February - Hyde Park Neighborhood Association

The Hyde Parker
A publication of the Hyde Park Neighborhood Association
Volume 40, Issue 2
February 2013
A charter school grows on Troost
Inside
DeLaSalle’s $8 million expansion begins
Major and Commander:
Meet Shawn Wadle,
Central Patrol’s new leader
Did you know Armour Blvd.
once had a library?
Feb. 15-18 Our backyard
bird photo contest is back
Compare Kansas City sales
taxes by neighborhood
HPNA switches banks
Come out
of the shadow
Go to Our
Groundhog Day
Potluck
A joint gathering of members of the
Hyde Park, Manheim Park, Squier Park
and Center City Neighborhood Associations
Central Presbyterian Church
3501 Campbell St., 1pm Feb. 2
Please bring an entrée/ side/dessert
Executive Director Mark Williamson says the school’s building
plans have grown more ambitious as needs have increased.
The project was redesigned to face Troost as $1.8 million in
federal New Market Tax Credits became available.
When the DeLaSalle Education Center opens an expanded 300-student
campus this fall, it will be the latest chapter in a Troost Avenue development saga that began more than 100 years ago.
In the process, a seven-decade long effort to serve teenagers who have
not done well in traditional public high schools will grow in scope. It will
also be a new twist in the ongoing educational legacy of one of the most
influential Catholic leaders in Kansas City during the first half of the
20th century.
Continued on pg. 2
Major neighborhood crime drops sharply
Robberies down 39%, assaults down 23%
Far fewer major crimes were reported in Hyde Park last year even as
crime rates in much of the rest of Kansas City stayed about the same.
A new report prepared for The Hyde Parker by the Kansas City
Police Dept.’s Central Patrol division shows that all categories of violent
crime within our neighborhood declined by double-digit percentages
while nearly every category of property crime except auto theft also fell.
Early spring cleaning. A cityfunded backhoe removes the last bits
of debris during the first week of
January from the lot where 3421
Holmes St. stood. The badly centuryold deteriorated shirtwaist was one
of 12 dangerous and endangered
properties highlighted by The Hyde
Parker last summer. Former owner
Charles Willard had lost it in August
at the Jackson County Sheriff’s sale.
The number of area robberies, aggravated assaults, rapes, burglaries
and larcenies dropped significantly compared to 2011, with a 17% overall drop in major crimes that are reported by police to the FBI.
William and Jessica McDowell of South Hyde Park know effective the
KCPD can be when neighbors watch out for one another. On a Sunday
morning last Sept. 7, Jessica witnessed two burglars breaking into a
neighbor’s home on Campbell and called 911, then her husband a few
blocks away. A response was immediate.
“I was at 39th and Charlotte. By the time I got home, there were
four squad cars on our block in a few minutes and the police had caught
the suspects on foot. The police did a fantastic job, and they made it
easy for Jessica to give a statement and id the guys without letting them
see her face.”
Continued on pg. 2
Page 2
THE HYDE PARKER
Volum e 40 Issue 2
DeLaSalle builds on 70-year legacy
Continued from pg. 1
The $8 million expansion at the charter school consists of a 18,000
sq. ft. addition connected to DeLaSalle's Forest Ave. building, with
a new Troost address and bigger library More than $1 million in
renovations will occur at the original school, which opened as
Bishop Lillis High School in April 1941. J.E Dunn, the same construction contractor as 72 years ago, is managing the project.
The land was originally the estate of Squier Park founder, James J.
Squier, and sat idle during the Great Depression following another
developer's failed plan to turn the site into Squier Manor Community Center, a mixed-use complex of apartments, retailers, a theater, and a hotel. Over the years, most of the block's Troost frontage
remained an auto repair shop and used car lots.
The mostly privately-funded project will allow DeLaSalle, a public
school that converted to charter status two years ago, to expand holistic student support programs and experiential learning that includes a
print shop and a physics class that makes bamboo bicycles (see below).
A large ceramic and mosaic medallion at the
entrance to the print shop at DeLaSalle celebrates patriotism, the 1940 building’s Catholic
heritage and Bishop Thomas Lillis’ Irish roots.
DeLaSalle first opened at the former residence of the Christian
Brothers at 16th St. and Paseo with 15 students in 1971, and is an
offshoot of the former DeLaSalle Academy, where at-risk youth
program founder Godfrey Kobets was head athletic coach.
