Toellner Tells it

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.

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.

 

Chalk art promotes streetcar line

On my way to lunch today, I passed this new piece of chalk art on Main, just North of 18th Street. The art is an almost obvious set of rail tracks directing people to ourstreetcar.com. Instead of being a website with information about the downtown street car plan, the url takes you to a neighbor.ly url that is going to, eventually, try to crowd-source some of the funding necessary to build the street-car line.  

Personally I'm not sure how viable crowdsourcing this type of $$ is, but I do applaud their efforts. While the idea of a streetcar line in Kansas City has been very controversial, it seems very obvious to me that Kansas City NEEDS to develop a fixed transit line.

I realize that the initial cost of rail always seems to be more expensive than bus transit -- which, short term, is always a more efficient way to move people about in a city.

But the long-term impact of rail is much different than bus.

1) Fixed rail lines build density -- and have proven over and over again to do so. With the density comes increased tax revenue per square mile, more people, a more vibrant urban environment -- and yes, more people to ride public transit.

2) Once established, rail lines are less expensive to operate than buses -- meaning less need/opportunities to cut existing services every time the budget gets tight (which is currently happening now with our bus lines).

2) There has also been talk about adding commuter rail lines into the city. While commute times in Kansas City are relatively low, it's in part because our state and federal highway departments are spending hundreds of millions of dollars annually in rebuilding major highway interchanges -- such as at I-435 and I-70 near the sports complex, and the Grandview Triangle - -in recent years. Without commuter rail, major, and costly highway infastructure improvements will remain necessary.  However, commuter rail lines need to feed into something once they reach the central business district -- and that something needs to be permanent to justify the expense of the commuter rail lines.

3) While the initial streetcar proposal is very small - -we must start somewhere - -and this is a good, viable place for the streetcar line to begin. I would imagine additional lines would be in the works even before the starter line gets completed.

4) Good pulbictransit is too important for cities to ignore. It is excellent at building density, but also important at moving people from place to place, alleviating congestion on roads, and allowing low-income individuals without cars to move to and from jobs easily. Without viable transit (which now is very limiting), people without cars or very restricted on where they can find jobs - -which means the poor stay poor. There are exactly zero good case studies that I am aware of (even after looking) of cities with good public transit that are relying solely on buses. It just doesn't happen. There is no reason to believe Kansas City can succeed at it when others haven't.

So, go check out ourstreetcar.com -- and see how you can help.

1940 Census Data Available

I didn't know this -- but when you fill out the US Census (which all of us did in 2010), the census information is kept confidential for 72 years (roughly the average person's lifespan). So earlier this week, the information from the 1940 census became public information for the first time.

Kansas City has a lot of history  and a lot of old homes. I looked up our house, and was amazed to find out that our 1908 home had already been divided up into apartments as of the 1940 census. We had known it was divided into apartments, but had always assumed it was after WWII - but apparently it happened prior to the 1940 census. Based on the the census information, 11 people (including a couple of young married couples and 3 sisters all in their 60s) lived in 5 tiny apartments in what is now my home.

It is also interesting that our now very racially diverse neighborhood had not a single non-white person in 1940.

I'll warn you, it may take a fair amount of looking to find the information on here as the forms are a little clunky -- but it is interesting if you're interested in taking the time to do it.

h/t: Freakanomics

KCMO School District: Welcome to our world (& the one you're now perpetuating)

Last week, Kansas City police arrested two people who were allegedly trying to steal copper piping and wiring from the basement of Blenheim Elementary School. 

The School was one of several school buildings that was shut down last year in the Kansas City School District's move to "right size" the number of schools in the district. The building has been not in use for nearly a year.

For anyone who lives in the city, they are aware of these "copperheads" -- follks who routinely raid empty houses of wiring and piping -- often causeing tens of thousands of dollars in damages.  One house in my neighborhood went from selling for $130,000 to selling for $25,000 in less than a year after the house was completely stripped. The house suffered a lot of water damage from the stripped pipes, and would have to undergo a very expensive rewiring job.

This scene plays out all over the city as homes are systematically dismantled.

A year ago, when the district announced its desire to "right size", I noted that the school district needed to act quickly in getting these now-abandoned school buildings into new uses -- otherwise the building would fall into disrepair, would blight neighborhoods, and provide havens for criminal activity.  Meanwhile, it's now almost a full year from the closing of the schools and as far as I am aware, none of the 30 closed schools have been used for anything else (certainly the two in my neighborhood remain empty).

The longer these schools sit empty, the more likely they are to become victims of costly vandalism that will reduce the value of the buildings and cause blight in the neighborhoods. They'll also continue to drain police resources that are used in catching vandals like these two copperheads.  The school district needs to move quickly to get these schools into new uses.

