In word, no…
That’s kinda the fallout in the wake of last week’s Chiefs rally shootings. The statistics were out there long before, but positive PR spins and political correctness have conspired to keep some of those details on the down low.
For example five years back, an organization called Safe Wise pegged the Cowtown as the “fifth most dangerous big city.” Right behind St. Louis, Detroit, Baltimore and Memphis.”
The latter being KC’s main barbecue rival and one of my favorite southern getaways.
I remember living in Mayfield, Kentucky years ago and partying on weekends in nearby Memphis and Nashville. At the time, Music City was reportedly one of the highest crime cities. Yet today, KC seems to have surpassed it. And the chances of being involved in a violent or property crime there is reportedly one in 20.
Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
The $64 million question: Why would anybody in their right mind slide into downtown KC for a drunken expedition like a Chiefs Super Bowl rally?
The St. Patrick’s Day parade downtown, which passes by the old Kansas City Star building, was always a drunken expedition, with roving packs of unruly inner city youth ricocheting about. And that was more than 10 years ago, for crying out loud.
Forget political correctness – most mainstream media won’t – but the realities of KC crime are real.
Naturally, when a moving company website like PODS rates the Cowtown, they’re gonna focus on just about anything other than crime.
In its “16 Things to Know About Living in Kansas City, Missouri,” POD pegs KC as “one of the nicest places to live in the U.S.” With a lower cost of living, affordable housing, world class barbecue and “another decade of Patrick Mahomes.”
Sure, we’re “landlocked” with hot muggy summers, bitterly cold winters and tornados, but there is one pesky detail about having a 1 in 69 chance of being the victim of a violent crime. So you can stay up late and suck down Howlin’ Mules at the Kill Devil Club in the Power & Light District…
Just try not to get mugged or shot.
And did anybody else notice how embarrassingly, wildly, publicly drunk Patrick Mahomes was on TV at the rally? Classy, huh?
Fits right in with his multi DUI dad, tacky wife and embarrassingly shallow bro.
As for party pal Travis Kelce – he was even worse.
The YouTube headline: “Travis Kelce drunkenly sings ‘Friends in Low Places at Super Bowl Parade.'”
Kelce best hope Taylor Swift and her parents don’t stumble on to this clip, cause I can see a Swift breakup album on the horizon.
So yeah, KC’s a special place to live, but watch your back.
Staying in the KC burbs until the wife can retire. (2 more years) Then, we’re outta here to a warmer climate and lower taxes. Texas, Arizona, or Florida. I’ve had enough of Missouri.
No need to hide, but it is a bit disconcerting.
Arizona definitely, Texas, only if you are outside their 3rd world electrical grid (Lubbock, Sherman/Denison, Beaumont, El Paso etc) Florida, HEEL NO unless you have a lot of money
Geezus, grandpa. Get off my lawn. Was somebody drunk in a parade celebrating a Superbowl Championship? Sure was. Who cares?
There are areas of KC that I wouldn’t go on a bet. Violence in KC is actually pretty concentrated. Lived here my entire life. You know where the go/no go areas are.
Thanks, gramps…
Good to know Union Station, Grand Blvd. Liberty Memorial and the Country Club Plaza are obvious danger zones here.
I’ve spent late nights post concert partying with bands like REM, Mojo Nixon, Goo Goo Dolls and many more.
Never even occurred to me to order them off of my proverbial lawn. My hunch is, you were nowhere to be found – not even at the 8 PM concerts, let alone all night.
But it’s comforting to think there’s somebody around these parts with few to no scruples.
Your hunch missed the mark, HC. I just don’t give a shit what other people do that doesn’t impact me.
Good to know, Big Jim…
IU’ll always remember you from here on out as a true role model and solid citizen!
The problem is Jim, the go/no go areas are becoming bigger and are growing in number. Crown Center, The Plaza, etc..never used to be places where this kind of crap occurred.
Kinda my point as well, Guy
But Hearne, the hardcore Chiefs fans say the men had the right to act like they did because they won the Super Bowl. The only thing missing were the half naked hookers.
I remember the first Super Bowl won by the Chiefs. There was no drunken thug acting members of that Super Bowl team falling down drunk running the streets with no shirts on.
When your city’s NFL team acts like what we have witnessed 3 times now at a parade, you set the precedent for an unruly free for all. That means thugs with guns and other behavior we probably don’t know about and probably never will. Did you see all the trash cans in place for people to place their trash but once the crowd cleared out the trash was everywhere. I call that the, I don’t give a fuck crowd.
