Kansas City Mayor Q 'Reimagines' Embattled Country Club Plaza As Housing Project?!?

A somewhat recent artsy essay didn't get a lot of traction but the screed from a former newspaper man reveals a surprising amount of leeway for a REALLY bad idea. 

To wit . . .

MANY LOCALS ADVOCATE "FAIR HOUSING" TAKEOVER FOR FAILING COUNTRY CLUB PLAZA!!!

Given nearly two dozen empty storefronts as the district struggles to pay off a debt default . . . Maybe the thinking is that a city hall takeover and low-income housing is the only option available . . . That's a long way from the district's history even if it follows the "arc of justice" or whatever . . . And all of this might just be another way to justify any taxpayer funded scheme:

"Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas put affordable housing on his wish list when he met in Dallas last fall with Highland Park Village’s owners. And he came back from that meeting with positive feelings about the development group’s experience and what it might mean for connecting the Plaza in symbiotic ways with, say, UMKC to the southeast, Midtown to the north, and even with the Brush Creek corridor that defines its southern border.

"Lucas told a press scrum that the Kansas Citians he’d spoken with about the Plaza 'feel some connection and some ownership of it,' and he acknowledged, given the evolutionary upheaval of retail and the coming of the streetcar, 'We have to be comfortable with change.' "

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

There's ongoing concern - and reason to hope - as the Plaza is reimagined

The vacant "Nordstrom hole" is both a wound and an opportunity to begin re-envisioning the potential of the Country Club Plaza. (photo by Steve Paul) Highland Park Village in Dallas is a vehicle-choked, tony shopping center with a tiled-roof, low-lying style and a history that would put most any Kansas Citian in mind of the...