“There’s not many alternatives in Kansas City for the high risk
population we serve,’’ said Mark Williamson, executive director.
“We fill a continuing need.”
Missouri’s new public school report card
Area School
Quality Score
Academie Lafayette
86.3
DeLaSalle Education Center
.Derrick Thomas Academy 48.1
KC Public Schools
19.6
Letter grade equivalent
B+
not yet rated
DF
Note:: State education officials generally consider a score of 50 as “passing”.
DeLaSalle will get its first composite state score in early 2014 after operating three
years as a charter school. Source: State of Missouri website
Closure of Armour rentals helped reduce crime
Continued from pg. 1
There were 10 fewer burglaries, 20 fewer robberies and 54 fewer
larcenies in Hyde Park last year compared in 2011 while property
crime rose about 1% in Kansas City overall.
Only one of the Kansas City’s 108 murders last year happened in
the area bounded by 31st to 47th Streets from Gillham Road to
Troost Ave., the police report shows. That crime was the Oct. 1
handgun shooting death inside the Bainbridge Apartments of
Karyia Edmondson, 19, a tenant, by another tenant.
For Central and North Hyde Park, changes on Armour Blvd. such
as the closure of apartment buildings including the Homestead
and Kenwood, which had high levels of police calls for service, appear to have had a positive effect on reducing violent crime and
drug-related felonies. At the same time, new Armour apartment
tenants parking more autos overnight on nearby streets may have
created greater opportunity for car thieves. Four cars were stolen
every three weeks in Hyde Park last year.
Since the early 1990s, violent crime has dropped 65% in the area
bounded by 31st St., State Line Rd., The Paseo and 55th St.,
according to the City’s Midtown Plaza Area Plan Data Book.
DeLaSalle’s board of directors voted in midJanuary to acquire this vacant, deteriorated
property at 37th St. and Troost, home of a former
car repair business. It’s the carriage house of the
original Squier Manor for which Squier Park is
named. St. Mark’s Church has approached the
school with the thought of turning it into its
planned Lion & Lamb coffee shop. The school
says it has assigned two of its board members to
negotiate with the church.
Made by
hand on
Troost:
Bamboo
bikes such
as this are
built by
DeLaSalle
students as
part of its
high school
physics
class’
curriculum.
Volum e 40 Issue 2
THE HYDE PARKER
Page 3
Thomas Lillis: A Hyde Parker’s global impact
The large home at 301 East Armour Boulevard was demolished in 1967, but the legacy of
the Lillis family who lived there remains an important part of Kansas City history.
Irish immigrant and homeowner James Lillis built the first streetcars in Kansas City as a
railroad contractor, and one of his 11 children became Bishop Thomas F. Lillis, the region’s
Roman Catholic leader from February 1913 to 1938. The bishop shaped local education,
community service and culture, and made a positive difference in global ways.
In 1912, just four years after Westport High School was built, Bishop Lillis wrote a letter
to a order of nuns in France asking them to open a new school here that became Notre
Dame de Sion on Locust Street. After the groundbreaking for the National World War I
Memorial on Nov. 1, 1921, it was at Bishop Lillis’ house where top Allied generals from
around the world gathered for a reception.
“He was big and likeable and loved people,” Bishop Lillis'
A page torn from Armour history
nephew, another James Lillis, told The Catholic Key newspaper several years ago before his death at age 80 in 2011.
“Every week he would throw a party or dinner at the family
home and invited civic leaders. He wielded great influence.”
Bishop Lillis’ support helped build many parishes in Kansas
City, including St. James in South Hyde Park. He rose in the
Catholic Church hierarchy and was active in national
efforts to stop lynching and discrimination against AfricanAmericans. Lillis drafted an anti-lynching condemnation
document that he got his fellow bishops across the country to
sign in 1933.
Lillis also became a special assistant to the Vatican, and on
Oct. 24, 1936, met with Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli at the Kansas City downtown airport. Pacelli, who a few months later
would become Pope Pius XII, was on his way to Hyde Park,
N.Y. as part of a first-of-its-kind nationwide flying tour.
Pacelli would meet with President Franklin Roosevelt the day
after the 1936 election to discuss the rising impact of fascism
in Europe.
