Comments on: H&R Block moving Downtown

By: dangerboy

dangerboy — Mon, 22 Dec 2003 16:21:28 +0000

Actually, Des Moines’ downtown street life is probably comparable to Kansas City. While it’s a smaller metro area, their downtown still has something lik 50-60% of that city’s jobs, compared to 20-30% for downtown KCMO. Plus, the smaller metro area means that even the outer suburbs are at most 20 minutes away from dowtnown, compared to 30-45 minutes for places like Olathe, Lee’s Summit, Kearney, etc.

By: Rhetorica

Rhetorica — Fri, 19 Dec 2003 20:41:41 +0000

Dangerboy– Well, we can’t lose what we don’t have, re: street life. And I would argue that the Minneapolis street life beats KCs easily. While much traffic happens above ground, the fact that a skyway attracts foot traffic means there’s more for the street, too. At least that’s what a week in Minneapolis looked like to me.

Des Moines’ skyway is cute. And, being such a small city, I’m not surprised it takes away from the street life–although its difficult to imagine what that would look like in Des Moines.

By: dangerboy

dangerboy — Fri, 19 Dec 2003 03:01:46 +0000

I don’t know about Minneapolis, but Des Moines also has a skywalk system, and it’s not an entirely good thing. It leaves very little street life, so your first impression is that downtown is almost a ghost town, unless know that all of the action is up in the sky. KC’s weather is mild enough that even in extreme summer or winter it’s not intolerable to walk outside between buildilngs.

By: Rhetorica

Rhetorica — Thu, 18 Dec 2003 21:51:51 +0000

Now what we need is a pedestrian skyway like the one in Minneapolis. Combined with the growing downtown residential space, such a development could turn KC into the kind of city we know it can be. I hope I live to see it.