UMB Bank and the City are kicking off a big project to make Grand a truly grand street with new sidewalks, streetscape, natural stormwater retention, crosswalks, bike lanes, and maybe even bike sharing.  There is even talk of fancy separated bike lanes like ones popping up in Chicago, DC, and New York.

Tonight’s meeting at UMB Bank’s headquarters is your chance to learn about the project and support the creation of world-class bike route through Downtown. BikeWalkKC has all the details.

We have plenty of plans and policies in place to make the city more bike friendly, so this summer is the perfect time to make those plans a reality with paint on the pavement for bike lanes, sharrows, and crosswalks.

Email the Mayor and City Council now, and look for postcards around town and at local bike events.

Wasting easy opportunities to encourage alternatives to driving won’t help the City’s efforts to improve it Bicycle Friendly Community designation or acheive the new Walk Friendly Community award. Small oversights like this show that the City still needs to do more to incorporate bicycling, walking, and transit into the culture of City Hall.

News from City Hall
City Communications Office
City of Kansas City, Mo.
www.kcmo.org
CONTACT: City Communications Office, 816-513-1349
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 27, 2011

Heavier than usual traffic expected Tuesday

The City of Kansas City, Mo., is alerting motorists who commute to the Central Business District to expect heavier than usual traffic on Tuesday, May 31. The “Get Motivated” event scheduled for the Sprint Center will bring an additional 17,000 people into the Central Business District on Tuesday. To facilitate this number of people, Grand Boulevard, in the vicinity of the Sprint Center, will close from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. for vehicular traffic.

Monthly parkers in City garages will not be affected. However, daily parkers near the Sprint Center and City Hall will experience a greater demand at parking facilities and are advised to arrive early and carpool, if possible.

The City recommends attendees of the “Get Motivated” event to utilize parking at Kemper Arena, 1800 Genessee Street. A shuttle service provided by Get Motivated will operate between Kemper Arena parking lots and the Sprint Center.

Kemper parking lots A, B and D will be available and can be accessed from Genessee Street off of I-670 or Kansas Avenue to American Royal Drive. 23rd Street is also open with access to Kemper Arena. Directional signage and parking staff will direct cars to appropriate lots.

The parking shuttles will drop off and pick up on Oak Street outside Sprint Center.

Media inquiries about traffic congestion and municipal parking should be directed to Dennis Gagnon, public information officer, 816-513-2659.

–30–

 

BikeWalkKC has the details . . .

Just three years after the Mayor and City Council set a goal for Kansas City become a Platinum Bicycle Friendly City by 2020, news comes that we’ve reached the first milestone with a Bronze Bicycle Friendly City award. Today the League of American Bicyclists is recognizing the huge strides the City has made since our infamous 2008 BBC Radio documentary about being one of the worst bicycling cities in America.

KCMO now joins Shawnee (also Bronze) as the second metro city to receive this coveted designation. Other Broze-level peer cities include St Louis, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Charlotte, Columbus, Pittsburgh, and San Antonio.

Outgoing Mayor Mark Funkhouser challenged Mayor-elect Sly James and the new City Council to work even harder to move up to the Silver level on the way to Platinum.

News from City Hall
City Communications Office
City of Kansas City, Mo.
www.kcmo.org
CONTACT: City Communications Office, 816-513-1349
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 30, 2011

City receives bronze rating for bicycle friendliness
The City of Kansas City, Mo., has been recognized by The League of American Bicyclists as a Bicycle Friendly Community at the Bronze level. A Bicycle Friendly Community welcomes cyclists by providing safe accommodation for cycling and encouraging people to bike for transportation and recreation.

In spring of 2008, following a critical news story from the British Broadcasting Corporation that rated Kansas City as one of the worst cities for bicyclists, Mayor Mark Funkhouser announced his endorsement of an action plan that outlined steps leading to the City of Kansas City, Mo., achieving Platinum designation by the League of American Bicyclists by the year 2020. The Bronze level rating represents a critical first step along the way to 2020.

“We’ve made a lot of progress toward making Kansas City more bicycle-friendly since announcing this initiative three years ago,” said Mayor Mark Funkhouser. “I’m pleased we’ve reached the Bronze level, and urge the incoming Mayor and Council to push Kansas City toward a Platinum Rating by the year 2020. A strong community for bicyclists is a healthy, environmentally-friendly, family-friendly community. And those factors will make Kansas City economically strong as well. Next step: Silver. Let’s keep moving.”

Since 2008, the City has made considerable strides in improving infrastructure for bicyclists by adding bicycle lanes, signed routes and bike parking facilities; removing hazardous drainage grates; and working with the local bicycle community.

“We still have work ahead to accomplish the goal of a Platinum designation by 2020,” said Deb Ridgway, bicycle and pedestrian coordinator for the City. “This is affirmation that we are doing the right things and heading along a path that will realize the goal.”

