Trashy east part of Kansas City’s Brush Creek no welcome mat for World Cup | Opinion
Antoine Lee stood in front of an island of trash along Brush Creek and wondered how residents on Kansas City’s East Side could share in the excitement of the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2026 as in other parts of the city.
Lee, senior pastor at Central Christian Church in Kansas City, raised an interesting point: With the recent success of the Chiefs and Royals, how could Kansas City claim to be a world-class, championship city when certain areas of Brush Creek are environmentally unsafe?
After riding my bicycle on the Brush Creek Trail from the Country Club Plaza to where it ends at Blue Banks Park near Manchester Trafficway, I’d have to agree with Lee’s assessment that some of the conditions along the 2-mile route are hazardous to one’s health.
Along this stretch, I found a creek full of murky water, floating debris — and I stumbled upon the same trash island Lee stood in front of just days before.
Some areas along the route were impassable. At least three times, I had to get off my bike and trudge on foot through the muddy grime caused by a recent flash flood — the most unenjoyable part of what could have been and should be a more pleasant ride, if Brush Creek were properly maintained.
“I’m excited about the Chiefs,” Lee said in a recent Facebook Live video. “I’m excited about the things they’ve done. I’m excited about even the Royals and the things that they’ve done. It has really put our city on the map to the point to which now the World Cup is coming and we want to celebrate that with the West Side, and with the Southwest Side and even downtown. But how can we?
“How can we be excited about it when our neighborhood is not welcoming the world as all of the surrounding neighborhoods?”
Clergy to march for environmental justice
On Thursday, Lee was joined by other local clergy and community leaders at a march from nearby Martin Luther King, Jr. Park at Woodland Avenue and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard to Troost Avenue to bring awareness to what organizers have described as an environmental injustice.
The march was organized in conjunction with Metropolitan Organization for Racial and Economic Equality, a social justice group known as MORE2. The organization’s environmental justice action hub operates out of Central Christian Church at 3801 East Linwood Blvd.
Lora McDonald, MORE2’s executive director, said the group intends to see promised improvements to Brush Creek completed. In an email, McDonald said to date, not much has been done to address some of the challenging issues associated with Brush Creek.
“Brush Creek has been an eye sore on the East Side for decades,” she wrote, noting that notorious politician Tom Pendergast tried to improve conditions along the creek — one of the reputed political figure’s companies reportedly paved Brush Creek with concrete in 1930 under the guise of flood control.
“This isn’t just about the East Side; everyone would like to see Brush Creek improved, right?” McDonald asked. On Thursday, she wrote, MORE2 will take the bull by the horns and “plant its flag in this proverbial moon and declare Brush Creek their latest endeavor.”
In 2023, with community input, Kansas City unveiled its Brush Creek Master Plan to make the area more environmentally friendly. One of the measures that stood out to me was the proposed ecosystem restoration. Other improvements include adding more playgrounds and parks to Brush Creek east of Troost, the city’s proverbial dividing line.
Another possible element that caught my attention included adding more green space along Brush Creek.
According to Courtney Hawkins, a project manager for KC Water, one of the main goals of the plan is to restore Brush Creek to a more natural stream. To do so, the trash and debris the creek often collects during storms has to be removed.
“The way it currently is, it just collects a lot of sediment,” Hawkins said.
Hawkins said she worked with the Army Corps of Engineers and Kansas City Parks and Recreation Department on the master plan.
Although the master plan has not been officially adopted by the parks department, community involvement was critical in its development, Hawkins said.
“We received a lot of good feedback from the public,” she said. “That is how we came up with the vision.”
‘Black eye’ since the 1800s
When we spoke, I asked the Rev. Lee what he envisioned for the creek. He said all Kansas Citians should want the same finished product: a safe and vibrant Brush Creek.
“It is a city issue,” Lee said. “It’s a black eye. It’s been a problem for our city since the 1800s. If we fix it, we have an opportunity to establish a landmark for our entire community.”
As Lee pointed out, the goal of Thursday’s march wasn’t to embarrass city officials or antagonize city leaders. Organizers simply want the city to know that it has a built-in community accountability partner with this group of clergy and community organizers, he said
“If we really really wanted to be proud of something, we could have people come in from all over the country and ride down … Emanuel Cleaver Boulevard and say that’s a beautiful city,” Lee said in the Facebook Live video. “Did y’all see the creek? That’s beautiful. But we can’t do that because we have been plagued with this for decades.
“How can we be excited?”
That is one question I’d like to see addressed before the World Cup comes to town.
This story was originally published July 23, 2025 at 4:00 PM.
