Tourists visiting Walt Disney's childhood home may come looking for a small piece of the magic behind the 'happiest place on earth,' but what they find is anything but enchanting. The historic home on Bellefontaine Avenue in Kansas City looks like it's taken straight from a Disney animation, with its charming front porch, rocking chairs, and bright green shrubs. It sits on a quiet Missouri street next to similar homes with big front yards.
The home's current owner, Roberta Young, conducts tours, but the illusion is fading as homeless encampments creep in. 'Even when I came up, it was not this bad,' Young told Fox 4 Kansas City. Discarded needles, trash, and stolen cars line the streets, and alleyways overflow with garbage.
Young says the disrepair is hurting the area's reputation and tourist experience. 'I have people that come here and when they see that, it gives this place a bad name,' she said. The area is also preparing for an influx of visitors this summer for four World Cup games in June, and Young says the city isn't ready to make a good impression.
Kansas City has roughly 3,000 unhoused people, the largest percentage per capita, according to KMBC. The city has pledged $4 million toward the problem, but officials cannot force people to leave encampments, said Josh Henges, Chief Impact Officer with the Division of Unhoused Solutions.
Young wants the city to put addicts in rehab and clean up the area. 'What I actually want and hope and pray that they get to do is to clean up the alley,' she said. 'At least 100 days in a rehab to clean these people up and maybe they can get themselves together in order to get a job.'
The city has begun clean-up efforts elsewhere, including the Blue River, where 50 volunteers removed invasive honeysuckle to protect wildlife. Disney moved to Kansas City at age nine, attended Benton Elementary School, and took drawing classes at the Kansas City Art Institute. After World War I, he worked as an artist for an advertising agency and created an animated film with Ub Iwerks in 1920. He moved to Los Angeles in 1923.
