A former Parade Park resident reflects on life after foreclosure and relocation.

KANSAS CITY, MO. Following the sale of Parade Park Homes in March, many residents have left the property as developers continue a three-phase redevelopment process.

In late September, the City Council of Kansas City, Missouri. approved a $300 million, 1,084-unit redevelopment plan through a collaboration between Flaherty & Collins Properties and Twelfth Street Heritage Development Corporation.

signature at the parade park.jpeg — Banner at the entrance to Parade Park Homes on Sunday 27 October.

Rachel Henderson of KSHB 41 talked to a longtime resident Lynn Williams in March when the city purchased Parade Park from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“I’m telling you, it was a community. Really good community. And then you get the DAWG doors,” Williams laughed.

She has since moved to The Residences at Park 39 in Westport, but she says the journey there hasn’t been the easiest.

Henderson met with Williams at her sister/former neighbor’s new apartment, which is down the street from Parade Park.

Lynn Williams.jpeg — Lynn Williams, former Parade Park resident

“It was depressing sometimes because you actually knew you had to go, but you didn’t know where you were going,” Williams said.

Williams said many of the problems arise because residents are taking longer to leave their apartments than they were originally allowed to do.

Williams said other obstacles in the eviction process included some apartment buildings not knowing how to use HUD-approved tenant protection vouchers and residents being referred to “inappropriate” housing units.

Williams was part of the first phase of the plan.

site plan for the parade park.png — All three phases of the Parade Park renovation plan.

“I hope phases 2 and 3 will be better,” she said.

At one point, Williams wrote a letter asking for more time after the October 7 deadline. Williams said she left on Oct. 10.

Uhaul at the parade park.jpeg — A U-Haul truck sits outside a building in Parade Park on Sunday, Oct. 27.

On October 27, Parade Park residents were still leaving their apartments.

“Most of the residents in Parade Park are elderly,” Williams said. “And I’m talking about the 70s, 80s, 90s.”

She said the age range meant some people might not return or be alive when the development ends in a few years.

current plan includes 80 senior housing units and 200 low-income housing units.

Williams said she’s not sure if she’ll return now that she’s moved in, even though former residents were given first right of refusal when the new apartments were built.

Lynn points to the old apartment.jpeg — Lynn Williams talks about her former unit at Parade Park Homes on Sunday 27 October.

“Packing and unpacking is difficult,” Williams said. “And the older you get, the worse it gets.”

What about Parade Park’s legacy?

“I don’t care what they build there,” Williams said. “As far as I’m concerned, Parade Park is dead.”

With only a few cars left on the access roads, a broken bypass and boarded-up windows, Williams called the current condition “creepy.”

broken trim at the parade park.jpeg — Broken siding at Parade Park Homes, October 27.

And since Williams barely recognized the estate’s appearance, she thinks the name should be changed, too.

boarded up windows on pp.jpeg — Boarded up windows in Parade Park, October 27.

“This whole community that we had is now scattered all over Kansas City or out of state and stuff,” Williams said. “So we lost family, we lost friends.”

Williams doesn’t blame developers for the condition of the once historic Black co-op. Instead she quoted Tensions between the board of the former co-op as the root of the problem.

“It was out in the open,” Williams said. “Nobody took it away from us.”

She said she has always been a proponent of redevelopment, but knows the history of the area she once knew is slowly fading.

“This area, 18th and Vine, will no longer be a black community,” she said. “It’s going to be like Westport, it’s going to be like Crossroads.”

Despite the challenges, Williams explained the lesson she learned from her experience.

“Watch your boards of directors, watch your co-ops, watch your homeowners associations, watch your neighborhood associations,” she said.

When it comes to preserving history, Williams believes in the power of oral storytelling. She is also a proponent of participating in history rather than observing.

“I don’t want to come down when the project is finished; I want to look and see this project,” Williams said. “Stay where you are. Be a part of it. Never give up. Never throw in the towel.

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KSHB 41 reporter Rachel Henderson covers areas of Wyandotte and Leavenworth counties. Share your story idea with Rachel.