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Anybody's gonna come in here, nobody at this time has the power to come here and take all this, this other land and, and put some development on it. It's what you people are gonna do. Now, one way that things can get done is by default. If

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nobody here does anything and they just accept the fact that somebody somewhere else is gonna do something with their land. Uh, which is ridiculous, Look at it that way, then houses may continue to deteriorate and eventually the problem will be solved because an 80 year old

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house will eventually. for now Now one statement made earlier here was the fact that maybe houses could be rebuilt. Uh, rather than tear them down. I don't know if this is valid or not because most of the housing in this area, 17th Street and North is

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very old housing built in a time when bathrooms were not designed as a as a. Part of a house and they were put in as an afterthought, plumbing and wiring and structure is, is very old, and so in many cases, it's not possible. No bank is

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gonna loan you any money to try to rehab the 80 year old house or apartment. So you really are talking about eventually most of the homes are. In this area having to be redeveloped in some way, but it doesn't mean that you all have to move

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out and somebody else is moving in. This is what the citizen members are concerned about that some plans. Can be implemented here to allow the most, the maximum number of present residents. It requires humor and humility. Break the barriers between the powerless and the

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powerful. The causes, the dreads, the hopes, the pleasures, and the ambitions of those who are kept apart have been given respect, at least the respect of potential. We need an idea and a vision of how it came to be.

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Poverty is a simple beginning. And not far from the simple end. Poverty does not discriminate. Revivals of the American conscience. The civil rights movement and anti-discriminatory legislation and rulings have not touched the Mexicans. And so we choose to highlight his condition. The basic mistake is to

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think of Mexicans as making it as regular immigrants and so as regular Americans. They must be understood as a line of battle and the stingy understanding of others. A place where kept apart, the people kept to themselves. And gave way to the notion that they were

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intruders as they cherished their religion, language, and manners, the estrangements that were their consolation. Chicano A name given in sympathy and exasperation by those who because of place and circumstance were Mexican and American. The

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Chicanos The people from the fields and the mountains. Threatened and bewildered by the social upheaval in their native land, came by the thousands every month. Regular Americans welcome. Always on the wrong side of the track. To work

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in the hotel. On the railroad In the stockyard Where bricks now go into the building of houses and streets. In

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the packing houses. We need to understand how the transplanted Mexican with his courage, faith, and incredible endurance, experienced a feeling of incompletion and insecurity. They have gained nothing on regular Americans. Affection A fellow feeling for their own kept them together. The damned brown

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rage. Anger drove them forward. Anger kept them alive as outsiders, they endured and persevered. They served in the Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Forces in all theaters of World War II. War had made them valuable. 17 Medal of Honor winners in the nation. They are now

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asserting old claims on their regular compatriots. The Chicano movement decries the insults and outrages that still go on. All endured, some succeeded. Most remained in dead-end jobs and do today. The system failed them because in the eyes of others they were most

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obviously Mexican and different. How do we bridge the gap? They purchased their own homes, all dutifully worked and paid their bills. Their children dutifully attended school and pledged allegiance. All were normally dressed and all were most fluent in English. What

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do you think is in this package on the first branch of the toy tree? Beach, a beach ball. We'll open the package and then we'll know. Get ready now. Let's untie. The Beach Balls He bounces right up into your arms. And then he tries to leave,

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so you hold him firmly with both arms and spank him with your knees. First one And then the other. You hop as he pulls you along. Hey, you're skipping higher and higher. My gosh, this beach ball is strong. Now slowly you start backing up, still hitting

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with your knees. Knee hop knee hop. Let me go, Beach ball, please. Now you're skipping all around the room and you're going pretty fast. Till finally the beach ball lets you go. Can stop You roll them into a corner. And soon he starts to snore. You

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tiptoe away quietly. We won't play with that beach boy. Not today anyway. We open the next package and what do we see? Stick ready for a spree. Bend your knees, straighten your backs, hold hips tight. All right. are not just simply bridges to carry in particular

