This year’s Valentine Neighborhood Association’s (VNA) Love Award honors Stan Henry for his efforts above and beyond the call of duty in helping to make the neighborhood safer. Henry of Midtown KC Now serves as the Operations Manager for the Broadway Area Community Improvement District, as well as the Main Street and Wagon Trails CIDs. Valentine President Travis Gaddis presented the award at our annual Valentine’s party on Feb. 14.
The Valentine Neighborhood has given this award annually since 1984 to someone who has made a significant contribution to the area. This year, the VNA has worked as part of the 38th Street Task Force to focus attention on reporting quality of life issues along the 38th Street corridor. This has included monitoring and reporting activities such as loitering on private property, suspected drug use and sales, poor lighting, excessive trash and other conditions that lead an area to feel unsafe. The Task Force includes the Valentine and Old Hyde Park neighborhoods working in collaboration with the Broadway CID and the Kansas City Police Department, among other agencies.
“Stan Henry, as manager of the Broadway CID, understands the constantly changing conditions around 38th Street as well as anyone,” Valentine President Travis Gaddis said at an awards ceremony on Feb. 14. “As the task force was getting started, he helped us to understand what was going on in the corridor and helped connect us to agencies that could help us with ongoing quality of life problems.”
The Task Force also conducts a “Clean and Seen” effort once a month, which involves its members picking up trash while walking on 38th Street to observe potential problems and report them.
“Stan has been out there with us every step of the way, picking up trash and pointing out ways we could make the area safer,” Gaddis said. “He has earned the Love Award by helping to make Valentine a safer place for those who live and work here.”