With the help of a gigantic crane on Friday, workers deconstructed the water tower that has stood high above McCrum Park for more than a half century.
For the past few days, crews had used blowtorches to score lines along the tank’s exterior. On Friday, they hooked the tank panels to the crane as workers cut away at a few un-scored stretches of metal, setting each piece free. The crane then lowered each panel down to the ground:
PVPost.com reader Tony Moore has a great photo set of the process on Flickr.
Dozens of local residents stopped to watch the dismantling of the tower — with some lamenting the landmark’s demise. One man (whose name we didn’t catch) told us he would miss having the tower in his neighborhood.
“We used to climb up that thing,” he said. “Climbing water towers was a real thing back in the ’60s and ’70s. But the ladder didn’t go all the way to the top back then. You had to climb up it using the crossbars.”
General Manager Matt Branstetter and bartender Megan Rose in the Prairie Village Salty Iguana's new dining room.
Matt Branstetter hasn’t been with Salty Iguana Mexican Restaurant since it replaced Granny’s Chicken at Corinth Square 20 years ago — but not too many people have been around longer.
Branstetter started as a cook in 1997, a year after graduating from SM East, and has done just about every job the restaurant has to offer.
“Bussing tables, doing dishes, managing the kitchen — I’ve done them all,” he said.
And as the restaurant celebrates its 20th anniversary this week, he finds himself happily helping keep the Prairie Village Burritos (“They’re perfect”) and Iguana Dip coming.
Branstetter was named General Manager in 2000, and now splits time between the original PV location and the Overland Park restaurant. Salty Iguana also has locations in Independence, Olathe, and Lawrence.
Branstetter said that he and the restaurant’s owners, Dan Chandler and Steve Conrad, have always felt welcomed by the Prairie Village community.
“It’s hard not to love this area,” he said. “You feel like everybody knows you. People from city hall know you by name. It’s not like that in every community.”
The Prairie Village location underwent a major remodel in November, and open after a week-long closure with new iguana-themed murals by Fallon Hamilton, the artist who had painted the original Prairie Village interior:
One of two KU basketball murals at Salty Iguana in Prairie Village.
Some of the movie-themed iguana art at Prairie Village's Salty Iguana.
The restaurant is offering special 20th Anniversary pricing on food through the end of next week.
Maybe it’s the doldrums of January, but I just have not felt like cooking lately. Nevertheless, the family needs to get fed (so annoying how that never changes), and take-out every night isn’t really an option. To get by I’ve been putting together semi-plausible meals using pre-made ingredients. One of my favorites is wonton soup. Basically I dump chicken stock into a pot with frozen dumplings and whatever veggies I might have on hand. Soy sauce or Chinese five-spice (this is the only place I’ve ever used it) dresses it up a little. And actually, everybody in the family loves it.
For a more formal “recipe”, you might try this, adapted from allrecipes.com. I think the addition of one can of beef broth adds a little depth of flavor. And I’d love to hear what others make for their “faking it” meals.
Recipe’s after the jump. Keep reading…
Tim Pickell, the third candidate to file in Prairie Village’s Ward 4 City Council race, says a deep desire to serve the public — and not opposition to the performance of the man who currently holds the seat – is fueling his campaign.
“[Incumbent] Dale Beckerman is a man of integrity,” Pickell said. “What my run is about is my feeling I have something to offer and an urge to get into public service. I’m pushing 60 years old, and I figure, if not now, when?”
Pickell, an attorney who specializes in personal injury and workers compensation cases out of his Westwood office, ran for the Republican nomination for Kansas Governor in 2006, finishing fourth in a field of seven. Prior to his political run, he’d been involved in a number of civic activities, including the SM East Advisory Board.
Pickell said he works to be a consensus builder, and is very concerned with how the city is involved with the development of the Mission Valley site.
“It strikes me that the kind of the development they’re talking about there isn’t a good fit for the area,” he said. “The only reason to have something like that is to expand the city’s tax base, and I don’t think we need to expand the city’s tax base.”
