Are Rental Inspections Good For a City?

A man and woman walking in a basement

We follow two Missouri cities — Independence, which recently passed a rental inspection measure and Kansas City, which takes its to the voters in August — in this vignette that’s part of our “Public Works? A Level Foundation” series. [FLEX-CONTENT] — Follow Flatland @FlatlandKC

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A Clash of the Way In

Illustration showing apartment building with possible bomb or explosive situation

Rachel Miskec watches the news each night and worries she’ll see an apartment fire in Kansas City, Kansas. “If something bad happens, I know someone is going to ask us when did you go into [the apartment] last,” said Miskec, the coordinator of the rental license program for the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and…

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Part-Time Student, Full-Time Homeless

Michael is 19, transgender and homeless, he is trying to complete community college but facing some tough challenges. Transgender youth of color represent a disproportionate amount of homeless youth on the streets in Seattle.

Washington has an invisible problem: College students face homelessness in some of the biggest numbers anywhere. Michael is 19, transgender, and homeless. As a transgender person of color, Michael embodies some of the most sobering data on who is impacted by homelessness. Most estimates put LGBTQ people at less than 7 percent of the population.…

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Exploring Frank Lloyd Wright’s Naturalistic Legacy

The Clarence Sondern House

By Christopher G. Olszewski Our area certainly has some distinctive architecture, including the art deco Power & Light Building in downtown Kansas City and the massive new Church of the Resurrection sanctuary in Leawood, Kansas. Before those bricks were laid, one of the world’s most famous architects left his mark on Kansas City. During a…

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Changed Locks: Getting Evicted in Wyandotte

Jelisa Bernardo collects her belongings

It takes two minutes for the woman in the wheelchair to roll in front of Judge R. Wayne Lawson. It only takes another two minutes for her to be legally evicted. “You have to leave, just not today,” Lawson tells her. The plaintiff’s lawyer asks her to wait for him in the hallway. He still…

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