Meanwhile, the city needs to seek some kind of solution to the problem of stolen copper. I'm not sure if there is a way to encourage the salvage yards that pay the money for the copper to do more research into where the copper came from before people are paid for their drop-offs, or what the right solution is -- but this is a type of vandalism that is proving very costly for abandoned homes in many Kansas City neighborhoods.

 

Racial segregation in a supposed era of desegregation

 I touched on this a couple of weeks ago, but found another interesting visualization of it.

In spite of laws that supposedly ended segregation 4 decades ago, blacks and whites in this country continue to be very much segregated. According to this report, 75% of African Americans (who make up 12% of the US Population), live in only 16% of the US Census Tracks. There is a complete US map available at the link to the report.

Meanwhile, I've pulled out the map of the Kansas City and there are no surprises.  The grey areas represent census tracks that are 50% or more Black, while dark red areas are 0% Black (you can click on the pic for a larger image). This helps us understand how it's become that schools are actually more segregated now than they were 40 years ago.

It's just another reminder of how divided we still are as a nation, and as a city.

H/T: I love charts

Historic Hyde Park Homes Tour is Oct 2

 On October 2, Hyde Park is hosting its biennial Homes Tour.  The Homes Tour, along with similar tours in Scarritt, and Squire Park, are rare opportunities to tour some of Kansas City's more historic neighborhoods - -and Hyde Park particularly gives people a chance to tour one of the city's more diverse, mixed-use neighborhoods.

The tour is running from 10am to 6 pm on October 2, and includes tours of 6 homes (including a variety of sytes including Victorian, ShirtWaist and Arts and Crafts), a neighborhood business, a church and two of the recently remodeled historic apartment buildings along Armour Blvd.

Tickets are for sale online for $11 for advance tickets -- they'll be $13 the day of.

For artist renderings of most of the homes on the tour you can check them out here.

Ideas for improving downtown walkability

A frequent conversation at city hall is about improving neighborhood and downtown walkability. Walkability is good on a lot of fronts -- it increases foot traffic in front of retail locations (which should increase traffic within these retail locations), it decreases the amount of auto traffic on the roadways and it gives the city a vibrant energy with a lot of people walking about.

However, as someone who works downtown and walks regularly, it is not uncommon to be nearly hit by someone in a car who completely pulls into your crosswalk space.

One simple idea to improving the safety of walking is from Fast Company design - -where they have proposed the idea of redesigning crosswalk space to fit the way pedestrians really use it.   A side benefit just might be that the new design -- which is wider on the sides -- would also help slow down auto traffic that seems to frequently blow through crosswalks because they are seeking to turn right on red lights and don't slow down through the crosswalk areas (and are too busy looking for oncoming traffic to pay attention to pedestrians).

This is simple, and would cost the city virtually nothing to implement (they have to paint the crosswalk lines anyway).  And would likely help improve downtown walkability and the safety of doing so.

h/t: Good

Personal note: sorry for the long time between posts. A crazy-busy work schedule followed by a personal vacation caused me to not spend much time posting here recently. I'm back and will increase posting over the next few months.

Chatham Hotel gets KCMO Council Approval?

According to an email from the Broadway/WestportCouncil, the old Chatham Hotel received the recommendation from the Kansas City Council for 4% MHDC Tax Credits. The money would help the developers turn the old, historic hotel into apartments for Seniors (I'm assuming some type of government assisted housing).

There will be a news conference on the front porch/lawn of the Chatham Hotel next Monday morning at 10 AM. The MDHC will vote on the tax credits on Friday May 21st.

The Chatham has been a blight on the this stretch of Broadway in Midtwon, near Westport, for years. And not only has it been an eye-sore, but it has provided housing for vagrants and other crime as well, causing safety issues in the neighborhood.

I don't know all of the specifics of the deal -- nor can I find anywhere in the media where the KCMO Council has approved the recommendation, but I do know that generally, fixing old, abandoned, historic buildings and making them into housing so we can improve the population density of our core is the type of project I generally support.

12th & Main originally brought up this story earlier this week -- but for some reason has taken the post down. I'm hopeful that some of the real media in this town will take it upon themselves to at least report what is going on with some potential redevelopment in town.

Thoughts on KCMO planning to consolidate schools - and an Old School Redux

 On Saturday, new school district Superintendent John Covington announced that the KCMO school district was planning on closing many of the city's public schools. The final number may be as high as half of the city's school buildings -- 30 total schools.

 First of all, let's make no mistake -- consolidation is absolutely necessary. The school district has dropped in the number of students dramatically over the past decade.  In 1999-2000, the KCMO school district housed 35,712 students. This year, the district is educating only 17,275 students.

