The Next American Dream : Kansas City : A Documentary Film

June 27, 2005 | Kansas City Star

Sasaki Plan For Downtown
KC’s ‘fantastic’ start still needs a follow-through

Shelves around Kansas City are filled with plans diligently researched and written, then relegated to a long life of collecting dust.

The Sasaki plan is not one.

Five years ago, the Civic Council of Greater Kansas City hired the internationally known planning firm, Sasaki Associates Inc. of Massachusetts, to develop a strategy for reviving Kansas City’s moribund downtown.

The report advised the city to encourage the development of housing and clean up the downtown loop. It recommended concentrating attractions — an arena, possibly — inside the loop. The Sasaki report became the master plan for downtown’s comeback, which planner Kathryn Madden applauded last week.

“I can’t think of another city that has done so much in so short an amount of time,” said Madden, a principal with Sasaki. “The level of investment is just fantastic.”

Another planner who visited Kansas City warned, however, that downtown is three or four years from achieving “critical mass.” That’s the point at which a downtown will continue on an upward climb, propelled by its own momentum. Until then, the city must be careful its downtown doesn’t fall back into limbo, Christopher Leinberger, a visiting fellow at The Brookings Institution, told City Council members.

The Sasaki team has presented an updated strategy to prevent that from happening. It focuses on making downtown more of a cohesive and “walkable” neighborhood.

That means turning some major thoroughfares, such as Main Street and Grand Boulevard, into “grand, tree-lined avenues.” More streets should be two-way, with curbside parking. The Ilus W. Davis Park, Penn Valley Park, Washington Park and Barney Allis Plaza should be made more welcoming and lively.

The report encourages even more housing development, especially in the blocks east of City Hall and around Berkley Riverfront Park.

Those are excellent suggestions and ones the city and developers should be able to carry out. If anything, the report is conservative about the need for parks and walking space. City planners shouldn’t miss an opportunity to create a green space or a trail.

Suggested priorities for the next three years also include making Union Station a hub of activity, finding an ideal location for the Arabia Steamboat Museum within the downtown corridor, strengthening the Beacon Hill housing project and filling up space in downtown buildings.

Those are steps for which there is general agreement. The second phase of the updated plan, to begin in about four years, contains more controversial and costly suggestions, including developing a plan for a downtown baseball stadium and starting a commuter rail line. Realizing those ideas would require a community consensus and funding sources.

While some elements of the Sasaki plan are open for debate, the updated report contains many of the practical and visionary ideas that made the original plan so useful.

A good prediction is that the update won’t collect dust, either.