Through an agreement with the Parks and Recreation Department, Ambassadors with the Independence Avenue CID will be maintaining the native plant beds at Independence and Benton Boulevards on an interim basis.

“The Independence Avenue  Community Improvement District is proud to help keep this intersection looking beautiful,” said Mike Spady, Urban Planner and Director of Operations for the CID. “As a key intersection in Historic Northeast Kansas City, we wanted to look fantastic.”

After the completion of the intersection upgrades a few years ago, the plan for ongoing maintenance fell through the cracks at the Parks Department. After discussions this week between Parks staff, CID leadership and Leslie Caplan of the Scarritt Renaissance neighborhood, an interim maintenance agreement was negotiated for CID staff to keep the two landscaped areas looking nice.

“We are happy to compliment the ongoing efforts of Parks & Rec.”, said Bobbi Baker-Hughes, CID CEO. “Through our partnerships with Scarrit Renaissance neighbors and P&R the Benton intersection will be the focus of combined efforts.”

The two landscaped areas are on the Northwest and Southwest corners of the intersection and on two islands separating turn lanes. Part of the area is in the Independence Plaza neighborhood and the other in the Scarritt Renaissance neighborhood.