My Christmas Wish List

Hello once again from District 2…

Our semester at Rockhurst has almost wrapped up, so I thought I'd come back to the blog and post a whole bunch of stuff that's been bouncing around in my head.

We're in between Thanksgiving and Christmas, so the first thing I'd like to do is extend holiday wishes to all of you.

Although Thanksgiving has past, I want to say that I am enormously thankful for all of the wonderful people that I've had the opportunity to meet, and talk to, and work with since I took on my role as a Commissioner about a year and a half ago.

Despite our many challenges, all of those wonderful people have given me renewed hope that we can and we will make Wyandotte County a better place in which to live, work and play.

Now, in true "little kid" fashion, I'd like to share my Christmas list with you and tell you that it would simply make my year if all my holiday wishes came true.

Don't worry, the gifts on my list don't require a big wallet... they don't require that you slide down my chimney... and they don't require that you know my size.

The gifts on my list are simple, but they have value beyond measure. Because, you see, the gifts on my list are all designed to help celebrate "good people doing great things" (which is the reason that I started this blog a few months back).

First gift
At least once in the coming year I'd like each of you to "do something good". Encourage someone. Lend a helping hand. Contribute to a charitable organization. Give your time and energy to a community service group. We all have more capacity for good inside of us we can imagine. Share it. Let it out.

Second gift
At least once in the coming year I'd like you to catch someone "doing good". And when you do, make it a point to say "thank you" or "well done" or "good job" to that person. We humans tend to keep doing the things that we get rewarded for. So, let's reward and acknowledge the people who are doing good so that they are encouraged to keep it up.

Third gift
At least once in the coming year I'd like you to find someone who is "doing good" and tell everyone you know about that person and what he or she is doing. Not in the spirit of bragging or boasting, but in the spirit of spreading the good news about "good people doing great things".

We know that good people are doing great things in all parts of the world. But there are days when the bad news seems to overwhelm the good. Let's turn the tide. We can't hide from the bad, but we can slowly overwhelm it with good.

I don't intend to minimize the many challenges that lie ahead of us, but I want us to always remember that, working together, we are the most powerful force on the planet.

~ Brian

bmckiernan@wycokck.org

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Helping Hands In A Time Of Need

Mixed emotions again this week. How can you be so thoroughly impressed with the work that an organization does, yet still want to put it out of business at the same time?

Let me explain...

Last Tuesday I had the pleasure of visiting Cross-Lines Community Outreach, Inc. This truly spectacular organization currently operates from the former St. Thomas Catholic Church at the corner of South Pyle St. and Shawnee Ave. in the Armourdale neighborhood of Kansas City, Kansas.

Cross-Lines has a base of operations in the church, rectory and school
that were formerly St. Thomas Catholic Church

Here's the Cross-Lines story as told on the "History" page of their web site.

"Cross-Lines was built on a simple idea — that poverty borne problems could be answered best by looking to the community for solutions and working together to tackle them.

"In 1963 a group of ministers and concerned citizens joined together to improve the plight of the poor. Under their leadership they created a legacy of programs that have positively impacted the lives of thousands of needy people.

"For more than 45 years Cross-Lines Community Outreach, supported by a network of businesses, churches and individuals, has provided a daily source of assistance for at-risk families, the elderly and single individuals."

Last year alone, Cross-Lines provided:

• Emergency utility assistance for 117 households
• Hot showers for 4,544 people
• Free clothing for 586 households
• Emergency groceries for 1,003 households
• Commodities for 15,009 seniors
• Nearly 18,000 hot breakfasts
• Over 56,000 lunches
• Christmas Store shopping for 500 families
• Backpacks and school supplies for more than 1,700 children

One of the things that was particularly impressive was the enormous effort that Cross-Lines' staff puts into providing the people they serve with the information, education, resources and support they need to put themselves and their families in a place where they no longer need services from Cross-Lines. Something to think about isn't it...an organization that works hard every day to reduce the need for its services.

No words can describe my awe and amazement at the way the staff and volunteers of this organization truly touch and lift up people all across Wyandotte County who are confronted by poverty.

But here's the rub...Cross-Lines will celebrate 50 years of service to Wyandotte County in 2013 and the need for their services is every bit as great today as it was the year it was formed. At the same time, they are facing reductions in the funding and resources they leverage to lift up those who are in need. Visit their web site to learn how you can help.

Last week, after the fun picking up illegally discarded tires, I told you that I felt both satisfied and frustrated at the same time.

