Riverfront, why not again?

[KCDevin]

I have looked at some older photos and pictures of KC back in the mid 1800s and am impressed with what I saw. I have been wondering however, why don't we put buildings near the riverfront like it used to be?

although I don't really want to scan the photo im actually talking about,
sort of like having a wall of buildings accross the riverfront.
Create another 1st street (it stops from grand to broadway) running with the railroad.

But i'm talking buildings that are like 5-9 floors, maybe smaller businesses to add to the River Market area

Along with that, add a few docks where people can take rides up and down the Missouri to the Chouteau Bridge and then somewhere up north on the River, and south on the Kansas River.

I think this would be a real tourist getter/attraction, especially history lovers.

[QueSi2Opie]

It wasn't long ago we had two boats, the Missouri River Queen and the American Dinner Cruiser, which first docked on the KCMO side at the end of Main in the 1980s, then moved to River City USA in KCK in the 90s. Both offered scenic cruises on the Muddy Mo'. I had gone on the Missouri River Queen three times (once w/ my grandparents, once for a school field trip, and once on a date) and loved it. Unfortunately, the Kansas City Port Authority was so strict on the riverboats that they both decided to leave Kansas City in the late 1990s. I don't know all the details, but it was both the laws (which favored the barge traffic) and taxes that forced them off the the river. I believe the American went to the Lake of the Ozarks and the Missouri River Queen went to Table Rock Lake.

The casinos had enough money to bend those barge favoring laws of the Port Authority, but later found it was more profitable to keep the casino cruisers (Harrah's North Star, Sam's Town Steamer and Argosy Steamer) land based.

Historically, the only thing that has been changed about the Missouri River is the width. The river was narrowed because of the rich soil for farmland which lied beneath. Too thick to drink, too thin to plow. The river is actually clearer today than it was in the days of Lewis and Clark. They use to call it the "Hungriest River in America" because the state of Missouri (erosion capital of America) had it's land, fields, farms, livestock and families of the early European settlers eaten (or swept away) by the Missouri River as it raged along the valleys. Today, the upstream dams have slowed the river enough to both narrow the stream and control erosion. However, challenges are minimizing chemical wastes in soil (from former chemical plants) to erode into the river and keepin' dirty slobs from using it for a dump site.

[mean]

Why doesn't anybody ever go "down to the river" for boating and recreation? Is because of all the industrial nastiness and the wafting scent of sewage?

[scooterj]

The remains of 1st Street still exist in the wooded area to the north of the River Market, but railroad tracks and a flood wall cut it off from the river. Plus, it's in the future archealogical park, so nothing will get built there as all the original ruins are hidden away in those woods. (Along with a bunch of homeless camps. ).

There's also the remains of a Front Street running along the river in that area that is not cut off from the river by the railroad and flood wall, but that's pretty much what is being converted into the Riverfront Heritage Trail.

[bahua]

The river isn't exactly wide either. For boating and recreation, people generally want big, wide open spaces of water, and the muddy Mo' just isn't that. Regardless of whether it's clean or not(the fact that it's next to KC has nothing to do with its dirtiness), it just isn't a very attractive place for recreation.

What should be done is recreation should be brought to the river. The park by the casino is a nice start, but people need to live there for it to become nice.

[QueSi2Opie]

The river isn't exactly wide either. For boating and recreation, people generally want big, wide open spaces of water, and the muddy Mo' just isn't that. Regardless of whether it's clean or not(the fact that it's next to KC has nothing to do with its dirtiness), it just isn't a very attractive place for recreation.

What should be done is recreation should be brought to the river. The park by the casino is a nice start, but people need to live there for it to become nice.

I don't believe the river's width has anything to do with recreation. Some of the best recreational rivers in Missouri are the Platte, Lamine, Osage and Gasconade, which are all far more narrow rivers, and connected to the Missouri River. The fact that the Missouri River isn't a recreational river is because of a.) powerful undertow that could literally suck and hold people beneath it, submerged in the river, and b.) the swift currents that could send boats crashing into sand bars, pile or rock structures, and dikes.

I think the Missouri River is very attractive if you enjoy scenic wooded river bluffs and watching for wildlife.

[Good2Great]

I have looked at some older photos and pictures of KC back in the mid 1800s and am impressed with what I saw. I have been wondering however, why don't we put buildings near the riverfront like it used to be?

although I don't really want to scan the photo im actually talking about,
sort of like having a wall of buildings accross the riverfront.
Create another 1st street (it stops from grand to broadway) running with the railroad.

But i'm talking buildings that are like 5-9 floors, maybe smaller businesses to add to the River Market area

Along with that, add a few docks where people can take rides up and down the Missouri to the Chouteau Bridge and then somewhere up north on the River, and south on the Kansas River.

I think this would be a real tourist getter/attraction, especially history lovers.

Ummmm...you do realize the "older photos" you referenced (and displayed) are CARTOONS don't you?

[phxcat]

He knows- he said the photo he was refering to he didn't want to scan.That might be an intersting backdrop to the archeological site, if that were feasible. Does anyone kow what that sight will eventually look like?

Looking at St. Louis, someone on SSP posted photos of the pre-Arch riverfront- it looks like there are only a few blocks left of what was once a great river front- but those few blocks are preserved, and if you have been down there, they really give a taste for the city as it once was.

[TheDude]

mean has a point--go down there some day when the wind is out of the north and you get a whiff of something that smells like a dog food plant.

my question is who in the hell would want to take a boat out on that river anyhow??? so you can cruise the east bottoms and look at all the creosote soaked telephone poles leaching poision into the watershed? so you can troll for hooker pieces? only nastier waterway in town is flush creek--saw a guy swimming in it once, i think he was from russia? tried to warn him but he flipped me off so i threw a dead rat at him.


