Comments on: Brookings: KC at “competitive disadvantage” http://kclightrail.com/2007/12/20/brookings-kc-at-competitive-disadvantage/ Your source for news and information on Kansas City's light rail progress Mon, 23 Aug 2010 19:14:01 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: walker http://kclightrail.com/2007/12/20/brookings-kc-at-competitive-disadvantage/comment-page-1/#comment-5793 walker Fri, 21 Dec 2007 20:55:51 +0000 http://kclightrail.com/2007/12/20/brookings-kc-at-competitive-disadvantage/#comment-5793 I buy the premise in this report that KC is not very walker-friendly--and this will put us at a competitive disadvantage soon if not already--but the ranking methodolgy is pretty goofy, as the author admits. The rankings are based on population per "walkable place", not on transit service or other factors (although the author does draw conclusions about the correlation between higher ranked walkable cities and their transit systems). KC's pop is 1.9+ million with only one walkable place--Country Club Plaza. If/when Crossroads reaches "critical mass" (and barring other changes in other cities) KC would leapfrog from #23 of 30 to #12--between San Diego and LA. If/when downtown KCMO is added, we'd be at #7--between Seattle and Chicago. I buy the premise in this report that KC is not very walker-friendly–and this will put us at a competitive disadvantage soon if not already–but the ranking methodolgy is pretty goofy, as the author admits.

The rankings are based on population per “walkable place”, not on transit service or other factors (although the author does draw conclusions about the correlation between higher ranked walkable cities and their transit systems). KC’s pop is 1.9+ million with only one walkable place–Country Club Plaza.

If/when Crossroads reaches “critical mass” (and barring other changes in other cities) KC would leapfrog from #23 of 30 to #12–between San Diego and LA. If/when downtown KCMO is added, we’d be at #7–between Seattle and Chicago.

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