Toellner Tells it

Americans Driving Less -- being driven by younger Americans

According to a recent article by the Wall Street Journal, the number of miles driven has dropped continually for the last 92 months.

This is the longest drop in miles driven since 1971.

While there have been other drops due to high gas prices, driving has generally rebounded fairly quickly. But so far, not this time. Since June 2005, the number of miles driven has dropped 8.75%

On top of higher gas prices, there are two other primary factors. 

    #1) Aging baby boomers are drivign less -- Americans tend to start driving less after they turn 55

    #2) More surprisingly, between 2001 and 2009, the average number of miles driven tby 16-34 year olds has dropped 23%.  Meanwhile, Public transit use for this age group is up 40% since 2001 and Bicycling is up 24% of this time.

The article highlights a lot of hypothesis about why this might be happening, but the bottom line is that the trend lines are becoming pretty clear. The two largest demographic segments in the US are both driving less, one because they're getting older, and the other for other cultural reasons.

Given this, I think it's been great that Kansas City has been investing more into Bike Routes in the city (and published a snazzy new Bike Map) and has approved the building of a new, modern trolley system that will improve public transit for decades to come (with the city working on more routes). It's important that as the population changes, that KC stay up with the trends and remain relevant to the needs and wants of younger, and older, populations. 

KC Pet Project Opens Northland Location for the Holidays

Last year, Kansas City, MO initiated a search for a new organization to run the Kansas City, MO animal shelter that resides just south of the Sports Complex at 4400 Raytown Road.

In October, they chose a new organization, the Kansas City Pet Project, to run that shelter --- and this new group began running the shelter on January 1 of this year.

Since taking over the shelter in January, the new organization has been sprucing the place up, building new play yards for the dogs, and overall improving the image and the lives for the animals at the shelter.

Since taking over in January, the KC Pet Project has saved the lives of 85% of all the dogs and cats that have entered the shelter.

The group is now embarking on its newest project: expanding its presence North of the River.

Starting November 13, the group will be doing adoptions, and selling pet retail items at 7351 NW 87th Terrace -- in Zona Rosa Shopping Center. The retail location will remain open throughout the holidays and until Mid-January. The new space will not intake any animals, but will be housing 25-30 dogs and cats daily for adoptions.

KC Pet Project is the highest volume animal shelter in the metro, serving about 8,000 homeless animals a year. The new shelter location north of the river will help them expand their footprint and save more animals during the holidays.

So if you live North of the River (or even if you don't), be sure to check out the new KC Pet Project location at Zona Rosa and meet a new family friend, or buy some goodies for an existing one.

Disclosure: In the interest of full disclosure, I am a co-founder, and member of the Board of Directors for the KC Pet Project.

Squier Park Homes Tour set for October 20

A couple of weeks ago I noted that fall is the time of year when many of Kansas City's historic neighborhoods open up their homes and do homes tours. Hyde Park hosted theirs a couple of weeks ago (and had more than 1400 people attend), and on Saturday, October 20, it is Squier Park's turn.

Squier Park is a lesser known neighborhood than many of the others, in part, because it's relatively small -- encompassing only 16 blocks. However, the neighborhood was developed between 1887 and 1915 has has a lot of historic charm. The neighborhood is rests between Troost and Paseo, between Armour and 39th streets.

The neighborhood has a lot historical character and charm, and the neighborhood leaders are also working very hard to elevate the neighborhood among the high-profile neighborhoods in the city. Just this year, the neighborhood was listed on the National Register of Historic places -- only the second neighborhood east of Troost to get the designation.

This is also a great neighborhood for a homes tour -- because of its relatively small size, the tour tends to be very walkable for just about everyone.

Cost is $10 per person -- free for children 12 and under. Check in is at 36th and Forest Ave. The tour runs from 1pm to 5pm.

The homes featured on this blog post are just three of the 5 homes that will be involved in the tour. KC is lucky to still have so many great neighborhoods and great historic homes, so head on out on Saturday and check out one of them.

