KC rated as one of America's "fattest cities" (St. Louis: houses, neighborhoods)

[kcmo]

Doesn't matter what you have if you don't use them and half of what KC does have isn't usable. Swope Park is not a city park as much as it is simply undeveloped land "outside" the city just as Penn Valley Park is mostly undeveloped land inside the city. PVP could/should be a grand urban park rather than just grass in the city with a dog park.

Granitestater,

JoCo may not have a lot of parks inside the beltway, but it does have a solid trail system. It's just too bad it doesn't really go anywhere (should go to Plaza at least). It's not very extensive in the areas that might use it the most (NE JoCo) to commute to Corporate Woods or KCMO and as busy as the trails are, considering the population within about ten miles of it, few use them.

Trails like Indian Creek in the Denver area would be 10-12 feet wide and be marked with signs and pavement markings (like streets) they get so busy, plus, most trails in Denver can get you downtown and have transit access and connectivity.

But what JoCo does have are some of the best in the metro. So, they are actually a step ahead of the rest of the metro counties.

Like I have said before, cars with bike racks in the KC area are very rare compared to most metro areas if that's any indication, so why build something so few will take advantage of. I guess the same reason why KC has one of the smallest transit systems and no light rail for a city its size. If people don't demand or want better trails/transit, they don't get it.

[MoNative34]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

That doesn't surprise me at all. The KC metro needs a lot more conservation lands and trails, particularly in JOCO.

And some fat and lazy guy is fat and lazy because they're aren't enough bicycle paths??

If people want to be active and healthy, they will be. If they're lazy, not enough parks is NOT the problem.

Not rocket science.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by MoNative34

And some fat and lazy guy is fat and lazy because they're aren't enough bicycle paths??

If people want to be active and healthy, they will be. If they're lazy, not enough parks is NOT the problem.

Not rocket science.

I think it is a matter of scarcity. JOCO does have a lack of larger parks in the more urbanized portions of the county with an underdeveloped trails system. The issue was a relatively poor long-range planning scenario and too much greed throughout all levels in terms of the amount of development that has ocurred over time. (Remember the story last year about the deer hunt in Shawnee Mission Park?) The issue wasn't the fact that the deer were suddenly increasing in numbers as much as they were concentrating in the remaining less developed portions of JOCO that have not been turned into a paved over suburbia.
Shawnee Mission Park is overcrowded for its size considering the high population base it attracts from. Other areas of the US have landscape sized consevation lands, huge tracts of land that have conservation easements with public access, state parks, state forests, national forests, etc To say a one or two thousand acre parks is an accomplishment is not much. I don't think comparing JOCO parks to Central Park in NYC was an apt comparison by a pervious poster as well.

[RichMonk]

Originally Posted by OneKC

We have terrific parks. Its just that you have to get in your car and drive to get to any of them.

This simply hits the nail on the head. When I lived in Chicago I was within walking distance of 5 small parks. Granted, they are quite small but numerous throughout the city. Point is, I walked to these parks consistently when I was bored and was looking for a nice place to spend some time.

When I was living in far south JOCO and now in Westport, the parks require a car to get to. When I am being leisurely the last thing I want to think about is getting in a car, checking on how much gas I have, fastening my seat belt to ward against certain death, driving to the park, parking the car and doing it all over again to get back. It turns going to the park into an event when going to the park should just be as easy as, "I'm bored, let's walk to the park!"

Parks are supposed to be community gathering places. While I love them, Swope Park and Shawnee Mission Park are like the big box stores of parks. More to do at those places than you need and full of people you will likely not see again. At a small community park, you are gonna see your neighbors, your kids' friends and if your community is so inclined, perhaps a community farmer's (gardener's) market.

[Samantha S]

Originally Posted by RichMonk

Parks are supposed to be community gathering places. While I love them, Swope Park and Shawnee Mission Park are like the big box stores of parks. More to do at those places than you need and full of people you will likely not see again. At a small community park, you are gonna see your neighbors, your kids' friends and if your community is so inclined, perhaps a community farmer's (gardener's) market.

I agree, I noticed this last Summer during our extended stay in Chicago, several smaller parks, but they seemed to be more neighborly.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by Samantha S

I agree, I noticed this last Summer during our extended stay in Chicago, several smaller parks, but they seemed to be more neighborly.

Parks in JOCO are sterile and artificially enhanced. Eg: the Shawnee Mission Reservoir. The point being JOCO will have FAR LESS parkland in the future per capita as population growth is the highest of any county in Kansas.

[Samantha S]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

Parks in JOCO are sterile and artificially enhanced.

I'm not sure what this even means. For a "corporate suburb" I think the parks in JoCo are okay. The residential areas seem to have neighborhood parks. Maybe not as many as they could have. But there is plenty of stuff surrounding JoCo, so I've not ever noticed that finding recreation land is a problem.

[OneKC]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

Parks in JOCO are sterile and artificially enhanced. Eg: the Shawnee Mission Reservoir. The point being JOCO will have FAR LESS parkland in the future per capita as population growth is the highest of any county in Kansas.

The population has leveled off quite a bit (as GRID has loved pointing out). There is still an abundance of land out west. JoCo seems to value its parks pretty highly (as does KCMO) so I can't see it ever eating up parkland to develop.

I don't really get the impression JoCo's parks are any more sterile or "artificial" than KCMO's. None of them are exactly wild America, nor should they be.

Back to my earlier point about having to walk to parks, there are many exceptions of course. Loose Park in KCMO is a FANTASTIC park, probably the best in the city, and its very easy to walk to with nearby bus access. Mill Park on the Plaza is a nice small park that is very accessibly by bus or to anyone that lives on the Plaza. And I've found in Prairie Village we have 5-6 parks that are within a reasonable walk from our house.

But we do have a large number of parks in the metro, on both sides of the state line, that make it very hard to walk to (Penn Valley Park) or impossible to walk to (Shawnee Mission Park). We need to upgrade our bike trail system - that could possibly be a bi-state regional initiative. I know JoCo is going to be upgrading the area around north Metcalf to provide for some really nice bike trails along Rock Creek - not sure if its going all the way to KCMO and the Plaza, but that would be a great step.

[kcmo]

Most of KCMO parks are terrible. I grew up near Loose and Mill Creek is great, but the most of the rest are little more than undeveloped land. Hodge, Tiffany Springs, Swope, Penn Valley, Riverfront. Kinda sad really.

Can the city at least build a pedestrian bridge in Penn Valley Park to connect the halves across Broadway? I mean come on.

[Samantha S]

Tonight I spent 3 and a half hours in the car, picking up and dropping off kids at various activities (don't I lead an exciting life? ) and it occurred to me: In Chicago, the yards, if you had any at all, were very small. Making neighborhood parks a necessity for kids to play and neighbors to hang out.

In JoCo, and other suburbs around KC, many more homes have much more greenspace around them and in between. Kids congregate in their backyards and have plenty of space to do so, and many even have their own swingsets, trampolines etc. Who needs a trail to walk, run or bike on when the neighborhoods themselves are ideal for this?

I wonder if maybe this is the reason for fewer public parks and maybe why we don't seem to miss them much.

<shrug>