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Editor’s Letter
Afew hours before the annual Plaza Art Fair, I found myself walking the streets of the century-old shopping district with a pen and a few crumpled pieces of paper. This month’s cover feature is something we’re calling Kansas City Geographic, a slightly off-kilter look at the city’s unique landmarks and landscape.
I was taking notes to make an updated version of a sixty-year-old map of the Plaza we unearthed from deep in the library’s archives. I needed to survey every storefront noted on the old map so our hardworking art director could make a new map of the Plaza—the
Classic Cup is basically the only thing that remains roughly the same—which you’ll find on page 56. It’s part of a package of stories that I hope will bring some surprise and delight to even the most knowledgeable locals. I know from talking to people about journalism and our magazine that many of them picture us holed up in a coffee shop lost in our thoughts, possibly while wearing a beret. It’s in fact far more likely you’ll find a magazine writer with a rain-spattered notebook, possibly while dodging golf carts and forklifts. It’s a vocation that requires natural curiosity above all, but then the drive to take that curiosity out on the pavement—observing, taking notes, talking to people. It’s probably not a coincidence that most good journalists I’ve known are at least a little obsessed with the area they cover as a physical space—that is, geography. Every newsroom I’ve worked in had a few maps hanging on the wall, usually full of color-coded tacks from past projects. A surprising number of reporters shun GPS and like getting a little lost if it means they see a corner of their coverage area they’d missed before. Us editor types are forever begging our art teams to make maps for print, a nettlesome task no graphic designer
I’ve yet worked with seems to particularly enjoy. Which brings us back to the Country Club Plaza, a neighborhood I’ve been fascinated with since first stepping foot in Kansas City. It’s a place I can happily spend hours just walking around, looking at all the rich detail and odd juxtapositions of the streetscape. I don’t think there’s anywhere else in the world quite like it: a Spanish Revival shopping mall dotted with intricate tiled artwork where a Cheesecake Factory exists in an architecturally significant historic building. I feel the same way about the legal oddities of a city with a state line running right through the middle of it and the cement statues installed by J.C. Nichols throughout his developments on the city’s south side, two other topics we address this month. The Kansas City Geographic package was a passion project for me and is surely one of the more unusual things we’ve done. But I hope some of that enthusiasm will be contagious and that the way we’ve presented the city’s Martin Cizmar unique landmarks and landscape will capture EDITOR IN CHIEF your imagination or, at the very least, teach
MARTIN@KANSASCITYMAG.COM you some fun new trivia.
CONTRIBUTORS
Katie Henrichs
ART DIRECTOR This month’s cover was illustrated by Art Director Katie Henrichs. It’s her last issue with the magazine, and she’ll be missed.
Taylor Drummond
EDITORIAL INTERN This month’s Loop section opens with a piece about the redevelopment of the Kaw riverfront by editorial intern Taylor Drummond.
Natalea Bonjour
PHOTOGRAPHER Both the crocheted skirts that open the Sway section and the portrait of Corey Green in the Sway section were photographed by Natalea Bonjour.
NUMBERS FROM THIS ISSUE
10
Presidents whose statues stand in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol. PAGE 24 2K 0
Words that Domestic Goddess Nigella Lawson dedicated to praising anchovies in her new book.
PAGE 30
Number of homes that get their water from the Waldo Tower—the milliongallon tower has been empty since 1957.
PAGE 54
FUTURE FORECAST
Our most talked-about story from the October issue was a profile of Gary Lezak, the chief meteorologist on KSHB 41 News. Lezak will retire on December 1 at age sixty so that he can focus on Weather2020, a service he founded that provides forecasts for anywhere in the world a hundred days ahead of time. The company is built on his own system called the Lezak Recurring Cycle, which forecasts based on repeating weather patterns. “I was wondering when I would do it,” Lezak told our writer. “I turned sixty years old this year and I was thinking, you know, maybe by the time I’m sixtyfive. But because I have this other thing to share with the world, I thought I better do that because I don’t want to have regrets in my life.” Here’s what readers had to say.
Gary, you are loved by so many people in the KC area and not having you on TV will leave a huge hole but know this, your fans support your decision to pursue your dreams! We only wish the best for you in the years to come! I will say this though… I have watched you since you came to KC and there isn’t anyone on any channel that can fill those shoes! —Beth A. Lukens Lynn I hope your successor continues with your LRC [ultra long-range weather forecast]. Will you bequeath it to him/ her? I always look forward to hearing what’s in store for us. It’s fascinating and so accurate! —Deborah Kendrick Thanks to Ben at the Coler Mountain Campground in Bentonville for making editor Martin Cizmar’s trip to northwest Arkansas for this month’s mini-feature a lot nicer.
