What the hell happened to our city?
You can hardly watch an old western or gangster flick and not hear something like, “When we get the money let’s head to Kansas City and have some real fun.”
Yeah, in the late l800’s we had Wyatt and Doc, Jesse, The Youngers and later John Dillinger,
j-mac
AMEN CRAIG! I would also say that in addition to tourism we need to make our town a more hospitable place for corporations to relocate. I think I read that there are only 3 Fortune 500 companies headquartered in the KC Metro area. Pitiful!
Kia Zi
There is still a lot of crime in K.C., the only difference in then and now is people don’t think it is cool anymore. The Civella, Lomonte, Cosentino and Cardarella families are still around stealing, frauding and providing drugs and teenage prostitutes. People just got sick of the Mafia and their friends that come into town killing, stealing, frauding and providing drugs and teenage prostitues. Every now and then you see one of these worthless families make the paper for one crime or another. Anthony Jr. and Phil Cardarella went to Law school off the backs of their fathers victims. All these families kids and wives grew up in nice homes with college educations, unlike their victims who are in the grave or addicted to drugs tring to find a way to deal with being prostitued so that the cool Mafia can live well. No bodys daddy makes that kind of money just selling records. The Mafia claims to be incontrol of K.C.’s black gangs. And to prove it the Scolas set up liquor stores, prostitution and drugs right in the middle of Prostpect. Isn’t it bad enough that the cool Mafia destroyed the Northeast neighborhood with drugs, killing, prostitues, stealing, frauding and strong arming their neighbors without you encouraging them to do more cool stuff to K.C.? The Black Hand Mafia families are alive and still getting away with crime in K.C. How come when the Mafia and their friends kill, sell drugs, prostitute, steal, fraud, strong arm and payoff city officials its cool but when black guys form gangs and do exactly the same thing, they are considered scum of the earth trash that should be rotting in jail? Between the Italian Mafia and the black gang members K.C. has enough of your kinda cool already. Stop inviting more of that kind to join in on the fun and be cool. God you moron, what’s the matter with your thinking process?!
kctacomonday
What the GDF was that?
jojo
right on glazer…those projects in the
urban core were payback for votes.
And the money was stolen by the top guys
who ran those projects.
Til kc gets their act together…with a
dynamic business oriented mayor/council
it will die.
I disagree with you on p and l. I think
that it will grow and eventually there will
be transportation there from joco which will
make it explode. Us out in joco don’t wan
t the hassles of duis…traffic…etc…
get us a way down there and we will comje
by the thousands……it must be done…
get your guys on that now.
I actually like KC
Amen dude.
Really great post.
smartman
We haven’t had a mayor with vision since Charlie Wheeler. We’ve NEVER had print or electronic news media on the right side of any issue. We got big, fat and happy in the first half of the LAST century, rested on our laurels and now we’re just aging and meaningless stars playing poker at a casino.
Our only hope is to legalize sports betting and prostitution. We’d be good at that since the metro area is crawling with dicks, pussies and suckers who buy bullshit by the ton and call it progress.
And maybe for a tourist attraction we can build the Style Over Substance Museum. Just take any old building and line the walls, floors and ceilings with mirrors.
bschloz
Cool Cities..Phoenix,Miami,Chicago,NewOr??
No Thanks…cool or not I’ll take our City of Fortunes any day. Kansas City is a family town. Great neighborhoods….Great Schools..Great Housing..Shopping..Food…Music
All Great!…..How bout business–lot of nice stories here..GRMN..CERN..UMB/Commerce..WReed..
American Funds..HRB..Sprint..AMC..BlackVtch..on and on.
Kansas City is just small enough that you feel like you know everyone.
smartman
Bschloz, what are you calling Great Schools?
MandDShagger
The city lost its’ soul when the mob blew up River Quay, then the hookers left the 12th Street Strip and finally Time For News was forced to depart along with the rub and tug across the street.
I still remember when Charlie Wheeler was trying to get a high speed rail line built between KC and St. Louis. Imagine getting to St. Louis in 90 minutes to 2 hours max. That’s short enough for a work commute or a day trip. It would have had a huge impact on the economies of KC, STL and the state.
mrkcbill
smartman….fair enough bout KCMO schools..but as far as the suburbs..Liberty,BS,LS,Platte,Clay,BV..SMisson.
Olathe..I would say hard to beat. I always thought the parochial schools in the core were pretty strong as well.
jojo
Our only hope is to legalize sports betting and prostitution. We
randyraley
look at it this way. it least you aren’t st. louis where nothing has happened here in 25 years except bulldozing towns for a runway that no one uses or trusting kordish to build “ballpark village” that’s now a softball field adjacent to the new stadium. you could secede from jackson county and then watch all of the major businesses move from downtown. you could have an inept football team (oh wait….)and have the state take over your police department and half the metro school systems. yeah, with a little work, you could be st. louis.
smartman
Is this the REAL Randy Raley? The only REAL rock and roll DJ this city has ever known?
OK Back to schools. I have friends that teach in the BV, SM and Liberty districts. They tell me that 70% of the kids and parents are 99.99% pure jagoffs. Mommy and daddy never told them no or beat the shit out of them. The kids have no morals, manners or discipline. The administrators are more concerned with getting recognition instead of educating students. I don’t know that parochial schools are any better. With all due respect I don’t think there are any truly GREAT schools in the metro.
__________________________
Yep, that be her. He was in town last weekend to emcee the 4 Sknns show at the Brooksider.
