With the Marine Corps on hand, Kansas City's Parks and Recreation Department dedicated a new bridge to connect the Blue River and Indian Creek Trail and eventually the Trolley Trail.
“The more people who use these trails the safer they are,” Alissia Canady, the council member for the 5th District, said.
But safety has become a concern along the Indian Creek Trail after two homeless people were recently stabbed.
Measures are underway to make sure it doesn't happen again.
“We have stepped up patrols to include officers on ATVs driving around the wooded area,” Captain Stacey Graves, a KCPD spokesperson, said.
“We'll be in there with our crews to clear the brush, pick up some of the debris that may be a part of this,” Mark McHenry, director of the Kansas City, Missouri Parks and Recreation Department, said.
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Bicyclists like Sara Delnero use the trail. She's noticed some changes.
“The trails are being monitored more now and that's probably helpful,” Delnero said. “But it does make you nervous when people are sleeping on the trail, and you're afraid that you're going to startle someone, you know, not see someone so it's not a good situation."
Vicki Riddle's organization, Greater Kansas City Coalition to End Homelessness, does an annual count of the homeless across Kansas City.
"The homeless are in fact in such emotionally dire straits that they do in fact need more outreach to get them to come in,” Riddle said.
In 2011, there were 941 people living on the street, this year 184.
Riddle said they're making strides because of various partnerships.
“Very often the officers who are encountering these men and woman who are homeless form relationships with them that are very positive and very helpful,” Riddle said.
Two agencies, ReStart and the VA, will be out with KCPD early next week to offer the homeless some assistance.
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Andres Gutierrez can be reached at andres.gutierrez@kshb.com