Gary, I have watched you for years. You’re the best. Thank you for going the full distance. Love you forever. —Suzanne Hirschman
Sorry to see you leave! —Sheryl Mills Anthony Yes!!! After moving to Austin I still say it’s “Friday night in the big town!” Love me some Gary. —Jill Wilson Allred When is he retiring? It seems like this retirement has been going on almost as long as the Queen’s funeral. —Commenter on Tony’s Kansas City
BEHIND THE SCENES
A reporter’s photo of ceramic tile insects during a hard hat tour of the world’s first bikeable building, which is in Bentonville, Arkansas.
SHOUT OUT
CORRECTIONS
Our October issue misstated the date of weatherman Gary Lezak’s retirement, which is December 1.
CONTACT US Kansas City
P.O. Box 26823 Overland Park, KS 66225-6823 (913) 469-6700 EMAIL: editor@kansascitymag.com
LEADING THE CONVERSATION IN KANSAS CITY
CASH KAW
The oft-ignored Kansas River is set for a major glow-up as Wyandotte County raises a levee to open its riverfront for new development.
BY TAYLOR DRUMMOND
Could the Kaw riverfront become KC’s next great public space?
CROSSING THE KANSAS RIVER is a daily occurrence for many people in the city. It’s a familiar blur on the drive to work along a bustling interstate. Despite being a key feature of the city’s natural topography with a history closely tied to the city, KC’s second river is regularly overlooked, along with its surrounding railroad bridges and industry. That may soon change.
For Wyandotte County, the Kaw riverfront holds promise as an area that could be developed into a welcoming two-acre community space to inspire the public to go out and enjoy the natural riverfront. To do that, the Unified Government of Wyandotte first needs to stop the area from flooding—as happened in 1993, when a deadly flood covered thousands of acres. Starting last year, the Unified Government has been actively raising the levee around the riverfront as a first step to building what could soon become a center of tourism, recreation and nightlife. The levee is the first step in a five-year plan, which will continue with mixed-use trails being built on top followed by the Rock Island Railroad Bridge being transformed into an entertainment space slated to open in the spring of 2023. All about triangulation Once the levee has been improved—it should be fully completed by 2026, says Katherine Carttar, who works in development for the Unified Government—the project will transform nearby riverfront into recreation spaces. The main focus of the space lies on a triangular plot of open land that was once part of the Kansas City Stockyard from 1871 to 1991. The land sits on the Kansas side, just south of Interstate 670, near the historic Rock Island Bridge and in view of the Hy-Vee Arena.
“The whole thing is an opportunity to rethink how we see the river and to encourage people to get out and get moving,” Carttar says. She also notes that the health statistics for Wyandotte County are among the lowest in the state, and she hopes to improve that through the creation of more community spaces and a network of trails.
Trailblazing “We want to make sure this is an area that is so right for activity and entertainment, and on top of that, literally, are the levee trails,” Carttar says. The trails created along the riverfront will connect to nearby trail networks, such as the Riverfront Heritage Trail. “That is the joy of these trail networks: You don’t have to have them in a bubble,” Carttar says. “They can be connected.” There will be benches and fountains along the trails and lighting along the paths. Various sections of the trails will switch between being paved and laid with tiny aggregate rock for cyclists and runners alike.
From the trails, there will be crossings over to the west side of the Kaw River, which Carttar says will invite people further into KCK. The inspiration comes from cities that have their own riverfront spaces such as Austin, Washington D.C and Louisville.
The whole project will include seventeen miles of new trails along the riverfront. The triangle-shaped plot of land will include shaded gathering areas, parking, stairs to river viewing areas, access points for kayaks and more.
Bridge outside the box A vision for even more community space comes from the Rock Island Bridge project slated to open next year, and the new owners of the renovated Hy-Vee Arena.
There have been discussions of a zipline from the top of the arena to the bridge as well as a possible ropes course on top of the threeacre roof of the Hy-Vee Arena. “There are a lot outside-the-box, fun things that we have never really done,” Carttar says. “People have a lot of of ideas.” Once more land is acquired to the north, there is an opportunity for even more recreational activity spaces for the community, possibly including a public park or a skating rink.
The Unified Government is also working alongside the Kansas City Boat Club to add access to the river through docks and possibly kayak rentals. Unlike the mighty Missouri River, the Kansas River has a slower current that makes it better suited to casual paddling. “I just think it is a great opportunity to think about our relationship with the river,” Carttar says.
HEALTH CARE: HELP WANTED
How hospitals in Kansas City are grappling with a decline in staffing numbers
BY OLIVIA AUGUSTINE
AT THE BEGINNING of the Covid-19 pandemic, health care workers were praised as heroes for putting themselves in the line of fire everyday as this new unknown illness swept the nation. The role of health care workers in the pandemic has not changed, but the number of them in hospitals has.
Hospitals around Kansas City have lost staff, and it’s not only putting immense stress on health care workers but also affecting the numbers of patients hospitals can handle.