Brush Creek Trail

Ok. So, I've been awfully busy lately with another project that not only has kept me away from this blog, but also away from a lot of the activities I like to do. However, over the summer I saw that the city had been working on some portions of the Eastern part of the Brush Creek trail, so, last week I dusted off my bike and went for a ride along the newly finished part of the trail.

And I have to say, kudos to Kansas City for finishing this part of the trail and for doing a great job on it.

For those that don't know, the trail along Brush Creek starts around the plaza area -- and then runs out past the Kaufmann Gardens area. At that point, until recently, there were parts of the trail that existed, and parts that didn't. But at the Kaufmann gardens, you can take the trail across the Troost bridge to the South of the creek, then follow Volker for a few hundred yards, and then go back down to the creek, cross a foot bridge over the creek, and then continue east for several miles now along the North side of Brush Creek.

The trail follows the creek and goes under the major intersection bridges, Paseo, Prospect, 71 Highway, Cleveland, etc, -- but is a very pleasant ride/run. They've put in some nice wildlife areas along the creek, and even a huge, nice waterfall and an ampitheater. Honestly, I greatly enjoyed the ride and in places the trail actually resembles many of the great urban biking trails in this country. Seriously, it's that good.

The trail now functions as a continuous trail along the creek until it peters out just past Elmwood (there is an overlook that overlooks another waterfall area there) -- although you can cross Clever IV Boulevard and continue on the trail along Clever for several more miles (to about 35th street or so).

I snapped a few photos along the bike route -- they were taken with my iPhone, so I'm not going to win any awards for the photography, but I think it will give you a feel for parts of the trail.

Now, while the city and the parks department deserve some kudos for their work on this, there are still a few issues with the trail. Brush creek still has a LOT of trash in it -- which definitely hurts the feel of the ride. If the city can ever figure out a way to clean up Brush Creek, it will certainly impact how nice the trail is.

But I do recommend people use the trail -- it really is nice, and is much prettier and easier to navigate than the very popular Trolly Track trail.

Hyde Park Homes Tour, October 6

One of the first things I really fell in love with 17 years ago when I moved to Kansas City was the city's historic neighborhoods and buildings. While many cities, particularly out west, were largely populated during the 50s and 60s, Kansas City had one of it's largest growth spurts between the 1880s and 1930s (largely because of easy transit access via rail and the Missouri River). The result is that Kansas City has a LOT of great old homes -- many of them clustered in old neighborhoods.

Another great thing, is that while neighborhoods continue to try to attract people back to the older population centers, they compete by having homes tours to allow people to tour these historic homes. And Fall is one of the key times for these homes tours.

One of the first ones of the season is in Hyde Park. Hyde Park is one of many great historic neighborhoods in Kansas City -- and rose up mostly between the 1900s and 1920. The neighborhood also has a lot of diversity in its homes -- including Jansen Place mansions, Kansas City Shirtwaist style homes, Arts and Crafts style homes, smaller bungalows and large apartment buildings.

The homes on this year's tour mirror that diverstiy and time frame with homes dating from 1900 to 1921 on the tour.

The tour is on Saturday, October 6 -- from 10 am to 6 pm.  Cost is $13 for the tour ($11 for students/seniors) -- or you get a $2 discount if your purchase tickets in advance.

Parking is throughout the neighborhood -- or, you can stop at the Stine and McClure (3325 Gillham Plaza) and take advantage of shuttle buses that will run continuously throughout the day taking you to the homes on the tour. There will also be a couple of the newly renovated apartments along Armour available for showing, a classic car show (3400 block of Kenwood), and Kansas City Pet Project, a new organization that is now operating the Kansas City, MO Animal Shelter will also have some pets available for adoptions at the home on the 3300 block of Harrison.

All of the homes pictured on this blog posting will be part of the 2012 Hyde Park Homes Tour. You can find out more about the tour, and the specific homes, here.

This is always a great event --and a great time to enjoy and learn about a little bit of Kansas City's rich history.