Washington Sq Park between Crown Center/Union Station

[shinatoo]

Loose is KC's best park IMO. Well maintained, always active, and used by a wide demographic. I don't know how they keep the homeless out but I never see any there like I do in the parks around the Plaza.

[TheUrbanRoo]

Loose is KC's best park IMO. Well maintained, always active, and used by a wide demographic. I don't know how they keep the homeless out but I never see any there like I do in the parks around the Plaza.

Easily the best park in KC metro

[Midtownkid]

North Terrace and Kessler parks combine to create quite a large park as well!

We do have a wealth of parkland here in KC. Guests from out of town always remark about the abundant parks and pretty boulevards.

I love that all the parks are not just flat open meadows. Roanoke park is my favorite because of the craggy landscape and all the great nature trails.

[chingon]

You're probably right but what also skews the data is the Boulevards being classified as parks

A Trolley-trail style bike trail down the center of every divided boulevard in the City would go a long way toward making that classification a reality.

[beautyfromashes]

Loose is KC's best park IMO. Well maintained, always active, and used by a wide demographic. I don't know how they keep the homeless out but I never see any there like I do in the parks around the Plaza.

Probably my least popular take ever on this board, but I hate it. Surrounded by pretentiousness, attracting people away from their neighborhood parks that really need activity, crowded and blocked off with weddings and photographers and the pets walk in a loop right next to traffic crowd. Sorry!

[shinatoo]

Loose is KC's best park IMO. Well maintained, always active, and used by a wide demographic. I don't know how they keep the homeless out but I never see any there like I do in the parks around the Plaza.

Probably my least popular take ever on this board, but I hate it. Surrounded by pretentiousness, attracting people away from their neighborhood parks that really need activity, crowded and blocked off with weddings and photographers and the pets walk in a loop right next to traffic crowd. Sorry!

It's great that we have so many to choose from then. I can see why you feel that way.

[Highlander]

Loose is KC's best park IMO. Well maintained, always active, and used by a wide demographic. I don't know how they keep the homeless out but I never see any there like I do in the parks around the Plaza.

Easily the best park in KC metro

I don't think there is any best park in the metro. I love the Mall at Liberty Memorial in PVP. That's the best use of park space in the metro (kind of a civic gathering place) but it's not the entirety of Penn Valley Park which sadly goes downhill to the south and west. The Front Lawn of Swope Park down to the Starlight and the Zoo is a great but underutilized portion of the city's biggest park but it doesn't dovetail in well with the surrounding somewhat blighted neighborhoods. The park is sprawling and kind of an unorganized mess beyond that. Mill Creek Park along Broadway is a small but well positioned park with a great fountain at the south end. Theis and Southmoreland Park are nice but rather niche. I do like Loose Park, it's probably the "best" park in terms of being well maintained and relevant across the entire park but it lacks the big civic institutions associated with Swope or PVP. KC's park scene really needs an overhaul because the current distribution, maintenance and land use in the parks leaves a lot to be desired.

[FangKC]

Swope Park was much different in the 1970s. People used to have picnics. Young people parked their cars along the lanes and played music. You would see others waxing their cars while they talked to friends.

[rxlexi]

Swope Park was much different in the 1970s. People used to have picnics. Young people parked their cars along the lanes and played music. You would see others waxing their cars while they talked to friends.

Yeah, I always wonder about this and would love to have seen it. Prior to the Zoo's unfortunate takeover of the boathouse and lake, I could see how Swope might have actually been quite usable in more typical park-like fashion. It would have still been large, with regional amenities, but the roads and connections seem to have existed to enable broad uses outside those amenities. So many great features here, including awesome hiking/biking trails, dog park, pool, lake, sports fields, and the potential for those typical park activities.

Unfortunately located in a generally unsavory location to most people, if not just plain distant at any rate. So much potential here though, the topography is rugged and beautiful in the way it blends the man-made elements (golf courses, park amenities, trails) with the wooded landscape. Kind of a KC signature with Roanoke, Kessler, and PVP as well.

I wonder if given enough investment and new interconnectivity, Swope could function, at a minimum, as an isolated but well-used drive-in drive-out popular regional park again (i.e. park, enjoy multiple amenities and walks between them, then leave)?

You're probably right but what also skews the data is the Boulevards being classified as parks

A Trolley-trail style bike trail down the center of every divided boulevard in the City would go a long way toward making that classification a reality.

This is such a no-brainer it's frustrating it hasn't happened. Would be amazing, and would connect many of the original KCMO parks as intended, via broad green boulevards.

[herrfrank]

Another problem is the native population of arachnid mites ("chiggers") which are absolutely aggressive in Swope Park and Penn Valley Park. Even with 20% DEET, they still bite. Somehow I don't get attacked as much at Loose Park. Does their conservancy possibly spray the park?

The bug populations limit the usefulness of these public spaces.

