Letters: Readers discuss a cattle farm near Powell Gardens, renaming The Paseo and littering
Not ‘necessary’
This year marks the 30th anniversary of Powell Gardens. As we plan for this milestone event, we find ourselves concerned as much as celebratory.
Three miles from where more than 3,300 children take field trips each year to learn about the diversity of our ecosystem and how to grow healthy food, and two miles from three neighboring centennial farms and 155 residences, the Valley Oaks Steak Company is planning an expansion.
As a self-described family farm that sells locally produced beef, Valley Oaks Steak Company is requesting a permit to expand operations to a Class 1B factory farm operation with 6,999 cattle. The company also plans to do slaughtering and rendering operations on the property of 420 acres.
An estimated 106,212 tons of manure would be produced by the cattle annually. This manure would be applied to several areas outside the facility, including an area to the east of Valley Oaks, within 1.5 miles of Powell Gardens.
Valley Oaks plant manager Jake Huddleston referred to the odor as “a necessary evil” at a recent Farm Bureau event. That “necessary evil” benefits one company and affects the quality of life for our entire region.
Valley Oaks’ plan is an unprecedented model both in its scale for the small size of its acreage and its planned on-site slaughterhouse and rendering facility.
The most striking aspect of the project, however, is its proximity to family farms and Kansas City’s botanical garden.
This proposed expansion occurs when we are planning Powell Gardens’ future as a permanent legacy dedicated to the surrounding community and the greater Kansas City area.
More than 100,000 visitors enjoy Powell Gardens each year to view nearly 20,000 plant varieties, including 2,000 edible plant varieties in the nation’s largest edible landscape. The gardens employ 65 to 90 people, in full-time and seasonal positions. We were honored to be chosen by 57 couples in 2017 as their wedding venue.
We need your immediate help to preserve Powell Gardens and the surrounding communities by opposing Valley Oaks’ expansion. Please join us by attending a hearing at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Warrensburg Community Center, 445 E. Gay St.
We offer our respectful request to reconsider this project.
Tabitha Schmidt
CEO/President
Powell Gardens
Kingsville, Mo.
Honoring King
I support honoring Martin Luther King Jr. in Kansas City, but renaming The Paseo is not the right way for two reasons. (March 31, 1A, “Leaders seek vote on renaming of Paseo”)
This town still struggles with the legacy of north-south boundary lines.
First, there was Troost Avenue, which is finally starting to blur a little. Then we built U.S. 71 wider than it ever needed to be. Proposing another potentially divisive north-south boundary line is not the way to honor Dr. King.
Second, The Paseo was the first boulevard in Kansas City, a city rightly proud of its parks and boulevards. It is important to keep that legacy intact.
If we decide to rename a street to honor King, we should choose a street that goes east-west in an effort to bridge the current boundaries. Hopefully, renaming a street will start a discussion that causes introspection into the city’s past and contemplation of its future.
When I lived on The Paseo, I came up with a nickname for it: the working man’s Ward Parkway.
David Hotz
Kansas City
Trashy problem
I moved to Missouri almost 20 years ago. I remember that the city was working on the canal area that runs into the Country Club Plaza through the Volker-Ward Parkway area. It looked good and was flowing smoothly, but lately this area is looking junky.
Trash and debris fill the waterfalls. Another section between Paseo and Troost is also collecting junk. Each of these places causes the waterway to be congested and look horrific.
It is not properly flowing through this area, which can cause more flooding, something that Kansas City has a problem with already. Not to mention how ugly it looks having so much trash in these waterways.
The Plaza is supposed to be a beautiful part of the city, but Brush Creek is looking like the start of a landfill.
I hope the Kansas City Council has some ideas of ways to beautify the Plaza area, and I hope I live in Kansas City long enough to see it happen.
Jenifer Segerstrom
Kansas City
Think, you grumps
To all the doddering letter writers ready to write off the young activists of late, you may want to dial back on some of that snide invective.
You obviously aren’t well acquainted with any young people, or you’d realize that most of them have their heads screwed on straight and are very serious about making a change.
Considering it’s the young who’ll be taking care of you as you continue to be more and more obsolete, you might not want to burn all your bridges.
Annette Bright
Overland Park
This story was originally published April 2, 2018 at 8:30 PM with the headline "Letters: Readers discuss a cattle farm near Powell Gardens, renaming The Paseo and littering."