Cleaver II Blvd. Redesign Upate: July, 2024 By Jim Wanser.

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In the last issue of the Times, I presented a brief description of the many battles that our neighborhood has fought against outside forces during the last seventy years. Most of the residents involved in winning those battles were well-known and appreciated at the time – in fact, many are still among us. These residents often had power in the city, knew powerful people, and knew how to get things done – they were the known heroes who were sung about, and for good reason. They made Rockhill a better place for all of us to live. Another group of less visible residents is also invaluable, however, in making our neighborhood a great place to live. These are the unsung heroes, residents who quietly, often privately and independently, go about setting straight what they perceive to be awry. These are the heroes whom I would like to fete in this column.

I salute our residents who routinely pick up litter along our streets during their daily walks. One resident even considers it his responsibility to routinely de-litter Theis Park. In fact, this same resident privately purchased and installed attractive litter containers on Rockhill Terrace and in our pocket park; and, he empties them as necessary. This frequent de-littering may become even more valuable following installation of bike paths on Cleaver, as city cleanup equipment does not readily deal with the barriers usually associated with bike paths. Distinct from removing litter, other residents quietly and without fanfare, shovel snow from the sidewalks of their less able neighbors, making life not just easier for those neighbors, but for all of us using those sidewalks.

A significant number of neighbors have remained involved in maintaining The Narrows and our Pocket Park. The chores they perform are those that we all routinely perform in our own yards: weeding, mulching, pruning, edging, and picking up branches. Although this volunteer work is now under the aegis of our Homes and Gardens Club, it has been performed routinely by volunteers since well before Susan and I moved here in 1997. For a very long time, RHA volunteers have worked to make our entire neighborhood more attractive, not just their own homes.

There are also many Rockhill neighbors who call 311 on their own when they note something amiss, such as a load of trash dumped beside Rockhill Terrace, a large broken limb partially blocking a street, an abandoned auto, a large chuckhole, etc. – things that detract from our neighborhood.

Although members of the RHA Board of Directors are expected to serve on committees, there are also residents from outside the Board who periodically volunteer to serve on RHA committees, allowing RHA to function more smoothly. Moreover, unrelated to Board activities, volunteers have stepped up on their own to organize activities to foster interactions among our neighbors, such as the monthly potluck dinners after the tennis club closed and the current periodic coffee club gatherings to bring us closer together.

Galen Mussman recently sent me a quote from an interview with Phil Levine on the importance of picking your neighborhood. Levine said: “Most neighborhoods in your city you might never step foot in. They might as well be in the other side of the country. But the things in your immediate vicinity are the things that are going to dominate your life. So picking and influencing your neighborhood is really important....the neighborhood determines quite a bit about our life and our happiness." I wouldn’t deign to guess the motivation of all our unsung heroes who make Rockhill a better place to live, but they do just that in our small, but wonderful, piece of Kansas City.

In my December 23 email to you I informed you that the city was hosting a meeting at the Kauffman Foundation on January 4 ostensibly to gain additional information from us on the Gillham Track and Trolley Track Trail Connector project. The hosts of the meeting were Bailey Waters, Chief Mobility Officer at KCMO, and Jason Waldron, Transportation Director. In a very short introduction, Ms. Waters gave the background of the project from the city’s perspective and showed a street map indicating which streets were to be discussed, excluding Harrison. As you may recall, that single block of Harrison connects the end of the Gillham trail to Cleaver Blvd., the route that our neighborhood supports. When audience hands were raised to ask questions, Mr. Waldron indicated that no questions would be taken.      

This comment elicited questions and comments from the audience that were largely ignored. The formal part of the meeting then ended, and the remainder of the meeting was essentially a redux of the first meeting on September 8 at the Nelson-Atkins Museum during which alternative options for a connector were presented on separate poster boards manned by city workers who tried to explain them. Although some options to modify Cleaver were presented, they were in addition to finishing the connector path on Gillham West – Rockhill Road and included such things as added concrete curbs or low concrete walls on Cleaver. As with the September 8 meeting, no attempt was made, except for asking for respondents’ zip codes on a short, vague questionnaire, to distinguish among Rockhill residents, bicyclists and the general public, despite City Ordinance 230613 mandating that “collaboration with and support from neighborhood associations is a critical step prior to the installation” of bike lanes. 

The Rockhill Homes Association, including its Board, was well-represented at this meeting and our residents spoke with many of the presenters to gain additional information. The Board met on January 9 and discussed their conclusions from the meeting. To summarize their consensus, they are frustrated that the city remains adamant on continuing the Gillham West – Rockhill Road connector without public explanation or justification; that the process for installing bike lanes approved by the city has not been followed at all in this case; and that the overwhelming petitioned desires of the only residential neighborhood between the two bike paths to be connected continue to be totally ignored without public explanation or justification. The Board decided to continue working to achieve the original goals of the Rockhill Homes Association related to this project, namely to remove the lines already painted for the Gillham West – Rockhill Road connector and to combine traffic-calming measures with a bike path on Emanuel Cleaver II Boulevard, probably connected via Harrison to the Gillham Track. Our position is detailed fully in the following article by Jim Wanser entitled “Our Position Remains the Same.” 

Michael Shaw, Public Works Director KCMO 

michael.shaw@kcmo.org 

Eric Rogers, Executive Director BikeWalkKC 

eric.rogers@bikewalkkc.org 

Michael Kelley, Policy Director BikeWalkKC 

michael.kelley@bikewalkkc.org