By Leslie Collins
Northeast News
October 5, 2011

Northeast Kansas City Chamber of Commerce is focusing intently on establishing a Community Improvement District (CID) along Independence Avenue.

Progress is on track, said Northeast Kansas City Chamber of Commerce President Bobbi Baker Hughes.

This week, the CID steering committee will finalize its signature petition and begin seeking signatures from the property owners within the proposed CID boundaries.

Revenue from a CID can be used to provide additional services and programs like beautification projects, graffiti abatement, trash cleanup, security personnel, economic development and promotion of an area, among others.

“The interns that have been afforded to us through the Kansas City Hall and (City Council member) Scott Wagner’s office have just been phenomenal in working with and the City Hall staff has been fabulous,” Baker Hughes said.

Recently, the CID steering committee mailed out approximately 200 surveys to property owners along Independence Avenue to find out what Northeast issues they’d like to address.

The survey asked property owners, “If you had one dollar, how would you spend it on Independence Avenue?”

Responses indicated that 46 cents should be dedicated to safety and security; 12 cents to cleaning up the Avenue and making it look more attractive; and another 12 cents for economic development and marketing.

“It solidifies what previous business and property owners and residents in the Northeast have said for years, which is crime and grime,” Baker Hughes said. “We need to address crime and grime.”

Once those two items are addressed, then the focus transfers to improving the perception of Northeast and promoting economic development and marketing, she said.

“This (survey results) gives us a place to start working and thinking about how we can address those issues within the perimeters of the CID,” she said.

Baker Hughes said the steering committee plans to submit the signature petition to the municipal clerk during the first week of January for signature verification.

To establish a CID, approval must be obtained by 51 percent of the property owners and 51 percent of the assessed property value located within the CID boundaries. Both a sales tax and property tax would fund the CID.

If all goes as planned, the CID would be established in October of 2012 and revenue would begin generating by January of 2013, Baker Hughes said.

Chamber after hours

To help businesses and the community network, the chamber is hosting monthly “chamber after hours.”

“It gives not only our businesses, but also the residents within our community an opportunity to come out and meet one another and start exchanging ideas, wants and needs,” Baker Hughes said.

Chamber members and non-chamber members are encouraged to attend the after hours events. This month, the after hours event is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 5, from 4:45 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. at UMB Bank, 6400 Independence Ave. Dinner will be provided and includes hot dogs, hamburgers, chips and beverages. Door prizes will also be awarded to attendees.

Central Bank of Kansas City will host the next after hours event on Thursday, Nov. 10, from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Central Bank is located at 2301 Independence Blvd. and the event will include refreshments and giveaways.

Foot patrolling success

“Kansas City foot patrol officers are a wonderful thing for our businesses on Independence Avenue,” she said. “The officers came in and spoke to every business on the avenue.

“Those business owners felt like they had safety and security within their reach that they never felt in the past.”

That sense of security also migrated to the shoppers and bus riders along Independence Avenue, she said.

The foot patrolling pilot program will end Oct. 31, but Baker Hughes is hoping the Kansas City Police Department will consider extending the program with community support.

“We would like to invite the neighborhoods to work on that with us because it’s going to take a greater voice than just the chamber to say to KCPD, ‘This was a successful pilot program and now we want to see the whole force coming in and doing this because it works.'”