The Hyde Parker - Hyde Park Neighborhood Association

The Hyde Parker
Volume 40, Issue 4
A publication of the Hyde Park Neighborhood Association
April 2013
A 160+ year history in Missouri
Bitterman's: A family business saga
To survive after a quarter century in gumball machine vending, Alan Bitterman realized in 1980 that he needed a new
business model, one focused outside Kansas City. Yet even
as Bitterman Family Confections began to change, the company never left North Hyde Park.
Alan has been
in Midtown
since attending the former
Bancroft
School as a
youth. Vintage
wood display
racks offer
candy for
sweet tooths of
all ages.
UMKC planners offer ideas
Dreams for Armour & Troost
A UMKC planning team funded by the MidAmerica Regional Council has come up with three
redevelopment scenarios to transform the intersection of Armour Boulevard and Troost Ave.
The suggestions include tearing down the existing
BP gas station and northeast corner convenience
store and adding several three-story apartment
buildings along Troost south of Armour.
Potential options presented by urban planner Vicki
Noteis at a meeting at UMKC March 14 included
anchoring the area with artists’ space and a community garden at Harrison St., replacing the gas
station with medical offices and enlarging/replacing
the Sav-A-Lot supermarket with a larger grocery.
Another option presented is to build apartments at
the vacant corner Harrison/Armour lot currently
owned by an affiliate of MAC properties.
Continued on pg. 3
Today, with three buildings, 40,000 sq ft. of space on
Gillham Road, 35 employees and a nationwide wholesale
distribution network, Alan, at age 75, is still moving the
company in new directions -- from social media sales, to private label candy packaging to a 7,000 sq ft. combination
candy and antique store that opened in October.
"Sales have been very good. We've been very pleased," Alan
says of the foot traffic patronizing Bitterman's Eye Candy.
"The area has gotten a lot better, and the opportunity was
there. We see lot of young couples moving into the neighborhood. Almost every week, someone comes in who is new to
the area, a lot of folks from Armour."
Half the retail store's sales are from antiques and retro
knick-knacks for offered by local artisans, the rest, a line of
300 varieties of candy, chocolates and treats neatly stocked
on vintage display cases. It's a local version of World Market, set in a plain-looking former Borden's Ice Cream Co.
research plant. Bitterman's wholesale candy business, the
mainstay of the company, is located in a former H.E Miller
Dodge and Plymouth showroom two doors down.
Alan has seen a lot of change since 1936, when his father,
Bernard, managed gumball machines in Midtown and
founded the company. They sold peanuts for a penny a twist
at Kansas City drug and grocery stores. At age 16, Alan
says he started out with 100 gumball machines, a 1949 Ford
and a $500 loan.
"The ability to be flexible and response to change" drives
success, he says.
Continued on pg. 4
Inside
Hyde Park snowbirds
between the storms
A doctor and a barista
buy 36th Street
McKecknie house
photo by Rita Schafer
Page 2
THE HYDE PARKER
Gillham snowbirds
earn top perch in
photo contest
The dark-eyed Junco to the right is this year’s
top bird in our second annual Hyde Parker
photo contest. The bird, a type of sparrow, is
perched on a fence picket on Gillham Road on the
morning of Feb. 25 just before this year’s second
large snowstorm.
Congratulations to homeowner Stacey McCully for
capturing the image, which earned her a $25 gift
certificate from City Pets to be awarded at our
April HPNA general membership meeting.
Stacey also sent us the photo to the right taken the
same day of a male cardinal set in the snowcovered tree branches along Gillham Road.
Overall, Jackson County residents reported 71
varieties of birds during the 2013’s international
Great Backyard Bird Count in February, with the
most reported species locally being the American
Coot, which resembles a duck.
Wild turkeys, wrens, goldfinches, hawks, crows,
doves, chickadees and robins also caught birdwatchers’ eyes at places that included the
Discovery Center on Troost and Walnut Street in
Old Hyde Park, according to results shown at
birdcount.org.
HPNA Audit Committee Report
The Hyde Park Neighborhood Association Audit
Committee, consisting of Lori Denes, Cecelia Dillon,
Gene Morgan and Clara Keller provided its report on
March 11 to the HPNA Board. The audit showed that
the Association’s reported 2012 results were consistent with generally accepted accounting principles.
To view the report, go to www.hydeparkkc.org. Contact any committee member if you have comments.
