Suburbs to look their best for All-Star Game visitors

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Kansas City is cleaning up before the All-Star Game, and local leaders want the suburbs to spruce up, too.

Fans will arrive at the stadium from all parts of the metro.

City leaders hope the entire town looks good as fans drive to and from the ballpark.

A new banner went up Thursday to welcome All-Star visitors to Raytown, Mo., the closest suburb to the stadium.

Inside the Chamber of Commerce, they're putting together goody bags for All-Star visitors staying at a nearby hotel.

"Flip flops break, your eye glasses break, somebody gets sick, you're gonna have to find a pharmacy, we want to be prepared," said the chamber's Vicki Turnbow.

Raytown wants its main streets to be clean and weeds to be mowed by the big weekend next month.

"We consider ourselves the backyard of the ballpark, " said David Bower, Raytown's mayor. "When they're driving from the hotel to the ballpark, when they're driving through Raytown, they're gonna remember if they see a dilapidated building."

Bower joined other suburban leaders in a show of unity to talk about spruce up efforts.

Parkville, Mo., is trying to finish fixing English Landing Park after last year's flood.

Suburbs are also doing sign sweeps, which involve taking down signs along power poles and roads.

The clean up has become a regional effort.

"We look forward to working with our surrounding partners and communities and counties to make this a better metropolitan area for everybody," said Scott Taylor, a KCMO city council member who organized the regional effort.

But the beautification effort includes some self-promotion.

At Thursday's news conference, Brian Whitley, a Lee's Summit, Mo., council member, reminded everyone his downtown was named, "...the best downtown in America. So we certainly encourage any visitors, anybody locally, to come visit our downtown Lee's Summit."

Al Frisby, a Merriam council member, said, "First of all, we don't have any potholes in Merriam. We fix them on a daily basis."

Kansas City officials announced plans for a pothole blitz to smooth out roads before the All-Star game.

Soon you'll see announcements in Kansas City asking residents to call the city action center at 311 to report places that need to be cleaned or mowed.

During All-Star weekend, the action center will be open expanded hours to handle concerns faster.