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Roots of revival:
Safety, cleanliness, nature
Kansas City Star
October 20, 2002
Steve Paul & Jeffrey Spivak
If you want a sense of downtown Kansas City at its best, stroll down Eighth Street, one block either side of Broadway in the Garment District.
Take your time. Duck into a deli for coffee and watch people walk to work through a tree-shaded plaza. Check out the gutter a maintenance man is sweeping. Admire the charming old buildings with their rows of ground-floor windows and green, brown and gray awnings. And the old-style street lamps, the bricks embedded in the sidewalks, the occasional flower bed.
Let the sparkling new office complex to the west catch your eye. Inspect that big needle-and-thread sculpture, celebrating the neighborhood's working heritage.
Hungry now? Among your choices: a jazz club, a sports bar, a Chinese restaurant.
These two bustling blocks display what urban planners call a "sense of place," a quality that makes residents and visitors feel as if they're someplace special.
Downtown Kansas City needs more such places.
"We just need to make downtown so compelling that you can't not come downtown," says architect Steve McDowell.
A powerful sense of place downtown would include more housing, a new arts palace and other big attractions, and efficient parking and transit.
But it also means cleaning up streets and sidewalks, overhauling blighted buildings, and making parks and public spaces inviting.
"We can talk all we want about drawing people to live here, but they aren't going to move in unless the city is well maintained and they can feel comfortable," says Michael Haverty, chief executive of Kansas City Southern, which just opened a new headquarters inside the freeway loop.
"The first thing you have to do is clean the streets, maintain the parks and trees, and improve the security. That's basic 101 to draw people down here."
But once those fundamentals are taken care of, urban planners say, downtown needs even more special touches for its sense of place to shine - from small-scale details to imaginative strokes.
Streets should be made much more walkable, by planting trees and reviving street-level spaces. The Missouri River should be embraced, not ignored. And a downtown revival ought to build on the city's strengths - assembling our rich history at Union Station, promoting inventive public art, encouraging a barbecue district, perhaps.
The idea is to create a downtown that is confident, exciting and in touch with both its history and its future.
To see such a place, The Star visited Milwaukee, one of 16 peer cities studied for this series. It found lively public spaces and busy parks. It found a city that had rediscovered the long-neglected river that runs through downtown. And it found that Milwaukee's varied downtown interest groups came together to keep the area clean.
Kansas Citians appear to be adamant about what should get attention in our downtown. In a Star opinion poll this year, 98 percent of metropolitan respondents agreed that all the dreary vacant buildings downtown should be renovated, demolished or at least made presentable. Seventy-seven percent of respondents said downtown needed cleaner streets.
"There has to be a willingness," Mayor Kay Barnes told volunteers at a recent downtown cleanup day, "for all of us to get down on our hands and knees at times to make this community what it can be."
Eyesores
Meet city property case No. 322848 - a long-vacant three-story garage at 14th Street and Baltimore Avenue. It's handsome, with elaborate art-deco ornament, but a city inspector cited it for cracked or broken windows and peeling paint.
The presumed owner didn't register correctly with the city, so officials are still trying to figure out whom to hold accountable.
It's hardly the only eyesore downtown.
Broken glass covers a stretch of sidewalk along Grand Boulevard. A mound of beer bottles, cigarette packs and empty cups occupies a parking space along Truman Road. Bold yellow and blue graffiti scrawls across the upper windows of a vacant building at 18th and Main streets. A tree grows from the rooftop of the shuttered Empire Theater on 14th Street.
Every workday, Aivars Sics parks his car and walks three blocks to work in One Kansas City Place.
"The first thing I pass by each morning is the abandoned building at the corner of 14th and Walnut," he says. "It was the victim of a fire last spring and still sits undemolished. Broken glass and the stench of fire are still everywhere. ... There are normally at least three or four broken whiskey bottles along the route.
"Behind the haunted house at 13th and Main sits a plastic Johnny on the Spot that someone torched. That was almost a year ago, and still no one has bothered to haul it away."
When researchers scoured the city earlier this year to compile a litter index, they gave downtown the worst rating of any sector of the city. And its rating number was 41 percent worse than the national average for cities.
The litter and blight can mean real losses for downtown.
