Welcome back to “This Week at City Hall” where we give you weekly updates on what decisions are being made in City Hall that may potentially affect your community or neighborhood ! Everyday, various committees are making huge decisions that in turn affect our communities. If you have a tip about an upcoming agenda item – please email neighborhoods@umkc.edu with “This Week at City Hall” in the subject.
Kansas City News:
“Never Ending Roadwork ”?!
Kansas City’s infamous roads have begun to build quite a bit of controversy on the internet and honestly, rightfully so. The bright orange cones that line up on main street have become more common than traffic lights at this point. So let’s take a step back, what is actually going on with the construction ? How long will it last ? What’s the end goal with all the road work going on in Kansas City ?
First off, a lot of the roadwork on Main street is due to the continuing development of the streetcar extension . That’s why there are temporary lanes and traffic cones in order to shift traffic to the west side of Main Street from Warwick Boulevard to 34th street. The streetcar expansion is expected to be done by 2025. The streetcar expansion is suppose to increase connectivity and pedestrian access from 27th and Main, to 51st and Brookside.
Other continuing developments:
MO 291: Pavement resurfacing from Route 78 to 39th Street.
MO 7: Pavement resurfacing from Route 24 to Pink Hill Road.
MO 7: Pavement resurfacing from Pink Hill Road to Victor Road.
MO 350: Add turn lanes, pedestrian crosswalks, and signals from Laurel Avenue to Westridge Road.
MO 350: Pavement resurfacing from 63rd Street to 0.7 mile west of Colbern Road
Prospect Ave.: Bridge replacement over I-70, 0.1 mile south of 13th Street and 0.1 mile north of Truman Road.
Now let’s take a closer look at what’s happening this week in City Hall….
4/5/2023
Neighborhood Planning and Development Committee:
1:30PM:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84530222968 ***Public Testimony is Limited to 2 Minutes***
The Neighborhood Planning and Development committee will be meeting this Wednesday to discuss the some of the following agendas:
230259: Rezoning an area of about 2.5 acres generally located at Warwick Boulevard and E. 38th Street from District MPD to District MPD to allow for the construction of 100 residential units. (CD-CPC-2022-00022)
230189: Sponsor: Councilmember Melissa Robinson Amending the Code of Ordinances by creating a new Chapter 37 entitled “Health in All Policies,” consisting of Sections 37-1 through 37-5, to create a Health in All Policies Interdepartmental Task Force that will be a collaborative approach to improving the health of all people by incorporating health, sustainability, and equity considerations into decision-making across various sectors and policy areas.
Resolution: Directing the City Manager to develop a Citywide Doula Initiative and report back to the Council in 45 days
Finance, Governance and Public Safety Committee:
10:30AM
The finance committee will be meeting this week to discuss the approval of grants, as well as proposed projects as well. This committee is making tremendous efforts towards approving initiatives that benefit and support minorities as well as low-income communities.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84530222968
Director of Neighborhoods Sponsor:
230275: Director of Neighborhood Services Department Accepting funds allocated by the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, FY 2021 Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) in the amount of $302,291.00; estimating and appropriating $302,291.00 in the Justice Assistance Grant Fund; designating requisitioning authority; and authorizing cooperative agreement with Kansas City Metropolitan Crime Commission in the amount of $100,000.00
230282: Accepting funds allocated by the National League of Cities for its City Inclusive Entrepreneurship Grant, in the amount of $15,000.00, to support the implementation of Hispanic/Latinx Business Owners’ Commitment; authorizing agreement with the National League of Cities to govern administration of such grant; estimating revenue and appropriating $15,000.00 in the National League of Cities Institute City Grant Fund; designating requisitioning authority; recognizing this ordinance as having an accelerated effective date; and directing the Neighborhood Services Department to report to Council six months after the passage of this ordinance.
230283: Accepting funds allocated by the United States Conference of Mayors for the Dollar Wise Innovation Grant, in the amount of $10,000.00, to support data collection and reporting of access to capital program participants; authorizing agreement with the United States Conference of Mayors to govern administration of such grant; estimating revenue and appropriating $10,000.00 in the General Grants Fund; designating requisitioning authority; recognizing this ordinance as having an accelerated effective date; and directing the Neighborhood Services Department to report to Council six months after the passage of this ordinance.
Downtown Transportation Development:
1:00pm
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87465671834?pwd=RU5iUFRUYnBuUG1qaXUwOEEwWnN4dz09
If you’re interested in learning about streetcar expansion, the Downtown Transportation Development committee will be meeting this week to discuss the progress on the streetcar project !
4/6/2023
Fairness in Construction Board: (In person meeting)
10:30am
The Fairness in Construction Board and HRD staff review all construction bids over $300,000 to assure fair representation to the bid process by socially and economically disadvantaged groups.
4/7/2023
| Kansas City Board of Election Commissioners: 30 W. PERSHING RD., SUITE 2800, KANSAS CITY, MO 64108. 12:00pm The Kansas City Board of Election Commissioners is committed to maintaining current and accurate voter files, maximizing voter registration and voter turnout efforts, educating the voting public, providing the best possible services and conducting efficient, fair, honest and impartial elections at a minimum cost to the electorate. |
Hope everyone was able to get out and vote this week ! Stay on the lookout for new bills and initiatives and that will be showing up on the City Hall’s agenda. Again if you have any news you would like us to bring attention to make sure to email neighborhoods@umkc.edu with “This Week at City Hall” in the subject.
About the Writer:
Hello everyone ! My name is Maryam Oyebamiji and I am a student intern for The Center for Neighborhoods. I am currently in my 3rd year at UMKC studying Urban Planning and Design with an English minor. I have deep passion and interest for urban policy and housing authority. That’s why being able to write “This week at City Hall” is extremely important to me. I believe that everyone should have access and be informed on what is going on in City Hall because the decisions they make ultimately affects all of us.
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