Long-term prognosis of Power and Light District

[kcnewbie]

So what do you all think about the long-term prognosis of the P&L district? Will the presence of ghetto-type people not too far away deter suburban whites from continuing to frequent the place at night? Everything in KC seems to be segregated along racial lines.

Then again, the Plaza has endured over the years, despite being relatively close to the ghetto and its inhabitants.

Time will tell.

[ComandanteCero]

"ghetto-type people"

er... ok

[trailerkid]

So what do you all think about the long-term prognosis of the P&L district? Will the presence of ghetto-type people not too far away deter suburban whites from continuing to frequent the place at night? Everything in KC seems to be segregated along racial lines.

Then again, the Plaza has endured over the years, despite being relatively close to the ghetto and its inhabitants.

Time will tell.

worst. post. ever.*

*However, I do agree KC is extremely segregated.

[KCPowercat]

I see this ending well.

[KC-wildcat]

Will the presence of ghetto-type people not too far away deter suburban whites from continuing to frequent the place at night?

Then again, the Plaza has endured over the years, despite being relatively close to the ghetto and its inhabitants.

Great post.  Welcome to the board. 

[DaveKCMO]

Everything in KC seems to be segregated along racial economic lines.

[shinatoo]

So what do you all think about the long-term prognosis of the P&L district? Will the presence of ghetto-type people not too far away deter suburban whites from continuing to frequent the place at night? Everything in KC seems to be segregated along racial lines.

Then again, the Plaza has endured over the years, despite being relatively close to the ghetto and its inhabitants.

Time will tell.

Nice job, troll.

[moderne]

This poster just has to live in JOCO.  But then if I say so maybe I am just as ignorant.

[chrizow]

unfortunate as kcnewbie's perspective may be, it is a very common view in this metro.  how can we (or anyone) change this mindset?

[DaveKCMO]

unfortunate as kcnewbie's perspective may be, it is a very common view in this metro.  how can we (or anyone) change this mindset?

level the playing field, perhaps, but then we'd be called socialists. the green impact zone is a start.

regardless, i don't think the border mentality will ever go away as long as we have actual political borders that are constantly being reinforced.

[KCMax]

Everything in KC seems to be segregated along economic lines.

Its more racial than economic IMO. Poor blacks are pretty much confined to one area, whereas poor whites are pretty spread out throughout the metro. No doubt thought there is economic stratification as well, I just think the racial segregation is much more pronounced.

As for how we change this mindset, it is already happening. I think KCNewbie's opinion is getting to be a minority opinion, and a small minority opinion at that. Most everyone in my generation that I know loves P&L, thinks it is safe, and generally has a positive opinion about it. Even people my parent's generation seem to enjoy it and I think it has changed many of their ingrained opinions on downtown. I've told this story before - my parents hadn't been downtown in 20 years before taking in a concert at Sprint Center a few months ago and they had a blast (aside from a few gripes about parking  :roll:)

There have been criticisms of Power and Light that I have heard from suburbanites, but not a single one has been a concern over "ghetto-type people."

I'm curious - what ghetto is close to the Plaza??????

[KCPowercat]

nobody can resolve ignorance if the ignorant party has a closed mind to the subject.

luckily it seems this mindset is fading away with the older generations.

[moderne]

Sorry, this mindset seems just as common in suburban 20 somethings as in older people.

[chrizow]

I think KCNewbie's opinion is getting to be a minority opinion, and a small minority opinion at that.

i really hope youre right. 

someone on here said once that there is an inverse relationship between the length of time a person has been in KC and their opinions of the city/downtown.  in other words, newcomers seem to think the city is fine, but people who grew up in the KC area any time after 1965 have been steeped in anti-city, racist views and those are tough to break, especially for the older folks. 

I'm curious - what ghetto is close to the Plaza??????

i assume he is talking about the neighborhoods east of troost, which are about 1-2 miles east of the plaza.  if this "proximity" scares people from coming to the plaza, those people are hopeless.

[mean]

Even those areas aren't that bad. I spent a lot of time in the 39th-47th/Troost-Paseo box in the early-mid 1990s. Even in the height of the crack era it wasn't that bad. Just kinda run down. Lots of sketchy people trying to sell you crack, though.

[trailerkid]

Sorry, this mindset seems just as common in suburban 20 somethings as in older people.

cosign.

i've heard young people say they think grinders is in a bad neighborhood (they live in brookside). many people in kc think that anything that's NOT in river market, p+l, waldo, brookside, plaza, westport, w 39th is a scary ghetto. basically, they think the entire city is one giant slum with tiny pockets of safety for white suburbanites. further, some are detracted from going to any of these areas because they think it's all "ghetto" surrounding them and they'll wind up in some sort of situation. there are extreme, racial overtones to all these sorts of comments about being scared of all our "ghettos". marketing to this fear is the very reason cordish does a dress code.

out of curiosity...has anyone on this board ever gotten caught up some sort of violent altercation just by entering or inhabiting a part of kcmo others may call "ghetto"? i've never been in an area of kcmo that scared me-- the worst thing that's ever happened was having someone ask me if they could use my phone. i'm not saying all parts of kcmo/kck are bubble gum and lollipops, but i would guess the random, violent crime isn't anywhere as prevalent as drug-related or domestic incidents.

[chrizow]

Even those areas aren't that bad. I spent a lot of time in the 39th-47th/Troost-Paseo box in the early-mid 1990s. Even in the height of the crack era it wasn't that bad. Just kinda run down. Lots of sketchy people trying to sell you crack, though.

this seems to be the case now as well.  still, i think it might be understandable that a "run-down" area with "lots of sketchy people trying to sell you crack" would qualify as "ghetto" to many people, especially suburbanites.  i disagree that having an area like this 1.5 miles from the plaza should have ANY cognizable effect on people's desire to go to the plaza.  this is more a function of our culture of fear than any actual risk.

the same with downtown.  yeah, i wouldn't want to walk around 12th and paseo by myself at night, but 12th and main is not 12th and paseo.  

[KCPowercat]

interesting.....I don't get this feeling from the younger burb residents I work with....

[moderne]

I keep thinking of the original John Waters Hairspray when Penney's mother is looking for her in the Baltimore slums and she freaks out and gives her money to the harmless wino on the sidewalk.

[woodrow]

uggh . . . this makes me think of a conversation I had with one of my best friends, who lives in the 58th Street Terrace and Summit area. Most of his coworkers live waaaaaay out JoCo and he would regularly be asked "hows the DMZ?"  58th Terrace and Summit!!  As we stood on his front lawn in front of his lovely old, but not huge house on a beautiful KC October day, his children playing with the neighborhood pals, we waved to a passing neighbor, the CFO of H&R Bloch, and I thought "what a bunch of dumbf*cks."

It is like trailerkid said - many cannot wrap their minds around anything except "ooohh. . . city bad."