Kansas City Breaking Economic Barriers
Kansas City Breaking Economic Barriers Kansas City’s Troost Avenue is an economic dividing line similar to our own “north/south of Delmar” dilemma. Kansas City, however, is openly and actively working on a solution to dismantle the geographic border. Through the “Green Impact Zone”, our northwestern neighbor is creating housing, employment and energy efficiency in an otherwise blighted community.
“Today the neighborhoods east of Troost Avenue still bear the marks of disenfranchisement: abandoned homes, an unemployment rate that’s as high as 53 percent in some census tracts and gun violence that takes many young lives.
Tomorrow, this area could be a center of green jobs, retrofitted energy-efficient homes, a green transportation system and hopeful residents if Congressman Emmanuel Cleaver’s plans for using American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding come to full fruition.
U.S. Rep. Cleaver, D-Missouri, has developed an ambitious plan for a “Green Impact Zone” to be established in a 150-block area east of Troost Avenue. He convinced the Kansas City Council to vote 13 to 0 to allocate millions of dollars of ARRA money and considerable city effort to this part of the city. And he’s rallied dozens of community organizations, residents and even businesses to work on making it happen. Now Cleaver’s office and the team from the community are submitting applications to numerous Recovery Act programs, supplementing work that’s already begun to bring a greener, healthier environment to this area and jobs to its residents.
At the heart of the plan for the Green Impact Zone is a massive home weatherization project that would put area residents to work conducting energy audits and weatherizing the 2,500 homes in the Zone neighborhoods.”
Source (http://www.greenforall.org/blog/what-a-recovery-fueled-201cgreen-impact-zone201d-can-do-for-a-troubled-city)
What can we learn from Kansas City’s program? How can we apply this to St. Louis’ drama filled Northside Project? Thoughts?
