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First of all, a huge shout-out to everyone who made it to last Friday's happy hour! I think it was our best showing yet, and it's always good to celebrate successes with those who are responsible for them!
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- The search for the city's new Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) is on in earnest this week, but the process by which the candidate will ultimately be selected (or whether any of the four finalists will be selected) remains unclear. I think it's only right that the newest iteration of the Council —the most up-to-date representation of the electorate's will— have the final say. I also want to say that I think the rhetoric surrounding the appointment has grown a bit overblown. The main selection criteria must be competence. The elected Council is the vehicle for policy change; the CAO's job is to manage city staff and try not to screw anything up. We're looking for a glorified accountant, not the next Barack Obama.
- The Parks Master Plan draft is complete and will have its public hearing this coming Monday, April 20th at 7pm at the Community Center (next to the ice rink). I encourage you all to find your favorite neighborhood park in the draft report, take a look at the changes proposed, and either show up on Monday to offer your comment in person, or do so in writing by emailing henkekk@kirkwoodmo.org.
- While home I got the disappointing news from the volunteers at Kirkwood Train Station that the city will not be seeing a third daily MO River Runner train this summer, despite the state funding the expanded service for the World Cup because Amtrak didn't have enough trains to accommodate the expansion. Very disappointing; the Kirkwood Train Station is a massively under-tapped resource for the community.
- A couple of interesting nuggets in tonight's Work Session agenda:
- The agenda lists a new Safe Streets for All grant application. It's unclear whether the application pertains to the Meacham Park Connectivity plan, the Safer Routes to Schools plan, or both simultaneously, as they attempted with last Summer's application. In either case, I hope we choose the projects a bit more rationally this time around.
- There was also a return of the perennial parking-enforcement-in-Downtown-Kirkwood discussion. No amount of tinkering with time limits is going to change the basic tragedy-of-the-commons problem: the city is giving away a valuable resource for free, so some people consume more than they need and others are forced to go without. I'm very excited for Waymo to be here so we can never talk about parking again (we can talk about the new problem of congestion instead!)
- From last week's Webster Kirkwood Times:
- I agree with Tina Mueller's mailbag article: The city should have a code requiring sidewalks be kept open during construction or for developers to pay to place concrete barrier-protected temporary sidewalks on the street if needed. We can't expect people to support more options for where to live if new homes make life for existing residents miserable. Low-hanging fruit for the new council.
- On pg. 11, go see former Missouri Supreme Court Justice Michael Wolff speak at KPAC on May 18th, he's a very engaging speaker!
- On pg. 12, help the rotary club restore the historic Olive Chapel AME church on April 25th, 9am-12. Worried we're losing our history? This is a great chance to do something about it!
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That's all for this week! Have a great weekend, everyone!
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