Amid Kansas City, Missouri's stay-at-home order, residents continue to venture outside, packing parks and sidewalks throughout the city.
Some city council members want to close off some streets to block traffic and open them for pedestrians and bicyclists to help maintain social distancing.
STAY-AT-HOME ORDER.WE ALL NEED FRESH AIRAND EXERCISE AS WEPRACTICE SOCIALDISTANCING.K-C-MO LEADERS HAVEFOUND A NEW PROBLEM --AND THEY'RECONSIDERING CLOSINGROADS.41 ACTION NEWSREPORTER NICK STARLINGEXPLAINS THE PROBLEM --AND WHAT SOME THINK OFTHE IDEA.NICK STARLINGWE ARE ON WALNUTSTREET IN DOWNTOWNKANSAS CITY AND ITCOULD BE ONE OF A FEWSTREETS CLOSED TRAFFIC-AS THE CITY COUNCILLOOKS TO CUT DOWN ONPEOPLE CROWDING UPPARKS AND SIDEWALKS.DuRon Netsell, likes ideaI've never seen so manypeople walking and biking upand down this street withchildren on bicycles which Ihave not seen before.DURON NETSELL IS SEEINGMORE PEOPLE SPENDINGTIME OUTSIDE IN HISMIDTOWNNEIGHBORHOOD-AND ITCONCERNS HIM.DuRon Netsell, likes ideaI'm seeing people in order tomaintain the physicaldistancing they're moving intothe street and now dodgingcars.TO HELP CALM THESE KINDOF CONCERNS -THE KCCITY COUNCIL ISCONSIDEIRNG USINGCONES OR BARRICADES TOBLOCK OFF STREETS TOALLEVIATE THECONGESTION.Eric Bunch, KANSAS CITY, MO CityCouncilmanPeople traffic volumes arelower, traffic speeds are upTHE INITIALRECOMMENDATIONSLISTED 3 EAST-WESTSTREET IN THE NORTH,CENTRAL AND SOUTHPARTS OF THE CITY-Melissa Robinson, KANSAS CITY,MO City CouncilwomanTrying to figure out where'sthe best place to do thatbased on need and go fromthere.BUT SOME MEMBERSWANTED TO PUSH THEBRAKES ON THE PLAN.Katheryn Shields, KANSAS CITY,MO City CouncilwomanI think our people are veryresilient people, and I thinthey can figure out how to gowalk outside without us takingmajor resources from ourpublic works department.THE PUBLIC WORKSDEPARTMENT STRESSED-THEY WOULD ONLY CLOSEA ROAD THAT ALSOALLOWS EMERGENCYPERSONNEL TO GETTHROUGH.Sherri McIntyre, Director KCMOPublic WorksWhen we say street closures,we still have to maintain locastreet traffic people, localtraffic only so we're not sayingthere's no traffic on a streetand you have it set up so thatyou can get emergencyvehicles in and out throughthe coordidor.AFTER SOME DEBATE THERECOMMENDATIONS WILLONLY LOOK AT NON-ARTERIAL STREETS, ANDCLOSING ROADS INSIDE OFPARKS.ALSO IN THISRESOLUTION-CHANGINGSOME PUSH BUTTONSIGNALS TOAUTOMATICALLY TURN SOYOU DON'T HAVE TO PUSHTHE BUTTON FOR THESIGNAL TO CROSS THESTREET SAFELTHIS COUNCIL ISEXPECTED TO PASS ARESOLUTION NEXT WEEKAFTER GETTING MOREFEEDBACK FROM THEM ASWELL AS THE PUBLIC.REPORTING IN KCNICK STARLING41 ACTION NEWS.