The Ward Parkway Homes Association is a wonderful neighborhood filled with neighbors who watch out for each other and value working together to keep our neighborhood beautiful, safe and welcoming. We invite you to renew your annual membership in the association by Oct. 1, 2017 — or join for the first time if you are not currently a member. You can send a check by mail or pay online.
The budget for operating your association for a year is approximately $26,000. This includes beautification and maintenance of common areas, social events for all ages, representation at local community meetings, website and other communication methods, welcome kits for new neighbors and our private security patrol.
Our security patrol service was set up several years ago because residents wanted more of a public safety presence in the neighborhood. Not only do off-duty and former officers patrol our streets for up to 36 hours per week, but if you’ve paid for the service, they will also provide vacation house checks when you are out of town. The patrol service is primarily responsible for deterring and responding to property crimes such as theft, burglary, robbery and vandalism.
The security patrol service costs $60 per year for residents — or 16 cents a day. We encourage you to share the responsibility for providing this safety benefit to our neighborhood and help us continue to maintain some of the lowest crime rates in the city. To request a vacation security service check, fill out this form.
As technology advances, our communication tools have changed. Besides our website and Facebook page, this fall we are debuting a new email newsletter. We realize that some residents prefer a traditional print newsletter or opt out of using computers. But producing and mailing a quarterly print version is more expensive than an e-newsletter, which we can send to residents more frequently. Unlike the Nextdoor social media platform, this e-newsletter will contain only information related to our neighborhood.
The Ward Parkway Homes Association has maintained the same membership dues for more than eight years, and we strive to keep dues reasonable for everyone to afford. In order to continue to cover rising expenses for our security patrol and other activities, membership dues will increase this year to $50 per home. Our general dues have covered a deficit in the security patrol the past two years so we can offer competitive rates to retain high-quality off-duty officers. Security patrol dues will continue to be $60 per year. This will help us continue to balance our budget and have funds for all association needs. In response to your requests for an online dues-payment option, last year we began offering online payment via PayPal.
The WPHA Board of Directors and committees are made up of volunteer residents. A core group help us with activities, events, and representation at city meetings such as the Community Policing Action Cooperative, Country Club/Waldo Area Plan Steering Committee, and Southtown Council. There is strength in numbers, and we need more help and fresh ideas. Please consider volunteering your time and talents. Even a small involvement builds connection and capacity in our community.
Thank you for investing in your neighborhood. Hope to see you at our events this fall!
Sincerely,
Alison Baker
WPHA Vice President
The City of Kansas City, Missouri, is working to update its Country Club/Waldo Area Plan, which includes our neighborhood.
Area plans recommend strategies to help realize a community’s long term vision for the future and provide a comprehensive framework to guide public decisions on land use, housing, public improvements, community development, and city services.
Here are the boundaries for the plan:
The city would like residents to get involved in the process by providing input and signing up to receive information about public meetings. Learn more
A consultant is performing a random survey of residents who live within the boundaries of the Country Club/Waldo Area Plan. The consultant will mail the survey and follow up by telephone with those residents. If you receive a survey, please fill it out so the city can get your feedback on housing, transportation, goods and services and area identity.
Heading out of town for the weekend — or longer? Ward Parkway Homes Association members who have paid for the optional private security patrol service during the current fiscal year can rest easy. You have access to a valuable vacation security service benefit. Our patrol service will check on your home while you’re gone and notify you if they observe any suspicious activity.
The Ward Parkway Homes Association’s security patrol service costs $60 per year per house. It pays for off-duty Kansas City police officers to patrol streets during the week, which helps our entire neighborhood maintain some of the lowest crime rates in the city. Plus, it provides peace of mind that someone is looking out for your property in your absence.
To request a vacation security service for an upcoming trip, fill out the online form and submit it. Remember to request the vacation patrol service at least 72 hours before leaving town so we have time to check the neighborhood roster and notify the security team.
Happy traveling!
Theft is a crime of opportunity. During the summer months, would-be thieves are on the lookout for items that can be easily taken in moments. Unlocked doors, open windows and open garage doors all provide a temptation to steal valuables — bikes, tools, packages, cell phones, purses — left in plain view. Blooming trees and overgrown shrubs can provide would-be burglars with places to hide.
