Now that an initial outburst of racial-equality protests has passed, it’s a good time to assess the status of three big issues in Kansas City: the push to rename the Nichols Fountain and Nichols Parkway; the calls for Police Chief Rick Smith to resign; and the prospect of local control of KCPD.
Let’s start with the issue where we are most likely to see change…
J.C. Nichols Memorial Fountain
We won’t be seeing that name on that fountain much longer. In fact, it will probably be gone on June 30, the day the Kansas City Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners will next meet in regular session to consider board member Chris Goode’s proposal to change the name to Dream Fountain.
Chris Goode
It’s a bit troubling, however, that in the face of opposition from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Goode quickly backed off his proposal to rename the nearby parkway Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway. The way things are shaping up, the parkway could end up reverting to its pre-Nichols name, Mill Creek Parkway.
The SCLC says the parkway is not big enough, long enough or important enough to bear the King name. At least one park board member favors putting the King name on Linwood Boulevard, which stretches from Van Brunt Boulevard on the east to Broadway on the west, and it wouldn’t surprise me to see the board ultimately go that route.
The fountain situation is less muddy, and I hope Goode holds his ground. “Dream Fountain” is perfect, as I see it. It works in a linear way, alluding to Dr. King’s most famous speech, and laterally, reflecting timeless human aspirations to personal and social betterment.
If Goode pushes as strongly on June 30 for the change to Dream Fountain as he did the day he formally introduced the proposal on June 9, I believe it will pass unanimously. Goode emerged as a park board and community force with his bold proposal, and now I hope he doesn’t screw it up by equivocating.
(A public, online hearing will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday on the renaming issue. For more details, look here.)
Police Chief Rick Smith
Momentum to force Smith to resign has slowed considerably during the last week.
The man should go, but propping him up is a ridiculous, outdated governance system that prevents elected city officials from holding him or the department accountable.
Among other reasons Smith is unacceptable:
— At least two times, he has not cooperated with Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker on investigations into allegations of police officers using excessive force.
— He has dragged his feet on approving the purchase of body cameras for patrol officers.
— The Kansas City Star reported recently that in 2017 (perhaps the last full year for which statistics were available), the police department’s homicide-clearance rate was 51 percent, compared to 60 percent nationally.
— As of Saturday, Kansas City had 88 homicides this year. If that pace holds, we would surpass Kansas City’s record year for homicides, 2017, when we had 155 murders. As far as I know, the police department has come up with no particular strategy or plan to counter the homicide rate.
In addition, Smith simply is not reform minded, and he looked out of step the way he responded to the recent protests…For example, when he and Mayor Quinton Lucas took a knee in memory of George Floyd near the Nichols Fountain, Smith couldn’t keep his eyes down and head still.
I was hopeful that calls for Smith’s resignation would accelerate after a coalition consisting of the Urban League, the NAACP and MORE2 demanded on June 3 that he resign. Last week, the Ad Hoc Group Against Crime joined in the call, but a wave has failed to materialize.
The Star’s editorial board has questioned if Smith is the right person to be in charge now, but, regrettably, it has not come straight out and called for his resignation. Same with Quinton Lucas; he’s AWOL.
Local control
I could start this paragraph the way I started the last one: “I was hopeful…”
The statement from the Urban League, NAACP and MORE2 packed a one-two punch — out with Smith and in with local control.
Depressingly, a wave has not materialized on the local control issue, either.
A successful push for local control would require a Phil-Spector-like wall of sound from a wide range of groups and institutions, including the City Council, the Civic Council, the Chamber of Commerce and The Star.
Once again, though, the pivotal person is Quinton Lucas. And, just as on the issue of Smith staying or leaving — Lucas is AWOL.
My pre-mayoral-election concerns about Lucas are coming to pass: He’s indecisive and in the grip of the interest groups that helped get him where he is, including the police union, the fire fighters union and the development crowd.
I don’t know if Jolie Justus, the candidate I backed, would have had the courage to stand up to the developers, or to the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners, or to Local 99 of the F.O.P., or to Local 42 of the International Association of Fire Fighters, but I’d sure like to see what she would have done in this situation.
…Before the Urban League coalition came out with its statement, political activist and analyst Clinton Adams sent me a text calling Lucas “duplicitous” and “a feckless wimp.”
I asked him if I could quote him on that, and, in typical Adams fashion, he readily agreed. Nevertheless, I was hesitant to use the term “wimp” — thinking Lucas just might need a few days to summon his courage — so I used the adjectives “duplicitous” and “feckless” and left out the wimp part.
It was a mistake; he is a wimp. And it looks like his shaky hand will be on the helm for another seven years.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
Virtual meeting Jun 24 on removing Nichols’ name from the pkwy and fountain. https://kclibrary.org/signature-events/kc-parks-engage-reexamining-jc-nichols
Thanks, Sarah. I just added that link to the post. Oddly, the Parks Dept. website doesn’t seem to have that information yet, but KCPL does. Hard to beat the library.)
It should be called SCREAM Fountain, because that is what every protestor does there…for every cause.
How about twin fountains — Dream and Scream? That should satisfy most of the people most of the time.
The fountain again. Please look at the violence and brutality of the sculptures and tell me why they should be associated with the dream of Martin Luther King Jr. Here are a couple images: https://www.cres.org/fountain.htm .
