Office: 6th District (In-District)
Candidate: John Sharp

1. Bicycling and walking account for less than 4% of all trips made in Kansas City. This is less than half the national average.

Question: How would you increase this rate up to the national average?

Considering how inconvenient and unsafe it is to walk and bike around Kansas City, I’m surprised the rate isn’t even lower. To increase this rate we must develop a connecting network of on-street bicycle routes (including bike lanes whenever possible), install bike lockers at ATA park and ride lots, extend sidewalks to all residential neighborhoods (with priority given to sidewalks along streets with relatively high volumes of pedestrians, leading to schools and connecting neighborhoods to bus stops), provide more visible crosswalks, eliminate highway barriers to bike and pedestrian traffic and add safe bike and pedestrian lanes on bridges over the Missouri River. As a member of the Regional Transit Alliance, an organization that is working for safe bike and pedestrian lanes on the new Paseo Bridge, I realize how unsafe our current bridges are for cyclists and pedestrians.

2. Since 2002 Kansas City has had a Council-approved plan called BikeKC to create a network of on-street bikeways throughout all parts of the city. To date very little of that plan has been implemented, due to funding and organizational problems.

Question: How would you work to implement the existing plan?

First, this five-year-old plan must be updated.  Then, adequate funding must be provided to begin implementing it in a coherent fashion.  The prohibition against using development impact fees for bicycle facilities must be repealed.  Developers should never be excused from paying for bike lanes when they are required to pay for other street improvements.  But developer fees and PIAC funds will never be adequate to develop a connecting network of bicycle routes throughout the city.  A dedicated funding source must be identified.  I favor dedicating a portion of traffic ticket fines and parking fines for this purpose

3. Since 2003 Kansas City has had a Council-approved walkability plan, which identified several neighborhoods with deficient or non-existent sidewalk networks.

Question: How would you bring sidewalks to all neighborhoods in Kansas City?

Although my neighborhood at least has poorly maintained sidewalks on one side of our streets, many neighborhoods in south Kansas City such as Ruskin Heights have no sidewalks at all. This is extremely dangerous, particularly for young children walking to school. When I previously served on the City Council, I worked with PIAC representatives from my district to provide funding for sidewalks leading to some of our schools, but there was never anywhere near enough money to make a major impact. I believe sidewalks should be considered public assets, and a dedicated portion of capital improvements funding should be set aside annually for building sidewalks, starting along streets with relatively high volumes of pedestrian traffic (particularly those that are the most dangerous where pedestrians either have to walk in the street or on the edge of ditches)

4. City policy treats sidewalks as the property of the home or business owner. Anyone who wants to, however, can use the sidewalks in front of a home or business.

Question: do you think the city should consider the sidewalk to be a public asset—part of the thoroughfare—or the personal property of the property owner?

I have always believed sidewalks should be treated as public assets and the city should be responsible for building and maintaining them. Many homeowners just don’t have the money to pay costly sidewalk assessments, even though they badly want sidewalk improvements. When elected, I will fight hard for this change in policy. If we can’t get it adopted citywide, at least we should be able to get it adopted for arterial and collector streets.

5. Kansas City's bicycle and pedestrian programs are haphazard and dispersed through many departments, leaving us with no coherent policy and no mechanism to oversee the policy that does exist.

Question: How would you create an integrated transportation system that includes bicycles and pedestrians?

The city’s new bike and pedestrian coordinator should work with a broad-based committee, ideally appointed by the mayor to increase its clout, to develop a comprehensive plan to make Kansas City cyclist and pedestrian friendly and to allow cyclists and pedestrians to get to their destinations safely. All involved city departments should be represented on the committee, as well as advocates for the interests of cyclists and pedestrians. The coordinator should report directly to the City Council at least annually on both progress and obstacles to progress. When I was a member of the Missouri House of Representatives decades ago, I sponsored the first successful legislation in Missouri to recognize bicyclists as having the same rights as motorists, so I have always been committed to promoting cycling. Getting direct annual reports will allow cycling and pedestrian advocates on the Council such as me to visibly lend our support to the coordinator’s efforts

6. The city currently relies CMAQ and Transportation Enhancements for most of its bike/ped funding. This forces us to compete with all of our suburban neighbors for funding.

Question: Would you support the budgeting of city money for bicycle/pedestrian facilities, and if so how would you accomplish it?

I strongly favor budgeting city money annually for bike and pedestrian improvements. Relying on PIAC, developer contributions, CMAQ and Transportation Enhancements funding is totally inadequate and unreliable. I favor earmarking a portion of traffic violation and parking fines for bike and pedestrian improvements, plus providing additional general revenue as needed. If the city quits handing out tax breaks to every influential developer that requests them, it will have more revenue for high priority needs such as these