New goals for Kansas City

[earthling]

KC also needs to develop UMKC into a major university in a way that grows the local economy. The Stowers Institute should be an opportunity to turn UMKC into a more significant research university yet isn't as mature as it could be.

[flyingember]

KC also needs to develop UMKC into a major university in a way that grows the local economy. The Stowers Institute should be an opportunity to turn UMKC into a more significant research university yet isn't as mature as it could be.

We need to think of UMKC not as *A* university but as a nearby amenity.

It's great you can take classes from Northwest and Western and CMSU inside KC, but why are those not UMKC extension campuses?

It seems to me that UMKC needs to have these kinds of small locations, like to have their own northland campus with 6-7 flex classrooms. It would be a good positive jobs center along the 152 corridor. I could see having a shared HS-College campus with NKC or Liberty schools.

[rxlexi]

Reaaallly cheating here with several individual goals embedded within the primary 5 below.

1. Streetcar (fareless) extension to Plaza/UMKC. Affordable, easy to construct, Main Street width should make higher speeds more attainable. Building on existing success. I would prefer further extension but if this is the final piece of rail transit in KC I would be satisfied; it will connect the vast majority of places of interest in this very linear city and have an impact on KC that punches far beyond it's 6-mile weight, comparable to any other city in US.

2. Elevate UMKC - change the name to UKC, get rid of Morton, get the basketball program into MVC and pour money into it, get the arts campus built, and focus on the handful of top notch programs available to begin building a school that will appeal to students outside the region, and those that might otherwise choose KU/MU/KState. Find some way, any way to begin to be thought of as a true peer to a Cincy, SLU, etc. Our most "prominent" university is an afterthought in it's own city.

3. Focus on outdoor recreation. KC has the perfect bones for this, as evidenced by the great work that Urban Trail Co. (http://urbantrailco.com/) has been doing building trails throughout regional parks and underused land. Lots of unused greenspace. Connect existing trails, build a boat house on the KS river, extend riverfront trail to Parkville, extend Trolley Track to downtown (or build new), build hiking/biking/climbing infrastructure at Swope and PVP. Greater connection to Flint Hills a la KC Symphony in Flint Hills. Maybe FH/prairie rec center with exhibits/tours/camping excursions on the west side of metro.

4. Major build up/shake-up of 18th/Vine. Change management. Turn into a mini-Beale Street. Focus on BBQ/jazz and blues. Such fun history, so American, and distinctly KC. Build BBQ Hall of Fame. Expand/enhance the NLBM and American Jazz Museum in a major way - make them into a destination for history lovers on the level of the WW1 museum. Find a way to make this into one of the most fun, interesting, uniquely KC pockets of the region. And find an actual use for the old stone castle.

5. Build a big bar and marina on the MO river at Berkley Park. Seriously, just want something with a big deck jutting out over the water, local beers, bike rental maybe for the nearby trail, a reason for locals to remember, enjoy and celebrate the river.

[grovester]

^That's a great list!

[brewcrew1000]

1. Increase Density in the Urban Core, once we achieve that I think the stuff like Light Rail, Commuter rail will follow. The urban core is not very populated to demand this.

2. Focus on Urban Bike Trails - JoCo has a bike plan and they follow it, I feel like KCMO in the urban parts just laugh it off and do not make it priority. I think the Bike Trail focus is all up north because its easier to build out

3. Airport - That has been pounded over and over

4. Crime/Safety - I think it has gotten much better over the years but I think crime/safety is big if you want to retain families and young professionals in the urban core. Lots of suburbs are building mixed use/walkable type projects and it is generally safe, if people are getting mugged all the time the young people will not want to stay in the Urban parts for very long and they will start graviting toward downtown Lees Summit or downtown Overland Park

5. Streetcar - I think a key piece to the boom of Midtown especially Midtown from 31-Westport Rd

[chingon]

1. Re-Kesslerizing the Parks and BLVDs plan. Bike paths a la Trolley Track Trail down the middle of all BLVDs with medians, separated bike lanes on all others. Design standards for properties on BLVDs that prevent things like the north side of Gregory between Troost and Paseo. Traffic calming on BLVDs like Brookside and Ward Parkway.

