Thursday, July 24, 2008

Take this argument for a walk


This little pooch loves a good walk as much as the next. However, in a recent survey, Northeast fared poorly when it comes to actually grading Northeast’s walking potential.

In a survey done by walkscore.com, a Web site that promotes homes sales in neighborhoods that cater to walking and public transportation, Northeast’s walking score looked rather dim despite the amount of walking that is done by many of its residents throughout the neighborhoods.

Kansas City overall ranked 34th out of 40 major cities surveyed. Researchers at walkscore.com were mostly looking for how reliant residents had to be on their own vehicles or public transportation to get around in their neighborhoods.

Out of a 138 neighborhoods in Kansas City, Northeast’s neighborhood fell mostly in the middle of the pack with many of our streets being deemed unwalkable — mostly meaning you have to have a car to get around.

But what struck this dog as interesting was how looking at the maps generated by the Web site showed some of the most walkable regions of the city are in areas that city leaders think need MORE public transportation and resourced invested for walking traffic.

Already the downtown loop and neighborhoods to the south — all the way to the Plaza — rank as highly walkable and easily accessible through public transportation. But city leaders and the Mayor are ignoring this fact and seem bent on dumping more resources and tax dollars in an area where it really is not needed.

What this map and its data should be telling city leaders is that places like Northeast, where not everyone can afford a car or the gas to fuel it, need light rail, improved bus routs and more resourses, not the Power and lLight District or bars downtown.

In all, here is how Northeast's neighborhood ranked against other neighborhoods in the city:

1 - Old Westport
2 - The Country Club Plaza
3 - Plaza Westport Neighborhood Northeast

24 - Pendleton Heights
25 - Independence Plaza
39 - Indian Mound - South
51 - Lykins
53 - Sheffield
55 - Indian Mound - North
59 - Scarritt-Renaissance
64 - Blue Valley

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Northeast leaders and residents should push for a MAX line Independence Avenue as part of the light rail vote, or the future regional transit vote.

writermom said...

I believe the Northeast DOES have walkability problems- sidewalks are covered with trash, mud, limbs and brush. Tiny trees are growing along the curbs. homeowners need to take some responsibility for keeping the sidewalks in front of their property accessible for others. THAT'S WHAT SIDEWALKS ARE FOR!