Urban exodus strips KC of too many stoplights

Discuss items in the urban core outside of Downtown as described above. Everything in the core including the east side (18th & Vine area), Northeast, Plaza, Westport, Brookside, Valentine, Waldo, 39th street, & the entire midtown area.
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Eon Blue
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Urban exodus strips KC of too many stoplights

Post by Eon Blue »

Lewis Duiguid wrote a doozy today. Woe is the core, without their stoplights he says. Depopulation has ravaged their economic base and their school system!

Then he drops this bit in there:
When I moved to the Martin City area in 1989, State Line Road was mostly two lanes. It had few traffic lights and little commerce. That changed as more families moved to the area. The road was widened dramatically to accommodate new arrivals on both sides of the state line.

Big-box stores followed and so did other stores, adding to commerce in the area. What had been a quick drive from Martin City to Interstate 435 degenerated into a slow, stop-and-go slog.
So, people followed him out to his corner of BFE, decimating the urban core. What does he expect the city to do? Maintain unnecessary traffic signals to assuage his guilt?

He then finishes with this:
The subtraction has left a a sense of lost community and trust in City Hall. The relative tranquility in the urban core has attracted some younger “urban homesteaders” who are aching for a nonsuburban, less-rushed lifestyle. They appreciate cheaper homes with character, front porches, a closeness to jobs, entertainment, and other amenities and a great sense of accomplishment in helping to restore the core.

Let’s hope a balance can be achieved with some stoplights restored.
That seems to imply that the young, urbanite crowd is to blame for encouraging the city to remove those unnecessary lights? Well--shame on us then, guilty as charged.
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Re: Urban exodus strips KC of too many stoplights

Post by enough »

i don't get it. if the city were removing street lights there'd be a legitimate complaint. but stoplights?

the city has been replacing signals at dozens of intersections over the past decade or more at a typical cost of about $200k per intersection. they've been able to afford it using federal cmaq (congestion mitigation / air quality) money, with the rationale being that better (interconnected) signals make for smoother traffic flow and thus less vehicle time spent idling and less emissions.

years ago i asked then public works director ed wolf to consider actually removing the 50 or so least-needed signals as an action that might have an equal or greater air quality benefit at much lower cost. i'm glad to see it's finally happening.
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KCMax
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Re: Urban exodus strips KC of too many stoplights

Post by KCMax »

I think he is just using stoplights as a metaphor for urban flight. I think. I don't think he literally means its bad there are fewer stoplights and the city should put in more even though there are fewer citizens. I think he is really saying its bad there are fewer citizens. I don't know, its a pretty poorly written column.
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Re: Urban exodus strips KC of too many stoplights

Post by kboish »

KCMax wrote: I don't know, its a pretty poorly written column.
but on par for the Star
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Re: Urban exodus strips KC of too many stoplights

Post by flyingember »

his points really doing tie into his core piece is the main problem. they come across as whiny because his thesis isn't backed up in an organized manner

and yes, about right for the Star these days.
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Re: Urban exodus strips KC of too many stoplights

Post by chaglang »

Most of that seemed like it was cut-and-pasted from another opinion piece about the decline of the urban core. It barely had anything to do with stop signs. Of course, Jermaine Reed was pimping the heck out of it on Twitter because it mentions his proposal, 15/16ths of the way through the article.
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