On Tuesday, May 10th, I met with Mayor Quinton Lucas, Mayor Pro Tem Kevin McManus, 6th District and Public Works Director Michael Shaw. The 30-minute conversation was respectful, transparent and to-the-point with a two-fold meeting goal:

1. Deliver the Repave Waldo petition with over 2,700 signatures demanding the arterial Waldo roads be repaved.

2. Establish a timeline when those roads would be repaired.

* Mayor Q acknowledged the City's street preservation effort was lacking with past Mayoral administrations. He recognizes this as a top priority issue and the City Council will increase funding to approx. $40M in 2022-23. I reminded the group that dollar figure is still not enough to, "tread water," on street preservation per a 2017 City announced $45M/year minimum. Basically, KCMO roads are still decaying faster than are repaired. However, this increase is welcomed.

* The group discussed holding City departments, contractors, and utility companies accountable for the significant damage and unprofessional repairs left in Waldo. I stressed there was very little oversight or accountability for almost all Waldo repair work and provided specific examples. The current work at 85th and Wornall is a complete disgrace. The worksite has been abandoned over 4 weeks with unfinished repair work. The City leadership agreed that repair work was substandard and also should have been coordinated with Public Works to repave the entirety of 85th from Wornall to Ward Parkway. They also planned to increase and enforce City code expectations and accountability for those working on our streets. I stated this is exactly what we needed in Waldo.  There was brief City group discussion on how citizens could quickly get problem area notifications to City departments but nothing specific was decided.

* We also addressed street cuts on roads older than 5 years. This is where Waldo sees a significant number of additional potholes, sinking asphalt, and new roadway decay. Mayor Q was considering updating City policy to address older roads and street cuts to broaden the street patching requirements. For example, if a utility makes a street cut on one of the older Waldo roads they simply patch the small hole and move on. A better solution is to mandate a larger patch to the size of the lane (or larger) so a new pothole or sinkhole does not appear as easily. Makes great sense, really.

* When discussing repaving Waldo arterial roads, several are in such failed shape that repaving or a 2” mill/overlay ($64k/lane mile) will not properly fix the street. Those Waldo roads need to be fully reconstructed ($1.5M/lane mile). A reconstruction is the same as what occurred on Wornall between 85th and 79th.

* I asked for the plan if funding cannot be provided for a full reconstruction. The answer I did not want to hear is these roads most likely will not be touched any time soon. Pothole patching is the only solution at this time. I then brought up the current pothole patching lack of success with long delays, non-existent work, and failed pothole patches within days. Michael then talked about possible arterial road segment patches that could repair the worst road sections as a substitution for continuous pothole patches. We’ll see if that strategy comes to fruition.

Positive Waldo arterial road repaving highlights:

1. Wornall Rd: Full reconstruction of the 75th street intersection begins late Summer 2022! That includes Wornall between 74th and 79th street.

2. 75th Street – Oak to Troost: Scheduled to be resurfaced in 2022-2023!

3. State Line Rd – 75th to 79th: Scheduled to be resurfaced in 2022-2023!

4. 85th Street – Holmes to Main: Scheduled to be resurfaced in 2022-2023!

5. There are many other residential Waldo roads planned for resurfacing, too! Click the attached link for images.

Not-so-positive Waldo arterial road highlights:

1. Holmes Rd – Gregory to 85th: No work planned at this time. Full reconstruction needed. Public Works recommends adding to the GO Bond program list.

2. Main St – 75th to 85th: No work planned at this time. Full reconstruction needed. Public Works recommends adding to the GO Bond program list.

3. Oak St – Gregory to 75th: No worked planned at this time. Under review to be added to Public Works GO Bond program list.

4. Wornall Rd – Gregory to 74th: No worked planned at this time.

5. 79th St. – Stateline to Troost: No worked planned at this time. Full reconstruction needed. Public Works recommends adding to the GO Bond program list.

6. Stateline Rd – 79th to 85th: KCMO reaching out to Leawood for joint repair discussions. Nothing planned yet.

7. 85th St. – Main St. to State Line Rd. No work planned as of today. CAVEAT: The City leadership agreed that repair work was substandard and also should have been coordinated with Public Works to repave the entirety of 85th from Wornall to Ward Parkway. Waldo may see this stretch resurfaced if those City leaders in attendance follow-through on their verbal commitment to repave it. We’ll see.

Review the attached images for collateral materials provided by Public Works Director Michael Shaw. They show much more detail.

Bottom line: Thank you to Mayor Quinton Lucas, Mayor Pro Tem Kevin McManus, 6th District, Public Works Director Michael Shaw and their staff members for providing RepaveWaldo.org more time than requested. These are positive steps forward and we should acknowledge that.

Please know I still plan to meet with City Manager Brian Platt, 6th District Councilwoman Andrea Bough, and KC Water Director Wes Minder to share the full petition, too.

As for my Waldo neighbors and business owners, I am 100% convinced your collective voice and petition signatures made these steps happen. Thank you so very much for not letting apathy and continued disenfranchisement stand in our way. We still have Waldo roads to be repaired and must remain vigilant in the coming months. Stay the course, neighbors. Good things are finally coming our way.