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traffic or pedestrian traffic. The bridges that are proposed here. The intent back together Psychologically, visually, and physically. I realize that you gentlemen are here. I've lived in 32 years Every time there's a highway built, Some of the neighborhoods taken Hearts They've got I-29 to connect that

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Wilson Clark Vita with I-35. government gave the city. 800 Apply this money back into the area, the West Side area. We didn't see none of it You out there We need lightning for. High school We can't get the kids to play football They don't take no

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In the neighborhood 21 teams in the city and thank God for the YMCA and the Salvation Army and groups like that to come into the area. volunteer and money which takes Forms on these kids out of 21 teams. I Right We played Is

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that was that Any any further highway going through there would sever the community, and indeed this has happened. If the highway does go through there, it's going to sever. Of the community and God knows that the West Side community has already relinquished a lot of parkland,

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uh, by the. Highway That that uh tend to do the same thing. So In order to retain the fabric of the community without any injury to it, and this is one of the things that was put in the ordinance. That was uh Passed on by the

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city council was that no injury should come to the community by the uh by the uh highway. So those two bridges are essential if we're going to have access to them. I, I don't have, I don't want to have any heated argument with you all about

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this one. I know it's quite dear to your heart. You live in this area, all those type of things. I just want to remind you, you know, when you mention something like you're giving a kiss. I might well remember in this case that it. It might

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work well work out this way that you give them something like a high rise from the north. Then you take something like a 2 +. Because in my mind, it's very hard to justify the two. I remem I realized you all mentioned about regional type of

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park. May I ask who's going to use the The desperate struggle against American greediness, the battle between the losers and the winners, the notion that one must behave heartlessly toward losers reawakens the horrors and the swindles of an earlier generation. The winners have discovered the West

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Side. With its panoramic views across the Kansas River Valley to the west. Over the Missouri Valley and the old airport to the north, the city skyline to the northeast and the crosstown freeway to the east. I've been working with a Location. We've been working since April.

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28 In the cut area. The there To remain in the area. We have of talking Standards For the highway as far as replacement housing. I think to the community. Insured area To see Some of the federal programs Uh, in this report, it states that 10

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of the On the west side To get into the federal We got people who have been sitting down in West Fenway for 3 years, is it Mr. Carter? 3 years trying to get that part straightened up. Tell me how nice. The topography of the area makes

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the land attractive for upgraded development of residential, cultural, recreational, and commercial centers, along with new street patterns and the aesthetics that the beautiful open spaces can provide. The people want in, but given the previous experience, they find themselves ill at ease with the proposed development plan.

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Heavy freeway construction in the 60s cut the population in half. South West Traffic Away and I-35 pushed out those who did not want to leave. Now comes the planned I-670 cutting through one more time. I-670 was planned 25 years ago. The people waited. Threatened by the

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sinister freeway and real estate realities of our time. Powered by a study that speaks of maintaining The integrity of the neighborhood and minimizing the divisive impact of the proposed freeway by the creation of an island in a topographical setting that is unique, admired, and held in

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high esteem by the people gives way to the possibility of the people being left out in the cold. Will it spell the end of a neighborhood that is endured with a feeling of community, together with a certain freedom born out of neglect? Property rights are one

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thing and human rights are another. Goddamn it, this is what we're talking about, that the people around the West Side have been the dream become reality of a neighborhood with a sense of community is imprisoned by other forces, relinquishing its powers to power. Look at the

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image of a motorist proceeding eastward on the future I-670 from the state of Kansas. He sees before him in the distance a tree-covered bluff with some of the more prominent buildings of the Kansas City skyline punctuating the view to the left of his field of vision.

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As he proceeds toward the east, the buildings fall from view. However, at this point, the view focuses on the two massive buttresses of warm tone concrete. Which in conjunction with the crossing over the cut, provide the terminus in the form of a gateway. This design concept

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we're told would express the feeling of progress and strength of the city and the state. Nothing ever meets our eye but our own gaze. You'll still be able to drive through the west side without seeing it.