HPNA Member Honor Roll
We periodically recognize Hyde Park Neighborhood
Association members. For membership questions, contact Clara Keller, Treasurer at 816.960.4669.
Households
Claudette Schiratti, Mary Erio & Bill
Onasch, Jeanette Schmeltz, Seth
Gunderson & Ashlee Smith, Lori &
Joe Denes, Ken & Millie Krna
Patrons
Ann and Frank Uryasz
Doug & Susan Borge
Commercial
Notre Dame de Sion
Volum e 40 Issue 4
Volum e 40 Issue 4
THE HYDE PARKER
Page 3
KU students look at Hyde Park for class marketing project
A group of University of Kansas journalism students are
making Hyde Park’s ability to attract and retain residents the focus of a semester-long class project.
Led by Robert Basow, Associate Professor at KU’s
William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications, the class has been interviewing HPNA officers and neighborhood residents to get a flavor of what
makes our area a desirable place to live.
To build on HPNA’s award-winning marketing and public
relations record, illustrated by successful events such as
the Hyde Park Homes Tour, the class will make strategy
recommendations to the HPNA Board and membership in
May after submitting a report to Basow.
At KU since 1987, Basow has led global student marketing projects focused on areas such as China, the Balkans
and Africa. Prior to that he had a 20-year marketing career at pet food maker Ralston Purina.
“Our goal is to ultimately bridge any negative perceptions
of Hyde Park” says Christine Therese Hartigan, a class
member. “Once we have our primary research completed,
we will solidify our goals for the project.”
At HPNA’s general membership meeting on March 19,
several students led a focus group of association members
to solicit reaction to a slide presentation of images and
concept messaging about Hyde Park.
Commenting on what makes Hyde Park unique, Central
Hyde Parker and native Minnesotan Paul Stevermer said
our neighborhood has been the most welcoming community of the more than 20 he and his wife, Debbie, have
lived in around the world as a U.S. naval family.
“Most of the time I was lucky to get to know two or
three people in our whole neighborhood before we
had to move,” he said. “Within a month of moving
here (from the Washington, D.C. area), I had met
everyone on my block (on Holmes).”
In a report provided to The Hyde Parker, the student
team said it expects to gather qualitative and quantitative data with an e-mail survey to residents in
the weeks ahead.
The report added that “on the survey will be qualitative questions that can be translated into identifiable
data. Lastly, we will include open-ended questions to
get a better sense of how unique respondents feel
about their neighborhood. The survey will be distributed through online and possibly in person, by using
the Hyde Park resident database, city contact information and personal contacts throughout the area.”
HPNA elections postponed
Due to the lack of a quorum at the March 19 general
membership meeting, officer elections for vacant
positions will be held at the April 16 meeting at 7pm at
Central Presbyterian Church.
Per HPNA bylaws, at least 20 paid members need to vote
in person at a meeting in order for an election to be valid.
We were three people short in March.
Current officer vacancies include 2nd Vice President and
Central Hyde Park representative. As of late March,
members Gene Morgan and Paul Stevermer were running unopposed for these two seats, respectively. Interested candidates may contact any board member or can
be nominated from the floor on the day of election.
Troost
Continued from pg. 1
Noteis said that current property owners have not been involved yet in the project, but
that the UMKC team would be
seeking their perspectives.
The gas station has been a
source many police calls for service while the nearby Marquette
building just east of the site has
been derelict for years.
One variation of the proposals
would make the Harrison & Armour corner lot a community
garden and convert the former
drug store at the Troost & Armour corner to mixed use space.
MARC says it plans to evaluate
the student recommendations
and add its own analysis.
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Page 4
THE HYDE PARKER
Volume 40 Issue 4
A candyman keeps good taste in North Hyde Park
Continued from pg. 1
As businesses on Troost and Main closed up, Bitterman
reached out to a bigger audience without leaving a region
that his family has called home for generations. A family
marriage certificate from St. Louis dated Sept. 24, 1852,
hangs in the company's offices, along with many old photos and candy memorabilia.
One vintage photo is the entrance of the former Community State Bank at 3131 Troost, showing a large cache of
pennies that the Bittermans brought in from gumball machines that accidently spilled onto the sidewalk. By the
1970s, high inflation meant it took six cents to buy what
a penny could buy when Bernard had started the company with 10 gumball machines.