Health care workers have been put under pressure because of political tensions around Covid guidelines, says Gina
Creek, who oversees regional staffing for AdventHealth. As some people grew tired of Covid-19 guidelines, like masking policies or social distancing restrictions, they began to villainize health care workers who supported those policies.
That said, Creek says there has been fear of a shortage, particularly in nursing, dating as far back as 2017. The process was simply accelerated by the pandemic, sparking a noticeable change in staffing numbers as early as 2020. A serious drop came with the Delta variant of the virus in the summer of 2021.
“When the Delta surge came last summer, that was during a time where we once again had to make some critical choices about what units to keep open, what elective procedures to do,” Creek says. “We started to see this huge increase in what [staffing] agencies were paying, and we started to see even more nurses opt to go that direction, and we actually started seeing an increase in our early retirement as early as 2020.”
These hospital shortages are not limited to health care workers. AdventHealth is also struggling to staff teachers at its child care facility within the hospital.
According to officers at AdventHealth, North Kansas City Hospital and the University of Kansas Health System, other areas of shortage include nursing, respiratory, anesthesia, radiology, technology, laboratory and housekeeping.
Kerri Jenkins, a vice president at North Kansas City Hospital, says they started noticing their first significant decline in staffing after the first wave of Covid-19 hit.
“Clinical staffing demands outweighed the workforce supply, which led to inflated rates of pay and a reliance on agency staff,” Jenkins wrote in an email to Kansas City magazine.
Whether it be early retirement, layoffs or career changes, it is clear that many people are cutting their health care careers short. However, does it track that fewer people are interested in joining the profession? Chris Ruder of The University of Kansas Health System doesn’t think so.
If anything, Ruder says that a smaller number of students going to medical and nursing schools is more likely attributed to limited faculty and not a lack of student interest. In his words, “the future is bright for health.”
“I would say in general, there’s still a pretty strong demand for traditional areas within health care, some of the niche areas, some of the technical roles and some of the support roles,” Ruder says.
Both AdventHealth and The University of Kansas Health System have taken steps to alleviate stress felt by their staff during this time.
AdventHealth committed to not laying off any clinical staff in 2020. In the years since, they have worked on providing debt-free education to their staff. They’ve also implemented “serenity rooms” as a space to recharge during long hospital shifts.
KU’s hospital has worked on using technology as an alternative to traditional care in a way that lessens staffers’ workload without devaluing patient experiences.
For those who do not work in health care, it is still possible to support hospitals. Volunteering and donating have always been options––but as far as supporting local healthcare workers after fighting off a pandemic, Ruder says it is important to reject the current narrative of health care being a challenging and heartbreaking field, which resulted from media coverage of Covid-19.
Creek says that support can be as simple as showing thankfulness to your nurses and physicians.
“We have Veterans Day and we have all these different things where we stop and we show gratitude, but I think I think we’ve lost a little of that lately,” Creek says. “So if you’re living in Kansas City and you want to help, just be so grateful to the nurses, the physicians, the caregivers that you have.”
BIG HARRY DEAL
6 Tru facts about the new statue of President Harry Truman in the Capitol Rotunda
BY MARTIN CIZMAR
1ONE OF TEN: There have been forty-six presidents of the nation, but just ten of those men are represented by a statue in the Capitol Rotunda. President Harry Truman’s statue was installed in late September, with George Washington on one side and Ulysses S. Grant on the other.
2HAMILTON HUMBLED: To make room for the Truman statue in the Rotunda, the statue of Alexander Hamilton was relocated to another part of the Capitol. It’s an interesting choice given Hamilton’s recent surge in notoriety, but it’s easy to argue the Founding Father has been in the room where it happened for long enough.
HALF TON: The statue stands a larger-thanlife seven feet tall (Truman was five-footnine) and weighs a thousand pounds. The granite pedestal it stands on adds three feet and thirteen hundred pounds.
3
4BACK OF THE BUCK: Among the inscriptions on the pedestal is one of Truman’s favorite phrases, “The Buck Stops Here,” which appeared on a sign in the Oval Office. Truman wanted others to know he wouldn’t pass along blame or tough decisions. The sign was sent to the White House by a friend who saw one like it while touring a federal prison in Oklahoma and asked the warden to have one made for Truman. Less known is the back of the sign, which reads “I’m from Missouri.”
5SORKINESQUE: Anyone who’s watched the West Wing is familiar with the “walk and talk.” Creator Aaron Sorkin could have had Truman in mind—he took unguarded daily walks around D.C. He’s depicted in mid-motion by sculptor Tom Corbin.
6MADE… NEAR MISSOURI: Fittingly, sculptor Tom Corbin is a KC local—his studio is on Southwest Boulevard, just over a mile from the Missouri state line. You can see his bronzes at the Country Club Plaza, Kauffman Foundation, the Northland’s Children’s Fountain and the UMKC campus.
