October 30, 2006

Resident envisions a renewal

A woman moves back to her old neighborhood and hopes to restore some of its glory.
By KAREN UHLENHUTH

RUSKIN HEIGHTS In a way, we've lost our sense of community

Thirty years ago, Sandy Sexton wanted only to escape from the old neighborhood in south Kansas City. She graduated from Ruskin High School in 1976, went to college, and lived in Prairie Village and Kansas City, North.

In September, she came back. She bought a two-bedroom ranch house in Ruskin Heights, a neighborhood that has hemorrhaged much of its lifeblood in the years since Sexton left. The income level of the neighborhood's residents has gone down, and many houses once owner-occupied are now rented or vacant.
Sexton is not only back, but fired up to return some of the energy and togetherness she remembers from her growing-up years.

"In a way, we've lost our sense of community," said Sexton, who works as the campus network coordinator at Penn Valley Community College.
 

Her first strategy for resurrecting it: Rehabilitate the Ruskin Heights sign, a memorial to those who died in the 1957 tornado there.

The brick sign sits on a grassy median at Red Bridge Road and Blue Ridge Boulevard, near the entrance to Ruskin High.
 

The tornado hit on May 20, 1957. Sexton was born in October.
 

"Something about that intrigued me," she said.
 

Like much of the surrounding neighborhood, the monument has not aged well.
 

"Fifty years ago they planted a tree for each fatality. There were 35 trees," she said. "There are only 14 left, and they look pretty scraggly. The monument has been hit by cars a couple times."
 

 Sexton is soliciting help to refurbish the monument. The Ruskin Heights Homes Association has agreed to refurbish the sign, list the names of the tornado victims on the back and add the word "memorial" to remind people that it is meant as a remembrance.

Kansas City's Parks and Recreation Department will remove the existing trees, and the association has agreed to "back" the replanting of the trees, said April Cushing, the association's office manager. She said the group will create a fund and encourage donations that it hopes will cover the cost of planting new trees and maintaining the monument.
 

The association also has committed to a celebration next year on the weekend of May 19-20 to include a "major rededication and an information fair."
 

Cushing is enthusiastic about the monument project as something tangible to "bring people together and have more pride in their area. And to remember. You have to know your past to have hope for the future."
 

In the course of organizing her high school class's 30th reunion in June, Sexton garnered a list of e-mail addresses of her former classmates. She has let them know of her current ambition, and she said she has heard back from quite a few.
 

While most of her classmates have moved to Lee's Summit, Raymore or out of state, Sexton said, "they still have a connection here and want to know what's going on."
 

In addition, she said, "a lot of them have parents who still live here."
 

Although many people have shunned south Kansas City, it has something that works for Sexton. She likes the history and the modest ranch houses.
 

"I'm interested in having the neighborhood succeed," she said.
 

She thinks the "no-man's land" where the monument is located could be a starting point for something bigger.
 

"If we could do that median strip," she said, "maybe it would provide a boost that we do care about the neighborhood. I see it as a possibility, being able to revitalize and get a community together."

To reach Karen Uhlenhuth, call (816) 234-7813 or send e-mail to kuhlenhuth@kcstar.com