I didn’t get by to see the fountain since your previous comment on this, Vern, but those images are troubling. There’s nothing abut them that reflects peaceful resistance or non-violence. What King stood for and what these images depict are certainly antithetical, and it’s troubling. I hope you have spoken or will speak at one of the park board hearings; you’ve got a point that warrants consideration and reflection.
The only thing I can say to defend the proposed renaming is that Goode is right when he says this is Kansas City’s most prominent fountain, and King deserves top of the line. I guess we could rename the Sea Horse Fountain, in my neighborhood, in honor of King, but I don’t think it would have the same impact as this fountain, which is seen by tens of thousands of local people and visitors every year.
In recent days vandals have damaged the statute to Stevie Ray Vaughn, Ulysses S. Grant, the statue dedicated to the black civil war regiment made famous in the movie Glory, a couple of abolitionists, Francis Scott Key, Lincoln, Washington and Jefferson.
While the alleged motivation was destroying monuments to racists, it’s clear from the carnage that the real motivation is to trash any and all references to American history positive or negative.
Nichols, Washington, Jefferson, Grant were, as we all are, creatures of their time, with all our biases and prejudices. To assess them by a completely different set of cultural norms is asinine. Nichols was a giant of a man whose accomplishments dwarf those of some meaningless functionary of an equally meaningless committee.
That said, I agree with Tracy, particularly after the Council’s idiotic decision to encourage further violence and looting on the Plaza by dropping the charges on those recently arrested there, let’s call it Scream Fountain as we watch the area descend into yet another urban wasteland and monument to political stupidity and gutlessness.
From the beginning of this, on June 3, I have said some legacies grow with time (Lincoln, Truman, King, for example), and others shrink. That of J.C. is about the fastest-shrinking one I’ve ever seen. Steve Kraske first and courageously raised the issue three years ago, and in today’s climate those restrictive covenants are just decimating. Yes, he might have been “a product of his time,” but he didn’t have to be; he could have been well ahead of his time. But he wasn’t…
Thanks for the Plaza, J.C., and thanks for the nice houses and mini shopping districts every four blocks, but you contributed mightily to racism in Kansas City. Now your name is mud.
Jim, as you probably know I am more of a status quo person. For a long time I have felt the police board was an effective governing body and not necessarily subject to political pressures (although they are appointed by governors). But the reason this was a reform for the Kansas City Police was because of boss power, most notably Tom Pendergast. I think after 80 years of being free from bossism it is pretty well established that it will not return. Now it is time to have local control. It is not fair that the board sets the budget and the city council has to allocate the funds. A downside to this is there will be the constant fight between the Fire Department over funding and with the Police Department. One is going to suffer from time to time to fulfill council and mayoral promises.
What I do not want is defunding the police or sharply decreasing the force. Anarchism will break out over night. Reform the department but don’t go overboard with defunding because of the terrible consequences this would bring.
I am not in touch with Kansas City enough to comment whether Rick Smith should stay or go. I just see the protesters signs and read your blogs. There probably are systemic problems, not just with racism, but structure and commands that regardless of the chief will be mountains to overcome.
Dream Fountain sounds appropriate. Perhaps Linwood Blvd is the right road to rename.
I think that Mayor Lucas has handled the Covid-19 pandemic very well. At first the counties and cities looked to him for setting the guidelines and lockdowns. But then politics seemed to interfere and he was no longer listened to on re-opening, making him look like is some draconian mayor. I think he has done the best he can (as he has limited authority) in handling the calls for justice and the protests. My pastor has really high regard for him and marched with him. Maybe he is not a “knock-down, drag-out fighter” like some would want him to be, but that does not seem to be his nature. I think he is trying to be a peace builder between the black community and the white community.
Excellent, measured comment, Bill, and good, concise history of the roots of state control and why that is no longer necessary.
Like you, I think Lucas’ handling of the COVID-19 precautions has been very good, and, as I said on at least one other post, he was the right person to be mayor during the protests. Interaction with people, absorbing grievances and salving civic wounds seem to be his forte.
And while he has taken the lead on getting Nichols’ name off the fountain, that’s a pretty easy call politically because it’s not going to piss off large segments of his constituency. But calling for the chief to go and pushing for local control are where the rubber meets the road when it comes to political courage and conviction — because of the Big Two unions — and I think he’s sorely lacking there. Maybe he will prove me wrong, but if I hold my breath, I think I’m going to pass out.
I’m pretty much on board with John here. If we are basically going to demand perfection of those who are to be honored with a statue, then we will have no statues in this country. Even MLK Jr. was a flawed individual and in view of that, perhaps he is not deserving of having The Paseo or even the less prestigious Linwood Boulevard renamed after him. I have a compromise “solution” I stole from someone else – how about leaving these monuments, statues and street names in place and adding to them the necessary contextual information about these individuals and the times in which they lived that might help those of all races better understand the history of this country, a country we all call home. You know, make the whole thing truly a learning experience – what a novel concept! Our Ship of State may have already hit the iceberg like the Titanic did, so taking down all of the statues someone finds offensive and renaming all of the streets and towns (e.g., Columbus, Ohio) whose names someone objects to, may amount to nothing more than rearranging the furniture on the deck of the ship at this point. I’m not interested in superficial changes of a physical nature in dealing with the problems we face in this country. I’m interested in internal personal changes, which come about only as one spends the necessary time examining his or her own heart in the mirror and responding accordingly as convicted of the need to change by a Higher Power.
No “historian” will ever have the last word.