Another urban planning blunder (Tina: crime, how much, houses)

[kcmo]

Seriously, look at how much land was cleared and how many homes were leveled (looks like over 70 homes) for a local police station.

https://maps.google.com/?ll=39.07790...14248&t=h&z=16

Why is this police station so sprawling? It could have been easily built in one of the many empty single blocks. The area around 24th and Vine is practically rural. A 100,000 sq ft urban police station could have been built without tearing anything down or closing off many through streets to build a fortress.

I just don't get it.

[shindig]

I knew they tore down some houses, but had no idea it was that large of a parcel. This better be the granddaddy of all police stations.

[PA650]

East Patrol is certainly quite large. I heard the land that needed to be cleared wasn't quite as large, but the city decided to remove additional houses from the site for whatever reason.

Civic » Helix

[Weaubleau]

Geez, are they rebuilding Municipal Stadium, or just building a police station there?

[kcmo]

Are you guys seeing the cleared lot? When I click on the link I provided, I now get an old google map image and have to go to google earth to see the actual recent clearing. Odd.

[Weaubleau]

I see a huge dirt lot, that spans several city blocks. After looking at it and comparing it to the site that has new housing on it that is where Municipal Stadium used to be, this footprint actually appears to be LARGER than the footprint of old Municipal Stadium. I know that area of town could probably use some additional police presence, but this is kind of ridiculous to have a building site bigger than one that used to house an entire stadium that held over 50,000 people.

[Ztonyg]

I went on Google street view and I was shocked that many of the houses that were torn down appeared to be beautiful homes that were well maintained. Google street view allows you to see this neighborhood as it looked in 2011.

[kcmo]

Here is a rendering of what it will look like. I just don't see why this could not have been built on a much smaller lot in one of the empty blocks nearby. To destroy 70 homes across four blocks when you already have so many blocks where homes have already been leveled like around the 71 highway right of way and the Beacon Hill area (which was cleared several years ago and little has been built).

[TinaMcG]

Originally Posted by kcmo

Here is a rendering of what it will look like. I just don't see why this could not have been built on a much smaller lot in one of the empty blocks nearby. To destroy 70 homes across four blocks when you already have so many blocks where homes have already been leveled like around the 71 highway right of way and the Beacon Hill area (which was cleared several years ago and little has been built).

Do they have something against multi-storie buildings?

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by TinaMcG

Do they have something against multi-storie buildings?

It looks like they are trying to fix the crime problem in the area by have a very large and visible police footprint rather than trying to design a building that fits better within the neighborhood.

I could be wrong, but I don’t see how this would deter crime more. The campus touches more neighborhoods, but it also has a large buffer around and doesn’t look very approachable on foot.

This could have been an architectural centerpiece and community focus point of the Beacon Hill area. Instead of spending the money they spent buying 70 homes and tearing them down, the city could have assisted developers with incentives for new construction alongside a new more urban PD building in Beacon Hill.

Instead of breaking up and walking off these neighborhoods with this fortress, the city could have got the ball rolling on another project around the corner that is has not finished. The city tore down most of the homes in Beacon Hill, built a few, renovated a few and quit. A 20 million dollar Police station would have left 50 million to build up an actual neighborhood around it. Instead the city spent 70 million to destroy four city blocks and make the entire area less walkable.

Just an idea.

Water under the bridge I guess…