Open Letter to Ed Ford RE: Tomahawke Ridge

As Kansas City plans to annex still more land into our sprawling metro, proponents of a progressive policy toward KC development need to let the City Council know we are paying attention. Contact your Councilperson and let them know how you feel.

Click here more information on the ordinance to annex this area north of the airport. Of special note is the staff report that waves red flags right and left.

Ed,

I’m writing to express my vehement disappointment in your sponsorship of the annexation of still more far-flung land into our flailing, over-extended city. Our metro has long held dubious rankings on sprawl and the ill-effects associated with it, with KCMO leading the line. Surely you know that providing services to this area will cost far more than the revenue the area will generate, all while jeopardizing the quality of those services to people in existing, established neighborhoods that have made a long-standing commitment to Kansas City.

We’re the 21^st largest city in America by land area but the 35^th largest by population. Is it any wonder we have a budget problem, and yet we are working our way further up the land area list? With so much land awaiting development in a way that could leverage existing investments, why do you insist on overextending us still further?

You owe it to those of us in the second district that already exists to be a good steward of our limited resources. Leap-frogging sprawl is not a revenue solution, it is a cost problem. You’ve often displayed an ambition to move this city forward by making decisions based on new ideas, not tired, disproven ones. Surely you realize the folly of supporting a development that our own city staff summarily rejected.

My neighborhood alone, in your district, houses hundreds of Kansas Citians in a few blocks. We are using existing infrastructure at a vastly lower cost per resident. Why should we subsidize a new development so far from our existing investments as a city?

Please have the courage to stand up for your existing constituents, not hypothetical ones and the developers that will profit from them.

Sincerely,

Matthew Staub

2009: My Year in Cities

Cities where I spent at least one overnight:

Boulder, CO
Denver, CO
Madison, WI
Milwaukee, WI
Archbold, OH
St. Louis, MO
Ozark National Scenic Riverway (Current River), MO
Ann Arbor, MI
Detroit, MI
Hannibal, MO
Minneapolis, MN
Omaha, NE
Norfolk, NE
Hoskins, NE