KC Tenants members evicted from Jackson County legislative meeting after staging protest
Ninety-nine of 106 households have been relocated from the trailer park that will become home to the new Jackson County Detention Center.
But for some of the handful of folks who remain at Heart Village mobile home park, finding a new place to live has been a struggle.
One woman can’t find a place because of problems specific to her. Three are moving out this week, weather permitting, the county said Monday. And three have been served with eviction notices after refusing to accept the compensation the county is offering them to move.
On Monday, protesters at the Jackson County Legislature’s regular weekly meeting said those folks need more compassion, not eviction notices. But their object wasn’t a discussion.
KC Tenants, a local renters rights organization, had sent out a notice ahead of the protest, alerting the news media of their plans to disrupt the meeting and accusing the county of failing to follow through on its commitment to find everyone who lived at Heart Village a new home before commencing construction.
The protest was timed to coincide with action items on the agenda dealing with jail issues. But those items were held over until next week in committee meetings that occurred earlier in the morning.
When the jail did not come up during the regular meeting, KC Tenants members, wearing their trademark yellow T-shirts, began shouting from their seats.
Legislators listened for a couple of minutes to their loud complaints, then ejected more than one dozen protesters for being rowdy.
Chairman Charlie Franklin asked sheriff’s deputies to escort members of the group KC Tenants from the chamber on the second floor of the downtown Kansas City courthouse.
“Please exit the meeting or we will have to remove you,” a deputy announced repeatedly as the crowd chanted that county leaders were incompetent, cruel and “full of lies.”
When the meeting resumed, legislators did not comment on the disruption.
County officials say they have spent $2.5 million to help residents relocate, but had to set a deadline for getting people out so that work can begin on building the $260 million jail next month. Relocation efforts began last summer.
The county said Monday its relocation consultant remains committed to finding permanent housing for the woman who has been unable to find a place to live.
This story was originally published May 2, 2022 at 4:45 PM.