After visiting Cross-Lines, I felt both lifted up and beaten down at the same time.

Lifted up because I am truly inspired by the tremendous work that the staff of Cross-Lines does on a daily basis. They take limited resources and multiply them several fold to benefit people who are in need all across our community.

Beaten down because I was once again reminded of the enormity of the challenge facing Cross-Lines and all of us. If the old saying is true that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, then it makes me wonder if a community is only as strong as its weakest citizen.

If that is true, then I think that each one of us becomes a part of the ultimate solution. What is the solution? I'm not sure. I'd appreciate your thoughts, ideas and suggestions.

In closing, one of the organization's truly neat accomplishments is the quarter acre garden that sits across the street from the main Cross-Lines building. This tiny plot of land is tended by community families and yielded over 5,000 pounds of healthy produce during the last growing season. Cool!!

Some crops are planted directly in the rich earth
that was in the flood plane of the Kaw River for years.

Other crops are planted in raised beds
which makes them easier to tend and harvest.

Community families tend the plots.
They both consume and share the harvest.

Look...this garden is growing children! Just kidding.
The child of one of the community gardeners pointed with pride
to a pepper plant that has been in her family for 100 years.

~ Brian

bmckiernan@wycokck.org
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Neighborhood Cleanup (C'Mon, Man!)

Wow! Am I ever tired...

I had the privilege of joining about 10 great folks this morning, including residents of the Riverview neighborhood, to start cleaning a deep gully that, frankly, was a pathetic and unsightly mess after years and years of people illegally dumping tires, construction debris and other assorted junk down a hill.

The illegal dump was located near the intersection of Reynolds Avenue and North Early Street (roughly halfway between 7th and 10th Streets and just a bit north of Central Avenue).

Some of the tires were sitting out in the open...

...and (unfortunately) some were partially or completely buried.

One of the neighbors who lives near this unsightly mess had emailed myself and Community Policing Officer Ryan Parker about how the water-filled tires breed thousands of mosquitos in the hot and humid summer months. She told us that the mosquitos make it difficult for any of the nearby residents to spend time outside in the summer.

Officer Parker and I had both looked at the site during the summer and, frankly, we didn't think it looked that bad. Then the leaves fell off all of the trees that shielded the bottom of the gully from the street, and our jaws dropped. There were stupid tires everywhere!!!

You'll have to click this thumbnail to really see it,
but my red arrow is pointing to the base of a tree
that has grown up *through* one of the discarded tires.
These have been here a while!!

This morning, Officer Parker organized four young men who were completing community service hours through the Metropolitan Community Service Program. They joined Officer Parker and myself along with neighbors Margaret, Bill and Callie and members of the Riverview Neighborhood group.

After three hours of the hardest work I've done so far this week (OK, this month), we had carried 202 discarded (and heavy!) tires plus a big pile of other junk up a steep hill to the street for pickup.

Wait a minute...this doesn't look like 202. But it is!

There is a second row of tires stacked behind what you can see.

Right before we called it a day, we stacked 60+ more tires at the bottom of the gully for removal at a later date. Want to help? It'll be fun!  :-)

Still a lot of tires a long way down...

Now, let's get down to the real reason I'm writing this up for the blog.

I have never been so satisfied, yet so frustrated at the same time.

I was satisfied because we made a serious dent in the complete mess down in that gully.

However, I was frustrated beyond belief that we had to spend our Saturday morning cleaning up after people who are so irresponsible as to dump their trash by the side of a city street and who drag our city down through their complete disregard for the rest of us. You can't just throw your trash wherever you darn well please.

I'm reminded of the tag line for a segment that ESPN airs before Monday Night Football..."C'Mon, Man!"

There's always a price to pay when people choose to act like pigs.

Sure, we got a bunch of volunteers to bring the tires up to the street. But someone's going to have to pay to get them hauled away.

And do you know who pays the bill almost all the time in cases like this? That's right, you and I do through the taxes that we pay to the Unified Government. Trash dumping morons force the Unified Government to use valuable (and scarce) resources to insure that our city doesn't become one giant landfill.

Besides the direct monetary cost, there's also the blight that illegal trash dumping inflicts on our neighborhoods. Current residents have to look at a mess on a daily basis, and people who might be thinking about moving in to our area get completely turned off when they see junk thrown everywhere.

If you have any ideas about how we can solve this problem, I'd love to hear them. Feel free to send an email or drop a note in my suggestion box with any comments, ideas, suggestions or solutions.

