Bright future ahead for Kansas City's fourth district

Eric Bunch, Kansas City councilman representing the fourth district, highlighted some positive developments occurring in Kansas City when he spoke to the KC Downtowners attendees at its virtual monthly meeting last week.

Bunch said that despite the fact that the pandemic has been a really tough dark time for Kansas City, there have been “bright spots” where the city has learned to adapt to meet the needs of its citizens and small businesses {Kansas City’s fourth district includes downtown, the Historic Northeast, the Country Club Plaza and a portion of Clay County}. 

These bright spots include allowing restaurants to use outdoor space such as parking lots for seating space.  Bunch said the city realized that this use of outdoor space would benefit restaurants by providing more flexibility, and it made the permitted use permanent. 

Last April, the city also established the Open Streets KC program which allows temporary block-level closures of neighborhood streets to through traffic in order to create more space for people to get outside while maintaining social distancing.  Bunch co-sponsored the resolution.

“So we’re looking at how do we make that program permanent and make it safe for neighborhoods to continue to participate in,” Bunch said.  

Bunch said another bright spot is the anticipated receipt by the city of approximately $195 million from the American Recovery Plan.  Bunch said these monies, to be paid in two tranches, will cover a $70 million revenue shortfall the city had anticipated.

“So actually, we’re going to continue to provide the level of service that you all know and expect, despite being in such an economic downturn,” Bunch said.

The city recently passed its annual budget for its fiscal year which begins on May 1.   Bunch praised the finance department and the city manager for taking a surgical approach to the budget.  Bunch said that not every cut was made to departments equally. 

“I think that some departments need to be preserved more than others in terms of their budget year over year.  But there are also some cuts that came as a policy direction,” Bunch said.

He cited as an example an ordinance that just came out of committee to create a new housing department in order to put housing in the forefront of city policy and decision making. 

Bunch also noted that funds budgeted for street maintenance were doubled.

“I’m excited to see an increased budget for resurfacing as a way to not just fill potholes and prevent potholes going forward but actually to make our streets safer,” he said.

Safety in transportation is a priority for Bunch.  Last May, the council passed a resolution calling for a Vision Zero policy, a comprehensive effort to eliminate traffic violence.

“We’re going to be in the not so distant future probably revealing some high priority projects that would be geared towards making minor to major improvements that are high injury, those intersections where pedestrian crashes often happen more frequently,” said Bunch.

Other bright spots on the horizon for Kansas City include the streetcar expansion into the Berkley Riverfront and to UMKC. 

Bunch also reported that the city has plans to build a new bridge for bike and pedestrian access into Berkley Riverfront.  Currently, there is only one bike and pedestrian access point.

“We’re very excited to actually have a second that will obviously greatly reduce the barriers that exist between downtown and the riverfront,” Bunch said.

HNTB Corporation sponsored the meeting.  Tim Morgan, PE, HNTB’s office leader for the firm’s offices in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Iowa, paid tribute to HNTB former employee and former KC Downtowners president, Jared Miller, who was struck and killed in April 2019, while crossing the North Loop freeway.

Kim Gile, community reference manager of the Kansas City Public Library and president of KC Downtowners, made an emotional presentation of the first Jared Miller Award to Miller’s family, which award was accepted by his wife, Julie Miller, and his parents Darrell and Lynda Miller.

Miller was active civic leader involved in many local organizations.  Gile described him as a changemaker. 

Gile said KC Downtowners will award the Jared Miller Award annually to others like Jared who are dedicated to the quality and success of the Kansas City community.