Northlands view on downtown?

[KCgridlock]

For many of us in the Northland, downtown is OK is as
BILL GRAHAM
Columnist

Downtown Kansas City needs a tweak but not an overhaul to keep us happy in the Northland.

The city will also have to embrace what is genuine and not what is contrived, although a consensus definition of success may be difficult to find.

One Northlander told me they liked Kansas City as is because they can get back and forth to a job south of the river without major hassles. Attending events at Bartle Hall or the Folly Theatre or a nightclub is not the challenge as it is in larger, congested cities.

Easy come and easy go may not be as exciting as gridlock and pulsating street life in other major league cities. But maybe we're actually ahead of the pack and don't realize it.

Of course we're spoiled in the Northland. We've been able to live either a few miles from downtown or 30 miles away and get to anything south of the Missouri River with little trouble.

The old Platte County Business and Professional Association slogan keeps haunting us: "Country Living at the City's Doorstep." Well, we've filled in a lot of that countryside since the early 1980s. But you could still accurately say small-town living at the city's doorstep.

When you like life that way, which is why most of us live north, it's hard to get pumped up about trying to create a metropolis atmosphere to rival Denver.

This topic is front and center because The Star is in the midst of a series: Downtown KC: Mending Our Broken Heart.

Many of us didn't know it was broken.

The tall buildings are still imposing. Many people who live north work in them.

But business growth along the Interstate 35 and Interstate 29 corridors has lessened our dependence on downtown for jobs.

Kansas City, North, is becoming more citified and not just a suburb. Towns such as North Kansas City, Gladstone, Liberty, Parkville and Riverside are becoming more potent commercially and they're within eyesight of the tall buildings.

They're successful in part because the market is strong for offices and shopping that are easy to reach and exit.

Downtown was created in another era and the market forces in our time work against it. Business barons once liked having top-floor offices high above floors filled with employees in their suit uniforms. Business was transacted on paperwork hand carried or whisked around in pneumatic tubes. A centralized railroad carried the manufactured goods.

Computers and the trucking industry have changed the scene. But also, employees prefer jobs that make them feel less like a cold-blooded clone, and close to suburban home.

Bully for high-rise condo lovers. May there be more.

But some of us still like trees, grass and gardens.

The Northland does need downtown to perk up some. Adding more good jobs there will boost our home values and will help revitalize some of our older neighborhoods in southern Clay County. If downtown adds to our fun, great.

But we don't need a motorized mosh pit.

Entertainment options are nice. But the fact that demand has not created a more thriving bar scene downtown may speak highly of the majority's lifestyle priorities.

A planned performing arts center is good. But charity and corporate tax deductions will carry it instead of grass-roots support.

Using large chunks of our tax dollars to boost downtown is suspect. There's a good chance venues contrived to appeal to us will not.

There's a little cafe and coffee shop that spills out onto an 18th Street sidewalk, in what some define as downtown. It's stocked with second-hand furniture, no frills. But the conversation is real and sometimes there's music that's hip. It looks bustling when I drive by.

The people involved are building something of quality from the ground up because there was an affordable starting point in an old unused building.

Expensive redevelopment projects, on the other hand, will likely be overpriced for artists and regular folks to make a go. They may be a bit steep for larger commercial enterprises, too, compared with letting the market take its own time.

Most downtowns are in the core of one city, the hub on a wheel.

Our downtown is a close neighbor to several cities. It's still central. But there's no wheel. Rather, it's near the center of individualistic neighborhoods and communities. Together they make a very livable metropolitan area.

How much we participate in Kansas City's downtown resurgence depends on how well the changes there match our heart's desire.


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To reach Bill Graham, reporter and Northland columnist, call (816) 234-5906 or send e-mail to bgraham@kcstar.com.

[trailerkid]

I never noticed this article...but it's ridiculous! Northlanders are happy with downtown because they can get in and get out with little trouble. They are happy because there is no street life to interfere with their cars? Basically no one is there so it's nice. I doubt this is how most Northlanders feel. Most people want to be proud of downtown not embarrassed to bring visitors.