Many thanks to the people who helped with the cleanup this morning and to everyone who works hard on a daily basis to make District 2 and Kansas City, Kansas a better place to live, work and play.

Now, where's that Alleve?


~ Brian

bmckiernan@wycokck.org
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Donnelly College and The Circle of Life

Many of you have heard my "Circle of Life" analogy for the many improvements that are taking place in the older eastern end of our city.

And if you haven't, let me give you a brief review… because I think the analogy works perfectly for the new life that Donnelly College is bringing to its campus on 18th Street between Tauromee and Barnett.

Here's how my thinking goes... just as Simba completed the "circle of life" and took the reins of leadership from Mufasa in Disney's animated feature "The Lion King" (a great movie, by the way), so it is in old KCK. What used to be new has now become old and somewhat worn. In many cases it needs to be replaced, remodeled or repurposed so that it can have new life and serve new generations.

Donnelly College has educated students in Kansas City, Kansas since 1949. It is an independent, coeducational, Catholic college that was founded by the Benedictine Sisters and is currently sponsored by the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas.

The college already closed one "circle of life" when it moved from its old campus on Sandusky into what used to be the Providence Hospital building on north 18th Street.

Now, a new circle is being completed as the college has begun construction of a Community Event Center that will accommodate 200 people and can serve as a gathering place for both college and community events.

The wrecking ball arrived on campus in August and dust swirled in the hot summer wind as the old brick walls came crashing down. (Click any photo below to enlarge).

Here are a couple of photos taken in late August
(standing on Barnett and looking to the southwest).

Lynn Hire, the marketing coordinator for the college wrote to me in August and told me:

"We are redesigning and rebuilding the oldest building on campus. The foundation of the Community Event Center formerly served as a hospital laundry facility and most recently as a child care center for El Centro. In Spring 2013, the new facility will open and become available for public programming and events (60% usage projected) as well as campus events and functions. 

Features of the new facility include:

• 200-person capacity
• A catering kitchen
• A separate entrance
• State-of-the-art technology, sound system and multimedia screens
• A circle drive and visitor drop-off
• Restrooms and meeting space
• An outdoor courtyard

"A growing list of Donnelly community partners including Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools; Kauffman Scholars; KU Gear Up; Leadership 2000; Money Smart with the Federal Reserve Bank; Unified Government; YMCA Young Achievers and many more are expected to use the new facility."

The walls of the old laundry facility were completely removed
by early September and the deck was ready for the groundbreaking
and blessing on September 12th (looking northwest).

A huge crowd gathered at the site on September 12, 2012 for a groundbreaking and blessing. Mayor Joe Reardon was joined by commissioners Tarence Maddox and John Mendez at the event and all praised the investment that Donnelly is making in the community.

Framing for the new walls is already in place as construction
zips along and the facility takes shape.

I stopped by the site this morning and I was thrilled to see that construction is moving at a fast pace. At the rate they're going, I bet they'll have everything enclosed before the really cold weather hits. Then, they can work inside to apply the finishing touches tot he facility.

Although Donnelly is technically just outside the boundaries of District 2, countless young people from our district have benefited from a Donnelly education over the years. Many thanks to Donnelly College president Steve LaNasa and to all the faculty and staff who are working hard to make their college and our community better places to live, work and play!

Here's an artist's rendering of how the Event Center will look
when it is completed in early 2013.

As always, I'd love to hear from you. Share your thoughts, ideas, suggestions and dreams by sending an email or dropping a note in my suggestion box.

~ Brian

bmckiernan@wycokck.org

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Community Alianza Brings Neighborhoods Together

I'm very excited to report that a group of forward thinking individuals have come together with a vision and a plan for connecting the people who live, work and play along and around Central Avenue.

When they first starting brainstorming a few months back, these folks saw a need to bring the community together in a meaningful way and to engage both the residents and business owners in taking a more active role in making the area around Central Avenue stronger and more vibrant. They proposed a "community alliance" and Community Alianza was born.

The Community Alianza area stretches from the State Line on the east to 28th Street on the west and from Armstrong Avenue on the north to I-70 on the south. This includes a great deal of my Unified Government district (District 2).

As I have shared in previous blog posts, District 2 has undergone a dramatic transformation in the last 20 years. The current census profile of the district is different in many ways from the profile of years ago. A couple of posts ago I shared that I believe we have a large number of new residents in our area. One of the many goals of Community Alianza is connecting the people who have been in the area for a long time with the people who started calling this area home much more recently.

