KCRag Forum

Well did anybody go down to westport last night? I was there...got there like midnight....very weird seeing westport pretty much w/o anybody on the streets...it's probably always like that at midnight, I just usually get there earlier.....did seem like there were still kids gathered down by America's Pub.....

I didn't see anybody selling beer outside.....paid my $1 and they had people like radio stations, cigarette dealers, etc. outside....

Overall I liked it, people aren't used to it yet but I think the more it goes on the more people would hang out outside.....I think they should try it a few more times.

I was there until about 10PM. A tip, don't gorge on barbecue before going out. That makes for early nights. I was hoping the whole thing would start earlier, like when it was still light out, but they seemed to be just setting up about when we walked out.

So, I didn't really experience it.

When did the barriers go up? I went in at 8 or 9 and didn't see anything. Also didn't see any barriers when leaving around midnight.

I know they were there at midnight...I think they went up like 10pm....the one I entered was at Broadway & Westport Rd....orange construction fence across the entire street..could only enter in the center where 2-3 bouncers were...at that time they put a miller lite band around you.

I was driving home from The Blue Room on Saturday night, just after midnight, and since I live so close to Westport, I decided to see for myself. Looked like the eastern edge was right at America's Pub, where Mill Street meets Westport Road.

There were a TON of people waiting in line to get into America's Pub (at midnight???), but it was relatively uncrowded within the "21 or over" zone. I only drove by, as I was thinking about turning into a pumkin at that hour, but I may stop by on foot some other time, perhaps when it's cooler.

My wife and I aren't really "late night in Westport" kind of people, but I am curious to see how the new process is working, and what it's like on "the border", so to speak, where presumably the "under 21's" are still congregating, though perhaps in reduced numbers.

My guess is that the new "adult only" zone in Westport will only increase the number of "under 21" people on The Plaza, late at night, on the weekends.

Peoples got's to go somewhere??

yeah the city does need to give options to "young adults" under 21...

Yeah...couldn't this new policy just push the kids to the outskirts of Westport? I guess I'd rather have kids hanging out in patroled and busy areas rather than in alleys and at random street corners. I think the idea of blocking off Westport is cool, but not if it means these kids won't have anything to do or anywhere to go. I don't know what the answer is, but I think Barnes needs to get more involved in finding realistic alternatives to hanging out in Westport for the under 21 crowd.

Maybe I need to be reminded of something, but I don't ever remember going to a bar district to stand around for entertainment, before I was 21. I had friends, and I went to their houses, and they came to mine. It seems to me that children hanging out in the middle of a gathering of bars and nightclubs would normally be seen as a problem, and something like this a solution.

As for safety, it doesn't matter how many police are near at hand, a bar district is not a safe place for a teenager to just hang out. If I was a parent of any of these kids, I would be very worried about them going to Westport.

As for finding them something to do on a given Saturday night, I can't help thinking and saying that that just isn't the city's problem. There are movie theaters, bowling alleys, restaurants, arcades, and more attractions that are fully accessible to younger folks. If your idea of a swell Saturday is standing by the one-armed guy outside of Kelly's, then I'd say you need to re-evaluate your imaginative capabilities.

bahua wrote:As for finding them something to do on a given Saturday night, I can't help thinking and saying that that just isn't the city's problem. There are movie theaters, bowling alleys, restaurants, arcades, and more attractions that are fully accessible to younger folks. If your idea of a swell Saturday is standing by the one-armed guy outside of Kelly's, then I'd say you need to re-evaluate your imaginative capabilities.

The trouble is that no matter whether we like it or not, this is a problem, and by default, it becomes the city's problem. Maybe it shouldn't be (and on that you and I probably agree), but it is a real problem, because absent anything else to do (that kids want to do), urban kids and youth are hanging out in Westport and on The Plaza, and in great numbers on the weekends.

One of only two movie theaters anywhere near the "urban core" ("The Palace" on the Plaza") has just implemented a "no kids" policy, or at least a "no kids without parents" policy - leaving the theaters at Crown Center as the only movie alternative anywhere near the urban core - and those theaters are relatively small, with a total of only 4 screens (I think).

It's all well and good to say that kids need to find something else to do on Friday and Saturday nights, but the reality is that probably most of these kids do not have cars, and many of them aren't even old enough to drive. They are roaming the streets, and congregating in numbers down on the Plaza, and in Westport.

Saying "well, then, they should be at home!" doesn't do a damn thing to change the reality of the situation.

You mention "movie theaters, bowling alleys, restaurants, arcades, and more attractions that are fully accessible to younger folks."

Name more than one movie theater that is even remotely accessible to youth in the central city?? Name one bowling alley that's anywhere near the central city?? Restaurants?? - it's not like kids are just going to sit around in restaurants, discussing current events -- and besides, what restaurants are geared towards teenage youth?? (And if there are any, where are they in the central city??) Where is there an arcade anywhere in or near the central city?? What other "attractions" are geared towards youth?? Miniature golf, perhaps, but there aren't any of those near the central city either.

It's like saying that the city shouldn't have to do anything about crime, because criminals "shouldn't be doing those sorts of things in the first place".

[/soapbox]

Peace.

I will concede that there is a shocking lack of bowling alleys and movie theaters in the interior of the city. I was amazed, when I first moved here, to find that the closest bowling alley in Missouri to my place(Armour & Warwick) is all the way down at 89th & State Line. But the city doesn't build those, nor is it their place to do so. It is their reponsibility, however, to retain successful businesses, and I don't see how the only bowling alley for 8 miles or something couldn't be successful. I think this can be traced back to the backward way that the city rewards people for being productive: heavy taxation.

My original comment was mainly stated to express surprise that people seem to be upset that children are being chased out of a bar area. I agree that they need someplace legitimate to go, but I got the drift that people here were thinking that Westport was legitmate. Sorry for misunderstanding.

Westport is legitimate compared to dark alleyways and in front of the Crown Center theaters.

Regardless of comparison, it is unacceptable.

Rooster_Ties wrote:Name more than one movie theater that is even remotely accessible to youth in the central city?? Name one bowling alley that's anywhere near the central city?? Restaurants?? - it's not like kids are just going to sit around in restaurants, discussing current events -- and besides, what restaurants are geared towards teenage youth?? (And if there are any, where are they in the central city??) Where is there an arcade anywhere in or near the central city?? What other "attractions" are geared towards youth?? Miniature golf, perhaps, but there aren't any of those near the central city either.

It's like saying that the city shouldn't have to do anything about crime, because criminals "shouldn't be doing those sorts of things in the first place".

Absolutely! Central city youth are left to entertain themselves by buyin' a can of spray paint or stand around watchin' drunkin' adults roam the streets of Westport. We can all remember why we hated adult policy as a kid, and I don't see how that changes for kids today. For the most part they're highly ignored except when they get in trouble. Besides, for the most part, watchin' us drunk adults, for all our wisdom and rules, actin' like adolescents is fun.

By the way, I went to this the other night, and was very disappointed to see that they weren't allowing beers outside. So, it seems to me that the only advantage of charging people a dollar to get in is that it keeps children and cars out. That's not enough reason for me to go again.

I go anyways so having no kids around is just an add bonus....do wish the beer was being sold outside

That's cool. For me, thoughm there are places that I like better that are closer, and don't have eleven bachelorette parties conga-ing through each bar.