POSTS
Pedestrians and your vision of downtown Kansas City
I heard Mayor Barnes of Kansas City on the Walt Bodine Show this morning as I drove in to work. She is, of course, stumping for the new Downtown Sprint Arena - which I happened to be the first blogger in Kansas City to blog. I am in favor of it, and will vote for it, but she caught me off guard with her approach to the downtown/urban core of Kansas City.
She wants a city where people walk from the Rivermarket to Crown Center, or from Crown Center down to the Plaza, or any combination of those. I don't know about you, but I personally don't think the city's current transportation infrastructure would support any kind of noticeable pedestrian traffic. Short of a few buildings that are connected by sky-ways and the walkway that connects all of Crown Center, there is no real pedestrian-specific routes through the core of Kansas City. Could you imagine trying to ride a bike down Main, Broadway, or Southwest Trafficway?
So, in an effort to find out where the Mayor stands on this and what she has planned, I emailed her the letter below. I'd like your response as well. What do you think needs to be done for Kansas City to be more pedestrian - or non-motorized vehicle rather - friendly? Or do you think it even matters? Of course, I have my thoughts, but I'll keep those to myself until I get some feedback.