New city manager must pick up the pieces as World Cup approaches

By Jill Draper

“It’s been a whirlwind,” said Mario Vasquez about meeting people in the community during his first month as the new KCMO city manager. Vasquez spoke about his priorities and listened to concerns from the audience at the June 9 gathering of the South Kansas City Alliance.

Preparing for the FIFA World Cup in 2026 and making sure the Royals and Chiefs stay in Kansas City are two main issues that must be addressed, he told the crowd.

“Unfortunately I can’t get away from those big things.” At the same time he’s trying to understand how city hall works, how to help his directors deal with problems and how to improve morale among city staff.

“What will the World Cup do for us five years from now?” asked one of approximately 100 residents and officials in attendance.

Vasquez mentioned legacy projects such as a couple of parks and roadways that will be built or upgraded for the World Cup, but did not provide details. He emphasized that another benefit will be the opportunity to promote Kansas City on the world stage. The international soccer matches are expected to attract more than 650,000 people.

“Every landmark in our community is going to be shown,” he said. “We want to make a good impression as a welcoming place and a great place to live in.”

Various people asked when will the city focus more on neighborhoods, hiring community workers on development projects, slowing down out-of-town ownership of local housing, taking back the KC Pet Project and reopening the Blue River Road.

Vasquez said the city was working on many of these issues, but gave no reassurance about the Blue River Road. “The level of traffic doesn’t maybe justify the level of expense,” he said. “The cost is so prohibitive.”

When someone asked how south KC residents can help provide information to city leaders to attract investment “because everything is going west,” he hesitated in responding.

“Maybe I’m overreaching here, but I’ll say it anyway. Be open to change,” he answered, using neighborhood resistance to new apartment buildings as an example. “There is no improvement without change.”

He told the crowd, “My attention isn’t just about the big stadium or downtown development,” adding the city wants to stabilize existing shopping centers and assist homeowners, but “we’re a large city with very limited resources. We try to do the best with what we have.”

County approves budget

DaRon McGee, chair of the Jackson County legislature, followed Vasquez with an announcement that the county finally approved a 2025 budget nearly six months into the year. The budget doubles outside agency funding from $3 million to $6 million for nonprofit partners dealing with housing, food insecurity, youth services and violence prevention.

It also allocates $1 million for expanding broadband in rural parts of the county, $3 million for affordable housing (not just in Kansas City but in other areas including Independence, Lee’s Summit and Blue Springs), and $500,000 in additional funding for the prosecutor’s office to boost property crime enforcement and expand the witness advocate program.

Despite unanimous approval of the budget, many issues remain to be decided, including how to allocate $70 million in federal ARPA recovery funds received for the pandemic.

Take Back the Block

Major Kari Thompson, KC Police Department South Patrol commander, spoke next about a new initiative called Take Back the Block. “This is not rocket science. It’s you getting to know your neighbors,” she said, noting the program is patterned after one in Chicago.

She identified the 7600th, 7700th and 7800th blocks of E. 108th Street as three blocks “giving me the hardest time” and said police officers, city leaders and KC 360 members would be going door to door to discuss neighborhood problems like trash, infrastructure, blighted houses and nightly gunshots.

“We’ve captured all the 3-1-1 complaints for the last 60 days in this area, so we pretty much know what to expect,” Thompson said. “It’s preventive work. We need to stop being so reactionary.”

At the end of the week there will be a block party celebration with food and a bouncy house to celebrate neighborhood improvements.

“Eventually we’ll go on every block in Kansas City,” she said. “I’m cautiously optimistic.”