Community Alianza is affiliated with Public Square Communities, Inc. (http://www.publicsquarecommunities.com). The mission of Public Square Communities, Inc. is to "identify, connect and develop community leaders who transform towns, cities, counties and regions into thriving communities which nourish youth, engage citizens and foster partnerships."

Public Square Communities works with local partners in communities large and small to engage the four "sectors" (groups) that make up any community: Business, Education, Government and Human Services (residents).

If you live, work or play in the Community Alianza area, then you have the chance to be part of something very powerful and very special. You can help shape a vibrant future for our area!  Here's what you can do to get involved...

1. Complete an Online Survey

The first thing that you can do is complete a short online survey to share your perspectives on the strengths and weaknesses of our community. Here are the links to both the English and Spanish versions of the survey.

Survey in English:
http://www.publicsquarecommunities.com/survey_alianza_eng.htm

Survey is Spanish:
http://www.publicsquarecommunities.com/survey_alianza_esp.htm

Survey input is due by October 6, 2012.

2. Attend a Community Conversation

After the surveys have been collected and analyzed, Community Alianza is hosting a "community conversation" on Saturday, October 13. At this meeting, you can enjoy lunch, then join with your neighbors, friends and colleagues to discuss the survey results and brainstorm solutions and action plans for making our area the best it can be.

Here are the details of the Community Conversation.

Saturday, October 13
12:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Bethany Community Center
1120 Central Avenue
Kansas City, Kansas 66102

Remember...lunch will be served. :-)

Once the Community Conversation is completed, the Community Alianza steering committee will sort through all of the feedback to identify themes and set priorities. Then, they will reach out to residents of the area to help form action teams that will take the bull by the horns and really make positive things happen in our area!

I look forward to seeing all of you at the community conversation on October 13.

~ Brian

bmckiernan@wycokck.org
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"Tax Breaks" - Friend or Foe?

What happened? Where am I?

I feel like Rip Van Winkle waking up from his nap...it's been forever since I posted on this blog.

Well, I have a ton of things to post, so let's get started…I have a long post today with several more coming in the next couple of weeks.

I was in a meeting a couple of weeks ago and we were discussing the fact that the Unified Government is in a tough economic position with expenses threatening to easily overwhelm revenue. As I was explaining how challenging it was to create the 2013 budget, one of the women at the meeting said, "Well, we wouldn't be in such bad shape if we stopped giving tax breaks to businesses out west just so that we can say we are number one in new developments!!"

As she shared her opinion, the words "tax breaks" sounded as if they were bitter tasting and hurt her mouth to say. Her statement disappointed me, because she doesn't seem to understand the fact that when we (the UG) give "tax breaks" to encourage business development, we actually get MORE tax money…not less... and we get some of it right away from those new developments. We may not get "everything" right away, but we DON'T lose money.

Here's my perspective on the tax break process. It may be a little simplistic, but I'm confident that it's conceptually correct.

Just like home buyers look for the best mortgage deal with the lowest interest rate and the best monthly payments when they want to buy a house, businesses also look for the best possible economic deal when they that want to build or expand a commercial property.

Now, of course it would be great if companies would just build new stuff in our city because we're swell people who would really appreciate their projects and love them to pieces for improving our community. However, the cold, hard reality of the world today is that communities who offer good economic deals are more likely to get businesses to build or expand than communities who don't offer good economic deals.

Here's an example of one type of incentive that the UG offers to encourage economic development. This example involves our very own General Motors Fairfax Assembly plant

A few weeks ago, when General Motors announced that it plans to expand the Fairfax plant, the headlines all said, "GM gets tax breaks!"

Yes they did get a tax break, but that's a good thing, not a bad thing for citizens of Kansas City, Kansas.

Building an additional structure at the Fairfax plant will increase the overall value of that property. An increase in the overall value of the property means that GM should pay more property taxes to the UG. However, to encourage GM to make a huge financial investment in our community, the UG agreed to postpone getting the full amount of "new" property taxes from GM.

Here's the Cliff Notes version…
* GM will CONTINUE to pay as much property tax as it always has paid on the existing plant. The UG will NOT lose any tax money that it is currently collecting from GM.

* GM will begin paying MORE property tax than it currently pays as soon as the plant expansion is completed.

* However, GM will not pay the FULL amount of increased property tax on the plant expansion for a period of several years. This is the financial incentive that the UG used to encourage GM to go ahead with the plant expansion.

