Last Saturday was a weird day. It was cool and raining in the morning. By the end of the day, it was bright and hot. I started out wet and cold and wound up sunburned and dehydrated by the time I finished my bike ride from my house to Downtown and back. I am guessing it was around 25 miles which is the longest non-trail ride I've done in 20 years.
This time I actually went all the way accross the Heart of America Bridge and went down to the 2nd Street Trail, undereath HOA, and over to Grand. I stopped at the 3rd and Grand transit parking lot and stopped to take a break under a shade tree in a little 10' by 10' grass island. The grass was all dead and I just happened to look down and see what seemed like 200 lbs of dog poo. I figured out why the grass was dead. It was the only place for condo dwellers to let their pooches go.
Why one wants to live in a small cracker box in the middle of the city and own a dog? I don't know or care. Want to reduce the amount of e-coli and increase water quality in the Kansas City area? Ban condo dwellers from owning dogs. Besides, a grown man walking a 15 lb dog to go relieve itself really looks pathetic.
After checking my shoes for dog doo and seeing if I needed to ride home barefoot so I didn't get dog crap on my bike peddles (yes-I am a Jerry Seinfeld germophobe), I started the trekk back home. One thing I love about being on a bike at 15-20 mph is how it allows for more observation of the surrounding environment. I never stopped to take the time to notice just how big and neat the tucked away Veolia Grand Avenue Station steam plant is.
The plant was built around 1903 and these details are taken from a court case that dealt with KCP&L's plan to abandon the plant. The Kansas City Public Library Missouri Valley Special Collections website has a 1912 post card and cites an April 29, 1983 Kansas City Times article that quotes this:
"The Missouri river powerhouse with two tall smoke stacks is above the wharf. It was built between the years 1900-1904 by the Metropolitan Street Railway Co. to provide power for Kansas City's expanding street car system.
In 1900 the company had purchased the Kansas City Electric Light Co., a predecessor of the Kansas City Power & Light Co., bringing transportation and electric service under one roof. Kansas Citians were clamoring for improved street car service and for the new electric lights.
The Street Railway Journal issue of 1903 called it one of the largest electric railway power stations under construction in the United States and probably the largest outside New York City. It was constructed only 22 years after central station electric service was first available in Kansas City, and it represented the revolution in people's lives caused by electricity."
It is amazing that a power plant that old was able to survive as long as it has without someone tearing it down or simply abandoning it and letting it decay. What's amazing is that it was for street car use and how 100+ years later, there is talk about potentially putting a street car station in this vicinity.
While I was on my way back, I noticed a poor raccoon that was trying to escape the urban heat island for the greener pastures and open space in Platte County. Poor soul must have though he was an experienced road traveler and wanted to take the travel lane with the cars to prove that he was entitled to use the road just as much as a vehicle. Pride and arrogance did this racoon in. Poor thing should have used the safe seperated bicycle/pedestrian/racoon path to cross the river.
Maybe MoDOT needs to provide more signage to guide raccoons onto the non-automotive side of the bridge. Call the Institute of Transportation Engineers and demand better signing and accommodations for raccoons to commute from the fine dumpsters downtown to their tranquil suburban dens. Don't let another raccoon family wonder what happened to their loved one.
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