/NID Revolving Loan Fund) went to the full city council and received an 11-0 vote is a home run.

“We’re seeing a lot more action and less talk. It’s awesome.”

Seward’s wife, who works downtown, has already witnessed the benefits of creating a CID, he said.

“She passes by some (downtown) areas that could be questionable. Having those ambassadors there in yellow coats has been extremely helpful. They not only deter crime by their presence, but they’re also a valuable resource for the community for help and assistance,” Seward said.

Main Street prime example of CID success story

In 2005, Main Street Corridor established a CID and its benefits continue to grow. The top issues stakeholders wanted addressed were security, maintenance, improving the environment and promotions, said Main Street CID Operations Manager Stan Henry.

Main Street CID hired area maintenance attendants and area awareness officers (security staff) to address some of the issues.

Area awareness officers began patrolling the area, looking for public intoxication, trespassing, panhandling and repeat nuisance offenders. The officers built a relationship not only with the Kansas City Police Department, but also with the city prosecutor’s office, Henry said.

“It created an opportunity that would get individuals off the streets who were committing these nuisance offenses again and again,” he said. “Sometimes two to three times a day cops would be called on them.”

Working with the prosecutor’s office, Main Street CID created probation revocation and worked toward sentencing that also included drug and alcohol rehabilitation if necessary.

“Basically, we continue to reach out to solve problems versus just displace them,” Henry said. “We don’t want to push our problems onto someone else, another business community or neighborhood. We want to solve the issue, which will make it better for all of us.”

In addition to fighting crime, the CID also worked toward improving landscaping and removing graffiti and litter on a regular basis. During the first year, area maintenance attendants and area awareness officers completed more than 17,000 work orders via their handheld devices on behalf of the “Clean and Safe” initiative.

Asked how the CID improved the area, Henry said, “I started my working career in the Midtown area in 1980 and have worked in Midtown since. I’ve seen it go through some ups and downs through the years and I can tell you there’s never been on Main Street more of a sense of possibility as there is right now.”