Belvidere Hollow--a lost neighborhood

[moderne]

KC Star has article about a now vanished neighborhood that was generally in the vicinity of the now gone Chouteau Courts housing project and the I-29/35 freeway. Predominantly black, mostly substandard building. Just hard to imagine now a seamless city from the River Market through Columbus Park into Pendleton Height and the Northeast.

[FangKC]

Here is a link.

https://kchistory.org/blog/belvidere-h ... ighborhood

Location:

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.109129 ... ?entry=ttu

It is depicted here on the lower left. You can zoom in on the image.

https://kchistory.org/image/birds-eye-v ... missouri-0

Happy Hollow was to the southwest in what is now the East Village. Perhaps if we still called it Happy Hollow it would be redeveloped by now.

https://kchistory.org/image/happy-hollo ... ffset%5D=0

[moderne]

Thanks for the additional research. Love the photo with the hazy proto skyline in the distance dominated by the old Board of Trade tower and the dome of the federal court house(wish we still had both).

[Cratedigger]

Sounds like KC will put the University mental health hospital here. Originally I had heard it was to be at hospital hill before Q advocated moving it to this area.

Terrible idea if you ask me. On hospital hill this could be absorbed into the medical/security infastructure of the area. In Belvidere/Independence/the fringes of the Historic Northeast this will ensure the area remains a dead zone. Also, mental health is a tremendous problem in our region. This project and the location will not do any favors to the reputation of those issues.

Meeting tomorrow, 4:30 to 6:30 at KCU if anyone wants to learn about the project.

[Highlander]

KC Star has article about a now vanished neighborhood that was generally in the vicinity of the now gone Chouteau Courts housing project and the I-29/35 freeway. Predominantly black, mostly substandard building. Just hard to imagine now a seamless city from the River Market through Columbus Park into Pendleton Height and the Northeast.

Much the destruction of that contiguous community was by design. Gary Jenkins (who does a lot of youtube videos about the KC mafia) talks about how the city tried to destroy the strong influence of the Italian community in KC politics by essentially causing a local diaspora of people of Italian descent which they accomplished by physically splitting the community by constructing highways through it and building low income housing in close proximity (Guinotte Manor wasn't just randomly placed on the edge of Columbus Park). The elevated highway between Columbus Park and the River Market was built specifically with that division in mind. Much of my family was from the Columbus Park area and other parts of the NE and there was a lot of bitterness towards the city within the Italian community as a result.

[Cratedigger]

I attended the meeting about the proposed mental health facility in Northeast KC. Quite a few city leaders were there along with standing room only meeting attendance from the neighborhood.

While I understand the need for such a facility, I have serious concerns about the proposed location. It feels like Northeast KC is consistently chosen as the dumping ground for unwanted services. The area deserves better. We need to stop perpetuating the cycle of redlining and neglect.

Ultimately, sounds like hospital hill was the location planned until the state department said the facility needed to be 1 story or 2 stories max. I’m sure the team will make sure security is take care of, but I worry about the long term opportunity costs of putting this here. With the north loop decommissioning and the Greenline happening in the area, there seems like so much potential for a great development here that redefines the area.

This will just perpetuate the negative regional reputation of the area/Independence Ave and Paseo

[beautyfromashes]

This will just perpetuate the negative regional reputation of the area/Independence Ave and Paseo

I'd say this too. The Northeast does unfairly shoulder the sheltering, donations, poverty services in this town.

Why does this facility have to be in the urban core at all? It seems it would be better to isolate a building like this to provide for better security and eliminate a desire to return to the streets for those in treatment.

[Cratedigger]

This will just perpetuate the negative regional reputation of the area/Independence Ave and Paseo

I'd say this too. The Northeast does unfairly shoulder the sheltering, donations, poverty services in this town.

Why does this facility have to be in the urban core at all? It seems it would be better to isolate a building like this to provide for better security and eliminate a desire to return to the streets for those in treatment.

Good question - was asked a few times in various ways in the meeting.

Sounds like being near university health, on a transit corridor, and with close access to medical residents and workforce were factors.

Personally, if they’re going to build this as a 1 or 2 story building then I don’t see why they wouldn’t at least consider a suburban location. They only looked at 3 sites. This one and two at hospital hill

[beautyfromashes]

Sounds like being near university health, on a transit corridor, and with close access to medical residents and workforce were factors.

If we keep using our bus transportation as an excuse to stack all homeless and low income services along it, those areas will continue to be seen as ‘for the homeless and low income” and bus transportation will not be seen as a viable choice for anyone outside of those demographics.

[FangKC]

Behavioral Health Ordinance Advances
Hospital Ordinance Advances to Full Council

Mayor Lucas’s Behavioral Health Hospital Ordinance Advances to Full Council

The Kansas City Finance, Governance, and Public Safety Committee today voted unanimously to advance Mayor Quinton Lucas’s proposed Ordinance #240691, co-sponsored by Third District Councilmember At-Large Melissa Patterson Hazley, Third District Councilmember Melissa Robinson, Fourth District At-Large Councilman Crispin Rea, and Fifth District At-Large Councilman Darrell Curls to authorize the sale of Belvidere Park to the Missouri Department of Mental Health to be redeveloped as a new Missouri State Behavioral Health Facility.

https://www.kcmo.gov/Home/Components/Ne ... /2198/1746

[Cratedigger]

Blown away by how fast this is moving. I wish the city moved this fast on housing, transit or startup incubation

[shinatoo]

It's moving fast because we have to get it built before the World Cup so we can house all the homeless we round up before we have all those guests in town.

[FangKC]

Missouri plans $300M psychiatric hospital at KC's Belvidere Park. Neighbors ask 'Why there?'

...
The state is advancing a 303,614-square-foot hospital with at least 200 beds on more than 15 acres northwest of Independence Avenue and The Paseo.
...
The psychiatric hospital would have 100 beds for people being treated for competency restoration, operated by the state Department of Mental Health. University Health would operate another 100 beds for individuals needing short-term acute psychiatric care.

The department and hospital now have 65 and 50 beds, respectively, in the Center for Behavioral Medicine on Hospital Hill, which the state would retain and repurpose for providing long-term care. The new facility also would reserve 25 behavioral health beds for Kansas City and include an emergency department.
...
Huhn said her department has more than 300 people with mental illness in county jails statewide, waiting to be admitted for in-patient care.
...
However, a number of speakers at the meeting voiced dissatisfaction. Several people argued that it would continue a concentration of social and community service offerings in Kansas City's Northeast, positioning the area for further disinvestment rather than new amenities.
...
State officials evaluated two other Kansas City locations for the psychiatric hospital: the Kansas City Health Department's building at 2400 Troost Ave. and the corner northeast of 22nd and Campbell streets, predominantly composed of vacant parcels owned by University Health.

Representatives of the psychiatric hospital project said the Belvidere Park site would provide more space for single-level living and treatment spaces, rather than vertical construction. It also offered better proximity to the Center for Behavioral Medicine and transportation than a suburban facility would.
...
Construction is expected to take at least three to four years, for an opening in late 2027 or early 2028 at the soonest.

https://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/ ... 4&empos=p8