Last week several bike/ped advocates met with a couple of KCMO City Council members to talk about policy concerns and how City Hall make help make Kansas City a more bikeable and walkable city.  Most of the new council is very receptive and willing to learn more about bike/ped issues.  Hopefully this new attitude will eventually translate into some tangible improvements in city policy and infrastructure.  In the future we plan to continue reaching out to other council members, as well as Mayor Funkhouser.

First up was Beth Gottstein, 4th District At-Large. This district includes the city’s southwest corridor from the Crossroads District to Waldo. We were joined by Laurie Chipman of the KC Bike Club and Paul Mohr, a former city planner who worked on the BikeKC initiative. Councilmember Gottstein was very interested learning more about bike/ped isues, especially after her experience attending last month’s Ride of Silence. She also had some great advise for us, emphasizing some helpful strategies for forming relationships with like-minded organizations. She is especially interested in issues like childhood obesity, public health, etc. - all things that share a lot of common ground with bicycle and pedestrian issues. Councilmember Gottstein is a frequent bus rider and an occasional Schwinn rider, so she definitely has some first-hand experience with bicycling and walking issues.

Next up was Russ Johnson of the 2nd District, which includes the Platte County part of the city plus the Downtown Loop, River Market, and West Bottoms. I was again joined by Laurie and Paul, plus Brent Hugh of the Missouri Bicycle Federation and Darby Trotter of the Riverfront Heritage Trail. Councilmember Johnson has been a great bike/ped advocate over the past few years, since before running for City Council. He was instrumental in getting funding for the bike lanes near Zona Rosa, and for the new planning process for a City-Wide Trails Plan. Our meeting included much discussion of a proposed bike parking ordinance and opportunities for creating bike lanes when the city resurfaces streets this summer. Councilmember Johnson has ridden over the Heart of the America Bridge, so he has personal knowledge of how badly our region needs safe and convenient access across rivers and other barriers.