By Joe Jarosz
Northeast News
November 5, 2014

KANSAS CITY, Missouri – The past is in the past.

We’re about the future.

There are still a few people who believe the Historic Northeast is an area to be avoided at all costs. But if you remove the crime, what you have is a melting pot of different cultures, foods and architecturally beautiful homes.

We’re here to highlight the good. Events that come to mind include the Northeast Kansas City Chamber of Commerce’s Taste and Tour, which attracted not just more attendees this year, but included more vendors from throughout the Northeast. A few weekends ago, the Northeast Kansas City Historical Society (NEKCHS) hosted its annual homes tour to record attendance. This year, the tour focused on historic homes within the Scarritt Renaissance Neighborhood. In case you missed the NEKCHS tour, the Pendleton Heights annual Holiday Homes Tour is coming up on Saturday, Dec. 6, 2014. The Indian Mound Neighborhood Association, along with other associations in the Northeast, continually host neighborhood clean-ups to beautify the historic area.

Soon, the paper will include Mercado Noreste, an advertising wrap which focuses solely on Hispanic businesses, printed in Spanish along with other advertising the paper sends out.

While we like to highlight the good, we don’t forget about our role as a watchdog for the community. Bunny the Newshound as well as Publisher, Michael Bushnell and Managing Editor Joe Jarosz, have their eyes on the development of the Kansas City Streetcar, both the downtown line which runs into the City Market area and any plans for extending the line, which in the past have included a line heading east along Independence Avenue. This past August, the expansion line was overwhelmingly voted down, however city officials and those associated with the Kansas City streetcar continue to say that expansion is in the plans. If the city wants to try and place light rail in the Northeast again, we’ll be sure to let you know.

We’re also closely monitoring the former Thacher Elementary School. For the past year, community members have worked to transform the vacant building into either a community or senior center. The grassroots group Save Thacher, Save Our Schools has held rallies, marches and community cleanups to show the Kansas City Public Schools the Northeast is committed to preserving its historic buildings. The group is currently awaiting the KCPS Board of Education’s decision on what to do next with the building.

Earlier this year at the Missouri Press Association’s convention, newspapers from across the state were recognized for excellence in journalism and The Northeast News again walked away with a few new plaques.

The Northeast News was recognized for excellence in three categories: former editor Leslie Collins and former art director Bryan Jordan secured a second place award in the Weeklies Class 3 category, Best Photo Package that showcased last year’s Northeast Chalk Walk, political satirist Bryan Stalder secured both a first place award and a third place award in the Weeklies Class 3 category for his political cartoons and the First Place award was for a cartoon lampooning the folly of the city’s new streetcar system.

On top of being recognized for excellence in journalism in the Missouri Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest, Kirstie Mulligan, Northeast News art director, was also recognized by the Missouri Advertising Managers Association for excellence in her design work for local advertiser Elvira’s Bakery on Independence Avenue. Mulligan received a second place award for her use of photography and snared a first place award for excellence in designing a series of ads for Elvira’s.