The Traders on Grand tower, for instance, at 1125 Grand Blvd., sits right between the Law and Professional buildings, each pockmarked with boarded windows or pigeon droppings. According to one leasing service, space in the Traders tower rents for an average of $12.75 per square foot, 13 percent below the average of other "Class B" space.
"Do the Professional and Law buildings hurt the Traders on Grand?" asks Greg Swetnam, a commercial real estate broker. "Yeah, they do. They're eyesores."
A couple of years ago, Shook Hardy & Bacon decided to vacate 21 floors of One Kansas City Place in the loop for a new tower at Crown Center. Several factors played into that decision, but Shook Hardy vice chairman Pat McLarney says, "If the downtown loop had looked better and had been more attractive, we might have made another decision."
Improvement districts
Dinginess challenges downtown on two fronts: shabby buildings and trashy streets.
In terms of blighted buildings, the city government has already done something. Prompted by Mayor Barnes, city property inspectors did a sweep last year.
They checked 968 properties inside the freeway loop and cited about 150 for code violations such as peeling paint, broken windows or general disrepair. Unlike the garage at 14th and Baltimore, however, owners have fixed up three-fourths of those properties in some way - at least to a minimum standard.
In most other cities, though, downtown property owners do more than the minimum. They pay extra to clean and police their downtowns - beyond what local governments do - through organizations called "improvement districts."
Across the country, more than 400 of these districts exist, 60 percent of them created since 1990. All of Kansas City's 16 peer cities either have a downtown improvement district or a similar agency.
Kansas City is just now joining this trend. It took so long because business owners here clung to the belief that it was up to City Hall to clean and police the streets.
But recently the Downtown Council, with help from the Civic Council of top executives, persuaded a majority of the downtown loop's property owners to form a community improvement district, or CID. Last month, the Kansas City Council authorized it.
"It's more than symbolic," says Bill Dietrich, the new president of Downtown Council. "It's the first time all the major property owners have signed on to the same idea."
Those property owners will pay extra assessments - ranging from $50 for a single condominium to $61,000 for One Kansas City Place. The money will bankroll a $1.3 million budget for the improvement district.
By early next year, nearly three dozen privately funded workers in brightly colored uniforms will drive sweepers along every section of sidewalk each day, scrub off graffiti within 24 hours of finding it, plus walk the streets as safety "ambassadors."
The ambassadors, for instance, could make regular patrols of little Oppenstein Brothers Memorial Park at 12th and Walnut streets, a place some office workers say they won't go near because vagrants hassle them.
On downtown's west end, Wes Miller doesn't necessarily need the district. He works for Gerald Jones Co., a business furnishing dealership at the already revitalized Eighth and Broadway area. Yet, he helped collect signatures on the improvement district's petition.
"Frankly, it's not easy being a business downtown - it costs more to rent space, it costs to park," says Miller, Gerald Jones' director of new business development. "But we're close to a lot of big, very important clients, like the city, DST and architectural firms. The CID will help my customers stay in downtown."
Indeed, downtown improvement districts are seen as "more effective than government," in the words of one study. And in another study they were found to reduce crime. In downtown Milwaukee, crime decreased by 25 percent after an improvement district was formed.
On The Star's visit to Milwaukee it saw scrubbed and graffiti-free buildings. Gutters were virtually spotless. American flags lined the bridge railings spanning the Milwaukee River. A bustling public plaza offered visitors not only a lunch wagon but also a kiosk with a detailed map to help get them around.
Fernando Walker was standing with his bicycle at a corner in the heart of downtown. He was cheerfully handing out brochures to passers-by and serving as eyes and ears for the police as a uniformed ambassador for the improvement district.
"People from all over the world tell us that downtown is one of the cleanest they've ever seen," Walker says.
Milwaukee's 4-year-old improvement district has a $2.32 million budget, almost twice what Kansas City's will be initially. That's because Milwaukee's district also puts on festivals and markets downtown attractions.
"Our program," says Beth Nicols, the Milwaukee district's executive director, "is about creating a sense of place, creating a neighborhood, giving downtown a personality, quality programs - it's all of those things."
Park space
It was lunch hour on a glorious, sunny October day, and at Washington Square Park near Crown Center and Union Station, the few picnic tables there were empty.
