Re: Creative ideas for Penn Valley Park
Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2006 2:26 pm
I greatly dislike PVP and think it's a huge waste of space. Rip it out and put in some mixed-used development.
I agreeKard wrote: I greatly dislike PVP and think it's a huge waste of space. Rip it out and put in some mixed-used development.
I'd be okay with that. An aquarium might work, although I'd rather see that on the Riverfront.Kard wrote: I greatly dislike PVP and think it's a huge waste of space. Rip it out and put in some mixed-used development.
yep.warwickland wrote: here here. they need to carve out a more useful, neighborhood park out of the wasted space, and line the park with a semi-dense, mixed use neighborhood. now.
Considering the so-called "park" has been around since the city inception...not likely.chrizow wrote: any estimates on how likely that would be?
chrizow wrote:we on this board have all the vision! and none of the power or money!
See, it's people like this who need to be running this city.....not economists who don't want to take chances.thedream wrote: Penn Valley Park is a testament to the old Kansas City Parks and boulevard system. For the people of old Kansas City to reserve such a large part of the urban core for green space is impressive and intelligent with regards to urban planning. This buffer between downtown and Mid-town is really a symbol of the Mid-west's obsession with wide open spaces.
I know she has fallen into the darkness of the city's infrastructure cuts of the 80's and 90's. However I see an opportunity in the near future to resurrect her and carve her into one of the great jewels of Kansas City.
I have a plan to accomplish just that. It will take time and a lot of effort but, I am hoping several companies and public officials are ready to work together to give new life back to Penn Valley Park. This plan should be able to please everyone from every sector, from Government officials to historians and private interest.
Just imagine watching your kids play a little league game with the Kansas City skyline as a backdrop. Just imagine spending a quiet afternoon on a park bench reading as the city passes by. Just imagine playing a tennis match on your lunch hour. Just imagine a tribute to the soldiers who fell in World War I, so moving it represents each one of them individually. Just imagine skipping out of the office early to go fishing in the heart of the city. Just imagine taking a sunset stroll through the lively and welcoming 175 acres of beautifully manicured lawns and gardens. Just Imagine....
I don't just imagine. I know it will be so.
I don't think it is that simple. Yes while I've heard that they are very underfunded and we can see the lack of results in places that have been directly under their control....I still argue that is it much more than that. You must admit that is isn't like PVP's lawn isn't mowed or trash isn't picked up. The park doesn't suffer from that problem as much as it suffers from a city wide problem. An issue that people don't use the park. I don't see the park as dirty. Personally, the problem is much more with a lack of flow, roads intersecting key areas, paths leading to nowhere, steep hills, lack of residential directly around it, no signage, no major attraction (zoo, looping bike trail, a museum that isn't yet open, an aquarium, etc), and shady parts. Yes with a very well funded parks and rec we could have parts of the park more monitored (over by the scout), more money put into signage, and it would be very likely to have more weight at city hall when it came to hosting events at the park.tat2kc wrote: kc-vino, its really pretty simple. The parks and rec dept. is mostly and independent board. They don't answer to the city council. They also have not been capable of maintaining anything. Case Park and another park in the loop is being maintained by the DCID folks, not the parks people. The Zoo fell into disrepair while under Parks control. Same for the Liberty Memorial. They are also responsible for maintaining the boulevards, and we can see how crappy most of them are. Look at the crumbling memorials and fountains along the Paseo. Look at the conditions of the various community centers.
The only reason I voted for the restoration of the Liberty Memorial was the fact that the memorial would be run by a board OTHER than the parks dept. The Parks and Rec department is a "KC Old School" kind of organization. They are overextended, and underfunded, and yet continue to try to expand their holdings, and build new facilities, which are disasters. (see the westside community center). they are the reason Penn Valley and other parks are falling apart.
i thought penn valley park was not developed because the topography wasnt as convenient as adjacent parcels, and it became a shantytown but i guess im wrong.thedream wrote: Penn Valley Park is a testament to the old Kansas City Parks and boulevard system. For the people of old Kansas City to reserve such a large part of the urban core for green space is impressive and intelligent with regards to urban planning. This buffer between downtown and Mid-town is really a symbol of the Mid-west's obsession with wide open spaces.
Actually, Back at the turn of the century, the area where Union Station sits, down in the railroad bottoms, was a shanty town and the park was put in place as a buffer between the nice, new suburban neighborhoods that were Hyde Park and Old Hyde Park. The huge park was there to prevent the riff raff from the bottoms from infiltrating the nice, southern neighborhoods. The irony is that as the park still sits as a hole in the middle of urban redevelopment, it is also a symbol of Kansas City's early desire to create sprawl and leave the city behind.warwickland wrote: i thought penn valley park was not developed because the topography wasnt as convenient as adjacent parcels, and it became a shantytown but i guess im wrong.
well, it shouldn't just be around the perimeter....75% of the park should be replaced with a hilly and gridlike neighborhood of townhomes and 3-6 story apartment buildings. i would be ok even with beige new stuff like the buildings at Gillham Row. it doesn't even need any businesses, necessarily - just rooftops rooftops rooftops. that's what downtown KC needs.LenexatoKCMO wrote: I don't see how building a perimeter of townhouses or condos around the parks edge does anything other make this problem worse.
urban development of some sort of highly connected grid like chriz suggests, with allocations for an off street bike trail would ideally improve connections to penn valley. a very small but urbane /walkable mixed use commercial node with a few sidewalk cafes facing the park would be nice. definitely no autocentric "pad" or suburban apartment type development, that would make things worse.LenexatoKCMO wrote: I don't necessarily have a problem with commercial development of some type taking place in the park but all of these calls for development around the perimeter seem like a recipe for exacerbating the park's number one problem. I still say that the number one problem facing the park is that it's perimeter is largely impassable and the obvious access points are few and far between. I don't see how building a perimeter of townhouses or condos around the parks edge does anything other make this problem worse.