KSHB 41 reporter Grant Stephens covers downtown Kansas City, Missouri. He also focuses on stories of consumer interest. Share your story idea with Grant.
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Kansas City is hosting two town halls this week to hear from residents about dangerous and abandoned buildings on the east side.
Councilwoman Melissa Patterson Hazley, 3rd District At-Large, and Councilman Darrell Curls, 5th District at-Large are hosting the two Eastside Dangerous Buildings Town Halls.
The first listening session is Monday at 6:00 p.m. at the Mary Williams-Neal Community Center. A second meeting is set for Wednesday at 6:00 p.m. at Ruskin High School.
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas spoke ahead of the meetings about the concerns driving the effort.
"The historic Northeast where they deal with any number of issues, right from illegal dumping to vacant houses and lots that create issues. And that neighborhood, we've been dealing with a lot of fires in vacant and abandoned structures for a long time, and what I hear, pretty uniformly from most of them is to say, we need to do something," Lucas said.
The meetings are also an opportunity for the city to present three newly proposed ordinances that would give Kansas City more tools to address problem properties.
The first ordinance expands the city's vacant property registration program to include empty lots - not just buildings. Properties deemed "chronically vacant nuisances" could face a $200 recurring fine until violations are fixed.
A second measure sets standards for vacant buildings. Owners would have to secure them and maintain them - including overgrowth. If they don't, the city could step in, do the work, and recover costs through liens.
The third ordinance protects historic structures from demolition under "dangerous building" rules – this one combats landlords who let a building decay so they can just demolish it – making sure rehab options are considered first.
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