Abby Hoover
Managing Editor

Independence Plaza Park reopened this week with extensive improvements, safety measures and accessibility upgrades for the community.

KC Parks, City officials, neighborhood leaders, and students of nearby schools cut the ribbon on the north side of the park at Independence and Brooklyn avenues on Tuesday, Oct. 18.

Improvements to the north side of the park include a new, attractive and universally accessible playground for children, regardless of their degree of mobility, and an active gathering and programmable space for families or groups.

On the south side of the park, improvements include new futsal and pickleball courts, and a walking trail.

“I’m personally thrilled to be adding these amenities to one of the most historically significant parks in our system, built on the very first Boulevard in Kansas City,” said Chris Cotten, Director of Kansas City Parks and Recreation. “Independence Plaza is an unusual park. As you can see, it is divided into two parts, one part where we stand today on the north side of Independence Boulevard, and the other just across the street on the south side.”

The two halves of the park have a combined 1.73 acres, and it has been part of the park system since 1899.

“This park was designed by none other than George Kessler, the man behind the design of the city’s earliest parks that place the Kansas City park system on the map for other communities to emulate,” Cotten said.

“Independence Plaza is significant as one of the oldest neighborhood parks in the park system.”

Kessler recommended the once blighted area be converted to a park in his first official Park Report in 1893.

“These modern improvements keep the historic integrity of the park, which stands as an example of a characteristic Kessler plan, a small park situated on either side of a major boulevard, in providing open space for the adjoining neighborhoods,” Cotten said.

The $1.2 million of improvements to the park were funded by City Council District 3 Public Improvement Advisory Committee (PIAC) funds, and part of a $30 million grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) through the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative program.

The Independence Plaza Park project is one of many projects planned through the HUD grant awarded to the Housing Authority of Kansas City and the City of Kansas City in 2016.

The purpose of the grant is to replace the Chouteau Courts public housing site and to support the revitalization of Pendleton Heights and portions of the Paseo West and Independence Plaza neighborhoods, known collectively as the Paseo Gateway. The project included the construction of Pendleton Arts Block to the east of the park and other mixed-income apartments scattered throughout Northeast.

“Independence Plaza Park is a prime example of how improving housing isn’t just about the buildings we live in,” Cotten said. “It is also about improving the amenities so that a neighborhood and its residents can thrive.”

At the beginning of the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative program 10 years ago, the community, the Housing Authority of Kansas City, and others had a vision for the Paseo Gateway area, and the project is now nearing completion with this project, intersection reconstruction at Independence and Paseo, and Sam Rodgers Place.

“This is the fruits of their labor,” said Bob Theis, CEO of Samuel U. Rodgers Health Center. “The final phase of the Paseo Gateway Initiative is at Samuel U. Rodgers Health Center, it’s called Samuel U. Rodgers Place. They’re bringing housing, people, and the neighborhood together to connect people to the resources that they need – some of the resources that people may know they need, there are others that they don’t necessarily know that they need – but this is connecting partners with partners, and so I’m so proud of the work that the Choice Neighborhood is doing.”

Scuola Vita Nuova Superintendent Nicole Goodman said the charter school at 535 Garfield Ave. will use the park, in addition to their own playground, for recreation.

“We’re excited about this space because we used to use this prior,” Goodman said. “Our staff, students and families had input on the design, so that’s exciting to see it come to fruition. I’m excited just to get our kids out, have more options, and just have pride in their community, and a place for them to come and play and enjoy and be a kid.”

Students watched the progress through their classroom windows, and have been eagerly awaiting a chance to test out the new playground – complete with a zip line, swings, ropes courses and other obstacles.

Goodman said 82% of SVN’s students are from the neighborhood, and they’ll likely frequent the park with their families, as well.

Fencing and LED lighting enhancements were made on both sides of the park, with children in mind.

“For us, it’s safe with this fencing,” Goodman said. “Before, we’d worry about kids just running out on the Avenue, so with this fence and how it shuts, it just makes us feel a little bit more secure.”

Councilwoman Melissa Robinson addressed students and Independence Avenue Community Improvement District (CID) staff in attendance.

“We’re doing this for you,” Robinson said. “You are our future, and Independence Avenue is an economic development generator for the Third District. You all are doing such a great job. I would like to thank our CID that’s here that’s doing so much work along the Avenue. This is beautiful. We’re so grateful that you all will be able to enjoy this wonderful amenity, especially the zipline over here… We’re so elated to be able to be a part of this partnership.”

Additionally, an art installation entitled “Live in Light” by Hasna Sal was added to the north side of the park thanks to $30,000 in funding from the Independence Avenue Community Improvement District (CID). The one-of-a-kind art glass and panels hang from light poles in the park.

“At the end of it, it is about the children,” Sal said. “This installation is about you, it is about friends, family and community, which is always there with you, and it is about celebrating the values of caring, sharing and nurturing, which is your birthright.”

Bobbi Baker-Hughes, CEO & President of the Northeast Kansas City Chamber of Commerce said Sal has created fascinating art that brings the past of the park to “a new light” from what it was, to what it is today, and what it will be in the future.

“I want to thank the president and chairman of the Independence Avenue CID for pushing the project and funding the art,” Baker said. “I don’t think that this art could work anywhere else.”

Cotten believes this is the third or fourth iteration of the park, and he was thrilled to see the children enjoying it so much.

“That’s what we’re here for, that’s why we do parks and recreation, specifically to get the kids and families a place to go,” Cotten said. “So this is great. This is excellent. The new futsal court, the pickleball – which is obviously one of the new hottest trends sweeping the nation right now – and then the new modern playground equipment, which comes a long way from the first playground equipment that was here, probably not much more than an old fashioned merry go round, some swings, maybe a slide.”

Students from Ryogoku Soccer Academy at 600 Gladstone Blvd. and Principal Brad Leonard tested out the new futsal court on the south side of the park. The middle school students practice at 9th and Van Brunt, the Concourse, or other local parks daily.

Leonard is excited to see soccer-friendly investments being made in the neighborhood.

“It’s phenomenal… This gives us another area – especially for our younger group of kids, you know, elementary school kids, they need to have access to the game – this is a great place to do it, and then just to see kids out playing on Independence Boulevard is just great,” Leonard said. “It just brightens everything up, just gives kids and families another option of some things to do.”

With SVN just next door and Ryogoku three blocks away, the new and improved park will see lots of daytime student activity.

“We’ll utilize it quite a bit,” Leonard said. “It’s exciting. You couldn’t ask for a better place for it, especially in a park that needed a little new life breathed into it. It’s just another great thing in a long line of great improvements that are happening in the Northeast. It’s cool to see, and it’s very exciting for these boys to watch, as well. They watch all these things unfold and it gets them excited, engaged with their community, and it gets them thinking about how bright their future is, honestly.”

The revitalized Independence Plaza Park, on both the north and south side of Independence Avenue at Park Avenue, has already become a destination for children, including those with different abilities, families and neighbors since it reopened.