Kansas City - Home sweet ... something or other

By: Alexia Lang

Posted: 6/1/09

Reality check. Pinches all around.

I have thought a lot of things about Kansas City over the years - it's dangerous, it's dumpy, it's a waste of formerly beautiful buildings and homes that have been abused by residents, it's an embarrassing blemish on the Kansas City Metro as a whole.

But maybe - just maybe - the blinders I have put up for so long have kept me from seeing any of its good (truly good) features.

Perhaps, my sheltered and prim upbringing has deprived me from knowing what the real world is like, and, in turn, kept me from having any concept of the situations people deal with.

To give some background, I am from a little town where my neighbors were always referred to as Mr. and Mrs. So and So.

It was rare to meet someone who did not know my name, I could not check the mail without someone being nosy and the most disgraced person in town was a soft-core pot dealer.

Although I moved around a little while growing up, I landed in Johnson County and I've been there ever since.

As a teenager, friends loved to sing, "Just a small town girl, living in a lonely world" to me.

The tune often echoes in the back of my head to this day when I feel uncomfortable with the city environment.

Silly, I know. But that's who I am.

And with that background, I believe everyone deserves a safe place to live - a place where you know your kids are OK playing out in the yard, a place where you can go to the grocery store day or night without being frightened of being mugged or worse, a place where parks are for kids, not prostitutes and drug dealers.

The past year I have been going to school and working in Kansas City has certainly given me a new perspective on the city.

I no longer look at it with disdain. I no longer think of it as the slums and, for the most part, I feel comfortable in this environment I have come to know well.

Listening to Kansas City Mayor Mark Funkhouser give his State of the City speech last week sparked a sense of hope in me for the future of the city.

He said citizens are concerned about the quality of city services, of safety and of the education system.

He also said it is those same issues that keep people from moving back.

He is right.

Families retreat to the suburbs and to small towns for the quality of life they offer.

While some people continue to commute to the city, few spend any more time in it than necessary.

Meanwhile, the city is going to crap, becoming something of a no-man's land, and the suburbs are flourishing, growing bigger each day.

But that does not mean good things are not happening in this fair city.

I look at the Historic Northeast district with all of its problems, and yet its concerned citizens are coming together to revive the area.

And I look at the involvement of UMKC and other schools and businesses in the community. They have the ability to make a difference on a large scale.

We have issues that need to be dealt with. That is no secret.

This city continues to be on the top-10 list for homicides each year.

A conversation with a police officer last week revealed that he could only think of the names of four prostitutes in the area because many of them are new. Only?!

Let's not even get started on drug dealers.

The truth is nothing is going to happen if the citizens don't team up with government leadership to make things happen.

I will tell you something valuable. This city is worth it.

I enjoy coming to work each day and seeing the historic neighborhoods.

I enjoy meeting and talking with the people who live here.

I want people to move back and help restore this area to its former glory.

Maybe I'm not a city girl yet, but I am a girl who loves this city.

And I hope to help make this home-away-from-home a better place.

So, I'll see you around, Kansas Citians, hopefully out doing your part for the city.

alang@unews.com