Kansas City Council gets an earful at listening session

Joyce Walker of Kansas City’s Marlborough East neighborhood had illegal-dumping concerns.

Larry Marsh, president of the Red Bridge Homes Association, wanted park officials to explore buying a private lot near the Red Bridge Shopping Center.

And Rianna Deselich of the Unity Ridge neighborhood needed to call attention to some burned-out, trashed properties in the East Bottoms.

All three were able to take their issues to the City Council and to city department heads. But they didn’t have to go downtown to City Hall to do it.

In the first of what are intended to be many “listening sessions,” some council members and numerous city officials showed up before 9 a.m. Saturday at the Trailside Center, 9901 Holmes Road, to listen to residents’ questions, observations and criticisms.

Sixth District at-large Councilman Scott Taylor, who led off the two-hour gathering, said it was intended to build on south Kansas City neighborhoods’ good collaboration with the Lane4 group to revive the Red Bridge Shopping Center.

He said the council that was elected Aug. 1 wants to promote more family- and neighborhood-friendly development and needs to take that message on the road.

“We should get out of City Hall,” Taylor said, adding that future listening sessions will be held throughout the city to talk about ways to bring more economic activity to neighborhoods.

While Taylor billed the effort as a new approach to economic development, it is certainly not the only time that council members have reached out to constituents. Some council members noted that they hold regular meetings in their districts, where residents can meet with city officials to get their basic service problems solved.

Walker, Marsh, Deselich and others who attended Saturday’s event said it was a good opportunity to meet new council members, including Kevin McManus, Katheryn Shields, Lee Barnes and Quinton Lucas.

“I think this is a great positive,” Deselich said about the chance to share her photos of a burned and trashed building with the 311 Action Center.

But longtime neighborhood advocate Susan Ramirez said she thought the session contained “too many chiefs and not enough Indians.” Indeed, the residents who turned out were outnumbered by the city department leaders and employees.

Still, Taylor and McManus said it was a good start.

“It’s about communication,” McManus said. “If we learn about issues, you can often address them with less resources and less headaches for the neighborhoods.”

This story was originally published October 31, 2015 at 2:07 PM with the headline "Kansas City Council gets an earful at listening session."