Sure there were those in attendance who behaved themselves who I’m sure were appalled by some of what they saw unless it was a Chiefs player – then it was all good.
Remember a shooting took place at Crown Center just 29 days before the Chiefs parade? No, you’re not safe to be out on the streets in Kansas City in any area where more than a dozen people might be hanging out.
On another blog in Kansas City, whenever I point out how unsafe the streets here are, I’m called a geriatric who hides under their bed in fear. I’m sure Lisa Lopez-Galvan and some 21 others wished they had all stayed home under their beds on Valentines Day.
Kansas City in 2024 now joins Chicago in 1929 in sharing killings taking place on Valentine’s Day. Sure wasn’t a day of love in either town.
Wow…a history lesson?
My wife and lawyer grrrl friend went to the first Chiefs Super Bowl victory bash like 4 years ago and they could not believe how trashy the players and fans behavior was.
Rude and crude would be understatements. It was beyond ugly, almost unbelievable.
Look, like many people I’ve had my over-the-top party moments – but nothing even halfway close to Mahomes and Kelce – let alone while on TV.
Clearly, I’m no prude – far from it. Nor am I beyond belief crass…to the 10th power and embarrassingly ugly acting.
Take into account pretty much the measure of the entire Mahomes family and it starts to make sense.
100% agree, Hearne. The absolute immature hero-worship the rubes in this town have for Mahomes/Kelce is disgusting. Either guy could drop his pants and take a shit in the Union Station fountain, and all the trash KC Chiefs fans would cheer and scream “CHIEEEEEEEFSS” like the morons they are. Whenever people are cracking up at their antics, I just tell them those guys need to grow the fuck up and start acting like adults that are the face of the team and city, not drunken college frat boys at a WWE show. The look on their faces is like I just threw pumpkin soup on the Mona Lisa. And no, asking them to act with some modicum of dignity/maturity is not being a curmudgeon. As KC strives to shed itself of the redneck cowtown image, a considerable piece of the population seem to work just as hard to keep that image in place. As if it’s some sort of badge of honor. Note to the local rubes: It’s not.
OMG, Guy…
You’re about to turn me into a disciple!
Here’s the deal, frowning at bad behavior does not equate to turning into Mr. Wilson and telling Dennis the Menace not to play on his lawn.
Nice try though.
Anybody who either knows me or of me, pretty much knows the last thing I’d likely be described as, is a prude.
Trust me, I’ve done more than my fair share of partying, but no matter how far I went, I never let it turn me into a barbarian.
I remember an evening with you and Tony at Jardine’s a few years ago! Talk about a Party!! Kat PussnBoots was tending bar!! Julia Othmer on stage!
Tony?
and the Royals owner wants Kansas Citians to build him a new stadium downtown.
I need to weigh into this new stadium issue pretty quick…
For starters, baseball is a dying sport – comparatively speaking – and the last thing Kansas City or whomever needs to do, is sink (waste) billions – or even millions – reaching out mostly to oldsters who are not going to have to pick up the tab.
Isn’t that kind of obvious at this point?
I mean, yes, I grew up collecting baseball cards and was a pretty decent fair-weather fan when the Royals were good, however few times.
But for younger people today with tons of entertainment options, the last thing this city needs is a giant money pit. Even if the handful of thousands that go to those games may grab dinner nearby or a drink or three after.
Royals fans need to cling to Royals Stadium – or as former KCC writer Greg Hall named it, The K.
Yes, it’s a good story to dive deep into. Billionaire Bozo/Royals owner John Sherman lied and said The K has “concrete cancer” but the truth is The K gets inspected regularly and is just fine.
Sooo, at the very least he’s a liar. In reality he wants the new stadium just because of greed, nothing else. If he gets the new stadium it will be way more expensive to attend, which is fine with him as his investments(buying up downtown real estate) will be worth more and he makes a lot of TV money.
Dunno about his truth telling capabilities, but any actual contemporary sports fan under the age – let’s say of 45 or 50 – knows that baseball and NBA basketball have fairly small curb appeal in today’s entertainment reality.
There’s just too many games -p rendering them majority of them meaningless – as opposed to football. With far fewer games that mostly matter. Plus baseball and basketball games are all over the map, not mostly on Sunday when people are laying back at home more often than not, or two nights a week.
Anyone for subsidizing by way of taxes a billionaire’s stadium is either a corrupt politician that’s getting something out of it (money), or an idiot rube Royals fan, who should probably be sterilized so they don’t spread the three chromosome trait any further.
That’s a tad much, but I largely mostly agree with your overall point