By Michael Bushnell
Northeast News
March 2, 2011

Wednesday afternoon,  two days after the murder of Northeast community advocate Yuri Ives, Mayor Mark Funkhouser stood with Historic Northeast residents and family of the late Yuri Ives at the Collonade at The Concourse.

Funkhouser called Ives a “local hero” and asked for the city and county court system to begin taking neighborhood and property crimes more seriously.

“Today we stand less than three miles from downtown, the Sprint Center and City Hall, in a true gem of a neighborhood, where neighbors like Yuri Ives have sunk hundreds of thousands of dollars into revitalizing this true gem of a neighborhood in Kansas City’s Northeast community,” Funkhouser said. “This city could use an army of Yuris.”

Yuris was a leader in the ongoing revitalization efforts in the Scarritt Renaissance neighborhood, he said.

Will Royster, vice president of the Scarritt Renaissance neighborhood called Ives “the most unapologetic advocate for Northeast,” citing his work on the Cliff Drive Corridor Management Committee, the civic organization charged with the management of the Cliff Drive Scenic ByWay.

Scarritt Renaissance Neighborhood President Adam Schieber used the occasion to call for prosecutors, both city and county to “stop playing patty-foot with criminals.”

“We’ve got three times the streetlights on the Avenue as anywhere else in the city and all it does is help advertise what the prostitutes and drug dealers are selling,” Schieber said. “Enough is enough. It’s time to turn this neighborhood around.

Funkhouser closed the event by saying Ives was a “feisty, no-nonsense guy who was a true neighborhood champion.”

The police are continuing to investigate Ives’ death. Currently, there are no suspects in custody.

Pictured above, Mayor Mark Funkhouser addresses the crowd at the Colonnade at The Concourse to speak on crime and the recent murder of Northeast’s Yuri Ives. Below, Northeast residents and family members of Yuri Ives listen to the mayor speak. Photos by Michael Bushnell