Settlement reached in death of bicyclist Jake Clough

According to the KCStar:

Children's Mercy Hospital and the family of a Kansas boy who died last year when a hospital feeding tube became dislodged in his abdomen have reached a settlement in a wrongful death case.

Neither side would reveal the details of the settlement.

Jake Clough, 15, of Fairway, Kan., was hospitalized in February 2005 after colliding with a truck on his bicycle in neighboring Prairie Village.

He emerged from a coma in mid-March at the University of Kansas Medical Center and was transferred to Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, where he died a week later.

Olathe Bicycle Transportation Plan stakeholder meeting Nov 29th, 2006

Olathe Bicycle Transportation Plan
Stakeholder Meeting

The City of Olathe's Departments of Public Works and Parks & Recreation will host a stakeholder meeting to present the draft plan to and receive comments from the bicycling community and interested citizens on the draft Olathe Bicycle Transportation Plan. The preliminary plan integrates various types of bicycle facilities, including on-road and trail facilities, into one comprehensive plan addressing the needs of a wide variety of bicyclists in our community. The meeting will begin with a brief presentation from staff describing the Olathe's history in bicycle planning, how the plan evolved, staff's reasoning behind the proposed plan and the plan's proposed system of bicycle facilities. The presentation will be followed with a hands-on opportunity for attendees to provide input on the development of Olathe first bicycle transportation plan.

November 29, 2006
7:00-9:00 PM
Governor's Room
1st Floor
Olathe City Hall
100 E. Santa Fe (1 block east of Kansas and Santa Fe)
Olathe, KS

We hope as many members of the bicycling community, particularly those who bicycle in, through or around Olathe can.

For additional information, please contact:

Dale Crawford, Park Project Coordinator
(913) 971-6659
dcrawford@olatheks.org

Safe Streets-Safe City presentation at the Kansas City Neighborhood Development and Housing Committee (click on "Safe Streets" to jump directly to that part of the video).

The family of Robert Osborn, who was killed November 20th, 2005, as he was bicycle commuting home from work, has been doing groundbreaking and important work in researching the problem of violent crime in Kansas City. You can find out more on the Safe Streets web site or donate in support of their work and in memory of Robert here.

What Congestion really looks like.

Jim, at OIFS, passes this one along.

As someone commented, "Too bad Denver isn't doing a whole lot to make this a reality..." Nevertheless, just demonstrating it may do something.

Last week, the city voted for light rail after 6 attempts. The Pitch had a pretty good take on it. It shows that despite the largest number of highway miles per capita in the nation, we still would like to get out of our cars. I would predict that the return on the investment of a light rail system would be greater than that for the Sprint Center or the improvements at the Truman Sports Center. Meanwhile, I'll keep riding.

KCMO to start traffic signal camera program

According to a KCStar article:

Red-light cameras rolled closer to reality Wednesday as a Kansas City Council committee gave city staff the go-ahead to seek vendor proposals.

The request for proposals should appear this week on www.kcmo.org, and will be mailed to major vendors, Assistant City Manager John Franklin said. The city will probably seek responses within three weeks and choose a vendor by the end of the year. . . .

Next year, Kansas City expects to join St. Louis, Sugar Creek and a handful of other Missouri cities that photograph vehicles running red lights. The City Council has said it hopes the program will reduce accidents, but council members have emphasized that they want to proceed methodically, periodically reviewing legal and technical issues and using the cameras only as part of a comprehensive public safety program.

If this could be the first step in a comprehensive drive to educate KC drivers and actually enforce traffic laws it could go a long ways to making KC's streets safer for everyone.

We'll see.