[QueSi2Opie]

I also agree that it's "ridiculous", however, that's how a lot of suburbanites feel. They are only concerned with what's in their own front yards and not with what's goin' on in downtown. The statement about traffic is even more STUPID! Urban sprawl equals increased traffic throughout the metropolitan area makin' it nearly impossible to get anywhere! It seems some area people are satisfied with quiet boring lifesytles filled with only a big grocery store, a mall, a cinema, an AppleBee's and a decent football team...and of course an SUV to get them around town. The fact remains that attendance at most KC museums is low, attendance at most KC events is low and interaction with individuals of a different race, ethnicity or lifesytle is almost non-existent...unless it's rubbin' shoulders at work.
The suburbs have given birth to an uncreative society that has become more "closed" to different people and new ideas. Come out to Johnson County and show me some creativity...95th looks like 119th which looks like 135th...and soon 151st will join in (Home Depot's, Best Buy's, HyVee's, Target's, etc.) Somebody shoot me the next time I drive by the sign that says "Smart Corridor" in Lenexa near K-10. There's nothin' "smart" about developing further and further out, destroyin' our natural enviroment and runnin' away from the so-called "problems" in the urban core. Smart people preserve, break racial/ethnic barriers and tackle their problems head on....NOT FLEE!!!

[KCgridlock]

Couldn't have said it better myself!

[Good2Great]

In defense of the article and the views of the suburbanites....Downtown KC and KC's Civic Leaders are perhaps the worst marketeers on the planet. They have done NOTHING to entice visitors to downtown and even less to entice locals downtown.

We're concerned about the schools we send our kids to, the roads in our towns and the political authorities that govern where we live. Frankly, downtown has ignored the popularity of the burbs, thus creating a diminished need for downtown.

With that said, I'm with you guys on revamping this cowchip and getting a 19th Century downtown (yes, a 19th century downtown is better than the junker we've got.) The only things downtown is currently missing is a cotton gin, a spinning wheel and a big glass case to make downtown the best PRAIRIE museum in the world.

***You have just been introduced to a steel toed Kodiak work boot***

[QueSi2Opie]

That's what we're tryin' to fix...obviously the city is poor and needs our money to make downtown more popular for tourists and businesses. This city is a mess in terms of financial woes. As far as downtown being a place for families to live...well...I can't really name too many inner-cities that are great neighborhoods for children. The Urban core is for culture and diversity (mostly singles and young couples), not for highly rated school districts. But yes, our urban schools are a mess.

[Midtownkid]

I live in the Roanoke neighborhood that is just north of 39th street and west o SW Trafficway. I consider this to be an inner-city neighborhood and it is great for my family and all the other families in it. It is an odd neighborhood being tucked away on a serene boulevard, lined with hundred-year-old mansions that are in great shape. It is unlike any other neighborhood in the city. It's great for kids! I wouldn't live anywhere else in the city.
BTW, QueSi2Opie, I agree with all you said about how the suburbs suck, but aren't you adding to their unearned success by living in JOCO? Move to Brookside or something man!

[QueSi2Opie]

I use to live on 39th Street near State Line...so the neighborhood is familiar But when I said inner-city, I meant particularly the areas between 18th & Vine to the West Bottoms and Crown Center to the Missouri River.
I'm torn between the idea of having the best of the city and the best of "nature" so to speak. While I live near both our jobs (wife and I) in OP, I chose our townhouse/apartment carefully once we were married. I can open my front door and see nothing but woods. As a matter of fact, these complexes are surrounded by woods on three sides. There's only one way in (no-outlet street), and because of that fact, I've seen numerous deer along with raccoons, opossums, woodchucks, foxes, a bobcat, other small rodents, snakes, turtles and birds ranging from cardinals and blue jays to hawks and great blue herons. What can I say, I love animals more than people! And when we look to move in our own home, I want a huge backyard that I can transform into a certified mini-wildlife sanctuary. But I'm not the enemy here...I'll vote "Yes" at every bi-state tax and would love to pay more jus' to fix up the heart of our metro.
To be honest, if I was jus' lookin' for a typical home, I'd live somewhere near Penn Valley College (UMKC homes are always in danger). I enjoy the urban cultural mix, plus I always drive outside of JOCO's comfort zone and have visited every museum and independent art gallery in the KC metro.