The declines have been driven by a number of factors -- including the movement of families to other parts of the city that have better quality schools, as well as an increase in the number of charter schools available in the city.

The decrease in number of students for the school district has led to many of the school buildings being only half, or less than half, full. The half-empty buildings drives up the costs for the district because they have to be cleaned, maintained, and heated -- and also lead to disciplinary issues because it is easy for students to find trouble in unused wings and floors of school buildings.

Closing some school buildings is absolutely the responsible thing to do...but it does come at a cost.

Schools are a major part of neighborhoods. Families prefer to live in neighborhoods where they can be close to schools. Also, neighborhoods take pride in their schools and can often lead to the bringing of neighborhoods together.

Meanwhile, many neighborhoods throughout the city badly suffer from old, abandoned school buildings causing blight and safety issues in the neighborhoods -- creating often entire city blocks of a large, abandoned, dilapidated building and the surrounding grounds. Closed and abandoned school buildings are very bad for local neighborhoods.

So the situation is a catch 22 for the city, and the school district. There is certainly no easy solution.  However, if the school district wants to handle the consolidation successfully, and with city support, it will have to balance the very difficult challenge.

The number one priority MUST be improving the schools -- and the education received by the students there. The single biggest problem facing Kansas City, MO right now is the schools. Many of the city's other problems like crime & poverty, stem directly from our traditionally poor education system. Other many of our other problems stem from the unwillingness of middle-class families to live in the city because of the poor schools -- which weakens the tax base, and the demand for housing in the city -- which lowers property values and tax revenues.

So the schools MUST be #1.

However, the district needs to work with the city on the best ways to handle closed school buildings. While some should be kept in the short term with the hope that the district can grow again and move back into the buildings, most will need at least short term solutions to keep them used.  The district and the city should work together to see which abandoned schools would make good community centers/park space, which could be leased (or sold) to Charter schools, and which ones could be leased (or sold) as office space or loft space.

But simply leaving the buildings to decay in the neighborhoods cannot be an option. Because the 2nd most important thing our city needs is fewer abandoned, blighted buildings that lead to safety issues in neighborhoods.

I believe the consolidation can be done -- and in fact must be done -- well for the betterment of the city.

For more info on the school consolidation, you can get all the info about each school here.

Update:

Have an opinion about the schools?  Here is a list of how to let the schoolboard know your thoughts. They are actually providing a variety of ways of letting them know your thoughts and will be posting them for everyone to read at www.kcu4ea.org/kcmsdforums/ So contact them and be part of the converstation:

VIA TEXT MESSAGE: 
Instructions
- send your comments in a text message to:  95495
- start your message with KCMSDFORUMS 
- you will receive an auto text message to confirm we got your text. 
- you may sign your name or be anonymous 

Example
- to: 95495
- message: kcmsdforums i believe in the kcmsd [or whatever your message is]

VIA TWITTER:
Instructions
- If you have a twitter account, tweet your comments and use the hashtag #kcmsdforums
- comments using this hashtag will be posted at www.kcu4ea.org/kcmsdforums/ along with the text message comments received.  

Example
- tweet: i believe in the kcmsd [or whatever your message is] #kcmsdforums

VIA DISTRICT FORUMS:

Date / Locations
- Tuesday, Feb. 16 – Northeast Elementary School, 4904 Independence Ave. 
(6:30 to 8:30 p.m.)
(Askew, East, Fairview, Garfield, Gladstone, James, McCoy, Northeast Elementary, Northeast HS, Pitcher, Rogers, Scarritt, Trailwoods, West Rock Creek, Whittier, Woodland)

- Wednesday, Feb. 17 – M.L. King Elementary School, 4201 –A Indiana 
(6:30 to 8:30 p.m.)
(Carver, Central HS, Central Middle, Delano, Faxon Montessori, Franklin, King, Ladd, Melcher, Moore, Richardson, TAPC, Weeks)

- Thursday, Feb. 18 – Paseo Academy, 4747 Flora 
(6:30 to 8:30 p.m.)
(ACE, Ace 6th Grade, ACE Lower, Banneker, Holliday, KCMSA, Knotts, Paige, Paseo, Pinkerton, Troost)

- Friday, Feb. 19 – Foreign Language Academy, 3450 Warwick 
(6:30 to 8:30 p.m.)
(Attucks, Border Star, Douglas, Foreign Language Academy, Garcia, Hartman, Lincoln College Prep, Lincoln Middle, Longan, Longfellow, Manual, Phillips, Southwest, Swinney, Westport, Westport Middle, Wheatley)

- Saturday, Feb. 20 – J. A. Rogers, 6400 E. 23rd. Street 
(10:30 to 12:00 p.m.)