The specifics of incentive packages are different for different economic development projects, but the bottom line is that we (the UG) NEVER enter into an economic development agreement with the intent of REDUCING the amount of property tax, sales tax, etc. that we are already collecting.

However, it is occasionally necessary to postpone receiving the full value of increased taxes for a period of time to encourage a developer to pick our city over others and go forward with a given project. In all of these cases where we postpone receiving the full value of increased taxes, we are still receiving some amount of increase right off the bat.

And it's not just businesses who can benefit from tax breaks. Homeowners in some parts of our city can get a very similar deal through our NRA program. They get a grace period where they don't have to pay the full increase in property tax if they raise the value of their property by remodeling or adding on. The UG is willing to postpone getting ALL of the property tax dollars because the improvements to the property will have other positive benefits to the neighborhood and community.

Let's get back to GM for a moment before I wrap up this post...

Did you know that GM is the largest tax payer in Kansas City, Kansas and that the Fairfax plant (which was built in 1987) employs more Wyandotte County residents than every KCK employer except the UG and BPU?

Cool, huh?

So, how did the city of Kansas City, Kansas encourage GM to build the Fairfax plant in 1987?

You guessed it...tax breaks.  :-)

Up next...my thoughts on the Unified Government's 2013 budget.


~ Brian

bmckiernan@wycokck.org
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Coffee and Conversation (Part #1)

About 70 people from District 2 gathered together on Saturday, August 25 for the first of (hopefully) many "coffee and conversation" meetings.

I cannot tell you how pleased I was to see everyone who responded to my postcard and showed up on Saturday morning. I hope that everyone who attended had a good time. I know that I completely enjoyed our morning together.

For those who couldn't make it, don't worry… we're planning to host another breakfast in about six months. Next time, we'd like to double the number of people in attendance.   :-)

For those of you who weren't able to attend, here's how we organized the gathering. After everyone had an opportunity to get little breakfast, I shared some information with the group and then opened the floor for comments, ideas, suggestions and questions.

I got a literal *ton* of great feedback from everyone who attended. Thanks!

I'm still collating and summarizing all of that feedback and I plan to print a report in an upcoming blog post very soon.

Today, however, I'm going to share some of the information that I presented to the group on Saturday along with a few of my thoughts, observations and questions about that information.

It's a lot of material and it makes for a long blog post, but I encourage you to stick with me. Interesting stuff coming...

District 2

First of all, as a reminder, the boundaries of District 2 are roughly State Line on the east to 18th Street on the west and State Avenue on the north to the Kansas River on the south. Here's a map.

Here's a map of District 2.

Click to enlarge and see street names.

Population
I looked at census data from 1990, 2000 and 2010 to try to get a sense of who we are and where we're going. Here is some of what I found.

(Disclaimer – All of the data on this page were gathered by me from census documents. These data are accurate to the best of my knowledge and to the best of my ability to interpret and extract data from census tables, charts and reports. Any errors are unintentional.)

The total population in District 2 in 2010 was 19,980. That's about the same as 1990 and higher than 2000. I think this is good because it shows that people are coming back to the district. Woohoo!

Although the total population has stayed the same, the data suggests that we've gotten a little younger over the last 20 years. In the graph below I collapsed all the age group data into "17 and under" and "18 and over". Compared to 1990, there are a few hundred more people "17 and under" and a few hundred fewer people "18 and over".

This suggests to me that younger families with younger children are moving into our neighborhoods. If that's the case, then we need to go out of our way to welcome those new families to our community and help them get settled so that they are good neighbors for years to come.

The biggest eye opener comes when we look at how the ethnicity of the district has changed over the last 20 years. There has been a large increase in the Hispanic population (of any race) and a somewhat proportional decrease in the non-Hispanic population.

Again, this suggests to me that we have new people moving in from outside of the district. We must meet these new folks, welcome them and help them get settled in our neighborhoods so that they are encouraged to help make our district a great place to live, work and play.

Household Income

The median household income for District 2  in 2010 was $28,392.

It's really important to remember that "median" is not the same as "average". The median is the value that's halfway between the biggest and the smallest. A median value of $28,392 means that we are definitely not an affluent district overall. However, the 2010 value is higher than the 2000 value, so we are moving in the right direction! We need to keep supporting local businesses and helping them find new and better ways to hire our residents into better paying jobs.

Housing
The median value of an "owner-occupied" house in District 2 was $62,648 in 2010. Again, this is median, not average, so there are a lot of houses in our district that have a pretty low appraised value.