About a mile to the north, at the new Ilus W. Davis Park featuring a circular reflecting pool across the street from City Hall's north door, just four persons sat on the ledges surrounding the pool.
At midafternoon on a Saturday on another gorgeous October day, when soccer and baseball players filled parks all over suburbia, the ball fields at Penn Valley Park were vacant.
In Kansas City's 2000 citizens survey, about half the respondents who lived in the 2nd Council District - encompassing all of downtown at that time - indicated they seldom visited any city parks.
Peter Callan lives at Crown Center and used to go running at Penn Valley, until a trail west of Broadway crumbled.
"It frustrates me greatly," says the health-care consultant. "It's so annoying to go to a Chicago or a Denver or a Dallas, and you can stay at a downtown hotel and within five minutes you're at a nice trail, but we have nothing."
The fact is our downtown has plenty of park space, but much of it is not in the right places, and some it is not well designed for what downtown needs today.
About 90 percent of the acreage is in one place, Penn Valley, at the edge of downtown. And because Penn Valley is so large, our downtown has more park acreage than any of Kansas City's 16 peer cities. Yet, we're in the middle of the pack among our peers in the number of green-space parks downtown, with five. Milwaukee has seven. Cincinnati has six. Several other cities have five.
The New York-based Project for Public Spaces researched parks around the world. Its handbook notes, "Today, many public spaces seem to be intentionally designed to be looked at but not touched."
That seems to be the case in our downtown, local urban planners say.
Barney Allis Plaza is high off the street on three sides, so visitors can't see inside and decide whether they want to venture there. Davis Park sports no chairs or benches. Washington Square's trees take up much of the open space.
"We have too many examples, especially around downtown, of parks that by themselves can be largely vacuums," says Daniel Serda, executive director of the Kansas City Design Center. "Open space can very easily become dead space."
Across the country, park planning is shifting: Parks should no longer only be refuges from the city's bustle. They should instead add bustle.
"We are ushering in the 'smart park,' a more intensive, less pastoral park, an entertainment venue, a magnet for activity," says Joe Brown, president of California-based EDAW Inc., one of the country's leading park planning companies.
So downtown Kansas City's new blueprint, called the Sasaki plan after the Boston-based consulting company that created it, advocates adding several more parks - but small ones that serve a purpose.
One would occupy part of a block at Ninth and Wyandotte streets, close to hundreds of new lofts around the relocated public library. Another would be part of a block at Grand and 20th Street, close to apartments being developed in the Crossroads.
The Sasaki plan also reiterates the city's FOCUS master plan and calls for a square-block park southwest of Main and 18th streets, in the middle of the Crossroads. It's intended to provide a genteel setting for surrounding real estate development.
"Balancing real estate with parks is a good way to create investment and add value and contribute to a sense of place," says Kathryn Madden, the main Sasaki planner.
What the Sasaki plan doesn't do is suggest how to enliven the new parks.
A few cities have basketball courts in downtown parks. One of Nashville's has a jogging trail. Cleveland's Public Square is stocked with statues and fountains. Louisville even opened a riverfront skateboard park downtown - a marked contrast to Mayor Barnes' recent bashing of skateboarders who use Barney Allis.
Moreover, downtown parks and squares in Kansas City's peer cities play host to concerts and festivals during the summer. Milwaukee, for instance, throws an ethnic festival every weekend at one park and has weekly concerts at another. Here, Penn Valley could be used more often as an event setting - especially on the north slope with its skyline view.
So what about the rest of sprawling Penn Valley? One idea is to use some of those 176 acres for housing.
Architect Mark Viets, at the urging of downtown executives overseeing the struggling Union Station, has proposed using 10 acres between Kessler Drive and Broadway, along with 10 more privately owned acres, for low-rise apartment buildings.
That could mean 1,000 units. The land could be leased from the city's parks board, thus providing revenue for park improvements. This would boost downtown's population, and it would help add customers for Union Station, Crown Center and the rest of downtown.
"Someday, if the expansion of downtown residential proves to be successful, this is something that could be considered," says Bob Lewellen, a city parks commissioner and former city councilman.
Making connections
Great cities are walking cities. As part of their sense of place, they offer surprising things to see and do.
That sense is strong in some downtown districts: the growing River Market, the eclectic and creative Crossroads.
