Troost developments

[flyingember]

There are occasionally bicycle patrols (that ride on the sidewalk; that's a grumble for a separate topic.) A couple years ago the PD tried out foot patrols in a couple areas of the city. There was a lot of hype, but to my recollection it went away quietly without much of a follow up. Does anyone have any more information on that?

They ran out of funding. It was a one-time program.

There is a Troost CID in the works. There's a recognition that having uniformed people on the street (who aren't law enforcement) can have a very positive effect. But it's yet not known what kind of budget the current businesses on Troost can sustain.

But there also needs to be a little bit of an attitude adjustment from the KCPD. Earlier this summer a couple of neighborhoods were being hit hard by people stealing lawn equipment, etc, out of backyards and garages. Correctly, the KCPD's focus is on violent crime, but they even refused to vary their route back to Central Patrol and drive down Harrison, Forest, Tracy instead. We were told to invest in security cameras and admonished for not always filing police reports when things get stolen, and for talking about the thefts on social media. Having a better response from the KCPD (even in the form of them simply driving through) and uniformed CID people could make a significant quality of life improvement.

Most of us downtown have been trained with the mantra," if you don't want it to happen again-make a police report".

The KCPD deploys patrols in direct response to crime reports. If you want cops on your block, you have to tell them that something specific is taking place, otherwise you get bupkis.

you get the same thing with city issues

if you want people to pay attention to non-crime issues, file 311 tickets.

and some of them lead to crime. if there's a big pile of trash left forever people know the place isn't monitored. like I found a dump behind a building on troost. I reported it

[chaglang]

Most of us downtown have been trained with the mantra," if you don't want it to happen again-make a police report".

The KCPD deploys patrols in direct response to crime reports. If you want cops on your block, you have to tell them that something specific is taking place, otherwise you get bupkis.

That's absolutely true, and something we've been pushing. But we have had some instances where the police simply didn't show up to take a report. Not sure how that counts in their accounting.

[loftguy]

Most of us downtown have been trained with the mantra," if you don't want it to happen again-make a police report".

The KCPD deploys patrols in direct response to crime reports. If you want cops on your block, you have to tell them that something specific is taking place, otherwise you get bupkis.

That's absolutely true, and something we've been pushing. But we have had some instances where the police simply didn't show up to take a report. Not sure how that counts in their accounting.

True too, and four hour wait times to file a police report should be noted on someone's count, as well.

[WinchesterMysteryHouse]

As teenagers we would drive south on Troost to get to Fairyland Park.
I remember there were many huge, magnificent 5, 6, even 7 floor apartment structures, even as late as 1982.
They've all been torn down.

If you guys are "elated" at what's left, you would literally poison yourself to death if you saw what was lost.
You should have seen the corner of Armour and Troost back in the day when all 4 corner buildings were intact- breathtaking.
Once Troost Ave went "low rent," it crumbled within 2 decades and there was nobody there to pick up the pieces.

Got any snapshots?

[moderne]

Isn't that Linwood and Troost?

[Eon Blue]

Isn't that Linwood and Troost?

Yes. You can recognize the distinctive one-story building at the NE corner that's now an appliance swap or whatever.

[rxlexi]

Man, that photo. Unbelievable what we've lost here. In a city that never quite reached "metropolis" scale, I imagine we've lost a greater relative chunk of our true urban core than most other old form, rust-belt midwestern cities.

The decimation of our midtown along Troost/Armour/Linwood, the central core of the city, is a tragedy.

But, all you can do is move forward with what we have left. Can't spend too energy lamenting a grand past, would rather focus on what to become in the future.

[moderne]

I remember the tallest apartment building in the center on Linwood. Had a large neon on top that said "Defenders." Sorta reminded me of the Chase-Park in St. Louis. But what is the domed structure on the east side of Troost?

[beautyfromashes]

While it's tragic what was lost, I am more than ever filled with hope for the urban core, especially when I see projects like the ones happening in Union Hill. While they are not the original, historic buildings, they represent a change to where people appreciate what was here and try to replicate it. I'm hoping that we will begin to see more of these 'modern historics' similar to what happened in Europe after WWII.

[Eon Blue]

Yeah, the scale of loss & destruction when you look at that same area now is a little mind-boggling.

[FangKC]

I remember the tallest apartment building in the center on Linwood. Had a large neon on top that said "Defenders." Sorta reminded me of the Chase-Park in St. Louis. But what is the domed structure on the east side of Troost?

The Defenders sign was atop the former Lasalle Hotel.



The domed structure you see in the photo was the Second Church of Christ Scientist, on the NE corner of 31st and Troost. You can view a photo of the building at the link below. It was a real shame they demolished that church, because it was a lovely structure. Project Breakthrough's building occupies the site today.