STAMFORD RESIDENCES – McKinley Hill – The Fort (
[…] Glazer Guest Shot: Can Kansas City Get Back its Cool? | KC Confidential.com […]
Susan Dunlap
Very outstanding piece Mr. Glazer. In fact as you stated “brilliant.” So sadly true, all of it, especially about Mayor Clever, he is a fraud, I agree. What bothers me most Craig, clearly with your smarts,and amazing insight and it is, you let us down more than any of these people. You were the most selfish Craig. I beleve you would have been mayor at some point, with or without your criminal past. You were the best and brightest. You traded all that in for some lines of cocaine, didn’t you my friend? You should have checked yourself back then, now its too late. We could have used your help then Craig. So more than anyone on this list, you let us down the most.
KCMO staffer
Susan that was right on the money. Craig this may be one of the best summeries of our city ever written. The fact is the lady above is right. You could have made a bigger difference, you made some poor decisions. Do they haunt you?
jweinberg
Carl Peterson, yeah I can kinda see that. Is it too late for you and Stan?
Siv Adnar
Interesting discussion. But, dude, you have to proofread your work. I’m not attacking you, I just had a tough time reading it.
Anyway, you’re right on, this city needs someone or something dynamic to pull us out of the doldrums.
Just curious though, what exactly would more money do for the Waldo area? Brookside? Pouring money into these areas wouldn’t create tourists draws like the P & L District.
Siv Adnar
Rob Lane
Craig, you know I have always been with you on these posts. By the way I had no trouble reading this, it can be a faster read, just clean it up a bit.
I don’t agree with we just need new leadership. Seems we need more. Like marketing our city around the country as somewhere people might like to raise a family. Problem is, and again you are right, we have no identity.
Maureen
My gosh, look at the big brain on Craig.
PucKChaser
Here is what Kansas City is, in the lifetime of one person:
-A nice place to grow up where you go to good, suburban schools
-At 18, you leave KC to go to college because the options are limited to a bland commuter school and very small, private, religious-affiliated universities
-In your 20s you leave for a more exciting city with a vibrant urban lifestyle, mass transit (or a beach or mountains) and more opportunity.
-You return to KC when you are ready to settle down
-In your 40s and 50s, if you have kids, it’s a great place to raise them…and the cycle continues.
KC is what it is…accept it.
Robertoe
Well done, Craig. We have lost our identity and our cool. KC used to have +200 passenger trains /day coming through town and was really kind of the Las Vegas of old. Back then we had civic leaders like William Rockhill Nelson, JC Nichols and George Kessler who really delivered civic projects and local pride. Check out this pic: We had great connections with DC and the power brokers back then!
http://www.kchistory.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/Montgomery&CISOPTR=2168&CISOBOX=1&REC=20
KellysGuy
Glazer maybe for once you are correct.
booggeyman
Great story Craig, though you could learn how to use your spell check. Beyond that, lots of great points. Our city has no identity, it desperately needs one, and with it would come some cool. Yes we have good barbecue, but a quick glance at any of the food channels will show that other cities are becoming better known than us. We keep building hotels like we have in mind the slogan ‘If we build it, they will come’ but the problem is…we actually have to find something to make them interested in coming in the first place.
Duke
The hell with what the other cities think of us. Kansas City is a hidden treasure on the map of decent big towns. I moved here at age 24 in 1973, and can’t believe I’m still here. We truly do have it pretty good here. A true happiness for me is waking up from a nightmare and realize that I’m still in KC. With that said, I love and use our airport alot. And it is always great to come home.
craig glazer
Glad you guys responded to this post, its hard to get it all in with limited space but you seem to all get it….pucChaser very good point, I did just what you said grew up here, moved to college, moved to LA and in my 40’s moved home. I love this city and wish it was more on the right track of greatness….clearly I think we can do better.
To the lady who scolded me for the ‘cocaine’ incident, you are right, I did let alot folks down, mostly myself. Don’t get me wrong using the blow was not the crime, doing it while I had a shot to make a difference was wrong and selfish on my part, I hate that it happened and I was so stupid to screw up my shot to help fix this city. Don’t know if I would have beaten Barnes, maybe, my dad was 70 and got 42% of the vote when he replaced me in that race. So yeah I had a good shot….it would have brought much of this to light though and I will regret it til I die.
DowntownDavy
Very funny man, was at the Zoo last weekend, man you hit it on the head. Few animals out, lots of signs about feeding and come back later. Plenty of birds, snakes, and monkeys, not much else. Pretty crappy.
Rick M
The city lost its cool when The KC Star decided to play crusader and take on the dying Pendergast machine. The result was “good” government, but a town that went to sleep and really still hasn’t woken up.
If it wasn’t for the Wilbert Harrison song that nearly every touring rock band feels it has to cover when they play here, KC would be nowheresville.
dimebag
Tale of Two Cities:
Las Vegas, What Happens Here, Stays Here.
Kansas City, What Happens Here?
ShawnF
KCK got it right when it merged the County and City government…it allows for sweeping changes without too much wasted debate.
Kansas City, MO covers four different counties and while it deals with its own internal politics, it has to deal with those as well.
Funkhouser, a wreck. Clever, personally never believed he should have ran (separation of church and state, folks) and screwed up what he had. Barnes, nice lady, but an empty tenant doesn’t help.
KC needs to get its cool on because, like it or not, we have a huge opportunity coming IF the United States wins the 2018 or 2022 FIFA World Cup bid. KC is a prime spot for many games for the World Cup, and it’s a 300-500 million (with an M) impact on the US. Each city generates anywhere from 5000-8000 jobs for the cup.
Not going to get it if we’re aren’t “cool”, and our city government continues to bicker, moan and gripe.
Get your act together, KC… before we continue down the role of Fly Over Country.
Can’t say
Bob Berbella….that’s what we need to attract some attention.