A home that became a library
After Lillis’ death at age 77 in 1938, the newly constructed
Bishop Lillis High School on Forest Avenue was named in his
honor. Lillis’ Armour home, meanwhile, was converted into
the 25,600 volume Catholic Community Library, which operated on Armour from 1944 until 1966. At its height,, it had
more than 40,000 patrons and held public workshops, classes,
book club meetings and a national guest speaker series similar
to what the Kansas City Public Library does today at the
Truman Forum.
In the 1960s, a plan to merge the library with Rockhurst
University’s library was rejected and the library closed in 1969
for lack of funding, its last home being what is now Cristo Rey
High School on Linwood Boulevard.
The above 1950 Sanborn map shows the Catholic
Community Library across the street from the Park
Central Apartments on Armour Blvd. Also gone are a
row of single-family homes behind Park Central, the
Belleclaire Apartments at the southeast corner of Armour and Gillham and four single-family homes between Armour and what is now the Cornerstones of
Care office complex facing south toward Hyde Park.
The developer who purchased Lillis’ Armour home in 1967
tore it, its carriage house and several surrounding properties
down and erected the Gilliam Plaza office building and its now
deteriorating parking garage. In the past several years, it has
lost office tenants such as the Housing Authority of Kansas
City and the Catholic Archdiocese. Remaining tenants include
a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center.
Editor’s note: A special thanks to the Archives Office of the
Archdiocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph on 9th Street for their
assistance in researching this story.
Page 4
THE HYDE PARKER
It’s bird watching season
The Hyde Parker is again sponsoring a photo contest in
conjunction with the 16th annual Great Backyard Bird
Count from Friday, Feb.15 through Monday, Feb. 18. The
count is a nationwide effort to document bird populations
and is led by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society.
More than 8,200 birds were counted in Kansas City last
year, including hawks, cardinals, jayhawks, doves and
other species. Go to birdcount.org to learn how to participate in the count and send your electronic photos to
editor@hydeparkkc.org. Taking 15 minutes to observe
bird behavior can be a fun family learning event, as Hyde
Park is a winter oasis for many migrating species.
Volume 40 Issue 2
HPNA Member Honor Roll
We periodically recognize Hyde Park Neighborhood
Association members. For membership questions, contact
Clara Keller, Treasurer at 816.960.4669. Renewals through
February will be recognized in our March issue.
Missouri Bank and Trust Co.
to manage HPNA accounts
The Hyde Park Neighborhood Association voted Jan. 14 to
switch its bank to Missouri Bank and Trust Co. from
Commerce Bank to cut transaction and account fees.
Treasurer Clara Keller conducted a request for proposal process late last year that examined fee structures and services at
multiple Kansas City depositary institutions., and presented
her findings at our January board meeting.
Board members had sought alternatives given that fees paid
for credit card transactions and regulatory-related account
maintenance had more than doubled in the past three years.
In fact, last year event-rated financial services fees (such as
homes tour tickets), cost HPNA $900, according to the association’s year-end budget report.
Also, when a HPNA member renews a regular $35 membership by check rather than credit card, it saves the association
about 75 cents.
Keller estimates an initial savings of several hundred dollars
in operating expenses this year, and possibly more in 2014
when HPNA has its next homes tour.
————————————————————————————-
A robin in honeysuckle and a woodpecker on a black
walnut tree catch a brown tabby’s eye on 39th Street on Jan.
11 as the temperature rose to a near record 61 degrees.
When an HPNA member pay dues by check
or electronic bill pay rather than credit
card, it saves the association 75 cents.
——————————————————————-
Missouri Bank, a community bank founded in 1891 with
headquarters at 1044 Main. St., has increased its market
share relative to larger KCMO banks since the 2008 financial
crisis and is considered one of Kansas City’s and America’s
strongest banks. It has branches in the Crossroads, Brookside and Prairie Village.
Some banks have increased fees in the wake of the 2010
Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection
Act, which heightened regulatory oversight and compliance
reporting costs.
In October, The Kansas City Business Journal quoted Missouri Bank’s CEO as attributing its customer growth to
“building business the old-fashioned way (with a strategy
that) which is neighborhood-based, relationship-based and
community-based.”
In November, Missouri Bank’s Brookside branch won a national sustainable design award, with architect Jay
Tomlinson saying the bank’s approach is “to be more like a
farmers market or sidewalk café than a marble and brass buttoned-down facility.”
The Janssen Place Homeowners Association also uses
Missouri Bank.
