About Saturday night’s media riot watch on the Country Club Plaza...
Despite veteran Westport wilding watcher’s counsel – that the youthful crowds of African Americans don’t come out when the weather is chilly or rainy – TV newsies and Star reporters were out in force.
Unlike the presumed perpetrators of the weekend before…
“A Night of Unexpected Quiet,” read the bold headline atop the Star’s Sunday Local section.
Unexpected? Hardly.
“Would you go out if it was that cold?” asks KC Stripper Bill Nigro. “The Plaza was a little slow – very calm – nothing happened.”
As pointed out by Craig Glazer on KC Confidential and Tony, there wasn’t a snowball’s chance in April of the kids coming out in any number in the 40 degree chill.
Which didn’t stop the Star – which totally dropped the ball last Saturday with its skeleton weekend staff – from fielding a trio of heavy hitter reporters to cover and write the non-story story.
“It was 40 degrees out and they write there was nobody there,” Glazer says. “Yeah, they solved it. It’s a joke. There was nobody out because it was cold. They’re never out when when it’s cold or cool. I don’t know if the Plaza was a one time deal. But if they feel like it, they’ll probably come back.”
Hot tip to local news media: weather permitting…
jojo
it was really nice friday nite…was down on
the plaza…usually the sidewalks are packed..
it wasnt the weather..it was the police presence..police helicopters…police (at least
10 surrounding the private party at tivols)
everywhere…the sidewalks were empty.
I’ve been down there enough to know it wasn’t theweather.
Blacks walking on the plaza could feel the
heat though. Everyone eyed them like criminals.
I saw 2 porfessional young black males…ties/
coats….and they really looked uncomfortable
walking on the streets.
This was overdone. The plaza could feel the
repurcusssions for months especially during the
upcominig weeks.
The publicity about the plaza was so bad that
it could hurt them business wise. Who wants
to go shopping/drinking when the entire area
is literally surrounded by police.
People having a cocktail won;t for fear of
getting a dui. They had cops outside vthe
cinemark theatre and the networks all broadcast
live from the area.
Sorry folks…but i think the plaza better get
a new ad/marketing campaign going. From the
word i heard out south most people said they’re
not going down there. This one incident compounded other stories of problems on the
plaza.
And its wasn’t just slow…it was dead…and the
business people are concerned and it could
really kill an already hurting economic situation.
It wasn’t 40 degrees (unless you listened to
the worst forecaster lezak). It was a really
nice night and even the valets said it was
the worst night they’ve seen since the holidays.
So beware of the plaza. If the so called
“minority mob” experts are right this will happn
again.
The reaction was way too intense. Just too
much bad publicity for this.
And I doubt it will get any better.
As far as hearne…another stupid ass unqualified
blog which you had no facts on in the first
-place.
jojo
hey guys…who are “THEY”…
you said “they are coming back”…who are you
talking about.
The shoppers? The families? The police?
The drinkers? The young black kids?
Stop beating around the bushy and tell us what
exactly you mean by ” theY”.
If you mean the young black kids…then say
it. Becasue according to the officers we
talked with there’s no way they can keep them
from coming back. They are citizens…provided
they follow the law and rules…the police can
do NOTHING TO KEEP THEM FROM COMING BCK.
And you say because its cold “they” don’t
come out.
Hearne…you’re worse than tony…at least
tony identifies people…doesn’t use “they”
“them” “those” …so now we have to turn
to Mike/Katy/Brian and Lezak to not only tell
us whether its going to be hot but whether
“they” think its nice enough for “them” to go down to the plaza. How about live action cameras
during the weather reports on traffic heading
west on troost.
This is the most insane thing I’ve seen in
kc in years. Lets just all get along…solve
the problem and get on with life.
plaza
smartman
Never ask a question you don’t already know the answer to. Never fight a battle you can’t win. Another day, another time. Victory will be theirs before they are vanquished. Whose blue blood will be spilled?
MandDShagger
Saturday night on the Plaza was ethereal. The cops were out in force. Community leaders were out in force. Lots of white teens and prom queens but not a lot of rich white folks. The best way to stay out of trouble is not to get in it in the first place. If jojo’s right and the suburban crackers are already writing the area off it’ll be a battle to the death between P&L and the Plaza. Still think the city should offer free bus service to the black kids to Town Center on Friday and Saturday night. What are they gonna due, refuse to let them off the bus and create another Rosa Parks moment?
jack hanrahan
Hearne, I was down on the Plaza with my 15 year old daughter Rachel, Saturday nite for a late dinner at Blanc Burger. After an “OK” dinner, we walked the whole area till 11:00 pm. Curfew for “kids only” is Midnight. Lots of cops who were in good moods on cars, motorcycles and horses… I agree with Craig G, weather was too chilly for the t- shirt, low/hanging pants kids… lots of black and white prom kids were having a good time coming and going into the Plaza eateries. Lots of older black men on corners watching the cops as monitors….
Interesting, then drive through Westport which was very busy and looked much more fun, less cops for sure.
Rachel said someone should open a teen club on weekends for the KC kids 13-18..JoCo kids have teen clubs, why not KC?
You know what, I’m going to look into that. Having done that in six cites, I know what to do, how to do it, keep it safe and keep it going! Location ideas? Thanks!
smartman
A black teen club in KCMO. Good luck with that. If black kids wanted to hang with black kids they’d stay in the hood and dance in the street to they boom box. The kidz wanna hang with the mighty whitee. They like walkin’ the Plaza in groups and scaring the piss out of whitee just by their presence, forget any actual violence. The chickens are comin’ home to roost just when they solved the pigeon problem.
TinaFey
For once Tony and Glazer are right. They, the blacks, will be back, and causing major trouble, somewhere soon.
Kyfan
Tina you got that one right.
MandDShagger
A teen club for black kidz. Call it the Ass Chamber. Make it a tight fit to get in and so warm inside they’ll never wanna leave.
C
“Naught” is generally the accepted spelling of your headline word. But hey, it’s closer than some of the words in many of the articles on here!
Johnny Utah
you notice the “local food” trend? it’s turning into local drink too. joco bars will attract the ladies.
brookside/waldo has plenty of good bars with lots of beautiful people. Just like 10 years ago when the ladies abandoned westport, now they will abandon plaza.
been to waldo? gaf, lews, well, kennedy’s, 75th st. Brooksider, hoopers. That area will dominate.
Good.