A "real" science museum at Union Station

tat2kc · Post by **tat2kc** » Thu Oct 30, 2003 8:14 pm

couple points: The office space is leased at 100%. They are bringing in Post Office, which will help some with getting people in the building. All the food spaces are leased in the food court.

There is no way, even with the projected attendence goals met, that the revenue generated would cover the maintanence and utilities in the public spaces of the Station.

Its a great space for the city, and we should be proud of it. It is a treasure for the metro. We should receive metro area financial support to maintain the area. Things are moving in the right direction, but it is frustrating to see it move slowly.

DiggityDawg · Post by **DiggityDawg** » Thu Oct 30, 2003 8:32 pm

QueSi2Opie wrote:
DiggityDawg wrote:At this point I think they should just scrap the whole "educational/museum" concept & use Union Station as a place to house things people in the Downtown area could actually USE, like a grocery store & maybe some nice theatres.

I just don't see people from surrounding areas coming to this site in large enough numbers no matter what they put in there.
A GROCERY STORE IN UNION STATION?!?!?! IS THIS CITY SO IGNORANT THAT THEY WOULD RATHER NOT HAVE A SCIENCE MUSEUM, BUT INSTEAD HAVE MORE GROCERIES AND MOVIE THEATERS! WHY NOT PUT A CASINO IN THERE TOO!?!

Seriously, people in KC were disappointed with Science City because it's more of a kiddie attraction/playland instead of an actual educational smithsonian-type science museum. They could've developed the current Science City in Blue Ridge Mall instead of our beautiful historic Union Station. Put your damn grocery store in Kemper Arena.

Jesus H Christ, man...take yer meds.

My point was merely that maybe it's time to put something in there that people that LIVE around Union Station might actually USE. Maybe we should stop worrying about whether the suburbanites are gonna come in for a visit or not.

QueSi2Opie · Post by **QueSi2Opie** » Thu Oct 30, 2003 11:40 pm

DiggityDawg wrote:Jesus H Christ, man...take yer meds.

My point was merely that maybe it's time to put something in there that people that LIVE around Union Station might actually USE. Maybe we should stop worrying about whether the suburbanites are gonna come in for a visit or not.

Problem with KC is that we don't care about our museums enough to invest in, or visit, them. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is one of the finest art museums in the nation, yet attendance is pathetic...so let's place a flea market in that building...then, at least, KC residents would visit it. Same goes for the museums on 18th & Vine. Maybe Harold Penner's and Charlie D's Catfish should lease the museum space. We don't need any stinkin' museums in KC, they're for tourists and intellectuals. Leave them silly museums in more sophisticated cities such as St. Louis, Chicago, Minneapolis, Denver, Dallas, Cincinatti, Cleveland, Columbus, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, etc., etc., etc. After all, Science City in Kansas City is askin' museums in Lawrence and Hutchison to bail them out. Everything's up-to-date in Kansas City...NOT!

Sheesh people, replacing a science museum with video games and slot machines? I was jokin' about a casino in Union Station. Save the downtown casino idea for that big ugly convention center with giant hair-curlers on top of it.

I may sound like I'm dissin' KC and its peeps when I'm pissed or disappointed, but please don't be confused...I love Kansas City, jus' wishin' for a movement here that could wake up the metro and change our backwards attitudes and fuel desire to be world-class....or at least competitive with other cities our size.

Electric_Cactus · Post by **Electric_Cactus** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 10:50 am

I agree, something needs to be done to make us proud to have more educational and "classy things" to do here.

I can't tell you how many times my sister and I went to COSI in Columbus when we were growing up. It was a mecca for kids, and no one hated it. Even after they moved from the old courthouse downtown into their new space on the Scioto, it was still terrific! Well worth the $12. What can we learn from this?

Post by **mean** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 1:22 pm

Same goes for the museums on 18th & Vine.

