By Leslie Collins
Northeast News
September 14, 2011

A number of residents are less than enthused about the new East Patrol Division and crime lab police campus being constructed in their neighborhood.

As Kansas City officials explained the process during a public meeting Sept. 7 at Mount Calvary Church of God in Christ, grumbles and sighs filled the sanctuary. Others yelled and some shed tears.

One resident reminded attendees they were in the house of God, and another spouted back, It doesn’t matter. It’s going to be torn down anyway.

The new site will be located between 26th Street on the north, 27th Street on the south, Brooklyn Avenue on the west and Prospect Avenue on the east. Its boundaries include 129 properties, 33 of which are owner occupied and a number of properties house tenants.

Choosing the location was a joint effort among the city’s Capital Projects Department Mayor Sly James, city manager’s office and the 3rd District city council members. Kansas City Police Department acted in an advisory capacity, and did not have the final say.

Kansas City has hired three independent companies to conduct property appraisals, which will be completed by Oct. 31. City officials will then select the highest of the three appraisals as a base offer to purchase a property. Owners who live on their property will be given 25 percent above the appraised value. Those who have lived in their home for 50 years or more are eligible for the “heritage value,” which entitles them to an additional 25 percent above the appraised value. Those residing on properties will also receive relocation assistance. Owners will have 30 days to respond to the city’s offer, and once the city takes possession of the property, the owner and occupants will have 90 days to vacate. Demolition will begin in late summer of 2012 and construction will be completed in 2014.

“In every (relocation) project I’ve come across, there’s a lot of emotion involved,” said Marion Caruthers of the Capital Improvements Department. “You’re being displaced. You’re being asked to move away from something that is your most prized possession. I empathize with that…

“We will make things as comfortable for you as possible in this whole relocation process.”

“We don’t want you to go out of this situation worse off than what you were in,” said Rodney Wallace, right-of-way acquisition agent.

Some questioned Wallace’s statement.

“What really concerns me about this is the timing of it,” one resident said. “The economy’s in the tank. The (housing) values are down to nothing. There’s vacant buildings around and that’s going to affect the appraisals, too. And who wants to sell at the bottom of the market?”

“We’ve been very cognizant of that,” said Don Frank, manager of the city’s Right-of-Way and Relocation Services Division.

Frank added that since housing values are down, prices will be depressed in other locations as well. It’s also why the city chose to seek three appraisals for each property instead of only one, he said.

“I’m 95 years old. Where am I going to go?” one woman asked.

Other voiced concerns included property owners losing dependable renters, mortgage debt and the inability to receive approval for a home loan in today’s economy.

Ameena Powell, who lives on Brooklyn, told Northeast News she’s lived in her home for nearly five years and invested numerous dollars in remodeling.

“The property was on life support when I bought it and I brought it back from the brink,” she said.

However, she would have spent her money differently had she known she would lose her house to the city, she said. Soon, she’ll bid goodbye to her new roof, upgraded electrical, new heating and cooling system, her refinished wood floors, decorative borders and other improvements.

She’ll miss her house, but she’ll also miss her neighbors.

She recalled the time when her neighbor called the police and then her when someone tried to break into her home.

“We look out for each other,” she said. “And I’m going to miss that. These are real decent people that live here, not the criminals they’re trying to portray us to be.”

Location choice explained

Kansas City officials asked for public input and received 74 suggestions, including 36 sites.

Some of the sites were ruled impractical, which left 25 viable sites, Sgt. Mark Stinson of the Capital Improvements Department said.

The site city officials chose was the only one that met all seven criteria, which looked at cost of land and cost of construction; size and shape of site; ease of vehicle and pedestrian public access to site; sufficient distance away from railroad tracks and highways due to the sensitivity of crime lab equipment; location within a high crime rate area, among other criteria.

During the early stages of the site search, city officials stressed they wanted the site to be centrally located within the East Patrol Division. However, a number of Kansas Citians are arguing it’s not centrally located at all.

Both Forrestine Beasley, former president of the Independence Plaza Neighborhood Council and Lee Lambert, current president, said it’s too close to the Central Patrol Division boundary.

“It sure puts it an awful long way from the folks in the eastern part of East Patrol Division,” Lambert said. “It certainly inconveniences the rest of East Patrol Division.”

However, Lambert said he hopes the crime lab and police station will revitalize the area and stir economic development. Beasley agreed.

“On the up side, that area needs some new development and what better thing to have than a new station and crime lab?” Beasley said.

Northeast News contacted Maj. Jerry Gallagher for more details.

Gallagher, who heads the city’s Facilities Management and Construction Division said, It is centrally located when you look at the northern and southern boundaries of East Patrol.

“What everybody’s getting lost in is they want to look at this like it’s just about East Patrol and it’s not,” he said. “East Patrol is less than one third of the project. We’re saving millions by combining these two projects together.”

Combining the projects also adds security for the civilian workers at the crime lab, he said. Kansas City needed a centrally located crime lab, since the crime scene investigators must return to the crime lab after each crime scene investigation.

“We had to pick a spot that would provide swift response throughout the entire city,” Gallagher said. “When you have a homicide, you have to get crime scene people out there as soon as possible and be able to clear the scene as quick as possible so they can move on to the next scene.

“We feel like it’s a very centralized location for the scope of the project. To me, the only negative is I hate to see some of these people move, but we’re going to do our best to make sure they’re taken care of.”