KCRag Forum

I was just talking to a friend who was pissed off about the arena because Kansas City is going to screwit up because they always screw up everything. This is a common complaint among people who are afraid fo progress because Kansas City will screw it up because they screw up everything (including my dad). I was just wondering, though, how much the city actually screws up, or if this is just an idea people have because someone just repeated the mantra over and over again until people started to believe it? If we can come up with an objective list of things the city has screwed up, next to things the city has done right, it may help us to fight the naysayers. Any ideas?

In this case, by the way, you could say that the city is trying to fix the first mistake they made by putting the arena where it should have been to start with!

phxcat wrote:If we can come up with an objective list of things the city has screwed up, next to things the city has done right, it may help us to fight the naysayers. Any ideas?

- Truman Sports Complex (location)

- Kemper Arena (location)

- Science City at Union Station

- 18th & Vine

- Town Pavilion Shopping Center

- The Riverfront

- The Original Power & Light District

- Transit

What else?

barney allis plaza.

the westport police state.

arcane liquor laws.

KCMO school system.

freeway loop system.

KCI Airport (location).

skyrocketing crime from 88-96ish gave city bad rep.



* maybe we need to let KFB back for this thread.

Union Station location and the direction it is facing (granted, there are a lot of reasons for its placement that I don't know about or understand, but just imagine if it was flipped around and facing the city)

Cleaver killing the light rail

Building so many highways

Letting the boulevards and major roads deteriorate (Linwood, Grand, 12th)

KCDowntown

so what has KC done right?

the Plaza? no because someone will bring up highwoods real estate. Bartle Hall? no becuase no real big convention stops here, and there is not enough hotel rooms if there was. Truman Sports Complex? no because its too far from the urban core.

Maybes:
Nelson Atkins? beacuse of the Steven Holl expansion. The Crossroads district? because of all the development, but people complain about certain people going to first fridays. Liberty Memorial?

So what exactly are we proud of in KC?

I could mount a challenge to almost any of those things. You can't pick just a piece of something to pick on...that could be done for anything in any city at any time.

- Truman Sports Complex (location)

2 great stadiums that aren't costing taxpayers millions to replace as soon as other stadiums built at the same time

- Kemper Arena (location)

Location maybe but it was built originally as a horse barn and turned into more...at time of building it was praised...maybe it was kept around too long

- Science City at Union Station

Not the best obviously but not as bad as everybody wants to make it out to be....a great train station was saved...look at places like Columbus that have torn theirs down.

- 18th & Vine

Still growing....if everybody had moved out of this area I'd say yes pure failure but businesses and people are moving in....still a work in progress.

- Town Pavilion Shopping Center

What was this originally intended to be? What has it failed at? Serious question.

- The Riverfront

Yes, KC failed at this.

- The Original Power & Light District

This is all on the developer and Stan Durwood's death, not the city.

- Transit

blame this on the burbs making this a less dense city...transit really doesn't make much sense...sure the ATA could do a better job but FAILURE???

barney allis plaza.

urban greenspace is not a bad thing...it's use could be maximized.

the westport police state.

- failure of many issues here.

arcane liquor laws.

- how so?

KCMO school system.

- yes

freeway loop system.

60's designs and standards....pretty hard to call the city out on that.

KCI Airport (location).

completely disagree. Location is great IMO.

skyrocketing crime from 88-96ish gave city bad rep.

yes



Remember...we're very close to these situation so we can pick out the problems....same could be done with residents of any metro on any of their projects that we might praise. e.g. STL Union Station....ask STL residents what they think of that.

I agree that KCI is not in a bad location. They have plenty of room for expansion when needed, and it really is not far from downtown. Denver's new airport is way the hell farter away than ours is.

The loop is an issue more on the shoulders of federal highway planners than the city.

Town Pavillion was the fault of the developers, not the city.

Science City is not the rousing sucess it was envisioned to be. But it is not operated by the city of KCMO.

Barney Allis definately needs to be updated, but its a great location.

the liquor laws in KC are a combo of city and state liquor laws.

KCMO school district is not operated by the city. It is independent. We can't blame the city for its failure. The city's hands are pretty much tied as to what they can do with the district. That would be a state issue. There are many other school districts within KCMO that are doing just fine.

phxcat wrote:...If we can come up with an objective list of things the city has screwed up, next to things the city has done right, it may help us to fight the naysayers. Any ideas?

I'm still trying to think of something the city has done right. So far everyone has been posting negatives or stuff that KC wasn't at fault. Is the Nelson Atkins Expansion the only thing done right?

The Sprint Campus at 119th in Overland Park was one of the worst mistakes in the last 10 years for Kansas City.

Imagine an influx of 25,000 employees a day in to downtown working in an urban campus of tall buildings.

Let's see,
1) the new public library
2) surrounding streetscape and loft development
3) destruction of Wayne Minor/Guinotte Manor housing
4) saving Union Station(open to argument)
5) implementation of CID
6 agreement for new arena
7) riverboat gaming?
Quality Hill
9) Wayne Cauthen?
10) MKB

You could argue any or all of these, but either way there is very rarely one instance where the city is 100% resonsible or not responsible. However one way another, the city is involved with these.

What's the criteria? Things direclty under City Hall control? Or things in the larger community? Sports Complex is county-owned. Schools and libraries are independent of any city or county government. Union Station is independent and overseen by 4 counties.

Some things done right...
1) Brookside
2) West 39th St.
3) KCI Airport and Downtown Airport
4) Crossroads Arts District
5) Parks and boulevard system
6) Brush Creek flood control and landscaping

Also...
--Beacon Hill redevelopment

--Focus on downtown revitalization through massive residential projects

not sure i'd give the city credit for the Nelson. Its a great builidng, but the city really didn't have much to do with it.

I think we can add the IRS center to something done right.

As well as the new focus on downtown.