Leaking like a sieve

Our little corner of Brookside has either sprung a leak, or we live on an undiscovered aquifer.   Kansas City water quality has repeatedly ranked as one of the top in the country, but unfortunately they practically give it away through such a poor quality water system.

At one end our block, to west of our house, the city only recently completed repairs to a leak that has been there for at least two years.  One attempt to fix it failed, and rather than revisit it right away, they went on to other projects.  Finally a company contracted by the water department finally showed up and stopped it in a few days.  We're waiting for them to finish fixing the street, but due to the cold, we get to enjoy a cul-de-sac a little while longer.

Tonight, as we came home near 7:00 PM, we saw them staging equipment to tackle the leak on the street outside our front door.  This one's only been there since May or June, and despite repeated pleas to come visit and fix it, they didn't even respond.  Instead, they waited for our record-breaking mild winter weather to pass and started work at night in freezing temperatures.

And rather than start first thing in the morning, they waited until right about the time we put the kids to bed before they fired up the thing that breaks up the concrete and asphalt, then engaged the backhoe (with the convenient little beeper that beeps every time it's on the move).  And in case they thought no one noticed they were there, they fired up the flashing emergency lights that strobe the night sky.  It's now 9:00 and they're still going strong.  They've been known to work all night, and sleep on the job all day.

The construction is one thing, but don't expect the courtesy of a warning on water service either.  We're out of water as I type, without any notice, and no idea when it will resume.

Fixed, but not complete.  At least it's not the usual icy strip.

Outside the front door.

Digging deep.

Beeeep. Beeeep.  Beeeep. 

Urban Tour

Take a stroll two miles north of our house, and you'll find yourself wandering around the Spanish architecture of the Country Club Plaza, with its array of high-end stores, restaurants and bars, its fountains and and statues, and the occasional art fair.  Along the way, you can enjoy the distinctive neighborhoods and numerous parks, and see young families, old couples and joggers and bikers of all ages out amongst the streets.

Walk two miles east or northeast, and you'll find yourself in the midst of the killing fields of the most murderous neighborhoods in Kansas City, the 11th most violent city in the country.  It was here I decided to visit today.

I had a couple hours of nothing to do.  The weather was unseasonably warm for the first week of January, so I decided to get out on my motorcycle and go for a ride.  With no plans, but not enough time to go for a nice trip out into the rural areas, I went on a sightseeing tour instead.  I hit most of these areas along the way, taking in the contradiction between some of the most fascinating and beautiful architecture in the city, sitting amongst the evidence of hard lives lived, and being lived.

I didn't have any intention of taking pictures when I left, so I had nothing more than my cell phone camera with me, and I mostly just soaked it all in rather than try to document it.  I traveled the length of The Paseo, Troost and Prospect, and many of the random side streets, from Brookside to Independence Avenue.   I was impressed at some of the architecture that exists in some of the poorest neighborhoods in the city, and simultaneously saddened by the amount of houses and buildings that were literally boarded up, bombed out or inhabited but falling down.

Plenty of commentary has already been made about the political, social and economic causes and effects of this, and there's no enlightenment I can add, I was simply struck by what the city was once, what it could have been, and what it was now.

Holy Name Church, 23d and Benton.  It was built in 1925 for $175,000.

Just south of the Jazz District a few blocks.  From a June 1897 issue of the Kansas City Times:  "Out at Twentieth and Vine streets there is, being erected a castle-like stone building which is unlike everything else that Kansas City possesses. As the walls go up inch by inch passers-by regard the structure with increasing interest and in some instances considerable wonderment.

The building is, in plain, prosy truth, intended for Kansas City’s work-house. Here the vagrant and the petty criminal will be sent to work out their sentences. From this feudal-looking place the prisoner will be led to the rock pile twice a day in a most unromantic manner to demolish the limestone owned by the city. It will be Kansas City’s bastile. In it will be continued the “King of the Patch” or the “King of Little Italy,” and their subjects when they become unruly or conspire “against the peace and dignity” of the community.

Why should a work-house be built to resemble a feudal castle? There appears to be no reason for the style of architecture employed except that the building will certainly be substantial, constructed in that fashion, and that it might as well look like a feudal castle as an ordinary jail, if it costs no more. The suggestion was made by Major Alf Brant, work-house superintendent and the designs, drawn by City Architect Hogg, conform to Major Brant’s idea."

 

Same area.  I started to walk around it, when I saw a bunch of people hanging out nearby giving me odd looks.  In the grass, I found a penny dated 1955.  

Western Baptist Bible College building at 21st & Tracy - first occupied by the college circa 1930.

Downtown KC from West Paseo and 25th St.

Elmwood Cemetery at Van Brundt and Truman Rd.