KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Intersections in the Crossroads used to be filled with tire marks from illegal sideshows, but they’ve stayed pretty clean since KCPD ramped up enforcement in the last month.
Christina Espinosa’s hair salon, Beauty Culture, saw its fair share of the constant street racing.
“It was dirt bikes, ATVs and just vehicles that weren’t street legal,” Espinosa said. “I remember seeing donuts and skid marks like right outside my door.”
But Espinosa has noticed the noise and racing have slowed down in the last few weeks.
“It’s safer for us,” Espinosa said. “That matters for us.”
Since the beginning of May, KCPD has issued 35 citations, made six custodial arrests and towed six vehicles in entertainment districts like the Crossroads.
“We feel like there’s more eyes on the area and in the neighborhood,” Espinosa said. “I feel like troublemakers are kind of aware of that, too, and they’re starting to frequent the area less.”
KCPD has been ramping up enforcement in other entertainment districts as well. They’ve even been taking council member Crispin Rea along for weekly rides to view the enforcement.
“I’ve learned a lot,” Rea said. “There have been real consequences for these folks who have made parts of our city dangerous to walk and drive.”
Rea is hopeful there won’t be as much crime this summer with consistent enforcement.
“I would have preferred for us to have resolved this by now, but we are seeing the results,” council member Rea said.
But gun violence continues to plague Kansas City. A daytime shooting outside a business in Westport on Friday left one man dead. Then in Midtown, another shooting on Saturday and another person killed.
Espinosa explained she and her clients haven’t felt safe in other parts of the city in a while.
“Whenever one street is being cleaned up, it’s just going to move the trash over into the next street,” Espinosa said.
City leaders have applauded cleanup efforts so far. Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor Quinton Lucas focused his conversation at Tuesday’s Board of Police Commissioners meeting around enforcement efforts and brought up studying red light cameras as another security method.
Rea explained he’s still looking for more ways to keep the city safe.
“We are not going to tolerate this,” Rea said.
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KSHB 41 reporter Isabella Ledonne reports on stories about government accountability. Share your story idea with Isabella.