Independence Square

"They are borderline geniuses, but they don't know where to stop," Paluka says. "Personally, I think everybody needs Pennells."

She says Pennell's greatest moment was his fight against the perennial bugaboo of small-town crusaders -- fluoridated water.

"He kept that alive in this city for a year," Paluka says. "If it wasn't for him, it probably would have passed."

Paluka admits that Pennell's stand didn't earn him universal praise.

Pennell says he was a reluctant clearinghouse, but he says he can't refuse to listen to people who call with their complaints.

He also has the luxury of time. He lives cheaply in his parents' house a few blocks south of Independence Square. Pennell is careful to say that there is no personal animosity between him and McClain.

"It's not just me," Pennell insists. "I may be the focal point. But there is a whole group of people out there that have not the highest opinion of Ken McClain."

McClain has had great success as a developer, but he has also struggled with failure.

After hearing someone remark that it was a shame that houses near the Truman home were decaying, McClain bought eight such properties in 1998 and rehabbed them.

Work crews lifted each century-old building to pour a new concrete foundation. They overhauled the electrical and plumbing systems. And they repainted every wall and ceiling.

The buildings qualified for a program through the county that allowed the eventual buyers to pay reduced property taxes. But the program required the renovations to be historically accurate, which made for some hard discussions between McClain's contractors and the city.

McClain eventually sold the homes, one for $260,000, but he didn't make money on the project, he says.

"We've had to fight at every turn to be able to do this," McClain says. "We got nothing except arguments and complaining."

McClain received no tax money for the houses themselves. And though tax abatements made the houses easier to sell, they didn't put any cash in McClain's pocket.

Meanwhile, a few miles to the west, Kansas City is embroiled in controversy over a similar project with a similar goal -- to jump-start urban renewal by fixing up a couple of houses in a decaying area. But in Kansas City, the populace was scandalized by news that the city had spent $600,000 and was on the hook for a total of more than $1 million after rehabbing modest homes appraised at less then $30,000 each on Tracy Avenue.

In Independence, thanks to McClain, a far better program of renewal happened quickly and without the city spending a dime on the houses themselves.

McClain remains surprised that the project was so hard. He should be used to it by now, though. Every McClain project has had its critics.

None more than the Santa Fe Trails tax-increment-financing district. In 1997, McClain proposed making three decaying properties on the west side of Noland Road part of a new development that would rim tiny Doutt's Lake with stores and homes. After receiving commitments from several retailers and a grocery store that agreed to locate there as an anchor tenant, he took his case to the city.

McClain's project was approved for a TIF district, and the city issued $10.26 million in bonds to pay for certain parts of the project, including property acquisition and financing expenses.

But the development struggled almost from the start when the grocery store backed out. Since then, McClain has been unable to find a replacement, and the lengthening weeds have become a sore point for some.

But more troubling than the vacant property is the financial time bomb in the city-backed bonds.

The original agreement requires McClain to have at least 106,000 square feet of developed improvements and 80 percent occupancy by May 31, 2006.

McClain has said he'll continue to make good on the city's debt payments, which begin to come due in October 2006.

By then, McClain says, "We will have everything in place on the TIF. We currently are working on a major project we'll announce shortly."

He insists that he'll find a good mix of stores and a suitable anchor.

"I could put a bunch of fast-food restaurants tomorrow," he says. "Wendy's was desperate to build a store there."

McClain insists that he doesn't want to be doing so much at one time. He says he really hoped other developers would follow suit. "Our idea was not to do all of this," he says. "The idea was to be a catalyst."

McClain says he would love to see more activity on the square in particular.

He says his wife's vision is driving the mix of specialty shops and restaurants he's building in hopes of drawing tourists from the people who come for Truman, the Mormons or the National Frontier Trails Museum.

"There are lots of tourists, but there is nothing for them here," McClain says.

Only a couple of McClain's businesses are breaking even, which forces him to keep up the pace on his law career.