Tips are courtesy of the San Leandro Police Department, San Leandro, California.
Nestled behind many homes in our neighborhood are beautiful and inventive yards — real labors of love. The Ward Parkway Homes Association typically organizes a public, self-guided summer Garden Tour every two years to showcase residents’ talents. The last one was held in June 2015.
Unfortunately, the Garden Tour Committee does not have enough hosts lined up to warrant planning a tour in 2017. If you’ve got a yard you’re proud of and would like to participate in the future, please contact us.
Have an interesting, whimsical, unique or beautiful yard? Consider being part of the 2017 WPHA Garden Tour this summer. It’s a terrific way to meet neighbors and build community in a casual setting. And you really don’t have to invest lots of time sprucing things up. Residents enjoy seeing the diversity of approaches to maintaining yards in our neighborhood.
The WPHA Garden Tour usually takes place during a three-hour period on a Sunday afternoon in June. The date for this year’s event hasn’t been decided yet. As a thank you for being a host site, we’ll provide a gift card to Soil Service and a stipend for snacks.
Send us an email if you’d like to be featured as a tour stop or want to help coordinate the event.
The City of Kansas City, Missouri, has affixed a metal tag with a number on each ash street tree in our neighborhood to keep track of the tree’s condition. Look for tags at eye level facing the street.
Have you noticed metal tags affixed to ash street trees in our neighborhood? (They are at eye level facing the street.) The emerald ash borer beetle is infesting ash trees across the metro, causing terminal decline.
KCMO is using numbered tags to keep track of the condition of ash trees in the public right of way. The city is treating some trees and removing and replacing others, depending on their condition.
Learn more and make a plan for the ash trees on your private property
Waldo is going to get a major upgrade to the intersection of 75th Street and Wornall Road. This City of Kansas City, Missouri, project includes connecting the Trolley Trail from 74th Street to 75th Street, as well as other upgrades and safety improvements:
A $2 million federal grant will fund the project, along with $815,000 in city capital improvement dollars. The Waldo Community Improvement District and Waldo Area Business Association committed $10,000 in local matching funds.
The design phase is about to get underway, with construction projected to start in the summer of 2018.
75th Street and Wornall Road area to get nearly $3 million in improvements
The Kansas City Star (Feb. 12, 2017)
Waldo to get Trolley Trail connector
Fox 4 News (Feb. 10, 2017)
The Kansas City City Council passed an ordinance on Jan. 19, 2017, placing an $800 million infrastructure repair plan on the April 4 ballot, seeking resident approval for a comprehensive capital improvements program. The program would use revenue created by issuing approximately $40 million in bonds each year for 20 years.
Infrastructure repair plan approved by City Council; Residents will vote on April 4, 2017
NEWS RELEASE (Jan. 19, 2017)
City of Kansas City, Missouri
KC Council overcomes differences to adopt big infrastructure bond proposal
The Kansas City Star (Jan. 19, 2017)
Contracted crews working for the City of Kansas City, Missouri, are currently removing certain ash trees in the WPHA neighborhood that are in bad shape. The KCMO contractor is supposed to try and make personal contact with residents before removing ash trees in the public right of way. If unavailable, the contractor will leave a door hanger to provide information about the tree removal. (The city will direct the contractor to be more diligent about providing advance notice, as this isn’t always happening as intended.)
You may recall that the emerald ash borer — a beetle that is deadly to all types of ash trees — is spreading across the Midwest and is expected to kill a majority of the region’s ash trees over the next 10 years. Emerald ash borers kill a tree by tunneling under the bark and disrupting the tree’s vascular system, which starves it of nutrients and water. Ash trees across the metro are at risk.
The health of ash trees in our area was assessed by an arborist this past summer, and each tree was given a condition rating. Ash trees in the worst shape are not candidates for any kind of treatment to save them. They are being removed first from the public right of way in front of homes. The project will extend into the spring of 2017. The city will continue to treat trees that are in good condition.
Note that there are many ash trees along Belleview Avenue and Jarboe Street.
The city intends to replace all ash trees removed from the public right of way within one year of removal.
Have questions? Please contact the KCMO 311 Action Center by dialing 311 or 816-513-1313.