2. TOD policy implementation.

3. Turn Penn Valley Park into a native plant and pollinator preserve with biking and walking paths.

4. Connect Trolley Track Trail to Penn Valley Park via Theis/Gillham parks and complete connection to Indian Creek Trail.

5. True BRT on Troost and Independence Ave.

[beautyfromashes]

1. A plan to add 10k new jobs to Downtown to match the 10k new residents initiative including attraction of at least one major technology company to the area large enough to build a new downtown skyscraper.
2. Connect the bike trail system from the Trolley Track Trail through midtown to Liberty Menorial. This would make for a continuous trail through the entire city from Lees Summit (and eventually the Katy Trail) to the River and beyond.
3. City tax plan to fully fund transportation including free buses for the city, streetcar and commuter rail to KCI and TSC.
4. Agreement with St. Luke's hospital to build a parking garage in exchange for the release of huge amount of parking lots stopping the connection of Westport to the Plaza.
5. Build new KCI airport.

[FangKC]

UMKC chancellor’s new initiatives include research institutes, continuing ed program

...
Mauli Agrawal unveiled five projects at a morning ceremony on UMKC’s Volker campus as part of his inauguration as chancellor, a role he’s held since June. The projects are part of a 10-year strategic plan, which sets a goal to increase enrollment by 50 percent in the next decade.

“It is a challenge we must rise to meet,” Agrawal said. “UMKC is simply not large enough to produce enough graduates to meet the demand in a growing, successful community of this size.”
...

---

The projects are part of a 10-year strategic plan, which sets a goal to increase enrollment by 50 percent in the next decade.

---

The Institute of Data Education, Analytics and Science, or IDEAS, aims to make the university a leader for data science education, Agrawal said. It will focus on biomedical informatics and big data analytics.
...
He also announced a coming partnership between UMKC and Metropolitan Community College to allow students to be co-enrolled at both schools. Dual enrollment would ease the transition from a community college to a four-year university.
...

https://tinyurl.com/y25av5p3

[normalthings]

Certainly a step in the right direction.

[Anthony_Hugo98]

What are the continued goals that we as a city should achieve by the close of the next decade? Not only on a development basis, or transit, but on a cultural and societal level as well.

[wahoowa]

free transit across the metro. fill in north loop. activate riverfront. open that damn picklemans.

[TheLastGentleman]

An achievement I’d like to see that should be fairly realistic is filling in the river market. Zero surface lots

[Anthony_Hugo98]

An achievement I’d like to see that should be fairly realistic is filling in the river market. Zero surface lots

At the rate we're going with the development there, we might hit that by 2025. How far east are you talking when referring to zero surface lots?

[earthling]

Would've expected all surface lots along streetcar to have things in motion by now. RM has pretty solid proposals for lots within streetcar but was hoping for a lot more national developers to jump on Xroads and 6th/Main area mega lots. Also a little disappointing that some developments in Xroads along Main are only a few floors. What a waste for essentially the most prime real estate in the metro.

[flyingember]

Would've expected all surface lots along streetcar to have things in motion by now. RM has pretty solid proposals for lots within streetcar but was hoping for a lot more national developers to jump on Xroads and 6th/Main area mega lots. Also a little disappointing that some developments in Xroads along Main are only a few floors. What a waste for essentially the most prime real estate in the metro.

I wouldn't. There could be a long-term contract to provide parking to a tenant.

As for the size, the size of the lot easily can determine the project scope.

Let's say building 6 stories is worth $x in profit and adding floor 7 they lose 5% of leasable space but have 10% increase construction costs (ex. larger support columns, more utility space needed). So the size of projects being built might be the largest possible to not have it stay a parking lot at current leasing rates.

And leasing rates connect to this corridor. The city trying to push down rental rates is going to limit what lots get new development.

[earthling]

Sorry, none of that made sense if not sounding like an attempt at spin. The most prime real estate in the metro with infrastructure intended to boost density is being wasted with too many low density developments.

Developers could at least design these low rise buildings with intent to add more floors in future, such as the Cordish building where Strata is proposed.

[johnmatrix]

4. Agreement with St. Luke's hospital to build a parking garage in exchange for the release of huge amount of parking lots stopping the connection of Westport to the Plaza.

Any chance of this happening? It seems like one of the most unfortunate things for this city is that the Plaza/Westport aren't connected. So much potential.