"The bank left. I stayed," Alan says. (Community State
merged with another bank during the 1974 recession after having built a new branch in 1960 at 3330 Troost that Bitterman’s Eye Candy store shown above is at
is now a vacant building).
3107 Gillham Rd. at a former Borden’s ice cream
An alumnus of Southwest High School and the former
Bancroft Elementary School in Manheim Park, Alan
traces his family's regional retailing roots to the 1870s,
when one ancestor had a general store in Junction City,
KS near Fort Riley, at the time home to the 7th Cavalry
Regiment. A store photo is also on the wall.
plant. It is just south of the flower shop on 31st
Street. The company’s long-time marketing tagline...Have A Sweet Day!
Over the years, the family has accumulated a lot of
candy-related toys, point-of-sale displays, unique advertising and collectibles from long-time clients such as
"The family followed the soldiers" Alan says.
Russell Stover. In fact, some heirlooms have, in the past,
The Gillham store is the Bittermans' third retail location been on loan to the American Craft Museum.
since the 1970s, when the company had candy-only
stores on 17th & Oak and 31st & Oak. The new store is Alan's adult children, Stewart, Leslie and Cassandra,
and Marilyn, Alan's wife of 55 years, are all involved in
far larger and builds on a merchandising concept Alan
managing the business. In fact, in the 1980s, Marilyn
says was pioneered in Midtown by Urban Mining.
introduced Jelly Bellies brand jelly beans to Kansas
City, becoming the Los Angeles firm’s first
U.S. distributor.
The Bitterman corporate board room has a modest table,
with a large Hallmark-created candy puzzle mounted on
the rear wall and a vintage navy blue metal Confectionary sign dominating the room. The topic de jour on a
sign board: How much of the $19 billion a year in U,S.
retail chocolate sales should the Bittermans pursue as a
business goal?
Relative to mass market chocolate distributors such as
Russell Stover, Godiva and Fannie Mae, Bitterman has
succeeded by being a niche business, with a focus on
marketing small batches from U.S. manufacturers the
way a microbrewer is to beer.
Gummies seem especially popular these days, Alan says,
and Bitterman's catalog features 27 varieties including
butterflies, flowers, and red, 12-flavor gummy bears.
One new source of wholesale business the company is
hoping to tap are schools and non-profits doing fundraising, he notes.
Store hours of Bitterman Eye Candy & Vintage Market
are from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday and Friday, and
from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Volume 40 Issue 4
THE HYDE PARKER
Page 5
From Kansas and a coffeehouse to a Hyde Park home
Couple plan to restore, wed at McKecknie property
Planning a wedding always involves hard work
and patience. For Dr. Richard Suminski and
his fiancé Allie Quaiver, a barista, the next six
months will likely involve refinishing floors,
painting, remodeling bathrooms,
electrical
work and maybe redesigning the driveway at
720 East 36th St.
The couple purchased the 107-year-old John
McKecknie-designed home from the Jackson
County Board of Services for the Developmentally Disabled in early March. Within a week,
they moved in with a U-Haul.
Richard and Allie plan to tie the knot in October and hold their wedding reception at the
Central Hyde Park property. The 4,366 sq ft.,
eight-bedroom, five-bath unique three-story
and carriage house had been a group home
since the 1970s.
Richard Suminski and his fiancé Allie Quaiver try to hold a pose
with their yellow lab Cosmo and Suzzie, one of the new Hyde Park
couple’s cats. They purchased the 1906 concrete porch home shown
above in early March and are converting it back to single-family use.
Hyde Park: A Faculty Favorite
For many academics such as Richard, our neighborhood is viewed
as a great oasis to live, learn and think. Last year, two musicians,
one a horn professor at UMKC, moved here from suburban VirAn octagon staircase and original first floor
ginia. Professors of history, dentistry, art, architecture, family
oak woodwork are intact, but nearly every
room needs updating. Water damage is evident medicine and environmental studies also call Hyde Park home.
on the third floor, and Allie says an alarm sys- Catherine Thompson, a medical researcher and Central Hyde
tem is oddly wired. The prior owner found the Park homeowner since 1978, says the presence of so many nearby
property costly to maintain amid increased
and growing health care institutions makes our neighborhood an
regulatory expenses for group homes.
increasingly popular choice for doctors.
