Tony: What Does The Killing At The Kona Grill Mean?

 Sadly, the holiday season in this cowtown is not complete without a bit of deadly fighting.

At the end of every year this town the annual murder stats begin to reach their final totals around X-mas time.

Worst of all, the holiday season during The Great Recession keeps tensions high as the lack of money puts everyone on edge.

Given all of this, the local death at Kona Grill has some disturbing implications.

Already on The Plaza there has been an increasing fear of violence.

So-called riots involving nothing more than rowdy African-American teens put everyone on edge about the fate of Kansas City’s premiere destination. Employees and patrons alike expressed a widespread concern over their safety.

Now, this latest murder shows that death and violence can even come to a place occupied mostly by affluent scenesters and the cowtown upwardly mobile crowd.

As far as outcomes for this tragedy, the writing is on the wall for any place in Kansas City as a middle-class destination.

The murders on the Eastside of Kansas City are negatively impacting local branding. Put simply, Kansas City seems like a violent place and the specific location of murder and death is starting to seem less important as our reputation grows worse.

They say that “perception is reality” and in this last epoch of sanitized corporate marketing and public relations, the public simply doesn’t have the desire to risk anything for a good time.

Westport murder and Plaza death directly translate into scared white people from the suburbs staying in their own neighborhoods. Couple this trend with the E-Tax battle that continues to rage against Kansas City and it’s easy to see a trend. Until Kansas City addresses its murder rate in a realistic fashion, this town will become increasingly isolated.