Dorri Partain
Managing Editor

A panel discussion regarding finding solutions to reduce the number of fires occurring in Historic Northeast was held on Monday, April 6 at Don Bosco Community Center, 526 Campbell Ave. Hosted by the Northeast Neighborhood Coalition (NNC), this two hour question and answer session brought city and county officials together with representatives from the Kansas City Police and Fire departments to address concerns prepared by the NNC and attendees.

The NNC is composed of leaders and representatives from nine Northeast neighborhoods: Columbus Park, Indian Mound, Independence Plaza, Forgotten Homes, Lykins, Paseo West, Pendleton Heights, Scarritt Renaissance and Sheffield to combat common issues affecting these neighborhoods.

President Dylan Van Gerpen welcomed members of the panel and attendees to Fighting Fires in the Historic Northeast, the first forum hosted by this organization. Treasurer Evie Craig acted as moderator, while member Jonathan Cokely served as timekeeper.

Noting that this topic involved older housing stock, displacement, vacant properties, enforcement and public accountability, Craig stated that, ”Residents deserve real responses and officials deserve the opportunity to respond.”

Invited Forum Panelists included

Manuel Abarca, Jackson County Legislature 1st District

Craig Buckley, KCFD Fire Chief

Lace Cline, Asst. City Manager, Public Safety

James Cooley, KCFD Battalion Chief

David Cornelius, Asst. Director, Neighborhood Services

James Dean, Deputy Chief, KCFD

Gregg Lombardi, Director, Neighborhood Legal Support

Megan Morgan, Independence Plaza Neighborhood Council

Melissa Patterson-Hazley, City Council, 3rd District

Melissa Robinson, City Council, 3rd District

Mario Vasquez, City Manager

Chloe Willet,  Independence Plaza Neighborhood Council

Seeking answers to “what’s happening, what’s missing, and what specific action departments will take moving forward,” Craig asked Fire Chief Buckley about best practices to reduce heating, electrical and cooking fires.

Buckley responded that the fire department takes a proactive approach with community risk reduction, which involves educational materials and the availability of free smoke alarms. Fire Prevention Chief Dean offered that they offered installation of smoke alarms and other public outreach programs,

Smoke alarms were also available to attendees during the forum.

Craig highlighted a map produced by The Northeast News that showed fire locations in 2024 and questioned if any panelist was aware of an updated map or table.

Councilwoman Robinson offered that with “Fifty percent vacancies in a particular area, we have to address the vacancies. That is the root cause of why we’re in this situation, we do need more tools, especially more development and developers.”

Robinson later stated that in zip codes 64127, 64124, 64123, 64126, 64120, 64106 and 64125, more than 100 fires had occurred in each in the past year.

Lombardi offered that Neighbor Legal Services offered assistance to neighborhoods to address vacant properties, they all have “access risk” if not secured and he was aware of 10 to 15 properties constantly open to public access in the Lykins neighborhood.

Throughout the evening, several panelists mentioned the effectiveness of DAWG (Door and Window Guards), a steel enforced product that is installed from the inside to secure vacant buildings, as opposed to the current method of plywood screwed into place.

Neighborhood panelist Morgan stated that she lived in zip code 64124 and felt that every house on her block was at risk, even those that were lived in.

‘We have cameras and alarms and we see people light fires on porches with people living in them (homes),” she said.

Panelist Willet stated she had witnessed two fires in Olive Park Village in one day and feared for her and her neighbor’s homes due to the proximity.

“It’s very scary, seeing the smoke and flames shooting into the air,” Willet said.

Chief Buckley offered that if someone sees something suspicious they should call 911 and have it checked out, while Councilwoman Patterson-Hazley countered that residents see the process “like a ping pong ball” because the fire department can’t respond and the police and prosecutors see it as a petty crime, but with no response the petty crime escalates to major crime and it’s a continued behavior.

Responding on behalf of the Kansas City Police Department, Captain Archando of Central Patrol joined the panelists and stated that they were working with the prosecutor’s office to conduct a 60 day initiative and had arrested individuals involved in fires at Olive Park Village.

Rebuking several statements made by officials, a resident in Forgotten Homes neighborhood remarked that the “elephant in the room” was the homeless population, which moved from vacant property to vacant property, services in the area that attract the homeless and the number of vacancies.  She concluded by stating she couldn’t recall the last time she noticed a police patrol in her neighborhood.

To much applause, Councilwoman Patterson- Hazley stated that the disbursement of social services needs to be placed city-wide and not just the Third District.

“We have so much of the homeless population in such a small square foot, so these folks end up on our property, on our back porch,” she said. “If you have a parcel that’s undeveloped behind you, you may experience a homeless camp right behind you.”

Patterson-Hazley also discussed the idea of a “vacancy tax”, a higher property tax that could incentivise selling or rehabilitating a vacant property. While a vacancy fee could easily be activated through an ordinance, a tax would have to be approved by voters, she explained.

City Manager Vasquez offered that his office was working on a program to address and assist the homeless population as the City was committed to funding $2 million towards the Homeless Gateway program.

A question directed to Neighborhood Service Asst. Director Cornelius sparked discussion about the boarding up of vacant or fire-damaged buildings and the timeline to do so. Cornelius stated the process sometimes involved compliance from the property owner but Willet pointed out that boards are removed by firefighters to gain entry then sit open to access for a week, even after it’s been reported.

Several attendees remarked that the process to communicate between all the departments was complicated and needed improvement.

Asst. City Manager Cline suggested creation of a task force, composed of residents and organizations, that would address department communication issues.

Van Gerpen agreed, stating, “That’s kind of why we formed ourselves (the NNC )from all the neighborhood associations, to hopefully bridge this gap between residents and neighborhood associations, city-level officials and other people, so we can hopefully find issues and gaps in services and find a way to fix those through policy and change.”

Craig stated that due to time limits, not all questions were presented to the panel but would be asked in followup communications. Each panelist was allowed to make a final statement about solutions moving forward regarding reduction of fires and related issues.

For more information about the Northeast Neighborhood coalition, visit www.nnckc.org

Photos by Dorri Partain