Trash pickup postponed, free parking to help plows, services for those experiencing homelessness or utility outages

The City of Kansas City will offer free parking to residents at select garages beginning Wednesday afternoon through Monday Morning. This will help reduce the amount of cars parked on city streets allowing crews to plow and clear roadways with fewer obstacles.

From 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 21 to 8 a.m. Monday, Dec. 26, free parking is available at the following garages: Auditorium Plaza at 1220 Wyandotte, West Bottoms at 1601 State Line Rd., Ed Wolf at 1100 Oak Street, and KC Live at 151 E. 13th St.

To utilize free parking during inclement weather, enter a participating parking garage. Use the QR code at the gate to receive a validated parking ticket. Drivers should park in non-reserved stalls only.

The QR code will only be valid during designated times during this weather event. It will not be functional at municipal garages not listed above.

Kansas City’s Council approved a plan to coordinate additional shelter space through direct service providers to add more than 150 shelter beds at five different shelters for people experiencing homelessness this winter.

Public Works will provide free warming bus transportation with social workers available on board from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. through Tuesday. KCATA will provide free transportation for those in need to and from shelter locations.

Questions for shelters should be addressed to shelters directly, as operations vary from location to location.

Organizations or agencies who are interested in assisting unhoused individuals by opening their own warming centers should read these considerations.

Individuals who would like to help the unhoused directly can use one of these options which will be distributed through Hope Faith: Financial donations can be offered here. To purchase items on Hope Faith’s Cold Weather Amazon Wishlist click here. Dropping off donations at Hope Faith, 705 Virginia Avenue, Kansas City, MO. 64106 on Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Pull into Hope Faith Campus parking lot and ring the doorbell at the front door. Visit this list of needed winter items.

The incoming winter storm will cause the City to cancel trash operations for Thursday and Friday. All trash, recycling and scheduled bulky items pick-up appointments for Thursday and Friday will be picked up the following Friday, Dec. 30 and Saturday, Dec. 31, following the holiday schedule. Due to trash amnesty and the delay in pickup, residents will be able to leave out 14 bags total at this time without tags. Curbside recycling is unlimited.

Suspending trash and recycling services will allow drivers to focus on preparing for the snow and ice and then plowing snow to keep the roads clear. More than 300 employees from multiple departments will report Wednesday in 12-hour shifts to begin aggressively pretreating roads, followed by salting and plowing as snow accumulates.

Solid Waste staff will contact residents with bulky item appointments via the email address provided at the time the appointment was scheduled. Those without emails will be contacted via a phone call. These items will also be removed Friday the 30 and Saturday the 31.

Due to below freezing temperatures residents are asked to be cautious of dangerous road conditions. As roads are treated and cleared refreezing will occur and black ice is a possibility.

If residents become aware of areas with black ice, they are asked to call 311 to assist teams in treating slick spots swiftly.  These impacts are necessary as part of the City’s snow plan, which prioritizes improved snow removal services across the city.

All drivers are reminded to exercise caution, especially around snowplow operators, allow extra travel time, and park off-street where possible, or on the north and west sides of neighborhood streets. Parking cars on only one side of residential streets will help plows clear your streets faster and more completely.

The City has a fleet of 290 snow removal vehicles, a stockpile of 40,000 tons of salt, 10,000 additional tons of salt is ordered, and hundreds of drivers who will work 24 hours a day before, during and after each storm.
The City has strategically upgraded its snow operations plan to include:

• More aggressive pretreating of roads with salt, brine (liquid salt solution), and “ice ban” 24 hours or more before storms arrive.
• Expanding service to 24 hours a day on residential routes.
• Curb-to-curb plowing on all streets. Previously, only one travel lane would be cleared. Plowing multi-lane arterial streets with multiple trucks working in tandem to make sure the street is fully cleared on the first pass.
• Adding over 100 new drivers to the snow removal team by assigning all available employees in all departments to snow operations during each snow event.
• Adding 50 new vehicles to the snow removal fleet through retrofitting existing vehicles to become plows and rebuilding the existing fleet with newer plows.
• Suspending trash and recycling during big storms to make drivers available for plowing snow and to reduce the number of other vehicles on the road.
• Deploying new technology to track exact locations of plows, digital plow route management, and progress tracking of all routes.

Although City offices will be closed for in-person meetings on Thursday and Friday, staff will operate virtually and remotely. Most City business can also be conducted online at the City’s website, KCMO.gov. All Municipal Court hearings, including domestic violence cases, will be virtual on Thursday and Friday.

Go to KCMO.gov/court and click Virtual Hearings to attend your hearing or court date.

During snowstorms, updates are posted on KCMO.gov/snow, the snow operations page. There is also information on what residents should know during a snow event and to see where crews our working through our snow map. For updates on city closures and updates follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.