Make Grand Grand

[kboish]

I can only imagine the size of parking lot that would be needed for Wal-Mart's HQ.

[flyingember]

I can only imagine the size of parking lot that would be needed for Wal-Mart's HQ.

have you ever been through Bentonville? they have city blocks of truck parking.

[KCthomas]

Hi everyone.

I serve on the board of the Downtown Neighborhood Association (http://dnakcmo.org/). I read the forum regularly, and it is often a source of news, issues, concerns, and perspectives that helps us to to stay plugged in and responsive to resident and small business needs.

I'm posting for the first time to share with you what we think will be a very exciting event.

We're calling the event "Better Block KC", and it is scheduled for First Friday, October 5th, on Grand Boulevard between 16th and 17th St.

The "Better Block" project is part block party and part living demonstration. It involves transforming a street to show the potential for a great, walkable, vibrant neighborhood. The physical streetscape is transformed through temporary trees, lighting, landscaping, crosswalks, bike lanes, street furniture, and more. Artists, performers, local vendors, and pop-up businesses show the potential for increasing the vitality of the area. Better Blocks are now being staged across the country, and have helped cities rapidly implement infrastructure and policy changes (http://betterblock.org/).

We think this is a cool idea because it:

--Builds interest and momentum for action
--Inspires people about the possibilities of better design
--Demonstrates grassroots support for better streets and public spaces
--Creates new partnerships
--Provides exposure for local artists, vendors, and community organizations
--Often leads directly to more permanent improvements

This “Better Block” event is being designed to highlight some of the key concepts of the “Making Grand Grand” plan including widened sidewalks, a bi-directional bike lane separated from automobile traffic, street trees and landscaping, and unique public spaces along the street.

Information and updates about the event can be found here:
http://betterblockkc.tumblr.com/

This is a big event, and we can use your help if you are interested. In particular, you can help us with:

Partnerships: Are you part of an organization that would be interested in this event? Do you have an idea for an installation or activity that could activate part of this block (art installation, community garden, food truck, etc.) If so, we want to hear from you!

Materials: We are seeking donations for temporary materials including street trees, planters, temporary turf of some kind, street furniture, temporary street markings and more.

Volunteers: We will need volunteers before, during, and after the event to help transport materials, set up, break down, and generally make sure things are running smoothly.

Financial Support: We are doing everything we can to minimize the cost through volunteered labor and materials, but there is still cost associated with the event, including insurance, permits and traffic plans, and other logistical expenses. We have set up a neighbor.ly site (http://neighbor.ly/betterblockkc) where you can provide support to help us make this event happen.

Outreach: We want to spread the word to as many people as possible. If you know people or organizations who might be interested, please spread the word!

If you want to get involved, let us know here: http://dnakcmo.org/contact-us.html

I'll also respond to your questions here if you have any. Thanks!

[Demosthenes]

Hey welcome to the forum KCthomas! This idea sounds very, very cool. Not sure I will be able to help at all because I was planning on entertaining that night, but you can be sure I will bring people over to check it out. I wish you luck on a great evening, one that awakens peoples imaginations on what Grand can be. Cheers!

[KCMax]

Very cool. Thanks for posting Thomas.

[KCthomas]

Hey everyone,

The Better Block KC event to transform one block of Grand Boulevard is just a few days away (this Friday)! We are excited for this event to transform Grand Boulevard, share good design in a fun way, and promote permanent improvements to make downtown more green, complete, and livable. If you are supportive of this event, and better downtown streets in general, please consider helping us at http://neighbor.ly/betterblockkc

I wanted to share some of what we'll have on Friday:

Installations
Loma Vista Nursery - 500 1 gallon plants
Hermes Nursery - 14 trees
ASP Enterprises - 1000 feet of temporary curb materials
Landscape Forms - Tables, Benches, and other furniture
KCATA - Solar powered bus shelter
Bikewalk KC - Bikeshare kiosk
Keys 4/4 Kids - Street Piano
Mobile Trailer Park / Garden
Bike Lanes
Crosswalks

Streetscape Demonstrations
Kansas City Design Center Students - Designing streetscape for a portion of the block
KSU Landscape Architecture Students - Designing streetscape for a portion of the block
Cultivate Kansas City - Streetscape Demonstration
American Public Works Association - Streetscape Demonstration

Food and Drink
Terrace on Grand - Beer Garden
Frosty Treats - Ice Cream
Mad Jack’s on Troost - Seafood

Artists, Performers, and Vendors
KC Latin All Stars - Music
Jane Gotch - Improvised Street Performances
Angelica Sandoval - Sculpture
Brigid Green - Art Display

Information
MARC - Creating Sustainable Places Program

Probably more!

Hope to see you there!

[kboish]

This is really cool. Will really help people visualize how the street can be better. Sounds like a lot work! great job!

[grovester]

Wow, that really made an impression. That would be a serious road diet, I'd imagine a lot of objection, but would foster a lot of development. I also think every bump out should have a beer garden.

[flyingember]

I was underwhelmed by it.

it would have worked better in summer with a common platform to raise the space above street level and a common theme to the space. it just looked like a bunch of stuff in the street, a little bus parked at it, a piano and plants in pots.

a good idea but it needed more focus.

it wasn't just about the street, it was also a urban gardening thing which made no sense in context.

[grovester]

I agree about the timing, but I really liked being able to put everything into scale. Grand would be immensely different.

[DaveKCMO]

ponies, children, scrabble. amazing! people lingered, so that was the big success. NO ONE lingers on this block under normal circumstances, not even hobos.

[zachbot]

Better Block Photos here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/2137551@N22/pool/

[smh]

Better Block Photos here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/2137551@N22/pool/

What an outstanding project this was!

[DaveKCMO]

this year's better block will occur on main street at 19th. fundraising site is now live: http://neighbor.ly/better-block-kc-2013

[DaveKCMO]

project is dead, even though some insiders would claim otherwise. too expensive and private money fell through.

however, bike lanes were funded by a federal CMAQ grant and KCATA is planning to focus all of their N/S routes on grand (which could mean a bus between river market and crown center every 2 minutes at peak).

hopefully they'll treat this as a repaving and striping effort and get it done sooner rather than later.

[IraGlacialis]

That's a pity. Things did seem to be progressing pretty slowly with it.
The second part does seem like good news though.

[Demosthenes]

So the Arvest Bank across the street from Hotel looks to be nearing completion. I think it's looking pretty good. The corner is way better now that it has activity on both sides of the street. This gets me thinking though... it would be really nice to add commercial spaces all along the Grand side of this parking garage. I mean this is Grand right? And it is in the center of downtown, right across from the Sprint Center and PNL. This block should not consist of a parking garage at street level and a parking lot.

I wonder how many parking spaces would be lost if they converted all of the street frontage into commercial. I'm sure it wouldn't make too big of an impact on parking, while making a big impact on vibrancy. This would go a long way toward making Grand a truly vibrant street, and it would make the block look so much better. With Arvest on the corner it is so easy to envision the commercial extending down the block.

[flyingember]

it could be a good model for other garages. need more info

[DaveKCMO]

a smaller-scale plan finally resurfaces and will be implemented soon: http://www.dnakcmo.org/blog/2014/10/13/ ... and-better

[kboish]

I don't get why we sandwhich the bike lanes between parking and vehicle traffic? It makes so much sense to use the parked cars as a barrier between bikes and moving vehicles. Am I missing something as to why this isn't done everywhere?

But all in all I'll be glad to see a road diet/reconfiguration on grand!