Kirkwood has poured a tremendous amount of sweat and treasure across multiple administrations into becoming a more walkable community. And while I have nits to pick here and there, overall these efforts have been worthwhile and successful. But no amount of curb bump-outs or bike lanes has convinced the blatant rule-breakers to stop blatantly breaking… Continue reading Tired of the Speeders? Turn on the Cameras.
For a grant designed to make our streets safer for all, Kirkwood’s SS4A application focuses an awful lot on just one. Kirkwood is finalizing its application for a $6.8 million federal Safer Streets for All (SS4A) grant — funding that could support traffic calming, sidewalk infill, and pedestrian upgrades across the city. But a closer… Continue reading The $3.5 Million Sidewalk: How Kirkwood’s SS4A Grant Lost the Plot
Update: 03/22/2025: East-West Gateway's public comment period is now open for the Argonne grant application. You can navigate directly to Kirkwood's application by clicking here. By commenting on your support of the project as well as ways it might be improved, you can help ensure that Kirkwood secures the funding and that the project will… Continue reading Argonne Drive: Spitting Distance from Perfection
At tonight's meeting, Kirkwood City Council will approve a grant application to overhaul Downtown Kirkwood's most iconic street. If East-West Gateway approves the city's STP grant application, the federal government would foot $2,089,600 —80%— of the $2,612,000 of the total estimated cost to redesign and repave Argonne between Geyer and Taylor, with the City covering… Continue reading Argonne Deserves a Bike Lane
Update 04/24/2025: The city revealed its preliminary plans for bridging the physical divide between Meacham Park at its April 15th open house, the second of the ongoing Southeast Kirkwood Connectivity Study. Those preliminary plans can be found here and I encourage you to review them and offer your feedback to the city as to how… Continue reading Southeast Kirkwood Connect
Update 02/07/2025: At last night's meeting, City Council passed a modified version of the sidewalk infill zoning text amendment. Instead of ditching the requirement that homeowners building large additions be required to add sidewalks wholesale, the Council decided instead to expand Director of Public Services Chris Krueger's discretion in deciding whether or not sidewalk infill… Continue reading Foregoing Sidewalks Won’t Make Kirkwood Affordable
Last Friday, I wrote a piece explaining Prop T and why I don't think it's the right solution for improving Kirkwood's roads. In the week since, I've got a lot of responses folks stating that, while they agree that a Transportation Development District might not be the ideal solution, they weren't sure what the alternatives… Continue reading Three Alternatives To New Transportation Tax
On November 5th, Kirkwood voters will head to the polls to make an incredibly important choice. I speak, of course, of the question of whether or not the city should institute Prop T, a city-wide Transportation Development District (TDD) that would fund street improvements through a new city-wide half-cent sales tax levy. While the condition… Continue reading Four Reasons I’m Against Prop T
A couple of weeks back, Patrick Richmond wrote a mailbag letter in the Webster-Kirkwood Times that I think made some great points: First, I think he's spot on that the only real way of combatting congestion and a perceived shortage of parking in a growing Kirkwood is to get some people to switch from driving… Continue reading Micro-Transit: A Better Use for TDD
I've long made the case that in order for Kirkwood to get the most out of its significant development in the Grant's Trail extension, they should clear the way for the private sector to invest in the land alongside it. That mostly means loosening zoning restrictions for what uses are allowed on adjacent land, but… Continue reading Present & Future Development Along Grant’s Trail