[Highlander]

Yeah, I always wonder about this and would love to have seen it. Prior to the Zoo's unfortunate takeover of the boathouse and lake, I could see how Swope might have actually been quite usable in more typical park-like fashion. It would have still been large, with regional amenities, but the roads and connections seem to have existed to enable broad uses outside those amenities. So many great features here, including awesome hiking/biking trails, dog park, pool, lake, sports fields, and the potential for those typical park activities.

Unfortunately located in a generally unsavory location to most people, if not just plain distant at any rate. So much potential here though, the topography is rugged and beautiful in the way it blends the man-made elements (golf courses, park amenities, trails) with the wooded landscape. Kind of a KC signature with Roanoke, Kessler, and PVP as well.

As much as I enjoy the "new" zoo and thought they did a good job in creating the African Plains where the Lagoon once stood, the east side of the park was badly impacted. It's not so much the loss of the boat house but rather the loss of the road connecting the Swope Park pool/soccer field area in the north with Lake of the Woods and the golf courses in the south (once known as Lakeside Drive). There's a simple solution to this problem, widen the Swope Park Memorial Drive towards the Swope Memorial Golf Course but prior to reaching the parking area at the golf course, contour the road to the west along the hillside and let it rejoin the former Lakeside Drive just east Wildcat Drive.

That plan would re-unite the north and south side of the portion of Swope Park east of the Blue River. If well done and well kept, it would be a great addition to that part of the park which really suffers from the lack of connectivity. The resulting road may crowd the outer perimeter of the Chimpanzee exhibit but that exhibit is too deep already and could use a little downsizing. The patrons of the zoo would probably appreciate the smaller but still large enclosure.

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.001818, ... ?entry=ttu

[Major KC Fan]

I commend your suggestion to rejoin the east sides of Swope Park but the last thing that should be reduced in size is the chimpanzee habitat. You’ll notice I called it a habitat and not an exhibit. The KC Zoo chimpanzee habitat has been praised by the likes of Jane Goodall and most other zoological parks are envious of the chimpanzee habitat. The three acres involved allow for the chimps to actively patrol their territory much like they do in the wild. The extensive forest also allows for them to partake in natural tree climbing and foraging activities as they do in the wild.
The ability of the public to see the chimps on demand should be the least concern of anyone truly informed and aware of the environmental needs of a chimpanzee troop. If you subscribe to Netflix I highly recommend that you watch “Chimp Empire” which profiles real life chimp behavior and social structure in the wild. It was filmed in a national park/forest in western Uganda, where I was fortunate enough to observe chimpanzees in their native environment.
For those seeking to observe the chimps at the KC Zoo time your visit for one of the keeper chats when the chimps will definitely be visible (they want the food rewards that are made available to them). Or just hang around the habitat for 20-30 minutes and you should see some of the troop on “patrol”. Many zoos don’t have chimpanzees because of their lack of sizable territory for an appropriate habitat.
If anything the chimpanzee habitat could use some infrastructure upgrades from its original 1995 or so construction. I’m not an employee but I do have close relationships with people in the chimp world.

[FangKC]

Another problem is the native population of arachnid mites ("chiggers") which are absolutely aggressive in Swope Park and Penn Valley Park. Even with 20% DEET, they still bite. Somehow I don't get attacked as much at Loose Park. Does their conservancy possibly spray the park?

The bug populations limit the usefulness of these public spaces.

One doesn't have to expose people to chiggers if there were more shelters and picnic tables.

My memory might be off, but it seems to me that there used to be more scattered picnic tables in Swope Park in grassy areas around the Zoo as well as a lot more trees that provided shade--especially along the drives near the main entrance. I haven't been in the park recently, but the last time I drove through I noticed many of the mature trees were in rough shape. It seems like time to do some mass replanting.

The flower garden near the main entrance is not very appealing, and it just seems the Parks Department has given up.

https://www.google.com/maps/search/swop ... ?entry=ttu

I just remember being amazed at how many people were in the park on the weekends back in the 1970s compared to now.

[Highlander]

I commend your suggestion to rejoin the east sides of Swope Park but the last thing that should be reduced in size is the chimpanzee habitat. You’ll notice I called it a habitat and not an exhibit.

I suspect my suggestion to connect the north and south sides of the eastern park could still be done with no changes to the Chimpanzee habitat. There is room and Swope Memorial Road could stay at its present location to the northern boundary of the enclosure before it contours down the hill towards the old lagoon. Just wondering how close the zoo officials would want a public road to the eastern periphery of the zoo.

[kboish]

The fact that you cannot go between the soccer fields and lake area by foot/bike is a joke. It’s very KC though.

It needs to be connected.

[beautyfromashes]

The fact that you cannot go between the soccer fields and lake area by foot/bike is a joke. It’s very KC though.

It needs to be connected.

I’d love to see the zoo take over the pool area and rebuild the lagoon. Then, connect another bridge from the pool location to the Australia exhibit.

[chingon]

This is such a no-brainer it's frustrating it hasn't happened. Would be amazing, and would connect many of the original KCMO parks as intended, via broad green boulevards.

Yeah, "Bikes on Boulevards". It's taylor-made.