“We want to restore this place as much as pos- “Everything is within 5-10 minutes even during rush hour. We
sible to its original layout and feel,” Richard
are close to Hospital Hill (Children's Mercy Hospital, Truman
says. “We have a five-year plan.”
Medical Center, and the UMKC School of Medicine), St. Luke's
Hospital and KU Medical Center. Hyde Park is also very near the
The biggest discovery so far is a hidden serLinda Hall Library and Rockhurst University — all places where
vants’ staircase. Some walls that partitioned
health care professionals can access journals and resources for
living space for privacy have already come
professional development.” Catherine explains.
down, creating new places to explore for the
couple’s three cats –Rambo, Suzzie and Helga. ___________________________________________________________
Richard is a physiology professor at the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences (KCUMB) and moved from Kansas City,
KS, while Allie moved from a Paseo Blvd.
home. They met three years ago at her job at
the Main Street Starbucks. She’s originally
from Omaha and he’s from Pennsylvania.
“I was riding my bike from work through the
neighborhood one day and somehow I had this
feeling that here is where I would live,”
Richard says.
“We want to restore this place as much as
possible to its original layout and feel. We have
a five-year plan.”
____________________________________________________________
At KCUMB, Richard says the first and second year medical students he teaches are generally more apt to discover Hyde Park
than his peers, who for the most part commute from the Northland or Johnson or Wyandotte Counties.
“People don’t realize the great life they are missing,’’ Allie says.
For Richard, our area’s public health challenges have also been a
source of research. In 2007, he co-authored a study of more than
“We’re really happy we found it” Allie adds.
400 Midtown and East Side Kansas City renters that showed a
During the late 1920s and 1930s, 720 East
strong correlation between living in highly concentrated, subsi36th was owned by Joseph Layton Mauze, a
pastor at Central Presbyterian Church, and an dized housing and higher rates of obesity.
author of religious books. The home’s original The study recommended less density, more public green space for
owner was Charles Graniss, a railroad execu- exercise and increased security measures around apartment
properties so that people feel safer spending more time outdoors.
tive. Its architect, McKecknie, was noted for
his pioneering work in the use of concrete.
Meetings & More
Your 2013 HPNA Board
Monthly Meetings —
Central Presbyterian Church, 3501 Campbell
HPNA Board: Second Mondays, 6:30 p.m.
General Membership Third Tuesdays, 7:00 p.m.
President
Angela Splittgerber
531.3899
president@hydeparkkc.org
1st Vice President
Chris Harper
547.7308
1stvp@hydeparkkc.org
2nd Vice President
Vacancy
Treasurer
Clara Keller
960.4669
treasurer@hydeparkkc.org
Historian
Wayne Tomkins
531.7777
historian@hydeparkkc.org
Recording
Secretary
Tina Wurth
931.7837
recordingsecretary@
hydeparkkc.org
Corresponding
Secretary
Mark Dillon
North Area
Directors
Joe Denes
Abigail FitzGerald
northrep@hydeparkkc.org
Westport Middle and High Schools
KCPS Repurposing Update
853.8557
785.383.
2566
Central Area
Directors
Jill Burton
Vacancy
522.8535
centralrep@hydeparkkc.org
Saturday April 6 9am to Noon
South Area
Directors
William Dowdell
Jessica Hogancamp
703.9340
585.5628
southrep@hydeparkkc.org
Crime and Safety The KCPD Central Patrol offices on Linwood Ave have responsibility for
Hyde Park. These officers can be reached at
816.719.8044 daily, Officers meet with
neighbors monthly at 7pm on the last Thursday
from January to October.
The HP Playgroup: Wednesdays 10am to
noon. Contact Becky Nelson at
beckymnelson@gmail.com
At Redeemer Fellowship, 3921 Baltimore Ave.
Hear revised presentations from two developers and
offer your comments.
2ndvp@hydeparkkc.org
960.1492
correspondingsecretary@
hydeparkkc.org
The Hyde Parker contact information
Editor/Publisher Mark Dillon mglendillon@aol.com
Photographer Crissy Dastrup crissydastrup@gmail.com
Hyde Park Neighborhood Assoc., Inc.
P.O. Box 32551
Kansas City, Mo 64171
The Hyde Parker is a monthly newsletter published
by the Hyde Park Neighborhood Association, Inc.
Volume 40 Issue 4
THE HYDE PARKER
Page 6