KCRag Forum

Oh look, a petition.
https://www.thepetitionsite.com/203/320 ... t-project/

Save our Parking Lots! Where are people going to park for the parking lot across the street?????

I fucking hate people...

auntbigdog wrote:Oh look, a petition.
https://www.thepetitionsite.com/203/320 ... t-project/

i guess we can rest assured these online petitions never amount to much. people have to show up or communicate directly with elected officials en masse.

auntbigdog wrote:Oh look, a petition.
https://www.thepetitionsite.com/203/320 ... t-project/

If you want some fun, do a word cloud of these NIMBY petitions + comments

I love the comments about congestion. The idea that a single apartment complex would create congestion is absurd. Maybe if everyone in the complex routinely left and arrived at exactly the same time it would create a 2 minute traffic jam. I've lived near much larger complexes and their impacts on traffic were essentially non existent.

Mary Jo Draper was absolutely enlightening on the news just now. I would like to muzzle that dumb twat.

atticus23 wrote:Mary Jo Draper was absolutely enlightening on the news just now. I would like to muzzle that dumb twat.

It’s cool to disagree with her but let’s keep it civil.

Rezoning request on the CPC agenda this week: https://data.kcmo.org/Development-Revie ... /ytzy-pkcf

Highlander wrote:I love the comments about congestion. The idea that a single apartment complex would create congestion is absurd. Maybe if everyone in the complex routinely left and arrived at exactly the same time it would create a 2 minute traffic jam. I've lived near much larger complexes and their impacts on traffic were essentially non existent.

not to mention the thought that it would be any worse than a car wash...

Where does this end? Will neighborhood associations be able to dictate how many people living in a household can own and drive cars in the neighborhood? Will a household with four active drivers be prevented from buying, or living, in the neighborhood lest they create more traffic?

Cities have traffic. Get used to it. If you don't like traffic, move to the country. Kansas City is one of the least congested big cities in the country.

There needs to be a changing of the guard with neighborhood associations. Most are filled with older citizens who have been in the neighborhood for a very long time. They were, rightfully, concerned about safety and the destruction of historic properties during the white flight period. People like Katheryn Shields. Community activists. The younger generations need to get more involved now that we have moved into a transformative stage and are looking for more activity, connectivity and community in the urban core. Be prepared for some battles in neighborhood elections as younger people start taking over.

Another thing to note is that the majority of people complaining don't even live in the neighborhood! They don't want to have to deal with increased traffic instead of finding different travel routes, they don't want to drive past something not clad in brick and they're afraid there's not enough parking and residents/visitors will park in front of their houses blocks away. And yet where they remain silent when development happen in the Crossroads, Columbus Park, Troost, River Market, etc.

beautyfromashes wrote:There needs to be a changing of the guard with neighborhood associations. Most are filled with older citizens who have been in the neighborhood for a very long time. They were, rightfully, concerned about safety and the destruction of historic properties during the white flight period. People like Katheryn Shields. Community activists. The younger generations need to get more involved now that we have moved into a transformative stage and are looking for more activity, connectivity and community in the urban core. Be prepared for some battles in neighborhood elections as younger people start taking over.

This is very true. In Columbus Park, it's generally everyone over 60 who is against more density and the concern is always parking. In S. Plaza, same deal. The majority of neighbors near 51st and Main fear that people will come there to park to take the streetcar downtown and they will have parking problems, even the ones who have driveways and garages. In 10 years, a lot of them will be dead or moved away and automated vehicles will take over, so parking will no longer be an issue. In the meantime...

It can be tough for younger people to have the time for neighborhood association boards or attending council meetings or zoning hearings - especially if they have young children. I think that is part of the reason you see a disproportionate number of empty nesters and retirees.

To make any progress, and win these battles, the density argument must be made about taxes--earnings, property, and sales. The whole reason the earnings tax exists is because property and sales taxes don't provide enough revenue for the city. The reason they don't is because Kansas City is not dense enough. There are not enough people per square mile to support services. Because Kansas City has so many square miles, it will only get worse as infrastructure ages in the newer neighborhoods.

This isn't just about how many buildings and houses there are per sq. mile either. It's demographics. In many residential neighborhoods, there might be one person occupying 40 percent of the houses. In some parts of the City, there are large residential lots --with one house-- that in other cities would have four houses, or multi-resident apartment buildings, on them. This affects sales tax collections especially, which is a big source of revenue for cities. You need a lot of residents buying things that are taxed. Aging neighborhoods that are 50 percent single, old people aren't buying a lot of things.

Right now, the east side of Kansas City doesn't have enough police officers to effectively patrol the city--especially at night.

With older people, you need to make it a case of property taxes. Density means THEIR property taxes don't go up, because DENSITY pays for things.

can someone do a "STICKY" somewhere that lists all of the City Council reps' email addresses?

Why don't we force these project to have a better relationship to the public realm? I am all for the density, but jeez...this thing is bad. It is all drive aprons and a tiny lobby. How hateful! (click image to see better detail)

Related: Here is the other project on the same TIF application at 3260 Main. It suffers that same problem, though not quite as bad because the larger lot reduces the dominance of the drive aprons. (click image to see better detail)

That's a problem that has cropped up on a couple of other new buildings. IIRC Centropolis has large louvers at the sidewalk level. One way other cities have addressed this and maintained some flexibility for developers is to institute a point system for new development. There's a list of design features, each with a point value. Projects need to amass a certain number of total points in order to be considered for a permit.