Sort of. 18th & Vine was once a thriving, vibrant black cultural district. Undoubtedly the best in the city, probably in the state, possibly in the country. It eventually went to shit instead of being preserved as it should have been, and then instead of being returned to its former glory during renovation, it was converted into a plastic fakery of what it once was. We should have learned from Beale Street in Memphis; instead, we repeated it -- except at least people go to Beale Street.

I am a musician, and I love jazz, but I have never been to 18th and Vine. Or, I have driven by and thought, "how fake" and neglected to stop. I am not fooled. All the money in the world can't create a vibrant area worth visiting. I'll pass it right by and hit up Jardine's instead, thanks.

QueSi2Opie · Post by **QueSi2Opie** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 2:21 pm

mean wrote:Sort of. 18th & Vine was once a thriving, vibrant black cultural district. Undoubtedly the best in the city, probably in the state, possibly in the country. It eventually went to shit instead of being preserved as it should have been, and then instead of being returned to its former glory during renovation, it was converted into a plastic fakery of what it once was.

Yes it was. And yes we should've returned it to its former glory.

mean wrote:I am a musician, and I love jazz, but I have never been to 18th and Vine. Or, I have driven by and thought, "how fake" and neglected to stop. I am not fooled. All the money in the world can't create a vibrant area worth visiting. I'll pass it right by and hit up Jardine's instead, thanks.

I wasn't alive back in the 1930s, so I guess I'll settle for what we have in the present. Not all museums are built in historic buildings, but yes, I'll always choose the Pheonix or the Grand Emporium over the Blue Room. The buildings being fake & plastic shouldn't deter someone from visiting a museum or eating at a restaurant.

Royals Fan · Post by **Royals Fan** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 9:05 am

Sort of. 18th & Vine was once a thriving, vibrant black cultural district. Undoubtedly the best in the city, probably in the state, possibly in the country. It eventually went to shit instead of being preserved as it should have been, and then instead of being returned to its former glory during renovation, it was converted into a plastic fakery of what it once was.

duhh? It was the ONLY 'vibrant black cultural district'. KC was segregated and blacks weren't allowed to live anywhere else without intense discrimimation. Every Black-owned business ( the number od black-owned businesses was 40 times greater than it is now) was located there, including ALL of KC's Black professionals ( dentists, lawyers, doctors...) It was vibrant and dense, but after desegregation and Govt. housing laws were enacted, blacks moved to different parts of the city. It went to "shit" right then, and ONLY then. For 40 years the area deteriorated. Middle class blacks RAN LIKE HELL away from The Vine for white neighborhoods and left only very low income and elderly residents. Whatever has happened to 18th & Vine in the last 10 years is positive. It may not be what it could be, but it's light years ahead of the crime infested wasteland it was 20 years ago. 18th & Vine will only work if middle class blacks come back.

Are you a musician and have never been to The Blue Room? I have played there a dozen times with different jazz groups and it is an amazing place to listen to jazz.

FangKC · Post by **FangKC** » Fri Dec 12, 2003 5:57 am

The local TV news reported yesterday that so far this year, attendance at Union Station reached 433,000. When compared to last year, attendance at Union Station increased by 6 percent overall--and Science City attendance increased by 26 percent. The attendance goal for the year has been exceeded already--and there are 19 days remaining in the year. The news report noted that the Holiday Express train attracted a lot of people and contributed to putting attendance over the set goal.

tat2kc · Post by **tat2kc** » Fri Dec 12, 2003 7:51 am

Great news!

