I’m not gonna spell it out for you guys right here, right now, but…
Trust me on this, the alleged reason behind the Power & Light District’s bailing on the KC Strip trolly line, effectively hanging it out to dry and leading directly to its death, is one nasty, embarrassing, sordid tale.
It’s a very ugly cat that wants to claw its way out of the news bag, and when and if it does, it will be yet another very embarrassing black eye for Kansas City’s taxpayer subsidized entertainment district downtown.
And that’s what in part makes it all so galling.
Look, right now I’m basically sworn to secrecy.
But this story is too huge to die an ignominious death.
Not with Power & Light mouthpiece Nick Benjamin shedding ridiculously hypocritical crocodile tears while dishing out insincere quotes to the Kansas City Star about the Strip’s demise like, “We were saddened and disappointed to hear that they are shutting down.”
Ladies and gentlemen, this story is too big to be hushed up. Too wrong not to be righted.
Please stay tuned.
They wanted Nigro and Westport to suffer and helped to get the funding yanked.
There’s your story, no surprise here.
Uh, wrongo
Not even close.
Dude, the Star reported three days ago that the ECI bars and restaurants in the P&L no longer wanted to be listed in the KCStrip guides which offered discounts.
This was after Bill George apparently spent $10,000 on 400,000 new guides that suddenly became useless.
Amazing the capacity for bullshit you guys have. 7 or 8 bars pull their specials and suddently 4 weeks later the entire operation is no longer viable? Makes a lot of sense.
Explain that to Bill George, Ken. He’s the one that pulled the plug.
Come on Paul Harvey, gimme the rest of the story!
Hearne, isn’t the bottom line that the trolley couldn’t even reach half the ridership it needed to cover operating costs and debt service?
As a former employee of a bar downtown, our ownership tried to work with KCStrip when it first debuted, to see if we could be involved. However, we weren’t in the P&L or Martini Corner, so they weren’t interested, as they made quite clear. They were chiefly banking on a route from Westport – P&L and back, with small side stops to Martini Corner.
That’s fine, run your business how you want, even with a large chunk of public money, you have to pick and choose where you go. But speaking of public money, P&L and its associated businesses have broken more contracts than they have honored, and owe more than they put into the city (over $50 million in the red to date). I’m sorry this idea failed, but it was hinging on the cooperation of the P&L group that has a history of this kind of behavior.
The KCStrip’s failure surprises exactly no one.
A friend of mine who owns a bar in Waldo (Sweet Jesus that could be 12 different people.) said that there was some violence on the Trolley.
Throwing a mixed group of drunks on a trolley and I am sure at times it did get nasty.
In more ways than one. Hope they kept a mop and bucket handy.
My guess is they were not interested in providing public transportation and giving discounts to exactly the kind of patrons they clumsily attempt to bar using no-jersey and CC/Debit card required rules.
Well, George wanted to brag about dropping 15,000 a year at the P&L. But that is utterly pathetic, and even more so when you consider how many of those 15,000 would have gone there anyway without the trolley.
400,000 new guides? Really? Seems a bit “enthusiastic”.
George+Nigro+Strip=Scam+Corporate Welfare. Strip is NEVER going to be profitable or break even. Why do it? Labor of love? B#llsh#t!! How about some investigative forensic accounting on this deal to get “the rest of the story”
Doing the quick math, at 20,000 riders a year, 400,000 guides would be a 20-year supply.
Sounds like alot of hyperbole from Hearne, on a story no one really gives a shit about.
Even if P&L carried out some skulduggery to hurt the KC Strip, it’s hard to imagine that alone could have sunk that, um, bus. I never saw anyone ride that thing, nor did I know anyone who said they did. Anecdotal, I know, but I live along the route and go out to places where it stops and those looked like some damn lonely bus drivers.
400,000 new guides?