My first thought when I saw the number was, "Yikes, that's too low!", but then our UG "data guy" Mike Grimm told me that the median value of an owner-occupied house in District 2 had actually increased 120% from 2000 to 2010.

WOW!

That suggests two things to me: 1) we're tearing down old and low value houses (see below); and 2) public, private and not-for-profit agencies that build and/or rehabilitate housing units are making excellent progress in raising the quality and the value of the housing stock in our neighborhoods. We're not where we want to be, but we're on the way.

The next graph shows the total number of housing units and compares occupied against vacant. The total number of housing units in District 2 is lower today than it was in 1990. I think that this reflects the demolition of a lot of older and unlivable housing units.

American Community Survey (2006-2010)

Getting rid of junk housing is great, but here's what I don't like...

We've lost housing units overall which means that we're tearing down junk faster than we're building new. That can't continue.

Also of concern to me is that this graph shows we still have about 1,400 vacant housing units in 2010. Since vacant houses are often eyesores and seem to be magnets for people who are up to no good, we must lower that number by fixing up those properties and putting people in them.

Finally, in 2010 the number of rental units in District 2 grew larger than the number of "owner-occupied" units for the first time in recent history.

American Community Survey (2006-2010)

The increase in rental units makes sense if you think about how bad the economy has been the last few years. Many families have decided that it's better to rent than to own until the economy improves.

However, we need to make sure that renters are protected from bad landlords who just take rent money and don't re-invest in properties and we need to make sure that landlords are protected from bad renters who don't pay rent and/or ruin property. I'm also concerned that absentee landlords who don't live anywhere near our community don't have an incentive to make our neighborhoods the best on earth.

So...there you have it. The background information I presented to everyone who attended our breakfast on August 25. Interesting stuff. Click either of the links below to share your thoughts, ideas and perspectives with me.

Coming next...my thoughts about the 2013 Unified Government budget. You don't want to miss that!  :-)

~ Brian

bmckiernan@wycokck.org
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Bhutanese Community Garden Inspires

Humbled. Inspired.

Those are two of the many feelings that washed over me as I stood and admired the Kansas Bhutanese Community Garden before a ribbon cutting ceremony this morning.

I was blessed to be invited to the official dedication of thoroughly amazing space. I was joined by Commissioner Mike Kane and many other great KCK folks for a neat event. We'll talk more about that in a moment. But first, a little background...

The Prescott neighborhood of Kansas City, Kansas is now home to about 125 families who relocated as refugees from Bhutan (a small country that is located northeast of India in South Asia). Difficulties in their home country have forced hundreds of thousands of Bhutanese natives to relocate to other countries around the world, including the United States.

Bhutan is roughly in the center of this Google map.

Click the map to enlarge. 

I've underlined the country name on the map.

I was privileged to meet and talk with Mr. Bhola Siwakoti this morning. He is president of the Kansas Bhutanese Community Foundation (see their Facebook page here) and he told me great stories of people travelling and settling down right here in KCK.

Now, back to the garden...

The garden is located at 323 S. 14th St. and came about through the cooperative efforts of Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas, Cultivate Kansas City, the Kansas Bhutanese Community Foundation and the Unified Government. The land for the community garden was acquired by the group from the Unified Government Land Bank. For those who aren't familiar with the Land Bank, the Unified Government keeps a "bank" of property in Kansas City Kansas that is tax delinquent and/or has been abandoned by its previous owners. Mr. Chris Slaughter works tirelessly with community partners to return those abandoned parcels to productive use.

The garden sits between South 14th St. and Valley St.

just north of I-70

I am a member of the standing committee that approved the transfer of the land from our Land Bank to the Bhutanese community. Since we had just transferred control of the land in April of this year, I wasn't expecting much when I got the invitation to the ribbon cutting. I figured they'd have a fence up and maybe have some plots marked out, but little more.

I couldn't have been more wrong…

What I saw when I arrived was stunning. About an acre and a half of land that was not only fenced and divided into plots, but fully farmed with some of the biggest and healthiest looking plants you'll find in all of the Midwest. Mr. Siwakoti told me that 26 families are currently tending plots and that six more families plan to join them soon. He said that there are 30 more families who have expressed an interest in tending a plot, but they have to clear and prepare more land before that can happen.

Most of the crops being cultivated are the same crops

that you'd find if you visited any garden in Bhutan or Nepal.

I can't put into words how proud I am of everyone who made this happen in Kansas City, Kansas. Thanks to Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas, Cultivate Kansas City and, especially the Kansas Bhutanese Community Foundation for providing a shining example of the positive things that can be accomplished even under the most difficult of circumstances.