It's strong in pockets, such as the Garment District, parts of Quality Hill and the renovated Freight House, where you can dine outdoors, watch trains go by and view public art projects such as James Woodfill's light sculptures, which celebrate the city's railroad heritage.
Yet, all those sites are spread out, like having cuffs and collars and hems but no sleeves.
Theorists today say good urban design is about making things connect, and creating a sense of place all over downtown, instead of in just a few islands.
It means having shop windows to look in, or sidewalk cafes, or any number of diverse activities that give people a reason to walk the streets and mingle and linger.
"Large projects are really important," says architect David Dowell, but "equally important are 10 small projects."
The small things help connect the large ones. They make a city interesting.
Connections can be both physical and mental, dignified and surprising, indigenous and novel. Some are simple, and some take imagination.
Here are some of the ideas and suggestions being discussed in the community about how downtown could make such connections:
We could create more pleasant, walkable streets, with trees and other features.
The Sasaki plan calls for planting trees along Grand, Main and Wyandotte, plus Ninth, 12th, 18th and Southwest Boulevard - on both sides of the streets, not just one.
Along Wyandotte and Central streets, streetscape enhancements would further the goal of creating an "Avenue of the Arts," which could link Union Station, the performing arts center and points north. Downtown streetscaping, in fact, could get a boost from a city bond issue on the November ballot.
Local architect Cindy Frewen was in downtown Charlotte, N.C., recently, where she noticed herself favoring the tree-shaded sides of the streets.
"It's an appearance upgrade, and it makes people feel better when they're walking down the streets," says Frewen, who helped work on Kansas City's downtown Sasaki plan.
We could re-engage with the riverfront.
Milwaukee, Cincinnati and other cities have begun to revive their relationships with their major rivers. Kansas City has long turned its back on its most historic natural resource.
But recently the city opened a new pedestrian bridge, at Second and Main streets. For the first time in years, someone can easily walk from the City Market to an overlook for a close-up view of the Big Muddy.
Other riverfront elements include a Heritage Trail system, already under way; a 17-acre wetlands area; and a stalled Town of Kansas archaeological site and interpretive center, which will help tell the story of the city's riverside origins.
The river "was the center of possibility then, and it is today," says Bill Johnson, chairman of the city's Port Authority.
We could continue our creativity with public art.
We are a city of sculpture, from the Nelson's shuttlecocks to Bartle's "Sky Stations" to smaller projects all over. Now artistic lampposts and fences are in the works for the Heritage Trail. In the future, if Bartle Hall is expanded, and a new city arena and parking garages are built, more than $4 million would become available for public art under the "1 percent for art" program.
Sometimes, just a little paint will do. For instance, two large black smokestacks tower northeast of the City Market. Why not turn them into a nameplate? "River" on one, "Market" on the other.
"Sense of place," says landscape architect Patti Banks, who has an office at the north end of Main Street. "That's an easy thing to do."
We could be more creative in using the city's strengths.
Marketers talk of "branding" products, and Kansas City has several to choose from: City of Fountains and Boulevards. City of Barbecue. City of Jazz.
Downtown leaders should keep those brands in mind, planners say.
For example, conventioneers lament the lack of downtown dining. Maybe downtown should encourage a barbecue district. Just like Folgers has filled part of downtown with the aroma of coffee, a cluster of barbecue restaurants could send the aroma of smoked meats wafting into the air.
Or what about playing up Kansas City in song? In Chattanooga, Tenn., the lyrics and sheet music of "Chattanooga Choo-choo" are inscribed in a band of pavement. Wouldn't it be fun to see the lyrics of "Goin' to Kansas City" on 12th Street?
One of the city's strongest resources is its rich history. It's told in pieces in small museums around the area. A downtown attraction could knit together all the strands. As Union Station leaders consider using local history to shore up the station's future, they might look for inspiration to St. Louis' Museum of Westward Expansion. What about a museum of the American West here?
Such ideas appeal to Matt Madden, who works in Johnson County. He grew up on the Missouri side. He loves Kansas City and doesn't intend to leave. But when friends visit, he wants to be able to take them downtown.
He wants a downtown that looks nice, a downtown with events going on in a park, a downtown with a great museum.
"I would like," the 26-year-old says, "a downtown to be proud of."
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