The Joplin Globe, Joplin, MO

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September 28, 2008

Andra Bryan Stafanoni: Paths to our future

PITTSBURG, Kan. — Sometimes steps at a time, sometimes a mile at a time, Todd Kennemer is on a mission to see that Pittsburg residents of all ages have safe places to walk, be it for recreation or as a mode of transportation.

As the assistant director of public works, his charge is to stretch available public, private and charitable money to establish hiking and biking trails throughout the community. So far, so good, he says, but he still has miles to go before he sleeps.

One of his current projects is a hiking and biking trail that runs the old railroad right of way from the southwest residential area of First and Georgia streets to centrally located 11th Street and Broadway near the Pittsburg Community Middle School and St. Mary’s-Colgan campuses, where the trail and the schools and north downtown converge.

The one-third of a mile railroad right of way was used by Watco Companies Inc., a short-line railway operation based in Pittsburg.

“Kids are already using it,” Kennemer said. “But there’s still more we want to do.”

Besides the schools and the downtown, the trail allows for easy access to Leffler Park, a midtown hangout popular with youths for its basketball courts, playground and unit shelter.

Watco, owned by the Webb family, which also was instrumental in developing Immigrant Park on the south end of the downtown area, donated the land for the trail and plans to help the city of Pittsburg place gravel at road crossings — and there are several.

The bulk of the trail work was funded by a $10,000 grant from the Pritchett Trust Fund — a fund established to support projects that have direct community impact — and a $10,000 grant from the Sunflower Foundation Fund, which serves health-care related projects in Kansas.

“Our focus was that these trails are not only to help solve walking and transportation problems, but also to help with the obesity problem in the U.S.,” Kennemer said. “There’s a definite health angle because it is a recreational spot.”

Provided that Kennemer can get a second grant next year, his crews will let the gravel settle, then pave the entire trail.

“That’s our goal,” he said.

But he acknowledges that his goal extends beyond that one-third of a mile.

“A lot of people here don’t walk or bike because of safety. Part of our comprehensive plan is a network of trails circulating throughout the city,” Kennemer said, referring to a map that illustrates that plan.

The map’s suggested trails intersect the city at key recreational, shopping and educational areas, including the Schlanger Park area near East Fourth Street; the popular Lakeside Park in southwest Pittsburg; trails leading north from Mount Carmel Regional Medical Center and surrounding medical complexes; and a trail that connects the community with Wilderness Park, a city-owned woodsy park on the northern outskirts of town. Existing trails bisect the Pittsburg State University campus and connect it with the southern and western edges of Pittsburg.

“What our plan is, the general plan for the city, is to ask the public, ‘What do you want to be in 20 years?’” Kennemer said. “You know, years ago, cities were built around humans, the pedestrians. Then, after World War II, we built them around the automobile, so now there’s no place for humans. It’s not safe, and you have to burn a gallon of gas to go buy a gallon of milk.”

To aid in his quest, he plans to apply for the Safe Routes to Schools and Walking School Bus grant programs.

“We’d like to have trails around all the schools,” he said. “We’ve been trying to connect Meadowlark at 20th Street to Countryside, and further on down to connect the high school. We’re wanting to connect all the parks, too, and Pittsburg has a lot. And, we want to connect the downtown shopping area to the north and the south. We have a lot of work yet to do.”

Steps at a time, steps at a time.

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