Everywhere I turn it's the same thing… great people doing great things in Kansas City, Kansas. Keep it up everyone!

~ Brian

bmckiernan@wycokck.org
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Duchesne Clinic Makes a Difference

If you've ever driven on 7th Street by City Hall, you may have wondered, "Just what is that building?" when you passed a dark brick structure south of St. Mary's / St. Anthony's Church.

Well...decades ago that building housed St. Anthony's elementary school. However, these days it's home to the Duchesne Clinic... one of the jewels of Kansas City, Kansas.

Duchesne Clinic - 636 Tauromee Avenue

The folks at the Duchesne Clinic hosted an open house on Friday, August 10 and I had an opportunity to learn first hand about the wonderful work the physicians, staff and volunteers are doing for low-income uninsured residents of Wyandotte County.

Here's how Development Director Karole Bradford described the clinic to me...

"Founded in 1989 by the Sisters of Charity, Duchesne Clinic is a primary care doctor’s office for low-income uninsured residents of Wyandotte County. So far in 2012, Duchesne has seen 23% more patients and provided 36% more appointments than in the same period last year. That works out to 200 more patient appointments every month than last year. In addition, last year brought a tremendous upsurge in very sick 'high-acuity' new patients at Duchesne Clinic.

"Often referred to as a 'safety-net' or 'free' clinic, Duchesne Clinic provides the same services as most family doctors in a welcoming, compassionate environment.  The difference is that our patients have no insurance, not even Medicaid or Medicare, and no way to pay for their care. Patients are asked to pay $15 per visit, but no patient is ever turned away because of inability to pay.

"Our patients are poor or low-income, 70% are women, over 80% have one or more chronic disease. Patients come to Duchesne Clinic through a number of community outreach partners; social service agencies, the public health department, hospitals, other safety net clinics, and local doctors’ offices.  However, over 70% of patients report that they were referred by family or friends. Similarly, most patients tell us that they recommend the clinic to others.  Our most effective outreach is good patient care."

I was very impressed with the clinic. The waiting areas were inviting, the exam rooms were well-equipped and the staff were friendly and helpful.

The clinic provided 11,447 patient appointments in 2011. In addition to their onsite staff, the clinic has 21 physician volunteers and over 50 total volunteers. Many thanks to everyone who has a hand in making this clinic a valuable resource for the residents of Wyandotte County. This is just another example of what I find in Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas every day... great people coming together to do great things!!

If you'd like to learn more about how you can help the clinic make a difference, just visit their "How You Can Help" webpage.

 ~ Brian

bmckiernan@wycokck.org
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Armourdale Summer Recreation Program a Success!

"Can do" spirit wins again.

The air was filled with excited conversation and laughter last Friday afternoon at the Armourdale Recreation Center as over 75 elementary school-age children showed their stuff by singing, dancing and acting their way through a very cool talent show to wrap up Armourdale Renewal Association's summer recreation program.

I had the wonderful opportunity to join parents, families and friends to witness the program and I thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon.

Parents, families and friends eagerly await the start of the show.

Historically, the Unified Government's Parks and Recreation Department used to fund summer recreation programs at all of the recreation centers across the city. Unfortunately, budget cuts over the years forced the UG to gradually discontinue those programs.

The folks at Armourdale Renewal Association (ARA) decided that they valued the program enough to find private funding to keep it going. Patty Dysart and Kim Hausback are the driving forces behind ARA and they have done a great job of rallying the community to support the kids.

Individuals and businesses throughout the Armourdale community give generously to make sure that the kids have a quality summer program. The Unified Government Parks and Recreation Department partners with ARA and opens the Armourdale Recreation Center, then ARA does the rest.

Although you can't really see it (poor camera work on my part),

one of the talent show acts made great use of Silly String!

The Armourdale summer rec program lasted for six weeks. Anywhere from 75 to 90 kids came to the recreation center five days a week from 9:00 through 2:30 each day.

The fearless leader of the summer program was Josh (Coach) Boswell. Mr. Boswell is the PE teacher at John Fiske Elementary School in Armourdale and he directed the daily activities of the summer program. It was clear throughout the afternoon that the kids think the world of Coach and really appreciate all of his hard work on their behalf.

Mr. Boswell was assisted by two college students who are working toward degrees in childcare science and 12 high school-age "team leaders" who received a stipend through the BPU summer youth program. It was very cool to see these young men and women take true leadership roles in helping direct program activities.

