1 reason Overland Park a bad pick for new KC Royals stadium

Among multiple reasons southern Overland Park is not an ideal location for a new Kansas City Royals stadium, one in particular worries me. I shared a version of the following letter with Royals owner John Sherman, Overland Park Mayor Curt Skoog and members of the Kansas Legislature:

As a 30-year resident of southern Overland Park, I have always had close friends and cherished neighbors who are Jewish. My children have participated with their friends in activities at The J KC, the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City. I was driving down Nall Avenue years ago with one of my sons when some 20 police cars — from every municipality in the KC metropolitan area — sped up the other side of the street, responding to the shootings at the center and a nearby senior care facility.

For so many of us, the headlines describing antisemitic attacks are horrific but soon forgotten. For my Jewish friends, who continue to see antisemitism rise throughout our country and the world, this is more than a horrific headline. It is a daily fear.

Southern Overland Park and Leawood is arguably the center of the Jewish community in Kansas City. In fact, this area is a true religious melting pot. In addition to Christian churches and Jewish synagogues, we have Hindu temples and Muslim mosques. In an area so often considered vanilla, we are anything but — and we love and respect our neighbors.

Given that one of the proposed locations for a new stadium for the Kansas City Royals is feet from the Jewish Community Center — where more than 50% of residents are not Jewish because we are a community of neighbors, not silos of religious incivility — how are you going to keep the Jewish community there safe? If you shine a light on this corner of the metropolitan area, and you cram a 30,000-seat stadium right next to this community gem, what is your plan for keeping The J KC safe?

Jewish Community Center leaders have been clear about their inability to recreate The J KC elsewhere in this community. The land was purchased 38 years ago. Additional features such as theaters, ballparks, classrooms, child care and senior care programs were added through the years. Synagogues have been built close by, and the biggest Jewish population in the metro has settled all around. This cannot be rebuilt.

There are many reasons why the vicinity of 119th Street and Nall Avenue is not a good one for a new Royals stadium. Poor highway access, roadblocks to emergency hospital access and proximity to pedestrian-friendly amenities and schools are just a few on my list. But this morning, as I listen to yet another headline about an attack, this time on Jewish Australians who were just trying to celebrate Hanukkah, the question of safety for our Jewish neighbors is top of the list.

So please tell us all: How will you keep the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City — steps from the new stadium that you hope would bring fans from all over the metropolitan area and beyond — safe? What is your 365-day-a-year plan for ensuring The J KC remains a safe community center?

Michelle Reinig is a neighbor, friend, mother, community volunteer and former PTO president who has lived in both southern Overland Park and Leawood for 30 years.