"I will tend my hat to the new state
Take a stern for the new revolution
Smile and grin you at the change everyone around
Cancel my guitar and game
Immediately like yesterday
Then I am received on my knees and am asked
We is not deceived again
You are not deceived again"

[Good2Great]

That was no Russian! He works at the Full Emplyment Council.

[TheDude]

the first route ATA should cancel is the one that traverses brush creek--people can swim to work--get a good work out and perhaps catch a little lunch along the way.

[QueSi2Opie]

mean has a point--go down there some day when the wind is out of the north and you get a whiff of something that smells like a dog food plant.

That's because there is a dog food plant near the river as well as a bunch of other smelly chemical and waste plants. None which are actually drained into the river. Believe it or not, the river isn't a big flow of toxic waste. It's actually vital for the fish that live there as well as the birds of prey who nest along the banks and eat those fish, along with the mammals that drink from the river.

As far as Brush Creek, at least they have a Fiesta Cruise and plan to construct some businesses down there.

[Good2Great]

mean has a point--go down there some day when the wind is out of the north and you get a whiff of something that smells like a dog food plant.

That's because there is a dog food plant near the river as well as a bunch of other smelly chemical and waste plants. None which are actually drained into the river. Believe it or not, the river isn't a big flow of toxic waste. It's actually vital for the fish that live there as well as the birds of prey who nest along the banks and eat those fish, along with the mammals that drink from the river.

As far as Brush Creek, at least they have a Fiesta Cruise and plan to construct some businesses down there.

I'd pitch in $100 to watch you eat a fish that came outta that cesspool.

[GRID]

Brush Creek is awesome, I am amazed at how many people ingore this treasure. Indian Creek in Leawood, have you ever smelled that?

If people would get off thier azzes and go down and enjoy brush creek and all parks and public spaces that connect to it like the trolley trail, thies park, kauffman gardens etc, then this constant brush creek slamming would go away and KC would have a trully awesome urban water corridor, but without people, brush creek is just well, brush creek.

Same goes for the Mo River. Once they connect Berkley to the rivermarket bridge and beyond, that will be an awesome space. But people will jump on the "slam it" bangwagon a week after it opens and it too will join the long list of KC spaces that people don't visit.

It's the KC way...

[QueSi2Opie]

I'd pitch in $100 to watch you eat a fish that came outta that cesspool.

I don't fish, but I see people fishing from the banks of both the Missouri and Kansas Rivers quite often. Give me a $100 and I'll eat one! Have you ever eaten at Jumpin' Catfish? Those yummy catfish come from rivers connected to the Missouri...jus' downstream from KC. Remember, the Lake of the Ozarks is even connected to the Missouri River from the Osage River. Only difference is its appearance is much cleaner because soil erosion in smaller streams and lakes is less noticable. People seem to believe that the horrible smell of sewer is the Missouri River, well it isn't. Go to Parkville or Lexington and see if you can smell any kind of sewage.

Favorite view of the Missouri River: Fort Osage in Sibley, MO.

[QueSi2Opie]

In KC, many storm sewers combine with the sanitary sewer system that goes directly to the "deep tunnels" (instead of overflowing into area rivers), where it is stored until it can be treated at the wastewater treatment plants. If you smell stinky $hit near the Missouri River (besides the dog food and other chemical plants along Front Street and in North KC) it's the Arrowhead Pumping Station and Glen J. Hopkins Wastewater Treatment Plant in KCMO and the Kaw Point Wastewater Treatment Plant in KCK.

[GRID]

In KC, many storm sewers combine with the sanitary sewer system that goes directly to the "deep tunnels" (instead of overflowing into area rivers), where it is stored until it can be treated at the wastewater treatment plants. If you smell stinky $hit near the Missouri River (besides the dog food and other chemical plants along Front Street and in North KC) it's the Arrowhead Pumping Station and Glen J. Hopkins Wastewater Treatment Plant in KCMO and the Kaw Point Wastewater Treatment Plant in KCK.

It never smells too bad by Downtown, only out by I-435 ocationally. But the same could be said for major waterways in any major city.

Like I said, SMELL INDIAN CREEK sometime. But that can be ignored because it's impossible for Johnson County to smell like shit.

[QueSi2Opie]

Like I said, SMELL INDIAN CREEK sometime. But that can be ignored because it's impossible for Johnson County to smell like shit.

I bike near both Indian Creek and Tomahawk Creek quite often. Both are connected to the Blue River which is connected to the Missouri River. Try tracking down the smell sometime. I bet it'll take you to an underground sewer man hole.

[GRID]

Like I said, SMELL INDIAN CREEK sometime. But that can be ignored because it's impossible for Johnson County to smell like shit.

I bike near both Indian Creek and Tomahawk Creek quite often. Both are connected to the Blue River which is connected to the Missouri River. Try tracking down the smell sometime. I bet it'll take you to an underground sewer man hole.

It comes from the treatment plant near Leawood park.

BTW, I rode that new section of trail from Leawood through Watts Mill. It's kind of like the roads, you know when you cross state lines. But they are trying I suppose.

[QueSi2Opie]

It comes from the treatment plant near Leawood park.

BTW, I rode that new section of trail from Leawood through Watts Mill. It's kind of like the roads, you know when you cross state lines. But they are trying I suppose.

Yep, the Johnson County Wastewater Plant.

I've rode that trail from State Line to Mid-America Nazarene College in Olathe. Another great bike trail is the Mill Creek Streamway Trail which goes from 125th Street in Olathe to Nelson Island on the Kansas River in Shawnee. Off the subject I guess, but does anybody recommend any other KC area bike friendly trails (paved or crushed limestone)?