KCRag Forum

excuse?  why would I be making excuses for anything?  I lived on the plaza for years and I hope it continues to prosper...and I do like how it has organically grown with the surrounding neighborhood...but I don't consider the p&l as poaching if a club like blonde goes belly up.

this city cn survive with multiple "going out" areas...but I don't see the harm in focusing efforts to the p&l which can be successful in bringing in NEW business from surrounding cities and new conventions.

I talked to a guy who lives on the Plaza the other weekend while in the P&L District and he said the Plaza bar scene is dead and he now heads downtown every weekend.  He tried Blonde a couple weeks prior on a Saturday night and said there were maybe 30 people in the place.  It was bad.  As far as P&L, I talked to a Tulsa kid who was in town for a bachelor party and he raved about P&L.  He had a buddy that came up to KC the previous weekend.  My brother had a friend that came in town from Manhattan the previous weekend just to see P&L.  I think P&L is drawing people besides Kansas Citians, which I think is good to see.  Hopefully word continues to spread and we find out that more and more young people are starting to move to KC.

KCPowercat wrote: excuse?  why would I be making excuses for anything?  I lived on the plaza for years and I hope it continues to prosper...and I do like how it has organically grown with the surrounding neighborhood...but I don't consider the p&l as poaching if a club like blonde goes belly up.

this city cn survive with multiple "going out" areas...but I don't see the harm in focusing efforts to the p&l which can be successful in bringing in NEW business from surrounding cities and new conventions.

Yeah, I get the concept, so I hope I didn't come across too defensive.  I'm as big of a proponent for the P&L area as anyone; by all means it was a necessary investment in the downtown area.  But, I do have sympathy for the existing entertainment destinations that have seen the city and state directly subsidize their competition.

I don't think the plaza is going anywhere, and I'm not convinced that entertainment has to be a zero sum game in the urban core.  But, I don't think we should blindly dismiss every question of a possible negative impact the P&L district may have on other areas as hearsay because the P&L area is our golden child right now.  You can say that the Plaza can commit itself to upscale shopping now, and that Westport can focus being an actual neighborhood, but that's best possible scenario, everything works out perfect.  We're not just dealing with the free market at work; the government has investment millions of dollars into making the P&L district the target district.  Do we not care what the externalities of that investment are?

Working in NYC right now.  All the people we are working with know we are from KC.  Guy who grew up in Brookside had everything to ask about the P&L and nothing to ask about anything else.  He is approx 35.  His younger brother and sister told him it is the place to be.  Said he cannot wait to get back to KC and try it out.