MOVE UP MOVES INTO APARTMENT COMPLEX RACKED BY CRIME AND DRUGS

The scene was frolicsome, with children sporting headgear made of twisted
balloons and dashing through the spray from a firefighter's hose. But the
mission Saturday at Hilltop Townhomes was quite serious.

Leaders from Move Up, a grass-roots community organization, had decided to
tackle crime and apathy in the troubled East Side apartment complex by
setting up operations in an apartment. Members of the group will take turns
living and working in the four-bedroom apartment during the next month.

In a similar event two years ago, the group camped out six days at another
of Kansas City's trouble spots -- the intersection of 39th Street and
Prospect Avenue -- in an effort to jettison drug dealers and other criminals.

On Saturday, group members also launched "30 Ways in 30 Days," an effort to
bring a range of services -- and, they hope, more attention -- to this
community of about 1,600 people.

In a blot of shade cast by a large open-air tent, employees from KU Med
asked Hilltop residents questions about diet and exercise, took blood
samples and measured blood pressure. They then advised the residents how
they could improve their health by changing certain habits.

Throughout this month, Move Up will bring parenting instruction, children's
recreational activities, anger management sessions, sickle cell anemia
education and more to the neighborhood, a collection of 304 row houses on
34 acres on a rise abutting 20th Street and Topping Avenue.

Many residents of Hilltop, most of them single mothers, lobbied Move Up to
move in and establish a beachhead against the neighborhood's lawless
element. In a letter to the community organization, one woman wrote, "I
would like to be able to sit on my porch and go outside."

Riccardo Lucas, the event's organizer, said he hopes the woman will be able to.

"It's not too much to ask to sit on a porch to catch a breeze without
catching a bullet," Lucas said.

The low-income neighborhood has been plagued by open-market drug dealing
and violent crime, according to police statistics and residents who
completed nearly 100 surveys for Move Up.

Problems can "kick off" at any moment, said June McKinney, who moved into a
town house two months ago. When a drug-related ruckus erupted on a floor
above in the middle of McKinney's first night there, she said, "I was on my
knees praying."

Said Lucas: "Unfortunately, these are the circumstances in this
neighborhood and a lot of other neighborhoods in the city."

Many residents expressed support for the community service marathon. They
also have started a residents association. Lucas said Move Up also wants to
help residents set up mediation, literacy and nutritional programs.

"We want to promote self-reliance," he said. "When we leave, we want them
to be empowered."

Move Up invited other agencies to participate in the marathon, including
the Kansas City Police Athletic League, the city Health Department, and the
Parks and Recreation Department.

City officials and local celebrities also have been invited to spend a few
nights at the Move Up "pad." City Councilman Troy Nash is moving into
another home at Hilltop to help in the effort.

Lucas is adamant that Move Up can only bring attention to the problems at
Hilltop. Other agencies must step up to address the problems long term, he
said.

"We have substance abuse users in this neighborhood. Who deals with
substance abuse?" he said. "We have crime in this neighborhood. Who deals
with crime?"

McKinney, a minister who leads a congregation at Hilltop, said she worries
that when Move Up moves out, the group will leave a vacuum that will be
filled by the usual cast of drug dealers and car thieves. The longer-term
answer lies within, she said.

"The people here's gonna have to do the changing," she said.