Well... combine a mid-week holiday and an especially busy week at my "day job" at Rockhurst University and I've fallen way behind.
But I have a couple of great stories and a bit of personal opinion to share, so here's a long post that will be the first of several to finish out this week.
Last Friday morning (July 13) I had the wonderful opportunity to be present at the ribbon cutting for the newly renovated building at 727 Minnesota Avenue that will serve as the headquarters for the Kansas City, Kansas Chamber of Commerce and the Wyandotte Economic Development Council.
Despite the summer rainstorm that moved the event indoors, it was a great morning. This wonderful, historic building was completely gutted and renovated into a spectacular office space. Cindy Cash, Greg Kindle and their respective staffs are doing a fantastic job of moving KCK and Wyandotte County forward. This will be a great new "home base" for both groups.
727 Minnesota - Cloudy skies, but a great day!
I commented on Friday morning that I'm confident that the renovation of this building will be the first domino in a revitalization of Minnesota Avenue from one end to the other. I predict that, within the next couple of years, we will have many, many new reasons for people to come live, work and play around Minnesota Avenue.
NEXT STEPS
There's going to be a ground breaking this coming Friday (July 20) at 7th and Minnesota to mark the start of a project that will not only beautify a chunk of Minnesota Avenue, but will also make it easier for people to get to and from our downtown.
The groundbreaking will mark the start of construction of a major transportation center that will be an anchor of the new State Avenue Connex bus line. The 7th and Minnesota MetroCenter will occupy the southeast corner of the intersection (the current green space). Here are a couple of artist's drawings of what it will look like.
Looking east along Minnesota Avenue from 7th to 6th
Looking south along 7th Street from Minnesota
When it's fully operational, the bus route will stretch from 10th and Main in Kansas City, Missouri all the way to Village West! The construction will occasionally make travel on Minnesota Avenue a challenge, but our downtown will remain open for business and the end result will be amazing!!
OUR CHALLENGE
OK, it's not all peaches and cream. Here's our challenge...
The TIGER grant that will fund the construction only covers street improvements for about a half block in each direction away from 7th and Minnesota. That's going to leave two "half blocks" (from 6th to "6th-and-a-half" Street and from "7th-and-a-half" to 8th Street) still looking like the "Pylon Plaza" of the early 70's. I don't think that's acceptable, so our challenge is to find the funding to "finish off" the remaining half blocks so that we have beautiful streets and sidewalks all the way from 6th to 8th. We're going to need to work together to pull this off. I'm open for ideas if you have them.
COMING UP...
- Google fiber update
- YouthWorks does GREAT things in KCK
- My thoughts on curbs, alleys, sidewalks and the "grind and overlay" program for city streets
bmckiernan@wycokck.org
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