The so-called "Downtown Kansas City Renaissance" really hasn't taken hold outside of the P&L District. Here is one of our favorite local bloggers offering an up close and personal view of a natural KCMO pothole phenomena that reveals just a bit of old and busted infrastructure that remains unfixed within the loop: Lake WTF RETURNS
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The downtown "renaissance" is little more than a taxpayer-funded amusement park for a group of people who will soon age out, lose interest in artesinal cocktails and latte's, develop rationales that it's OK for them to own personal vehicles, and want to start families where safe neighborhoods, a yard for the kids to play in, and good schools are much more important than First Fridays, drinking at the P&L, and making believe they're extras in "Portlandia".
ReplyDeleteAnd the taxpayers will be stuck with the bill, decades of debt, and even more half empty buildings downtown.
But there'll be a whole new parade of consultants, contractors, urban futurists, and grifters to start the whole process over again. And a whole new gang at 12th and Oak to take the bait and guzzle the Koolaid.
The local version of the movie "Groundhog Day".
Some people are so short sighted. Has anyone seen what Denver did with their downtown and how it added so much to their entire city. There are so many other cities that have done this too. But I forgot this is KC and anything that changes the norm is frowned upon.
ReplyDeleteI remember the View as a kid looked like a building from a bombed out city from the middle east. But I guess that doesn't matter, because its change and two things KC can't have or do change and walk to an event.
The thing Downtown need is a permanent draw.......the K downtown complete everything...........look at the cities that have moved baseball downtown and the flourish of growth!!!!!
If your rationale for downtown renaissance is a reason to drink beer, it's a false revival. There is no reason for anyone with a life other than binge drinking and casual hookups to live downtown.
ReplyDelete6:41am is pretty much on the money
ReplyDeleteMost metro residents want a progressive and successful greater community, but it seems a mistake to equate that with ONLY what might go on in downtown KCMO.
Sone facts:
Of the metro population, only 22% of it is in KCMO at all and half of the KCMO residents live north fo the river, which more closely resembles Overland Park than Brookside or certainly downtown.
Of jobs in the metro, only 16% are in downtown KCMO, and most of those are with one level of government or another.
Of 2.4 million in the metro, only 20K live in downtown KCMO and, with the conversion of mostly empty office buildings to apartments, downtown is becoming more a bedroom community than a commercial center.
Lots of great things are happening in the metro; projects like the animal health corridor, truck/rail facilities, nationally-recognized cancer research centers, and all the rest.
But NONE of that has anything to do with downtown KCMO.
If the city had unlimited financial resources and no actual responsibilites for such things as maintaining streets, public safety, code enforcement, and all the other activities that create a solid foundation for success and growth, then pouring more millions into fads, pipe dreams, and "what other cities are doing" might be possible.
But facts are stubborn things. Why not celebrate and build on the strengths of the entire metro instead of equating success with a very small area?
The stadiums downtown? The airport in a convenient location? Those trains left the station a very long time ago.
This blogger, "Something on My Mind", is waaaay kewl!! What a great blog space and one that I've apparently overlooked. Well, no more! This is now a "favorite"...
ReplyDeleteToy trains are more important than infrastructure jeez tony everyone knows that.
ReplyDeleteSilly suburbanites. We're going to take all your money and you're going to like it.
The only "suburbanites" who are going to have all their money squandered are the KCMO residents north of the river.
ReplyDeleteAnd they're getting more unhappy about that all the time.
The whole downtown renaissance thing is utterly delusional. Most suburban people are scared shitless to set foot in KC after dark. Populating it with affluent young binge drinkers vomiting on the sidewalks sure as hell isn't going to change that.
ReplyDeletewhat the hell is a dow town exactly tony?
ReplyDelete