By LESLIE COLLINS
Northeast News
January 15, 2014

Independence Avenue’s Community Improvement District (CID) is already proving its worth.

One week after the CID launched its safety ambassador program, a CID safety ambassador helped detain a Northeast homicide suspect minutes after a shooting.

“It’s a true, absolute win-win for everybody,” said Bobbi Baker-Hughes, president of the Northeast Kansas City Chamber of Commerce. “How often do we get to say that somebody actually got caught in the process of committing a crime?”

The fatal shooting occurred Jan. 7 on Topping Avenue near the Northeast Price Chopper on Wilson Road. A female witness notified a Titan Security guard employed by Price Chopper and the security guard then radioed another Titan security guard working nearby as a CID safety ambassador. The safety ambassador responded and helped apprehend and detain the suspect until police arrived. The suspect, 44-year-old Northeast resident Marcus T. Kennedy, has been charged with armed criminal action and second degree murder.

“We wanted to bring true experienced safety options to the Avenue,” Baker-Hughes said of hiring Titan Security.

Titan Security is already a mainstay at a number of Historic Northeast businesses and also provides two security officers for the CID who patrol the Avenue seven days a week. To aid the safety ambassadors in patrolling the Avenue, the CID purchased two lime green Ford Fiesta hatchbacks which will soon bear the CID logo.

“The safety ambassadors are the eyes and ears of the Community Improvement District,” said Jon Henderson, member of the CID board and chair of the CID Safety Committee. “They’re going to be observing activities that go on and report them to the proper authorities. We’re hoping that we will cut down on the crime in the area.”

In addition, the safety ambassadors will have the authority to detain individuals until police arrive on scene, he said.

“They’re not going to stay in their cars all the time,” Henderson said. “They’re going to go into all the stores and they’re going to walk the beat when it’s nice weather. They’re going to get to know the merchants and the good neighbors, and get to know the bad neighbors.”

The safety ambassadors will also assist merchants with unwanted individuals and write trespassing warnings when necessary, Baker-Hughes said.

“We’re really just excited we’re going to have two vehicles rolling up and down the Avenue, observing and reporting,” Baker-Hughes said.

Boundaries of the CID include a half a block north and south of Independence Avenue from The Paseo to Ewing.

With funding beginning to stream in from property assessments and the 1 percent sales tax, the CID also recently employed three urban ambassadors whose job is to beautify the Avenue, promote the CID and assist pedestrians. The urban ambassadors will work five days a week, picking up trash and removing leaves and other debris from the gutters on Independence Avenue.

“Their whole role is to clean up the area, talk to people, give them helpful information of where the bus stops are or where they can go to shop or eat, and get to know the business owners in that area so they can help advertise for them,” said Ryan Bertholdi, Independence Avenue CID urban ambassador manager and partner in Moonlight Sweeping.

Moonlight Sweeping already works for three other CID’s in the city, including Brookside, Waldo and Troost, Bertholdi said.

“My goal for the (Independence Avenue) urban ambassador program is to get the area cleaned up because right now there’s quite a bit of trash around there. Hopefully what that will do is make people feel safer, and it will be more attractive for customers who want to come around and shop and want to walk around the area. Especially if you have security and urban ambassadors walking around there, they’re going to feel safer and know that the area’s really being taken care of and that people care.”

With safety ambassadors getting to know merchants and nearby neighbors, Henderson said he hopes Northeast residents will be more open to reporting crime and suspicious activity to the safety ambassadors. Two of the safety ambassadors speak Spanish fluently and the CID hopes to hire additional ambassadors in the future who speak other languages.

“I think that one step at a time we will make some very positive changes with a positive presence on the Avenue,” Baker-Hughes said.