Pickell will appear on a primary ballot alongside Beckerman and fellow challenger Brooke Morehead Feb. 28.
Prairie Village police report that the Bank of America at 7624 State Line Road was robbed this morning around 10:30 a.m.
The Pride Cleaners location less than half a mile to the south was robbed Jan. 13, and police are still investigating that incident.
Here’s the information the department released on today’s incident:
The suspect entered the bank and threatened the teller. The teller complied and gave the suspect an undisclosed amount of money. The suspect was described as a black male wearing, thick glasses, a grey and white cap, a dark sweater with horizontal white stripes, and dark pants. No one was injured during the incident.
The incident is currently being investigated by the Prairie Village Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. If anyone has any information regarding this crime, contact the Prairie Village
Police Department at 913-642-6868, or the TIPS Hotline, 816-474-8477.
Time to relax, “Where’s that at?” addicts. Because we’ve got your fix right here:
Believe it or not, planning for the this year’s VillageFest Fourth of July celebration begins tonight, and organizers are hoping to find a few more enthusiastic Villagers to help plan and execute the event.
The first VillageFest Committee meeting convenes at 7 p.m. tonight at City Hall. The committee will meet the fourth Thursday of every month through July. To participate in the planning committee, you must also be available on July 4 from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. to help run the event.
Specifically, organizers say they are looking for: someone to coordinate volunteer on the day of the celebration, someone to run the information booth, someone to help solicit sponsors, and someone to coordinate the children’s parade.
For more information, email Marianne Noll at marianneinpv@sbcglobal.net.
Bullying is nothing new. But a pilot program in Prairie Village designed to help give adolescents the confidence to stand up to it is.
When local esthetician Holly Reynolds heard about the suicide last fall of 14-year-old New Yorker Jamey Rodemeyer — who killed himself after being bullied online about his sexuality — she felt compelled to action. After all, Reynolds had experienced bullying during her youth, and knew how painful the experience can be.
“It was kind of like the last straw for me,” she said. “I wanted to think of ways for these kids to let out that anger and sadness.”
Her answer: Fight Club, an advocacy program for bullied youth. Reynolds partnered with Title Boxing Club at 76th and State Line to offer a weekly program that combines exercise (boxing, specifically) and life coaching. Title donated space for the program, and the trainer that Reynolds worked with at Title, Ronell “Bigg Ron” Jones, donated his time. Since the program began a month ago, they’ve seen around 15 kids per week come in for the nearly two-hour sessions.
Reynolds stresses that the boxing isn’t being taught as a means of self-defense — and definitely not as a form of aggression. Instead, it serves as a way to let kids blow off pent up steam.
“And we know that boxing won’t be it for all these kids,” she said. “That’s why we’re looking into programs that use art therapy and yoga as well.”
Though the classes are currently full enough that they aren’t seeking additional participants for the pilot program, which ends in March, Reynolds says that in the coming months, she hopes to secure the funding to make Fight Club permanent.
“This can be a real confidence builder for kids,” she said. “They learn how to find the answers they’re looking for within themselves.”
In anticipation of the coming demolition of the former Tippin’s building at Corinth Square, Ripple Glass will be moving its recycling bin behind Hattie’s Coffee for the forseeable future.
Hattie’s is located due west of the Tippin’s building, in the strip of shops that includes the tailor and nail salon just north of Hen House.
Justin Kaufmann of LANE4 Property Group said the demolition of the building was scheduled to begin in the next couple weeks, though no firm date has been established. The building will be replaced by a new location for CVS, whose current space at the shopping center will be replaced by a new SPIN! Neapolitan Pizza.
More than 60 years after it went up, the McCrum Park water tower in Prairie Village is on its way down.
Crews have begun dismantling the tower, cutting two circular access holes in its north and south sides. On Tuesday, they began scoring the tank with blowtorches, preparing it to be broken down into pieces that can be lowered to the ground and shipped off on a truck.
The park will remain closed until the process is complete.
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