Melody Burns, Planning VISTA About ten years ago, I found myself wishing to go back to school and changing my life’s course. I had spent the last 10 years working in a rural community that I dearly loved, and in a job where I made a difference in the lives…

Kimberly Portillo/ AICP, Long-range Planner Gunnar leans his head in my doorway, “you good in here?” a quick look and a thumbs up. “All good” I reply, “just finishing packing up some things.” “Which plant are you giving me?” It’s a funny little tradition we have in the Planning Department…

James Molloy /Planning Intern When we talk about the “missing middle:, we often recall “Missing Middle Housing”, which refers to the types and price points of housing that aren’t buildable in most cities for a multitude of reasons. …

Kallie D. McLaughlin / City Planner When I was a child, I remember spending weekends at Grandma and Grandpas in small town St. John, Kansas. Some days I’d be at Grandpa’s auto body shop, sitting in his 1976 Ford Camper Edition pretending to throw it into gear and back the…

Emma Dambek ,Historic Preservation VISTA Growing up in a farmhouse built in the early 1890s, I saw my parents deal with a seemingly never-ending list of things that needed to be fixed around the house. One year it’s the siding, the next year it’s the roof. Most recently the sinking…

Jason Faust, Zoning Enforcement Specialist + Adjunct Planner As one of its core functions, the Department of Planning and Urban Design enforces the Unified Government’s (UG) zoning codes and regulations. In partnership with the UG’s Property Codes and Community Policing Division, Zoning Enforcement encourages citizens and property owners in Wyandotte…

Patrick Doyle, Engineering Supervisor/ Project Manger 3 With a growing number of electric vehicles coming to a market near you, it appears battery vehicles will be the norm in 10 years — maybe sooner. Remember the cash for clunkers program? Ok maybe you don’t. It was a 2009 government incentive…

Kim Portillo, AICP/CFM, Planner + Floodplain Administrator I spent the first impressionable five years of my life growing up on the west coast in the early nineties, usually with messy hair and dirt-stained clothes from the hours I would spend playing outside with my slightly older and equally wild sister…

Martin Ntonjira, P.E/CDT, Engineering Supervisor / Project Manager 3 Bike-sharing systems (bike-shares) are becoming increasingly popular in towns and cities around the world. These are viewed as cheap, efficient, and healthy means of navigating dense urban environments. …