Sunday, April 25, 2010

river otter day


Unless I'm counting cards at the Black Jack table I'm generally not a fan of casinos. Occasionally though, they seem to do the right thing such as helping to sponsor River Otter Day. River Otter Day isn't really about otters but more about the Missouri River and riverfront development both of which could use some help. There have been some significant improvements in Kansas City's riverfront in the past 5 years. I suspect before the next decade passes we might even see a restaurant or two that overlooks the river. Not sure what the city has to do to develop a marina downtown but it could be as simple as rerouting the few barges that still use the Big Muddy to the Mississippi.

3 comments:

abcnkc said...

There is no place to put a Riverfront marina in the Downtown Area.

The only place in the area that would not silt in is in the pre 1950 channel of our river at Liberty Bend. It is now the mouth of Shoal Creek and downriver from Sugar Creek at Bar 350.

Warrior Ant Press Worldwide Anthill Headquarters in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. said...

Of course there are places to put a marina in downtown KC. You could put it right on the original site of Chouteau Landing. It would take some engineering because we've mucked up the river channel but it could be done. It can always be done if we want to do it. The reason that people say that you can't put it next to the RiverMarket is because the river has been channelized and currently courses along that side of the bend. Why? To maintain a channel for largely non-existent barge traffic. The barge industry is more than happy to have taxpayers foot the bill for channel maintenance. Or you could move the marina across the river to north KC but that would not benefit the downtown much. There's a way to cite the marina downtown, there are just too many vested interests currently in the way to make it happen.

abcnkc said...

You are correct in saying that you could plunk down a marina anyplace. But some of us want to use it anytime we want.

If you are talking about Choueau's Landing across from the Randolph Bluffs in Zone 3 of Riverfront Park (by Harry S Truman Railroad bridge), Our River is usally pretty shallow there.

From our River Relief cleanups in Omaha, I have been able to be in contact with Larry Foster who is in charge of the Omaha area Missouri River Marinas. On one of his visits to visit his daughter in Gladstone he evaluated our sites in the Real KCMO Riverfront Park and desided that there was no real place to put one that would be self scouring. Maintance has cost Omaha Parks and Rec. many many times the original cost of the builds.

I hope some one will build a marina, but in the KC area it might be only floating removable docks in the current.

ABCNKC
Friends of KCMO's Riverfront Park
MDC Stream Team 2560