Kansas City 18th & Vine Comeback, Again???

A hopeful note on a longstanding development disappointment. Checkit:

Looking back at 20 years of neglected promise at 18th and Vine - and forward to 2020

On September 5, 1997, 1,500 people packed 18th Street between the Paseo and Highland. In the Gem theater, Harry Belafonte and Billy Dee Williams hosted a black-tie gala. The stars performing included Tony Bennett, Al Jarreau, George Duke, Diane Reeves, David Sanborn, Pat Metheny and Jay McShann.

Comments

  1. When was the last time that Harry Belafonte, Billy Dee Williams,Tony Bennett, Al Jarreau, George Duke, Diane Reeves, David Sanborn, Pat Metheny and Jay McShann were at the Gem theater?

    I suppose if you offered them more money again to appear they might show up. But the point being it isn't as a famous so called jazz joint as the few running it want us to believe. Time for the taxpayers to be free of this money pit that gives nothing back in return.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes if all else fails just look back 20, 30, 40 years about the way things was.

    ReplyDelete
  3. After the most recent "Jazz Festival" for which the entertainers received $117,000 worth of checks that bounced, you'd be lucky to get a bad Elvis impersonator to sign up for a gig.
    This has been a money pit for the taxpayers for decades and all the infighting, insider deals, incompetence, disappearing money, and now violence aren't doing it any good.
    It couldn't stand on its own financially for much more than a few months. But of course, neither could much of the downtown renaissance.
    The $800 million in bond money will buy a couple years of covering the bubble, but not for very long.
    The next couple KCMO mayors are going to have to become financial manipulators, excuse magicians, and even better liars than Sly.
    Quite a challenge!

    ReplyDelete
  4. All those stars. You notice not a damn one of them ever came back?

    ReplyDelete
  5. If the black community will not support businesses in the 18th & Vine area, they shouldn't be surprised if nobody does. There were a couple of attempts at restaurants, and they couldn't get their own people to show up. It's a shame, really, when the black community stands back and waits for someone to rescue the area. Good luck, but I'm not holding my breath.

    ReplyDelete
  6. 18th and Vine is just a magnet for white guilt money. The only blacks that go there are to roll the white people that are stupid enough to go there.

    ReplyDelete
  7. ^^^ +1 on the 9:04 comment. There's just no getting around that.

    More security would be nice but the way it's set up now, just going to be more failure and more money down the drain.

    ReplyDelete
  8. What do you expect, this is the cleaves legacy project that has been a failure just like him since day one

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

TKC COMMENT POLICY:

Be percipient, be nice. Don't be a spammer. BE WELL!!!

- The Management