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[COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR] ORDINANCE NO. 230029

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Sponsor: Councilmember Katheryn Shields

Changing the name of W. 43rd Terrace to Steptoe Street from Jefferson Street on the west to Washington Street on the east; waiving certain requirements of Section 88-605-03 of the City's Zoning and Land Development Code; reducing the Contingent Appropriation by $50,000.00 in the General Fund and appropriating that amount to the Public Works-Street Sign account of the General Fund; and recognizing this ordinance as having an accelerated effective date.

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WHEREAS, the Steptoe Neighborhood was an antebellum African American neighborhood roughly Jefferson to Wornall Road, from 42nd to 44th Streets and this African American neighborhood was an island surrounded by working class white neighborhoods; and

WHEREAS, the heart of the Steptoe Neighborhood was at the corner of W. 43rd Terrace and Pennsylvania, with Steptoe spelled out in blue and white tile letters in the sidewalks; and

WHEREAS, three remaining residences at the southeast corner of 43rd Terrace, and Pennsylvania were demolished on June 21, 2022, without prior notice to the Plaza Westport Neighborhood Association which encompasses the majority of the former Steptoe Neighborhood, for the purpose of creating a surface parking lot; and

WHEREAS, such demolition galvanized the formation of the Steptoe Lives Coalition to identify and implement action steps to recognize the former Steptoe Neighborhood in Kansas City, Missouri; the initial organizations that coalesced around these action steps include the Plaza Westport Neighborhood Association, St. James Missionary Baptist Church that was founded 152 years ago and remains located at 508 W. 43rd Street and continues to conduct services today, the Historic Kansas City Foundation, Westport Presbyterian Church, and others ("Coalition"); and

WHEREAS, one of the action steps identified by the Coalition was to rename W. 43rd ...

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