Kansas City Restore Sanity Reportage

NOTICE: I used the word "reportage" in the title because I'm an Intellectual Elitist who has no patience with "common, everyday Americans" who can't be bothered to expand their limited fucking vocabularies by going to the trouble of Googling new words.

So I had to leave the house today anyway to go into work to finish up some system testing.

As long as I was wearing grown up clothes and out amongst humanity, I figured I may as well go to the Kansas City Satellite Rally To Restore Sanity on The Plaza.

The second thing I noticed when I got there (after the anticipated low turn out...it was more of a nanosatellite rally) was the Po Po!


Apparently, before I arrived there had been a bit of a dust-up, if not an actual kerfuffle teetering dangerously close to an all out brouhaha!

It seems that while the Restore Sanity folks had gone through all of the proper Kansas City Parks and Recreation channels to get the required permit for their event (where they were told they COULD NOT use loudspeakers or any other voice amplification devices...a requirement they complied with), some rogue Tea Baggers showed up WITHOUT a permit and WITH a sound system to mount a counter-rally!





That woman creeped me out a bit. Looked like a Mormon sister-wife.

The Tea Bagger turn out was WAY smaller then the Sane people. It looked like the Tea Bagger speakers and their audience all rode together in the same van.

So I kind of eavesdropped on a conversation between the Po Po and some of the folks from both sides. The police were saying something about no actual law being broken while the Tea Bagging lady was saying

"But we DO have a permit! From God! It's called the Constitution!"

which she then brandished a copy of to the cop who seemed unimpressed.



Later, the police got bored and managed to find the only African-American on The Plaza to interrogate, much to their obvious delight.



The only News Crew on sight was from KSHB. I'll leave it up to you to figure out how I noticed their presence.




Yeah, I'd tap that.

I was only there for a few minutes when I saw my good friend and fellow blogger Average Jane who was giving out Free Hugs!



This was her sign...



That was typical of most of the signs I saw. Level headed, intelligent, rational, non-confrontational and inclusive.















Some of the signs were a bit more confrontational, but barely...









That last one may seem to be the most aggressive, but he's a gutless moderate next to my "Eat The Rich" campaign.



There were some Stephen Colbert supporters who infiltrated the rally in an attempt to Keep Fear Alive...









But these were my favorites...













After the rally I had a nice lunch with Average Jane and her friend Lisa at The Cheesecake Factory.

Nice day!

TWA Overhaul Base Closing

That's right. I said the TWA Overhaul Base. I was never able to accept the American Airlines thing.

My dad worked at the TWA Overhaul Base for over 20 years before retiring. He would come home from his twighlight shift wearing those overalls and smelling of jet fuel and cold weather.

When I was born, he was a sheet metal worker for the Continental Can Company in Coffeyville, KS.

From there, he got a job at the Boeing Overhaul Base in Wichita working on the B-52 Stratofortress.


In 1964 he landed at the TWA Overhaul Base in Kansas City and worked there until he retired.

TWA still had a major corporate presence in Kansas City in those days.


They still had Lockheed Super Constellations in their fleet.


Beautiful fucking airplane! The most graceful bird to ever fly. I remeber seeing them in the sky, still full of passengers.


Back when passengers dressed up to fly somewhere because it was still a special occasion and you were pampered like you were aboard a flying cruise ship.


I remember when TWA finally retired the Constellations and coverted to an all-jet fleet in 1967. It was a big deal. They had a big open house at the Overhaul base for employees and their families.

Just like they did a couple of years later when they bought their first 747's.


And in 1984 when the Space Shuttle prototype Enterprise made a stop at the TWA Overhaul base perched atop its 747 carrier vehicle.



I don't care if they find someone else to lease the property as an Olympic training facility or a Mega Flea Market. It will always be the TWA Overhaul Base to me.

Clay Chastain...

...is a self-serving douchebag.

This ignorant fucktard keeps trying to force his absurd train ideas down the gagging throat of a city that doesn't want them or him.

It's like some bizarre "urban rape" fetish. "I won't stop until my train is running through your city!"

Don't get me wrong. I'm all for a public transit system. In a metro area as spread out as KC, we need one.

I'm rather fond of the Personal Rapid Transit approach.

Here is another example of PRT.

The PRT addresses all of the public access ability, environmental and affordability issues while taking into account the inate, American personal mobility issue.

What we DON'T need, are fucking Ferris Wheels and Gondolas proposed by some guy who doesn't even live here!

Go home Clay.

Build carnival rides in Virginia, or wherever the fuck it is you live.

We don't want you here.

We don't like you.

We are glad you moved away.

Stop coming back.

Cordish Co. says proposed dress code law ought to apply citywide

By DEANN SMITH
The Kansas City Star
Breaking News

A proposed dress code ordinance is unfairly aimed at the downtown entertainment district, and any such regulations should apply throughout Kansas City, Cordish Co. officials say.

The developers of the Power & Light District oppose the municipal law, saying any dress code regulations infringe on the rights of businesses. They say the current dress codes at district establishments are needed for both taste and safety reasons.

“It appears to us it was all about the Power & Light District,” said Zed Smith, director of asset management for Baltimore-based Cordish.

Smith and Kevin Battle, general manager of the nine-block downtown district, met Friday for an hour with The Kansas City Star’s editorial board.

Cordish had previously declined to publicly discuss the proposed ordinance intended to bar businesses from arbitrarily defining the length of jewelry, hair, sleeves, shirts or pants, or the type of shoes worn by patrons. The ordinance would regulate dress codes at any “businesses or facilities” that have received tax abatements, relief or incentives. That would include the entertainment district and the 18th and Vine Historic Jazz District.

But Cordish and some council members think the ordinance is worded so broadly that it would bar dress codes at business such as H&R Block. Smith said if the council imposes dress code regulations, then it is “only fair that it apply to every business establishment in Kansas City.”

City Councilwoman Beth Gottstein, the major sponsor of the ordinance now pending in the council’s Planning and Zoning Committee, said Friday that the city attorney’s office says the ordinance is worded to affect only businesses open to the public.

Gottstein said the proposal is not intended to focus on Cordish, but on developments receiving tax assistance.

“When there are public dollars involved, I think our stewardship is all the more important. The facilities belong to everyone,” she said. “The intent is not to be the decency police or the fashion police. But we have to be especially protective of public accommodations.”

Last year a public outcry arose when Cordish and some of its tenants imposed dress codes that some thought were inconsistently enforced and discriminatory against African-American males. The ban includes chains or necklaces worn by men, untucked shirts, white T-shirts, work boots and long, baggy clothing.

Smith said Friday that there were problems last year with one tenant and that Cordish worked to ensure the dress code was consistently enforced. He also said that the dress code is in effect only when alcohol is served in the evening.

“We have been working with the city and made adjustments,” Smith said. “We thought it was behind us.”

Smith explained that parts of the dress code are rooted in safety concerns to prevent gang paraphernalia from being worn, such as the ban on sagging pants or men wearing oversized jewelry, while others are a matter of decency and taste, such as barring men from wearing tank tops, which expose their armpits.

Cordish wants to create a safe and welcoming environment for a special night out downtown, Smith said.

“It becomes a huge nightclub,” he said. “Ninety-nine percent of people are dressed up.”

To reach DeAnn Smith, call 816-234-4412 or send e-mail to dsmith@kcstar.com.