Under the sweltering midday sun in late July, more than 100 faith leaders and community members marched from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Park to Brush Creek and Troost, not in celebration, but in protest— demanding what every other part of Kansas City already has: basic infrastructure, environmental justice, and the dignity of a well-kept neighborhood.
“This isn’t about racism. This is about environmental injustice,” said Rev. Antoine Lee, Senior Pastor of Central Christian Church, one of the lead voices behind the rally. “We’re tired of being excluded from the city’s development. We want to feel just as proud about our neighborhood as everyone else.”
The stark contrast between the east side of Brush Creek and the more polished stretch near the Country Club Plaza is not new, but the pain it causes is still raw. While families near the Plaza are met with dragon boat banners and manicured banks, residents on the east side face city signs warning of toxic runoff and closed sidewalks.
Craig Smith, a community leader and activist who grew up just two blocks from Brush Creek and, back in 2015, recorded a video calling for its cleanup, took the mic at the rally to remind the crowd that the state of the creek is no accident.“This situation, this divide that you can perceive, see, smell, was designed that way…,” he said.
He described how, after a decade of conversations with city departments, water officials, and the Port Authority, one answer kept coming up. “For whatever reason, we keep coming to this crossroads where there is an entity that makes decisions on behalf of people who need… champions, people who need hope. And for whatever reason, when I have conversations with officials over the last 10 years, it’s just too far gone of an issue to actually handle and to fix.”
That design, he said, isn’t just about the creek. It’s about how the city itself has been built. “It’s very obvious to me that this design problem is baked into every facet of how we do this city.”
“This has been a problem for generations,” Rev. Lee continued. “We’re marching so the next generation doesn’t have to live with this burden. We’re marching because we want to ride our bikes, walk our dogs, and take our children to a creekside park without being reminded of how forgotten we are.”
The rally was organized by MORE2’s Environmental Action Hub and drew attention to a creek that many have learned to ignore, but East Side residents pass every day. For them, Brush Creek is more than a waterway; it’s a mirror reflecting decades of disinvestment.
“I’m not trying to embarrass public officials,” Rev. Lee clarified. “I’m saying we have a real opportunity here to help everybody. But to do that, we need development for everybody. We shouldn’t have to borrow someone else’s neighborhood to find joy.”
Speakers emphasized the psychological toll of inequality, how it wears on a community to see broken windows, overgrown lots, and parks that feel like afterthoughts. “One thing that burdens me is that we have to fight for basic services—services that others wake up to every day without question,” Lee said.
The disparities are especially clear as Kansas City prepares to host the World Cup. While the East Side still grapples with crumbling sidewalks and polluted waterways, enormous sums are being directed elsewhere. The State of Missouri has allocated approximately $50 million for immediate World Cup preparations, including adjustments at Arrowhead Stadium to meet FIFA’s stringent standards. On top of that, a sweeping $800 million renovation of Arrowhead Stadium, post‑World Cup, is planned, with $300 million pledged by the Hunt family and the remainder contingent on taxpayer-backed funding.
Meanwhile, the more affluent rest of the metro is not being left to chance. The KC Streetcar is being extended south down Main and into the River Market, several new parking garages are slated for the 18th & Vine District and Barney Allis Plaza site, and significant infrastructure like hotel and transportation upgrades are underway. All of this is to ensure visitors at the 2026 event can easily navigate the city
But these investments, meant to dazzle tourists, are concentrated far from the neighborhoods east of Troost, where the most basic environmental and infrastructure needs remain unmet. Without meaningful action, residents will not only have to continue to live alongside a toxic creek, but they’ll also be shut out of the benefits—new amenities, cleaner streets, dependable transportation, and the economic boost—that major events should bring to an entire city.
Lee and other leaders are now calling for an accountability board to ensure city officials follow through on longstanding promises to clean up Brush Creek and reinvest in the east side. Between the Brush Creek Master Plan, developed in 2023 with community input but never funded or implemented, and unmet cleanup commitments stretching back to the deadly 1998 flood, residents have grown skeptical that words alone will ever translate into action. Without concrete steps, many worry this rally will become just another archived moment. Another unrealized push for change.
“Our environment is the effect of environmental injustice that has been plaguing us for decades,” Rev. Lee said. “We don’t need a favor. We need what rightfully belongs to us.”
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