Coach and his crew had activities planned every day. In addition to general daily "stuff" (and swimming on Fridays), the kids all participated in Armourdale's own version of the Summer Olympics.

All of the kids were divided into teams and each team took on the name and flag of a country that's participating in the Summer Olympics. Then, the teams battled one another in all sorts of athletic and artistic competitions throughout the summer. In between acts at the talent show, Coach handed out medals to all of the individual and team winners of the Armourdale Summer Olympics.

As this summer's program came to an end, Kim was already looking forward to next year. She said that one of the new projects for next summer will be the creation of a community garden. A neighbor near the recreation center has agreed to let the summer program use a plot of land and the kids will plant, tend and harvest the garden.

Congratulations to everyone who had a hand in making this year's Armourdale summer recreation program a success! You give all of us a powerful example of how a community can pull together and do great things.

Coach Boswell (back row, second from left) and his teen team leaders

celebrate another successful summer.

~ Brian

bmckiernan@wycokck.org

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Google Fiber One Step Closer

Many thanks to everyone who has sent a note saying that they enjoy this blog.

My goal is to continue informing and educating folks about the Unified Government and about District 2 (my home district). Today we're headed off into a looooooooong post about cyberspace, because yesterday Google unveiled the details of how it will provide gigabit Internet to the citizens of Kansas City.

It was really exciting news.

It was particularly great news to me because my wife and I fight. Now, before you say, "That's too much information, Brian" or "It sounds like you need family counseling" let me clarify. We fight over the Internet.

My wife works for North Kansas City Hospital. She works from home three days a week. On those days, she uses the Internet to connect to the hospital servers all day long.

If I'm also home on any of those days and try to work from home by connecting to the servers at Rockhurst, my wife and I compete for Internet connectivity and we definitely slow each other down.

We are excited that the new Google fiber service may allow both of us to work full speed at the same time.

City Hall displays Google colors

on Thursday evening

Fiberhoods and Pre-Registration
However, it's not as easy as just saying, "Hook us up."

Google has divided our city into what it calls fiberhoods (fiber neighborhoods...get it?). Google will not run its fiber cable into any fiberhood until a minimum number of residents have pre-registered and confirmed that they are interested in signing up for the Google Internet service.

Here are some screenshots taken from the Google fiber website this afternoon. They show the different fiberhoods that Google has created with in District 2 of the Unified Government. You can find your neighborhood in one of the pictures below (click any picture to enlarge it).

You can see how many people are already pre-registered in your area and how many more it will take before Google adds your fiberhood to its list. If you are interested in pre-registering for Google connectivity, simply go to www.google.com/fiber and type in your street address. There is a $10 "up front" fee for pre-registering.

It's interesting that each map lists the schools and public buildings that will get a free connection once the fiberhood itself reaches its target sign up. Those schools and public buildings won't get a Google Internet connection unless the fiberhood around it meets the pre-registration goal.

So...What Will All This Cost?
If it costs $10 just to sign up, what will the service cost once it arrives in neighborhoods later this year?

Google has outlined all of that on the Plans and Pricing page of its fiber web site. The breakdown is pretty simple (but be sure to thoroughly read *all* fine print on the Google web site).

• Gigabit Internet + Google (cable) TV = $120 per month with no up front installation fee.

• Gigabit Internet = $70 per month with no up front installation fee.

• Free Internet = $0 per month after paying a $300 up front installation fee (the $10 pre-registration fee counts toward this total). This last option is probably the most interesting. Although $300 is a fairly hefty installation fee, you can pay $25 a month for 12 months and then Google will guarantee an additional 6 years of Internet service at no additional charge (no monthly bill) after installation (7 years total). The speed of this connection will not be the same "1 Gigabit" speed as its premium service, but will be "5 Megabit" speed, which is roughly the same as today's "fast" DSL or cable Internet connections.

Cool stuff, but here's a couple of parting thoughts and a couple of questions. There are many people in our city who, frankly, don't have the financial resources to pay for Gigabit Internet service. So, could this program ultimately deepen and widen the digital divide (the "haves" get more and the "have nots" still don't have anything)? "Free" internet connectivity sounds like a great thing, but it still costs $300 per household to get the free service. Is there a way to creatively find some funding for "scholarships" or "grants" that would allow people with limited financial resources to join the Google bandwagon?

Learn more on the Google Fiber KC Blog.

As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

~ Brian

bmckiernan@wycokck.org
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