Public Works?
Join us for an in-depth look at our metro’s infrastructure system with comprehensive original reporting. We take you underneath the pavement to tackle the state of our water and sewers. We track the state of highways and bridges in Kansas and Missouri. We take a closer look at our public transit system. And, perhaps most importantly, we convene policymakers and industry leaders in search of solutions.
Follow the entire project here, and ask us your infrastructure questions.
Affordable Housing: Pricing Out Workers
If working two full-time jobs isn’t enough to make rent in the city, Kimberly Lawson wants to know what is enough. This video, part of a larger project from Kansas City PBS and Flatland looking at gentrification, affordable housing, and evictions in the Kansas City metro, delves into whether the downtown boom is driving out…
Anything Concrete? We Check In A Year After Our Infrastructure Project
Last spring, we dug into the state of metro roads, highways, sewers and public transportation in a project called Public Works? The Cost of Our Aging Infrastructure. Now, we’re issuing a report card, of sorts, to see if anything has changed in a year’s time. We track the progress on our weekly public affairs shows, Week in…
Gentrification: The Westside
In the historic Westside neighborhood, “gentrification” has become a hotly contested word. From long-term residents to real estate developers, a neighborhood meeting shows there’s the pull between old and new, and a question of the right way to evolve a neighborhood. This video is part of a larger project from Kansas City PBS and Flatland…
Can You Improve an Area Without Gentrifying It?
By Anne Kniggendorf As a traffic engineer, Jay Aber worries that some of the improvements he designs have the exact opposite effect of what he had hoped. “We try to improve the street for the people who live there,” Aber said. “Then, the people who live there end up getting pushed out in favor of…
The Inside Job
The Marlborough Community Coalition’s Facebook page recently featured a newspaper story documenting the surprising luxury housing and commercial development boom taking place a few miles north in Kansas City’s Beacon Hill neighborhood. The story was accompanied by a message: “Change can happen!” In fact, a different kind of change already is happening in Marlborough, the…
The Faces of Eviction
In January, together with the Kansas City Public Library, we hosted a live public town hall to talk about evictions, gentrification and affordable housing in the metro. The standing room only-crowd heard from and asked questions of the six panelists, Tara Raghuveer, eviction researcher; Terrence Wise, community member; Jacob Wagner, co-founder of Center for Neighborhoods…
Five Things You Can Do To Protect Your Rights As A Tenant
Flatland sat down with Gina Chiala, executive director and attorney for the Heartland Center for Jobs and Freedom, to see what advice she offers to rental tenants in Kansas City as part of Public Works? A Level Foundation, our in-depth series on eviction, gentrification, and affordable housing in the metro. This is the transcript for…
The Cost of Churn: Evictions Hinder Classroom Progress for Kids
Tameko Davison’s children were well into the routine of a school year when turmoil intervened in the form of an eviction notice. Davison fell behind on payments, and the gas was shut off to her government-subsidized apartment in Kansas City. That violated a Kansas City Housing Authority rule and caused her to lose her rent…
Vote! What Would You Like Us to Cover in Our Reporting?
As we dig into housing issues in our months-long Public Works? A Level Foundation reporting initiative, we want you to share your questions with us and weigh in on what you think we should tackle. Below is our first voting round with three questions from curious Kansas Citians. Tricia Bushnell asked what percentage new developments…
