A JEFERSON CITY NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL
In April 1994 a drug war broke out in the neighborhood adjoining "The Walls". Bullets landed in several of my constituent's yards. At our first neighborhood meeting each person in the room vented their frustrations about City Hall, the Police, the drug houses and do-nothing politicians. That remark hurt. I was their city councilman. I reminded the meeting we had a similar problem with drug houses in the 80s when I was on the council. We drove drug houses out of our ward. We know how to drive drug houses out. The question is how can we keep them out?
I answered the question by telling the Independence Plan for Neighborhood Councils (IPNC) story. In the early 70s Mayor Weeks of Independence and members of his city council were frustrated by the lack of citizen participation. Far too often, developers would present plans, staff would comment but nobody from “the public” would come to the hearing. Only after the contract was signed and the ground broken did a neighborhood association appear in opposition to the project. The mayor appointed a committee of citizens to study the problem. They recommended the IPNC which was adopted by the city. The plan established a Council of Neighborhoods which would work with the city in reviewing and approving all future development projects.
I shared IPNC materials with the neighborhood group, the Mayor, and City Council. I attempted to get the City of Jefferson to pass an ordinance similar to the one passed by the Independence City Council. The City Manager and several department heads visited Independence and were impressed with the IPNC but in the end it did not get city council support and the idea was dropped.
The IPNC materials encouraged the neighbors to organize the Central East Side Neighborhood Association. CESNA organized a "Neighborhood Watch" and a Block Party in an empty lot that had been the place where the shooting occurred. Four hundred turned out to take back their neighborhood. By the end of the year CESNA had closed the drug houses and cleaned up the neighborhood. CESNA published "Neighbor News" and organized a series of events including beautification days, a grandparent day and a recognition party to honor the police who helped CESNA drive drug traffickers from the neighborhood. The Police Chief remarked that he had never in his lifetime seen this kind of appreciation given to a police officer.
Most neighborhood organizations start because of a crisis. Unfortunately they die as soon as the crisis passes. Without a pressing issue and without a Council of Neighborhoods support and recognition CESNA faded away. Almost.
In 2002 several CESNA survivors met with forty neighborhood residents and stakeholders to form the Eastside Neighborhood Development Association in order to have an effective voice in planning for the area. The state built a Health Laboratory in the 900 block of East Capitol and wanted to purchase adjoining homes for parking and landscaping. The city and state adopted a plan for the Missouri State Prison (MSP) site. ENDA wanted to make sure the Eastside neighborhoods will benefit and not be hurt by these plans. The Mayor and City council welcomed ENDA’s participation and appointed ENDA members the City’s Neighborhood Improvement Task Force.
In his 1835 paper on Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville wrote: "In democratic countries knowledge of how to combine into associations is the mother of all other forms of knowledge; on its progress depends that of all others." The Industrial Age destroyed much of the neighborhood associational life de Tocqueville admired. Too often in the shift to big-is-better the neighborhood’s agenda is pushed aside by the private sector’s rush to a short term fix or the public sector’s need to control. The City of Jefferson should be congratulated for its willingness to work with ENDA and other neighborhoods. Neighborhoods have demonstrated their ability to work with the city and developers.
In April 1994 a drug war broke out in the neighborhood adjoining "The Walls". Bullets landed in several of my constituent's yards. At our first neighborhood meeting each person in the room vented their frustrations about City Hall, the Police, the drug houses and do-nothing politicians. That remark hurt. I was their city councilman. I reminded the meeting we had a similar problem with drug houses in the 80s when I was on the council. We drove drug houses out of our ward. We know how to drive drug houses out. The question is how can we keep them out?
I answered the question by telling the Independence Plan for Neighborhood Councils (IPNC) story. In the early 70s Mayor Weeks of Independence and members of his city council were frustrated by the lack of citizen participation. Far too often, developers would present plans, staff would comment but nobody from “the public” would come to the hearing. Only after the contract was signed and the ground broken did a neighborhood association appear in opposition to the project. The mayor appointed a committee of citizens to study the problem. They recommended the IPNC which was adopted by the city. The plan established a Council of Neighborhoods which would work with the city in reviewing and approving all future development projects.
I shared IPNC materials with the neighborhood group, the Mayor, and City Council. I attempted to get the City of Jefferson to pass an ordinance similar to the one passed by the Independence City Council. The City Manager and several department heads visited Independence and were impressed with the IPNC but in the end it did not get city council support and the idea was dropped.
The IPNC materials encouraged the neighbors to organize the Central East Side Neighborhood Association. CESNA organized a "Neighborhood Watch" and a Block Party in an empty lot that had been the place where the shooting occurred. Four hundred turned out to take back their neighborhood. By the end of the year CESNA had closed the drug houses and cleaned up the neighborhood. CESNA published "Neighbor News" and organized a series of events including beautification days, a grandparent day and a recognition party to honor the police who helped CESNA drive drug traffickers from the neighborhood. The Police Chief remarked that he had never in his lifetime seen this kind of appreciation given to a police officer.
Most neighborhood organizations start because of a crisis. Unfortunately they die as soon as the crisis passes. Without a pressing issue and without a Council of Neighborhoods support and recognition CESNA faded away. Almost.
In 2002 several CESNA survivors met with forty neighborhood residents and stakeholders to form the Eastside Neighborhood Development Association in order to have an effective voice in planning for the area. The state built a Health Laboratory in the 900 block of East Capitol and wanted to purchase adjoining homes for parking and landscaping. The city and state adopted a plan for the Missouri State Prison (MSP) site. ENDA wanted to make sure the Eastside neighborhoods will benefit and not be hurt by these plans. The Mayor and City council welcomed ENDA’s participation and appointed ENDA members the City’s Neighborhood Improvement Task Force.
In his 1835 paper on Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville wrote: "In democratic countries knowledge of how to combine into associations is the mother of all other forms of knowledge; on its progress depends that of all others." The Industrial Age destroyed much of the neighborhood associational life de Tocqueville admired. Too often in the shift to big-is-better the neighborhood’s agenda is pushed aside by the private sector’s rush to a short term fix or the public sector’s need to control. The City of Jefferson should be congratulated for its willingness to work with ENDA and other neighborhoods. Neighborhoods have demonstrated their ability to work with the city and developers.
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