Volume 40 Issue 2
Page 5
THE HYDE PARKER
Meet Major Shawn Wadle, the new leader on Linwood
2012 Hyde Park Crime Summary
Year-over-year percentage change
Homicides
Rapes
Robberies
Aggravated Assaults
Larceny (stealing)
Burglary
Auto theft
Total major crimes
-50%
-42%
-39%
-23%
-20%
-11%
+11%
-17%
On Jan. 6, Major Shawn Wadle took
command of the KCPD’s 149-officer
Central Patrol Division. To his left in
the station’s Community Room is Master
Patrolman James W. Schriever.
Master Patrolman James Schriever is glad to see his former colleague Shawn Wadle
back on the Central Patrol beat as his new boss. A selfless commitment to leading a
team that gets the job done right is what fellow officers and the public can expect,
Schriever says.
KCPD
Central Patrol
Boundaries
"I will try to be accessible as I can be. I want to be thought of as extremely approachable,'' says Wadle, an Iowa native and father of four.
Wadle brings a range of expertise to the job, most recently in anti-drug enforcement,
which included supervising undercover work. He was promoted to major last month,
and returns to a division where he was 2nd Watch Commander.
The KCPD veteran of 24 years took over from Major Wayne Stewart, who became commander of the regional police academy. Stewart was widely admired for working with
neighborhood associations over the preceding five years, especially for curbing violent
Armour Boulevard crime.
Wadle says he will evaluate the potential for bringing back foot patrols in Hyde Park as
he reviews the city's proposed $13.9 million budget for Central Patrol's 149-officer force.
Central Patrol is down 23 officers since municipal budget fallout from the 2008 financial
crisis forced staff cuts and a hiring freeze a few years ago.
Both officers hope to build on current levels of citizen engagement and feedback, such
as at HPNA's monthly crime meetings at Central Patrol's Linwood headquarters. They
also hope to create more opportunities to for crime prevention education, such as free
property security assessments for homeowners.
"Our community partnership is really the key to success," Wadle says. "I am committed
to reducing both violent and non-violent crime in my area of responsibility, including
reducing public disorder and improving quality of life issues for all."
Central Patrol may be the smallest police division in Kansas City in terms of geography,
but it's a tough turf that includes large sections of Highways 35, 71, and 70, Westport,
the Country Club Plaza and downtown. That can make enforcement challenging during
late nights and weekends, just when drunk-driving on east-west corridors, gun violence
and property crime tends to be at its worst.
One of Kansas City's primary commercial assets is its leading status as a freight and
agricultural products distribution hub. Wadle has seen the dark side of the commodities
business, and at Central Patrol he has the task of policing what The Kansas City Star
has described as "a major shipping point for drugs and money to narcotics markets
throughout the nation."
Compared to some major urban areas with greater municipal budget woes, Kansas City
is doing relatively well in maintaining its police presence. Still, there were more than
two dozen murders in Central Patrol's turf, and about 60,000 police calls for service per
month across the city.
“I want to be
thought of as
extremely
approachable.”
Major Shawn Wadle
—————————
Get daily crime updates
E-mail
James.Schriever@kcpd.org
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.
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
2013 Selected Sales Tax Rates
Where you shop in KC makes a difference
Area
Sales Tax
Food Sales Tax
KCMO overall
8.35%
5.35%
Briarcliff TDD
8.60%
5.60%
39th St., Waldo, Country Club Plaza, Westport,
Brookside CIDs
8.85%
5.85%
Downtown, Ward Parkway, Performing Arts CIDs
KCI airport
9.35%
9.475%
Source: State of Missouri website
6.35%
6.475%
President
Angela Splittgerber
531.3899
president@hydeparkkc.org
1st Vice President
Chris Harper
547.7308
1stvp@hydeparkkc.org
2nd Vice President Catherine Thompson
799.3312
2ndvp@hydeparkkc.org
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
853.8557
785.383.
2566
northrep@hydeparkkc.org
Central Area
Directors
Jill Burton
Ben Nemenoff
522.8535
665.5993
centralrep@hydeparkkc.org
South Area
Directors
William Dowdell
Jessica Hogancamp
703.9340
585.5628
southrep@hydeparkkc.org
960.1492
correspondingsecretary@
hydeparkkc.org
The Hyde Parker contact information
Editor/Publisher Mark Dillon mglendillon@aol.com
Photographers Crissy and Justin 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 1
THE HYDE PARKER
Page 6