On Thursday afternoon I met up with Brandon Ellington, newly elected Missouri State House Representative for the 41st District which includes the East Side of Kansas City Missouri. It has some boundary overlap with the KCMO Third City Council District. We rode around and did a photo tour of some of the blighted areas. In some cases there are even good houses selling so cheap on the east side that a renter west of Troost or Main could own their own domicile east of Troost.

Intersection 1.

Intersection 2.

Horace Mann School off of 71 Highway in ruins.

Sometimes No Dumping signs have the oppposite effect.

Holy Name Church Demolition in progress at 23rd and Benton Boulevard. See photoblog post from January about Holy Name Church.

Fence over railways on the East Side.

Brandon says he remembers this building being vacant since he was a kid.

Buildings near 23rd and Waldron.

Seventies era apartment complex left abandoned and open to the elements. Similar apartment complex designs in northeastern Johnson County from the same time were more fortunate.

Quick snap of Brandon standing in a part of the MO 41st District.