Blog KC recaps a recent Urban Times article, and adds this observation, which is right on.
[Urban Times, March] criticizing an unnamed City Council member for saying that “Downtown is not a neighborhood.” It’s a cheap political shot that is often taken when politicians want to pander to voters out in the provinces. You might also hear the slightly more veiled version of “I’m a neighborhood person” or “I support the neighborhoods.” Either way, it is a too common strategy to pit parts of the city against each other, just as is done with north vs. south or east vs. west. It also ignores the fact that Downtown is made up of many unique neighborhoods like the River Market, Columbus Park, Quality Hill, etc. – all home to over 15,000 Kansas Citians.
Downtown is not (yet) as walkable as other areas in the Metro (Westport, slices of Midtown, and Brookside are the leaders) which might make the city core less neighborhood-like than areas to the south and west. However, downtown is most definitely a neighborhood—a collection of neighborhoods, to be precise—with lots of local flavor and a growing base of permanent residents. Interesting to note that at the national level, downtown Kansas City is considered an “urban core” neighborhood.
What would accelerate the downtown KC neighborhoods trend? Leaving the controversial light rail argument out of the equation, I think more greenspace, more retail, and more amenities like Cosentino’s would make the N-factor more obvious. The single biggest N-trending addition would be a viable downtown school. Oh, and also an NBA tenant in the Sprint Center.
Well maybe not, but thought I’d throw that in there.
And a church plant… you forgot to mention that one. Very neighborly.