West Side

Kansas City based painter and tattoo artist Juan Moya has spent the last three decades helping to maintain an iconic Westside mural he originally created for free. He recently finished redoing the space, but this time his community made sure he walked away with more than just pride in his work.

Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, officially begins Nov. 1, but local Kansas City events kick off as early as Saturday, Oct. 19. The holiday is a chance for Kansas City's Latino community to gather and honor deceased loved ones.

Armada con una grabadora, la bibliotecaria de Kansas City, Irene Ruiz, capturó la evolución de la historia del vecindario de Westside e hizo de la biblioteca un lugar más acogedor para los inmigrantes mexicanos y latinos que vivían allí. Hoy en día, la sucursal del vecindario de Westside la Biblioteca Pública de Kansas City, que cuenta con la sólida colección de idioma español que Ruiz comenzó, lleva su nombre en su honor.

Armed with a tape recorder, Kansas City librarian Irene Ruiz captured the evolving history of the Westside and made the library a more welcoming place for the Mexican immigrants and Latinos who lived there. Today, the Westside branch of the Kansas City Public Library — featuring the robust Spanish language collection that Ruiz began — is named in her honor.

Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine has been a central part of life for Latinos in Kansas City’s Westside neighborhood for more than 100 years. Repairing it will require raising nearly $1 million, but community members refuse to let their history fade away.

The longtime activist and community leader spent his life fighting to improve the lives of Mexican American residents in the Westside neighborhood, and was a force of nature who “transformed the community at the sociopolitical, cultural and educational levels.”

Over several months of listening sessions and interviews in the oldest neighborhoods on the West Side of Kansas City, Missouri, to newer communities in Johnson County, Kansas, KCUR heard stories of how Latinos are bringing distinct cultures while sharing common concerns.

For the Palacio family, Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a chance to reintroduce lost loved ones to a world that never got to meet them. Using one of the holiday’s most well known traditions, the building of the ofrenda, the family creates intimate glimpses into the lives of those who have passed on.

In September 2022, the Kansas City Council approved a tax break program for homeowners on the Westside who saw their home values skyrocket. So far, 53% of all homeowners have signed up for the program, which cuts property taxes to a percentage of their income and, for some, freezes it at that level for 25 years.

Officials are deciding between either replacing the old Jarboe Pool or building a new outdoor water facility at the Tony Aguirre Community Center.

Residents of the Westside neighborhood say that gentrification — like the upcoming Pennway Point entertainment district — is forcing the Latino community out of the neighborhood with rapidly-rising property taxes.

The new Pennway Point entertainment district, which makes use of space that sat empty for years as industrial storage, is already making some neighbors in the Westside neighborhood uneasy. Developers are building the project without using tax money, but say they plan to seek incentives for the years ahead.