I undertook the task of investigating and reporting on the assets in the North Loop area. Using criteria learned in Community and Neighborhood Development I used the ABCD (Asset Based Community Development) method to located and map assets.

I broke up the assets into Businesses, Churches, Community Centers, Community Gardens, Event Venues, Government Buildings, Labor Unions, Museums, Neighborhood Associations, Parks, Restaurants, and Schools. Each of these individual assets had their own trends and areas of prominence.

These two maps illustrate how assets are spread fairly evenly around the site but also shows how these neighborhoods have been broken up by the highways.

The assets of the North Loop are divided by culture. Restaurants in the Downtown neighborhood and Columbus Park Community are very different. Columbus Park has lots of Asian options such as Pho Lan KC and Vietnam Cafe, while the Downtown Neighborhood has KC Taco Company, City Diner, and The Farmhouse. The Heart of America bridge has cut this area is half.

Devlopment is Pasco West has been minimal, with the area turning into a concreate jungle of commercial uses such as a U-Hall Dealer, Storage Mart, and a construction company. Highway 70 has cut this area off from the rest of city. A few blocks away it feels like a totally different city.

The neighborhood map is questionable. It is using city data to map, the accuracy relies on the local government being informed on the accurate boundaries of the community. It is likely River Market has its own neighborhood group that is not mapped by the city.

Overall, the city has a variety of assets, the question is how do we connect them? From mine own and others experiences, people tend to stay within a neighborhood bubble when visiting and experiencing the North Loop area. If one is in River Market, they do not tend to experience the assets south of the loop, mainly because getting across the bridges can be tedious and unsafe, as I experienced recently. Depending on where you cross at, there may be several blocks between where you cross the North Loop and your destination.

A key aspect of the North Loop redevelopment should be bringing in assets to help fill the gap between the Rivier Market area and the several blocks south of which there are almost no assets.