| City seeking grant for streetscape project
Looking to meet a need for a pedestrian-friendly downtown Raytown, the city is seeking a competitive Community Development Block Grant, or CDBG, to undertake a streetscape project that could reach from 61st Street and Blue Ridge Boulevard to 63rd Street and Raytown Road.The grant application comes at a time when the city is seeing interest from multiple developers in the downtown area, City Administrator Michael D. Miller said.He isn't surprised at the attention."Our incentives are in place," he said.Miller said the interest from the development community included office and retail possibilities.The state CDBG grant, if awarded to Raytown, would require local matching funds."The primary cash match is anticipated to come from anticipated expenditures made in conjunction with the Raytown Plaza Shopping Center," Community Development Director Tim Truesdale said.The city recently received the initial plans for renovation work at the shopping center, which is in the streetscape project area along Blue Ridge Boulevard.The streetscape project plans, which were recently presented to the Raytown Board of Aldermen, provide for new sidewalks, curbs, pedestrian lighting, colored and textured crosswalks, planters and landscaping.Truesdale said the project would be directly in line with the Central Business District design guidelines, which provide for the creation of a pedestrian-friendly downtown Raytown.Ben Helt, owner of the coming Benetti's Coffee Experience on Blue Ridge Boulevard, said the district design guidelines encourage having walkable areas, which is in keeping with the design of the new business, anticipated to open this May.Benetti's design, which follows the Central Business District guidelines, includes additional sidewalk space and an outdoor patio area.Helt said a streetscape project could encourage further improvements in the downtown corridor."Having the city make the investment (in the project) could provide an incentive for other property owners," he said.Helt noted there had already been a substantial investment since 2003 in property on the east side of Blue Ridge Boulevard, between 61st Street and 63rd Street.Raytown has seen further investment activity in the corridor with the recent move of Midwest Success, an IT company, from Kansas City to the Bank of America Building on 63rd Street.Raytown Editor Mark Johnson can be reached at 358-6397 or mjohnson@npgco.com.
Sharing his park
Terry Cone, 68, sits within a gazebo he built on land he owns next to his property. The area is casually known to neighbors as Cone Park, as it is a gathering hub for all who live on Skyland Circle. The grassy area includes a swing, rotating flower arrangements and light pole. .
Into The Looking Glass
Architects say it is a masterpiece. The public is practically pounding on the door to see it. After 58 years, architect Philip Johnson's Glass House in New Canaan, maybe the most iconic modern home in the U.S. and a pioneering residence of the International style, opens to the public for the first time April 30.
It is a house that delights both architects and the general public, though until now the public has essentially known it only from photographs.
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It's adios to 'big red barns'
After 50 years at its high-profile site on the east side of Lafayette, Koehler Bros. Landscaping & Garden Center will be closing part of its business and moving the remainder. Ron Koehler, co-owner of the second-generation firm, said the land at 3431 Indiana 26 E. has been leased to SJC Inc., a land development company that owns property that extends west to the intersection of Indiana 26 and Sagamore Parkway. "It was a great opportunity. It was time to move on," said Koehler. "People like us, Lutterloh's and Bennett's are always sitting on too-valuable land for a nursery. You wait until the right time comes along." A Walgreens drugstore is being built at the former location of Lutterloh's Garden Shop and Nursery, which opened in 1989 at the southwest corner of Old U.S. 231 and Indiana 25 on the west side of Lafayette.
Anarchist book fair has debut
NEW YORK -- It may be the center of the capitalist universe, but New York still managed to rally hundreds of revolutionaries, students and the plain curious for its first anarchist book fair last weekend.
Although the prospect of barricades on Broadway and violent revolution appear remote, the anarchist movement appears to be attracting a broad spectrum of countercultural followers disillusioned with the state of U.S. politics.
With titles on offer ranging from "Organic Market Gardening" and "Crimethink for Beginners" to the enigmatic "Bicycling Science" and "Animal Rights and Pornography," Saturday's book fair reflected diverse manifestos.
Organizers said they were happy to welcome the "anarcho-curious" as well as veteran radicals to the Greenwich Village event in downtown Manhattan.
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