KCRag Forum

We should really break out this StrongTown blog post into its own thread. I have seen Chuck present in the past and I regularly follow his blog. It is unfortunate that he took such a derogatory tone when he commented here on kcrag, because the dude really "gets it" and we are getting wrapp...

Huh? They paid money for this study?

http://pvpost.com/2012/08/21/drawings-f ... lage-11681

I'm embarrassed for the architect - this shows an utter disregard for context. I assume they are touting some green elements such as water filtration, reflective roof, etc, but the most sustainable thing they could do is use 2/3 of the site. ...but the KCMO water department has a new mandate that a...

I read the thread title and immediately thought, "There are no pedestrian streets in Kansas City." And as far as I know there really are no streets they are closed to car traffic anywhere in the city. Am I wrong? Many cities do have true pedestrian streets, and they're usually big parts o...

and when poverty is within walking distance, property crimes will escalate. I've known quite a few criminals in my life and, with the exception of petty drunken vandalism/brick through random window type shit, they all drove to and from their crimes. I just don't think people rob houses and get awa...

My favorite street is Pennsylvania, south of Westport Rd. Good buildings. No missing teeth. Shaded. Variety of active businesses that I never go in, but adds to the activity on the street.
http://goo.gl/maps/ez4rK

I spend a good amount of time geeking over our city, looking for great areas to reference or emulate. Name one street that you think is the best for pedestrians. (ok..name a few, if you got em.) You might have an urban street for window shopping or hanging out and a residential street for exercising...

These are the most recently available race statistics for the SMSD grade schools. It would be nice to see how this has changed from 10 years before. Note that east of Metcalf is still pretty white. Pockets near I-35 in Shawnee/OP/Lenexa are one-third Hispanic. Many schools are only one-third white. ...

Great pics!! Who is responsible for the pergola? It is a shame that it is in such bad shape. I hope to get a look at it when I attend a wedding there this July I was out on these grounds in the late '90s working with a developer that was evaluating the entire property for development opportunities ...

While not all herbicides are created equal, they are almost never the right choice. It would take a long diatribe to explain this to you, if you don't already understand. The best answer is to employ laborers to regularly clear out brush and unwanted plants. In the long haul, herbicides do not save...

Great--more herbicide. The hillside will look like something from the Vietnam war sprayed with agent orange. Grass can never take root on a limestone outcropping. Hey smarty.....you got a better idea? Seems better than the homeless camps in the spooky jungle that existed on that hillside last year....

It is a nasty visual disaster on the west side of Main. All of the thousands of stumps have sprouted so there are shrubs poking out of a wasteland. Patience! The contractor is spraying the hillside again this week, and will for another year. The spring rains never came :( , so the grass seed never ...

Wow... mentioned the catholic schools to my wife and was pretty surprised at how against that she was! lol Sounds like the wife is hard-core atheist.  In that case, she wants her kids no where near religion.  If that's the case you may be SOL.  Looks like your movin' to the 'burbs!  Out here, in th...

Ugliest Houses in the KC Metro? There are plenty of ugly houses in KC.  I'm not talking about regular ugly houses.  I'm talking about REALLY ugly houses!  Houses that should be listed as a "Top 10" ugliest houses on just about anyone's list.  Bad proportions.  Bad materials.  Bad site loca...

Does Olathe Have a Soul? This isn't some JoCo bashfest.  I have lived in JoCo for 35 years and I generally like where I live.  Let's face it, none of the KC burbs have near the energy of the older parts of KC itself, but they do have redeeming features that many of us value.  Schools, crime, shoppin...

I know it's not a Dunkin Donuts, but for anyone that remembers Winchell's Donuts that left KC about a decade ago, there is still one left in KC....sort of.  The Winchell's at 95th & Mission Rd became Maq's donuts.  I was visiting with Maq one day and he showed me all the product he had in the ba...

I keep hearing about layoffs in companies related to development.  That goes for engineering companies, developers, architects and construction companies.  As this economic trend continues, more and more professionals in all these fields will be forced to find income in other ways. As you hear about...

I know a couple of families who live in Thistle Hill-one backs up to Zona even. They enjoy going back and forth into Zona. I don't remember either of them ever expressing even one bad thought about being connected to Zona. This is typical.  Though they could have been one of the silent few who like...

Zona looks nice from those pictures.  It's pretty obvious that Zona Rosa's potential as a new urbanism poster child is fairly compromised by nature of the land use in the immediate area.  In bottom photo, the entire development is blocked off towards the bottom of the photo by a very low density li...

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