The interior of the Second Church of Christian Scientist.



http://kchistory.org/cdm4/item_viewer.p ... X=1&REC=19

There were several taller apartment/hotel buildings near the intersection of Linwood and Troost, and it is a real loss that they were demolished. Those buildings gave Linwood and Troost some density and "centered-ness" as an urban corridor. If they existed now, one would hope that they would be renovated like the buildings along Armour Boulevard have been.

List of building demolished:

Berkshire Arms Hotel: 1013-1023 Linwood, 9-stories.

Lasalle Hotel: 916-930 Linwood, 12-stories. The Lasalle Hotel had a two-story, 100 car garage behind it.

Carlton Family Hotel: 1007-1009 Linwood, 6-stories.

Cornell Apartments: 1107 Linwood, 6-stories. This building was also known as the Elsemere Hotel.

Roosevelt Hotel: 1200 Linwood, 4-stories.

Linmont Apartment Hotel: 1205 Linwood, 5-stories.

Commodore Apt. Hotel: 1217 Linwood, 9-stories.

Coronado Apt. Hotel: 1212 Linwood, 10-stories.

The only remaining building is the Mayfair Apt. Hotel at 1224 Linwood, at 9 stories.



The Roosevelt Hotel was a the NE corner of Linwood and Forest. The police station is there today.



The Commodore apartment building was on the SW corner of Linwood and Tracy. The structure was to the east of the Russell Stover Candy store. It was demolished and the parcel is a vacant lot.

[FangKC]

Cornell/Elsemere Hotel on the SE corner of Linwood and Troost.

[FangKC]

The Carlton Arms / Carlton Family Hotel at 1007-1009 Linwood.

[Eon Blue]

And now I want to smash everything.

[PumpkinStalker]

No kidding. I have a number of post cards of the Second Church of Christ Scientist but never researched it to see where in KC it was. It really pisses me off that these are all gone.

[rxlexi]

eh, at some point you have to mourn the losses and move on, lest you develop St. Louis syndrome where you're living in a constant state of hunger for "what was". I too used to want to "smash things" seeing photos like this - but I'd rather just have a bunch of nice new buildings and not worry about it.

The buildings in this area represent a devastating loss to KC, and it's embarrassing/deeply shameful that a generation of people would find demolishing them for parking and vacant lots to be a positive development. But they ain't coming back, and I'm more upset about the fact that we aren't building anything on this scale in the core currently.

As long we're seeing a steady stream of high-quality new spaces and places, and building towards a vibrant future, I'll be OK with the historic chunks we were lucky enough to keep.

[beautyfromashes]

We still can save the building at Campbell and Linwood. It's a race to see if the market will continue to move in the direction where it becomes cost effective or it destroys itself first.

[Eon Blue]

eh, at some point you have to mourn the losses and move on, lest you develop St. Louis syndrome where you're living in a constant state of hunger for "what was". I too used to want to "smash things" seeing photos like this - but I'd rather just have a bunch of nice new buildings and not worry about it.

The buildings in this area represent a devastating loss to KC, and it's embarrassing/deeply shameful that a generation of people would find demolishing them for parking and vacant lots to be a positive development. But they ain't coming back, and I'm more upset about the fact that we aren't building anything on this scale in the core currently.

As long we're seeing a steady stream of high-quality new spaces and places, and building towards a vibrant future, I'll be OK with the historic chunks we were lucky enough to keep.

I think that's a process you have to go through individually. We're all on different timelines.

[rxlexi]

I think that's a process you have to go through individually. We're all on different timelines.

A reasonable point. For me personally, spending a whole lot of time looking at these photos, then looking at the area today, just makes me feel bad. I find it most productive to envision a Denver/Austin/West Coast kind of a thought process - we may not have a giant old city left to restore, but we're building a giant new city right now.

Edit: which is not to say that KC (or Denver, or Portland) isn't blessed with a nice stock of historic districts and buildings. We are, and are clearly working towards the restoration of the majority of them. But I'd rather look forward than back, which assumes that we're seeing enough development to do so.

[WinchesterMysteryHouse]

I think that's a process you have to go through individually. We're all on different timelines.

A reasonable point. For me personally, spending a whole lot of time looking at these photos, then looking at the area today, just makes me feel bad. I find it most productive to envision a Denver/Austin/West Coast kind of a thought process - we may not have a giant old city left to restore, but we're building a giant new city right now.

Edit: which is not to say that KC (or Denver, or Portland) isn't blessed with a nice stock of historic districts and buildings. We are, and are clearly working towards the restoration of the majority of them. But I'd rather look forward than back, which assumes that we're seeing enough development to do so.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Denver has little blight and a mostly intact downtown, original neon signs lit to this day.