[DaveKCMO]

free transit across the metro. fill in north loop. activate riverfront. open that damn picklemans.

Absofuckinglutely.

[Riverite]

Wow Dave I didn’t know you felt so strongly about a picklemans

[normalthings]

Reaaallly cheating here with several individual goals embedded within the primary 5 below.

1. Streetcar (fareless) extension to Plaza/UMKC. Affordable, easy to construct, Main Street width should make higher speeds more attainable. Building on existing success. I would prefer further extension but if this is the final piece of rail transit in KC I would be satisfied; it will connect the vast majority of places of interest in this very linear city and have an impact on KC that punches far beyond it's 6-mile weight, comparable to any other city in US.

2. Elevate UMKC - change the name to UKC, get rid of Morton, get the basketball program into MVC and pour money into it, get the arts campus built, and focus on the handful of top notch programs available to begin building a school that will appeal to students outside the region, and those that might otherwise choose KU/MU/KState. Find some way, any way to begin to be thought of as a true peer to a Cincy, SLU, etc. Our most "prominent" university is an afterthought in it's own city.

3. Focus on outdoor recreation. KC has the perfect bones for this, as evidenced by the great work that Urban Trail Co. (http://urbantrailco.com/) has been doing building trails throughout regional parks and underused land. Lots of unused greenspace. Connect existing trails, build a boat house on the KS river, extend riverfront trail to Parkville, extend Trolley Track to downtown (or build new), build hiking/biking/climbing infrastructure at Swope and PVP. Greater connection to Flint Hills a la KC Symphony in Flint Hills. Maybe FH/prairie rec center with exhibits/tours/camping excursions on the west side of metro.

4. Major build up/shake-up of 18th/Vine. Change management. Turn into a mini-Beale Street. Focus on BBQ/jazz and blues. Such fun history, so American, and distinctly KC. Build BBQ Hall of Fame. Expand/enhance the NLBM and American Jazz Museum in a major way - make them into a destination for history lovers on the level of the WW1 museum. Find a way to make this into one of the most fun, interesting, uniquely KC pockets of the region. And find an actual use for the old stone castle.

5. Build a big bar and marina on the MO river at Berkley Park. Seriously, just want something with a big deck jutting out over the water, local beers, bike rental maybe for the nearby trail, a reason for locals to remember, enjoy and celebrate the river.

1-3 should been on our list of top goals for the 2020-2035 time frame. Investment in urban K-12 education and universal pre-K is ,imho, the most critical thing we can do for our future. I will suggest some changes

1. Yes, build the fareless streetcar to UMKC. However, we also need to see real express BRT built out as well as regional funding and fareless transit. The North Oak Max is a step in the right direction but too many stops are planned to make it useful. Think about connecting our urban higher education centers (KU Med, UMKC, Hospital Hill). By 2030, we should be seriously considering regional rail (Light, commuter, or streetcar) and/or true BRT.

2. Yes, invest in UMKC. Realize the sports programs will never have the funds to compete with their local siblings (MU, KU, MSU, K State). Partner with KU, KU med, and Stowers to better leverage the UMKC Health Campus and other investments. Medicine is a growing, high wage industry that we need to better promote here.

3. Electric scooters and bikes are the future of urban transit. It’s becoming realistic now for people to commute up hilly terrains or extended distances if the paths are there. Let’s build out our urban bike lanes and trails. One shouldn’t have to own a car to participate in our society. Communities that understand this are seeing rapid growth.

4. Universal Pre-K, increased investments in K-3 reading programs, reopening neighborhood high schools, etc. Policing is one of the cities biggest expenses and violence is one of our biggest issues. Better educating our youth is the first step in realistically turning the problem around. It’s also good for local employers, attracts residents, etc.

5. WW1 Museum to be handed over to the Smithsonian and US NPS. Groups who have the funds to better maintain and expand the museum.

6. Leverage future investments in the NFL and MLB stadiums in locations with the highest ROI (downtown,etc).

7. Remove parking minimums, instate parking maximums, legalize and simplify ADU and middle of the market developments, look at up zoneing the city, and removed FAR limitations in the CBD, Riverfront(if not built out), Crown Center, outer plaza, Etc.

8. Build on Google’s long running investments in Kansas City. Land a real Google office presence in the metro ( downtown). Think about attracting the offices behind the large logistics plays we are seeing today.