Six candidates vie for Neighborhood Advisory Council’s Midtown seat

Some of the candidates vying to represent neighborhoods on the city’s Neighborhood Advisory Council addressed a candidates’ forum on Saturday, Sept. 8.

At a candidates’ forum for the Kansas City Neighborhood Advisory Council on Saturday, candidates discussed their ideas for representing neighborhoods at the city level.  The Neighborhood Advisory Council is divided into six regions and includes two members from each region and three at-large members. Council members are expected to attend monthly meetings, meet with neighborhood groups in their region and participate in public hearings and forums to offer feedback on neighborhood issues.

According to the council’s Carol Winterowd, “The advisory council is not always listened to at City Hall, but we want to make sure the city is aware of our concerns.” The advisory council is attempting to become more active this year, spending time observing activity at City Hall and also assisting neighborhoods in having input into the city budget.

Most of Midtown falls within the the Central West district, which  runs from State Line to Prospect Avenue, from the Missouri River to Gregory Boulevard. Six candidates are seeking to represent the area on the advisory council.

The declared Central West district candidates include:

  • Jennifer Atterbury
  • Jared Campbell
  • Nina Whiteside-McCord
  • Nikkole Test
  • Christopher Zaroor
  • Anne McGregor

The Central West district has two representatives; Allan Norman has another year to serve in his two-year term.

At the forum on Saturday at the Hillcrest Community Center, candidates were asked to rate the top issues facing Kansas City neighborhoods. Their answers (ranked by the number of mentions) included:

  1. Crime and the perception that neighborhoods are unsafe
  2. Housing and property maintenance
  3. Trash
  4. Infrastructure and blight
  5. A tie between: getting the attention of City Hall; education and schools; lack of coordinated planning; communication and involvement
The city sends ballots to all registered neighborhood so that they can vote for their advisory committee representatives.

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