Kansas City’s 2003 Walkability Plan included a very detailed assessment of the entire city, its sidewalks, and walking demand. One piece of that data is a measurement of the need for sidewalks in areas that do not have them.  Three large areas of the city stand out as have exceptional need for sidewalks: 1) Waldo and Red Bridge, between 75th and 103rd Streets; 2) Hickman Millls and Ruskin Heights, on the south side; and 3) the Inner Northland, between Englewood Road and the NKC city limits.

All three areas have one thing in common: they were original developed in unincorportated areas where there were no requirements for developers to build sidewalks in new subdivisions.  They have since been annexed into the city, but the developers are long since gone.  Now the burden to build sidewalks falls on the homeowners.  In the case of the Inner Northland and Hickman Mills, many homeowners don’t have the means to pay for sidewalks.  They need help from the city.