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Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Troost Avenue won't change to Truth — maybe ever — as road still divides KC
Troost Avenue won't become Truth Avenue anytime soon – if ever. Three years after Troost Avenue business owner Chris Goode proposed the name change to rid the 11-mile arterial street of its association to 19th Century slaveholder Benoist Troost, Goode once again left City Hall disappointed on Tuesday. For the second year in a row, Mayor Quinton Lucas blocked the measure to change the infamous street's name, proposing that the measure be placed on indefinite hold so officials can study the issue more and consider other possible names. Goode called the move 'political mumbo jumbo' after a meeting of the City Council's Special Committee for Legal Review. It came after Lucas and two other committee members heard a half hour of testimony from residents who were both for and against the change. 'He won't engage with me,' Goode said when asked by a reporter why Lucas continues to resist changing the street name. 'Something has our mayor bound, and it's not our collective beliefs.' Chris Goode, owner of Ruby Jean's Juicery, awaits a vote from the city council regarding the renaming of Troost Avenue, at City Hall on Tuesday, May 6, 2025. Goode has been working to get the street renamed for the last three years. Lucas has maintained all along that street name changes are problematic. The people who live or conduct business on Troost Avenue would be inconvenienced by a name change. They'd have to change the addresses they use to pay bills and correspond with others through the postal service. Then there are the many different viewpoints people have in the community about whether a name change is wise or not. Could be revived Removing the name of a slaveholder on a street sign might seems like an act of social justice to some. To others, it's an attempt to erase history, as Troost Avenue is as much a reminder of the country's advances in civil rights as it is a reminder of the nation's Jim Crow past. Lucas and Councilwoman Andrea Bough voted to put the issue on hold after hearing a mix of those opinions from more than a dozen residents at Tuesday's meeting. The only committee member in favor of pushing the name change forward was Councilwoman Melissa Robinson. The corner of E. 30th Street and Troost Avenue on Tuesday, May 6, 2025. A measure to rename Troost Avenue to 'Truth' Avenue was voted to be placed on hold in a city council meeting on Tuesday. Since 2023, Robinson has been trying to gain support from her colleagues for changing the name of Troost Avenue, which during the decades of segregation was known for being a dividing line between predominantly white and Black neighborhoods. She began by gaining council support of an effort to gauge public opinion by conducting an online poll that year. But then a year ago in committee, Lucas and Bough sunk her attempt to make the name change official by amending her proposal. Instead of changing the official street name, their substitute ordinance supported a compromise measure that would have made Truth Avenue an 'honorary' street name. That would have meant two sets of signs, but Troost Avenue would remain the official designation. Robinson opposed that half step, and the full council took no action by placing it 'off docket.' 3rd Dist. Councilwoman Melissa Robinson speaks to media at City Hall on Tuesday, May 6, 2025 following the city's vote to hold on the renaming of Troost Avenue. Robinson was in support of the renaming. The ordinance held in committee on Tuesday would have changed Troost to Truth Avenue, effective six months after passed. Separately, it set out a process for changing North Troost Avenue in the Northland and for preserving the history of Troost Avenue in some way. Lucas suggested that the council reconsider the honorary name change proposal from 2024. But for now, no actions are pending. Speaking with reporters after the meeting, Robinson said, however, that the issue is not dead. 'The committee voted it off docket, but that doesn't mean that we can't, as the majority of the council, address this issue,' she said. 'So now it really is about taking it to the full floor and working with other council members who would potentially want to see the name change.'
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘Nothing happened': No green light given on Troost name change
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Discussion took place again Monday on changing Troost Avenue to Truth Avenue, but not much took place during the Special Committee for Legal Review meeting. Monday, this item was the only for review within City Hall in KCMO, during that specific session. KCK man convicted for high-speed chase in Leavenworth County 'This was a day of denial, but that doesn't mean that we're not going to continue to fight,' Councilwoman Melissa Robinson said. 'I think about the descendants of slaves, and I think about young people who live along Troost, and I think about them writing that name everyday as their address and I have a problem with that.' During the public testimony of the session, many shared their thoughts and feelings on the matter. Some described their opposition to it, in its entirety, the process so far, and/or offered up their own name suggestions for the avenue. 'I am 100% against the renaming of Troost to Truth. Renaming Troost is a superficial way to addressing racial inequality,' one man shared during public comment Monday. Out of the dozen-plus members of the public that spoke Monday, most were in favor of the name change. Chris Goode, a business owner of a Ruby Jean's, a juicery on Troost Avenue, is one of them. 'My granddaddy couldn't have purchased the real estate that I own. My body would have not have been my own. My ancestors were whipped and spit on and forced to pick fruit trees on that land,' Goode shared. His shop on Troost Avenue reads '3000 Truth' already. 'I've already moved on, and that was a very nominal cost for me,' he said. 'It's exhausting. What will it take? What will it take for us to be seen as equal? What will it take?' Mayor Quinton Lucas shared some thoughts with FOX4 Monday on this ordinance as well. 'I think my focus is going to be what the people of Kansas City sent me here to do. What they sent me here to do was make sure the busses are better on Troost, are businesses are safer on Troost. That we are building more economic development on Troost and East of Troost. My priority is always going to be how do I build a better quality of life,' Lucas said. The Committee, Monday, voted this ordinance to be 'held off docket' and wasn't given any green light to progress. Conversation surrounding it could come back up in the future. According to the Legislation Text of Ordinance No. 250202, the name change of Troost to Truth would have been effective within six months after the ordinance passed, and $50,000 would have come from the General Fund to change street markers along the avenue. Groundbreaking held for Cultural Heritage Trail at Brush Creek The text also reads, Troost Avenue was named after Benoist Troost, a Kansas City physician, and known slave owner. Robinson said, signage from Troost Avenue would live in museums, and not be erased completely, if this ordinance were to pass. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports.
