Kansas City Developers Killing Westport?!?!

Read this one closely because the scenario is playing out across Midtown . . . With help from City Hall, bigger biz encroaches on longtime local favorites, drives out residents and creates generic offerings in place of hometown attractions. Here's an IMPRESSIVE BIT OF JOURNALISM reporting continued hardship in this party district.

Read more:

Westport construction makes business owners upset

KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -- Westport's skyline will look a lot different in the coming years and so will some of the restaurants. McCoy's will close after more than two decades in business. Its neighbor, Sailor Jack's, also closed suddenly. "It's sad because they've been here a while," said Laura Norris, Ragazza Owner.

Comments

  1. Blame the Westport merchants association. They welcome the destruction because they're getting rich off of it. They want to drive away half of their customer base and keep only the biggest margins. Can't say I blame them but the strategy is dangerous to most of the existing business.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sucks but what can you do. I feel like we don't know the whole McCoy's story. Westport has always been kind of trashy and that was part of its charm. I will miss that

    ReplyDelete
  3. The number one reason I drive from Ks to Westport is the Tivoli. Best art and doc movie theatre in the Midwest, closely followed by Glenwood Arts/Rio run by the Mossman Brothers.

    In the past 10 days at the Tivoli, I've seen Border (a second time); ROMA with a talk by Julian Zugazagoitia, director of the Nelson afterward; and At Eternity's Gate, starring Willem Dafoe as Vincent vanGogh, a likely Best Actor Oscar nominee.

    Coming dec. 27 to the Tivoli is a special showing La Conformiste, Jerry Harrington's favorite film, about fascism and beauty in 1938 Italy. Wouldn't it be cool if the city council, the Polsinelli development attorneys and the Westport Business Assn. all saw this one??

    I don't know how long the Tivoli will be able to stay. Already during the summer, they must refund the $5 parking in the attached Manor Square garage, where security is heavy. And the Tivoli cannot show 9pm films any more, a great time popular everywhere else in the US, because of the Westport curfew. Can't get a car IN or OUT after 10:30pm. CRAZY. When your business model is basically Fri/Sat Sun movies at 7 and 9pm, now their prime time is cut in half.

    Every visit to Westport is precious to me, because I doubt my favorite haunts will be around for long.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Gold's Gym gone from Westport for more than a year, and nothing in its place. Manor Square building seems under-tenanted. Chili's gone, and vacant. There are still some good restaurants and drinking establishments in the area. I hope they hang on.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Things change people. Nothing can or should stay the same. That's a recipe for failure. Especially for bars and restaurants. McCoy's learned that the hard way. They had not changed anything in 20 years and now they're gone. Adapt or die. Hell, look at Kelly's...oldest bar in the city. They added a deck, brought in micro-brews, etc. This is the nature of the game. People have been calling for the death of Westport for decades. Grow up people.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Spot on, 11:35. 10:45 - thanks for mentioning the Tivoli; that place is a true gem; hope they stick around for some time to come.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Agree on Tivoli, don't think that it would be as good in another location. Need to save some of the best spots in Westport. McCoy's was definitely a loss.

    ReplyDelete
  8. If I can't bring a bowling ball and bear spray after 11pm into Westport, I don't wanna go there.

    ReplyDelete
  9. The businesses have to adapt to a shrinking piece of the pie, walking wallets to be emptied and appeal to instant gratification. Consumers who really have no loyalty to anything. Good luck.

    ReplyDelete
  10. that taco chain on westport road, Qdoba, is not right

    ReplyDelete
  11. For what it's worth, a bartender at McCoy's told me the new security measures drastically reduced their business, which surprised me. I figured anything to Keep the criminal elements out would help.

    ReplyDelete
  12. That bartender makes sense to me, 5:45. It's not the barricades, it's not the body searches. It was the preposterous Maginot Line, THE NO VEHICLE MOVEMENT ZONE--the fact that one could not park and stroll into McCoys at 8:30 for leisurely cocktails and dinner, with friends--- BECAUSE YOU CAN NOT DRIVE YOUR CAR OUT OF THE DISTRICT AFTER 10:30PM!!!!

    WHAT IDIOT ON A POLICE FORCE MADE THAT RULE UP? Cars are not the enemy. Resentful people with a gun or a knife are.

    Last summer and fall's security measures were clearly overreach. They might be more worried about lawsuits or riots by gangs of unruly minority teens. (Who might be the only people who walk further than 5 blocks!!) So they outlawed Buicks rather than bucks.

    And yes, 4:28, your comment is hilarious!!! It's like an alien restaurant wandered in from a suburban mall or the Denver airport!!! No character, crappy food, no personality. I hardly think they will be participating in KCRW.org, (Kansas City Restaurant Week, Jan. 11-20, where prix fixe dinners are $33.) Qdoba is for drunks and broke kids.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Yuck, The Tivoli. They didn't even have any of the Die Hard movies. Lame!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

TKC COMMENT POLICY:

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

- The Management