The League of American Bicyclists indicated that the designation was the result of careful review of the City’s application and consultation with local cyclists. In February 2015, the designation will be due for renewal and re-evaluation. As the City continues to make improvements to its bicycle infrastructure, it is anticipated that a greater designation may be realized at that time.

Media inquiries about this topic should be directed to Deb Ridgway, bicycle and pedestrian coordinator for the City, 816-513-2592 or Dennis Gagnon, public information officer, 816-513-2659.

 

Rosedale Walking School Bus

Tonight the Kansas City, KS/Wyandotte County Board of Commissioners will vote on a Complete Streets resolution, so that someday soon these kids in Rosedale will sidewalks upon which to walk to school.

The Commission meeting is tonight at 7:00 p.m.  Rosedale Healthy Kids Initiative is organizing a show of force in the audience, and BikeWalkKC is leading a ride to KCK City Hall.  Get all the details here.

Bike/ped projects are mostly funded from two sources, 1) the General Fund and 2) the half-cent capital improvements sales tax.

General Fund
The biggest impact on General Fund cuts would be to the city staff who design bike/ped projects and deliver programs.  The Public Works Department has two staff dedicated to this – a Bike/Ped Coordinator and a Project Manager.  Significant layoffs of city staff would be likely without the earnings tax, and the bike/ped program would not be immune. Without staff, we’d go back to the days where no trails or bike lanes got built because we had no one at City Hall to do it.

Capital Improvements Sales Tax
This dedicated infrastructure tax is the primary source of funds to build trails, bike lanes, sidewalks, etc.  This tax wouldn’t go away, but most of it would shift to emergency maintenance. There would be no money left to build new trails or bike lanes, and very little money to maintain the existing facilities.

Law Enforcement
The Police Department is largely funded by the General Fund and earnings tax, so it would also be subject to significant cuts.  As inadequate as current traffic law enforcement is, imagine how little attention we would get if the KCPD was laying off homicide detectives and narcotics officers.

Replacing the earnings tax
Cities without earnings taxes generally have much higher property taxes and sales taxes, as well as higher fees on trash collection, utility bills, etc. The City estimates property taxes on the average house would go up by $1,000 a year, and/or the sales tax would have to go over 13%. Landlords will surely pass on the higher property taxes to tenants. Both tax increases would go over state caps and require permission from Jefferson City, and it’s unlikely the folks in Jeff City would let us city folk raise our own taxes.

A sales tax of 13% could devastate bike shops in the city limits.  Our local bike shops already operate on very small profit margins and would have to pass the higher sales tax onto customers. KCMO bike shops will be at a huge disadvantage with their suburban competitors.

Consider your own budget. Would 1% of your earnings be more or less than a $1,000 property tax increase?  Would that 1% tax cut be worth paying a 13% sales tax?  Would it be worth traveling to the suburbs to shop when stores in the city limits relocate or close?

Learn more from the two campaigns:

• Anti-earnings tax: kctaxreform.com
• Pro-earnings tax: keepkcalive.com

Tonight Thursday April 7th the Wyandotte County/Kansas City, KS Commission will vote on a Complete Streets ordinance.  If you live, work, bike, or walk in KCK, please attend the Commission meeting tonight and join other bicyclists and pedestrians in a show of support.

The meeting is easy to remember, it’s all lucky 7s: 7:00 p.m. at City Hall, 701 North 7th Street. BikeWalkKC has more info, a copy of the ordinance, and a sample letter to send to your Commissioners.

The entire length of Lee’s Summit Road from 40 Highway to Colbern Road is being widened over the next several years, and most of it will have on-street bike lanes thanks to the City of KCMO.  Since the City of Lee’s Summit has a de facto policy against using bike lanes, their small segment at the southern end of the road was slated to have shoulders and sidepath trail.

Now the city has removed shoulders from the plan and replaced them a four-lane arterial road.  If you live, work, or ride in the City of Lee’s Summit, please stop by this important public meeting tonight:

Meeting details (Tues, March 29th, Lee’s Summit City):
City of Lee’s Summit, public meeting on Lee’s Summit Road
4-6 p.m., March 29, 2011
Oakwood Baptist Church, 7600 Lee’s Summit Road, Kansas City, Mo

If you can’t attend in person, please email smfrost@transystems.com with a message similar to this:

I strongly support on-street accommodations for bicycling on Lee’s Summit Road.  A road that has only a multi-use path is not a Complete Street and does not meet the needs of bicyclists.  It makes no sense to build Lee’s Summit’s portion of the road as a four lane road when Kansas City’s section will be a two lane road. It makes no sense to omit on-street bicycle accommodations from Lee’s Summit section of the road, when Kansas City is including them on its section.