rxlexi · Post by **rxlexi** » Mon Dec 15, 2003 5:58 pm

Hi everyone, I just stumbled across this website while doing my usual KC research type things online and it seems to be a really great place to discuss all things Kansas City, so I'm excited to have found it. Anyway just wanted to weigh in with my two cents on the Science City issue. Over thanksgiving break (i'm a sophmore at MU) some friends and I went down to Science City to check it out. Union Station and Liberty Memorial especially are two of my favorite places in the city, and we frequent them often, but I couldn't help but be a bit dissapointed in Science City, though I did have fun. It's a wonderful space and could be a very nice place for families and kids/teens/adults downtown, yet right now it seems like it's trying too hard to simply be what everyone thinks of when they think 'science center'. It's too predictable. I don't know that a 'real' museum would work there either, but I wouldn't be against it. I would like to see the space used as a sort of entertainment zone (perhaps like ESPN Zone but local, and more creative/intellectual). Has anyone seen or been to City Museum in downtown St. Louis, if not check out their website it's quite a cool place. Give kids and teens (and adults) a giant, fun space to run and crawl and climb and experience cool things, perhaps even while learning about Kansas City history or some such thing. Or another completely different idea, how about a Fountain museum containing all manner of interactive water works, the history of fountains and their impact around the world and in KC (city of fountains); it would be the only such thing in the country and prolly the world. Just some thoughts, sorry to blabber so long.
alexi

FangKC · Post by **FangKC** » Mon Dec 15, 2003 7:14 pm

Welcome Alexi. Glad to have another MU person here.

Don't worry about blabbing on and on. I do it all the time, and more extensively than you have done.

Not many named Alexi here, is your family from Russia or Eastern Europe originally? Or did your parents just want a name that was different?

rxlexi · Post by **rxlexi** » Mon Dec 15, 2003 8:01 pm

Hey FangKC, thanks for the compliments

. My dad's side of the family is originally from Greece, my mom's from Italy. My name is kind of a greek take on the russian original. As far as MU, you never can have enough of us tigers around

alexi

FangKC · Post by **FangKC** » Mon Dec 15, 2003 10:01 pm

Ah yes, Greece, I should have guessed that. Do you have one of those long Greek names that end in "_____opoulos?"

rxlexi · Post by **rxlexi** » Mon Dec 15, 2003 11:42 pm

haha nope. Alexi Panethiere Kontras is the name, Panethiere being the last name of my grandfather, who in fact lived in Quality Hill many years back (random fact). The only funny thing about my being Greek is the amount of food I feast down at the greek festival every year

alexi

FangKC · Post by **FangKC** » Sat Dec 20, 2003 4:28 am

Free Wi-Fi (wireless Internet service) is now available at Union Station. Bring your laptop and cruise the Internet for free. The service is made possible by Birth Telecom and tech guys. Now if they only had a beer garden.

FangKC · Post by **FangKC** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 4:40 pm

According to the Biz Journal, Union Station and KU are joining forces to improve Science City.

tat2kc · Post by **tat2kc** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 8:00 pm

This will add a great component to Science City. Their attendence is already rising, and this can only help. Its a smart partnership. They ought to explore other partnerships with scientific enterprises in the area, like the Stowers Institute.

QueSi2Opie · Post by **QueSi2Opie** » Wed Jan 14, 2004 12:08 am

tat2kc wrote:This will add a great component to Science City. Their attendence is already rising, and this can only help. Its a smart partnership. They ought to explore other partnerships with scientific enterprises in the area, like the Stowers Institute.

But 3 years to get the fossils set up?

They are tryin' to partner with the Cosmosphere in Hutchison, KS.

GRID · Post by **GRID** » Wed Jan 14, 2004 12:18 am

Great idea, but this is what Union Station and Science City needs only set in Kansas City.

Visit this site and tell me this wouldn't be an instant hit for new and return visitors to the station.

http://www.msichicago.org/exhibit/great_train_story/

That along with a metropolitan history museum (come on why don't we have one of these?). There is so much that could be put in a local history museum.

QueSi2Opie · Post by **QueSi2Opie** » Wed Jan 14, 2004 12:26 am

GRID wrote:Great idea, but this is what Union Station and Science City needs only set in Kansas City.

Visit this site and tell me this wouldn't be an instant hit for new and return visitors to the station.

http://www.msichicago.org/exhibit/great_train_story/

That along with a metropolitan history museum (come on why don't we have one of these?). There is so much that could be put in a local history museum.

It would definitely be a good idea, but currently too much money to start another type of museum from scratch. Unless, of course, our local railroad companies want to pay for it.

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