The Star Isn't as Bleak on Mission Gateway

Out local Star paper ran the following article today.

Future of Johnson County’s Mission Gateway 

in question

On their website, it had this headline:

‘We’ve waited so long’: Future of Johnson County project in question, funds in limbo

A bit from the article:

The property has the hallmarks of an active construction project: a yellow crane, orange cones and temporary chain link fencing. But there are no sounds of dirt moving or concrete being poured. And no workers in sight.

After 15 years of delays and tempered expectations, work has once again halted at the ill-fated $225 million Mission Gateway development in Johnson County. And it’s unclear if or when it might start back up.

And check out this ugliness.

Workers left the site after two major funding sources were put on hold during the coronavirus pandemic. Since then, at least a dozen liens have been filed on the property, claiming invoices have gone unpaid to contractors and suppliers.

“We have not been paid,” said Jerry Messick, one of the contractors and owner of Metro Interiors in Lee’s Summit. “I can tell you that without any guilt because it really pisses me off.”
Keeping in mind, as the article states, too, this has been going on for 15 years. Wow.

So true. So very true. I wrote and posted this July 16, last week.

Mission Gateway: 

The Construction Project From Hell

To say, however, that the project is "in question" when you have a huge slump in retail shopping anyway and then now, this pandemic which makes even construction difficult, let alone, again, weakens that same retail shopping and, for the foreseeable future, dining out, restaurant business and then movie-going, too. Yes, it makes the funding of this project highly suspect, if not out and out deeply in doubt to very unlikely. Funding is drying up all over but especially here, on this nightmare.

I say again,  what should happen is the developer finally, finally faces the ugly reality, declares bankruptcy on the entire project then donates the land, the entire site, to the city of Mission for a park.

It won't but that's what should happen.

At one point in the article, the Star asks if it wasn't "The right idea at the wrong time."

To which I'd answer no. It was never the right idea. The former site worked and was good-looking and well-placed. It should have been updated, at most.  And all this was, of course, at the worst possible time, for all the reasons I mention in my post above--the 2008 financial collapse, the collapse of retail and now this pandemic and all it brings down on everything here.

Good luck, Mission.

You're gonna' need it.

Mission Gateway: The Construction Project From Hell

What is Mission's "Gateway" construction project for a mall but "The Construction Project From Hell"?

There was a beautiful mall, facility already there, perfectly fit into its space but hey, some multi-millionaire thought he knew better--and could make yet more money!--so he tore it down.

Only to be hit by the 2008 economic collapse.

So it sat.

And sat and sat.

Vacant.

An empty lot.

And in a fantastic location, at least for the city of Mission, so the lack of its being developed--then all the way through today--has been obvious, painfully obvious to the point of being a downright eyesore.

So it slowly, ever so slowly came along.

First Walmart was supposed to come down the hill and that certainly got a lot of people concerned. Too many didn't want that clientele in their coy little environs.

It was also supposed to have an upscale movie theater and, yes, bowling alley/entertainment center and nice apartments and on and on.

But then retail collapsed, what with everyone buying online.

And Walmart backed out.

And more.

Then, of course, the worst, most killing international and then, now, national pandemic in the last more than 100 years came along.

So this is where we are today.

Mission council likely to consider resetting construction completion deadlines on Gateway project

From the story:

It's been nearly 15 years since the Mission Center Mall closed at Roe and Johnson Drive. Construction on the long-awaited mixed-use project on the site has been halted as a result of financing issues caused by the pandemic.

The city of Mission will likely consider pushing back the December 2021 construction completion deadline in its development agreement on the Mission Gateway project to accommodate construction delays.

GFI Development and the Cameron Group, the project’s developers, announced one month ago that construction had to pause indefinitely after two funding sources were put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic.

But wait. It gets worse. At least for the developer.

The development agreement sets a construction completion deadline and the terms of the city’s tax incentives for the Gateway project, which include the Gateway development’s access to revenues from a tax-increment financing (TIF) district and a community improvement district (CID). If the project does not meet the December 2021 deadline, the developer could be in default of the agreement, putting the tax incentives in jeopardy, said City Administrator Laura Smith.

It's just been a nightmare from the start, from the beginning and it only continues to get worse, all the way around.

They tore down a reusable, attractive building, hoping to make yet more, bigger money and then put up what is unequivocally one of the ugliest buildings, so far, I've seen or even imagined in a long, long time. Go by the site. It is one ugly, ugly building.

It is now going to sit there, basically, until at least this winter and then it will wait yet more, until good weather, until Spring, 2021, at least, before it will be restarted.

Then, again, check out this 2 beauty from the Shawnee Mission Post link, above, on that one partner, GFI.

A recent article also noted that GFI was put on credit watch with a negative outlook by S&P Global Ratings. The company owns many hotels, which have struggled to profit throughout the pandemic.

Finally, there is this on their tenants.

FUTURE OF GATEWAY’S TENANTS

The entertainment and hospitality industries have been hard-hit by the coronavirus pandemic, with each industry losing billions of dollars since mid-March. But Smith said that the anchor tenants of the Gateway development, which are part of these two industries, are still in place. This includes Cinergy Entertainment, a food hall by Tom Colicchio’s Crafted Hospitality and a Marriott hotel.

“We know the developer is in conversations with their tenants regarding impacts to operations in light of COVID-19,” Smith said.

This past May, Andy Ashwal, vice president and senior asset manager of GFI Development Company, said that the Tom Colicchio food hall was being designed to easily shift to take-out services when necessary, in light of the pandemic.

A spokesperson for Cinergy declined to comment. Crafted Hospitality and a Marriott spokesperson did not respond to emails asking for comment. Marriott International Inc. saw a 92% decrease in their first-quarter profit of 2020 as most traveling came to a stand-still amidst stay-at-home orders.
Does that sound good or hopeful or promising to you?

So don't get impatient, Mission. Get used to seeing yet more of this ugly, ugly eyesore. Get used to it sitting there, vacant.

Good things come to those who wait?

You know what should happen?

The developer finally, finally faces the ugly reality, declares bankruptcy on the entire project then donates the land, the entire site, to the city of Mission for a park.

It won't but that's what should happen.

And hey, he'd get tax write-offs.

Good luck, Missionians!

You're gonna' need it.

Link:

And with the Kansas City Star at least in financial straits, if not, as I wrote here earlier, going to one day soon close, you might want to subscribe to this.

Shawnee Mission Post - 

Community news and events

Overland Park? Kansas? On This List??

I couldn't believe what I just saw online. It was this.

These Are the Happiest Cities 

in the United States

 - National Geographic

So I was curious and clicked on it. Thought I'd see if Kansas City were maybe on the list.

And it's not.

But I couldn't believe what was, what is on it.

Yes, our own Overland Park, Kansas.

Wow.

It's not in the top 10 but it is, in fact, number 15.

On a list with the likes of Huntington Beach, CA (9) and San Francisco (13).

Overland Park??

Are you kidding me?

And they're happy?

Why, because they have all the strip centers they could possibly ever want?

No, I think it's because they have Kansas City, Missouri's Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts and the Kansas City Royals Major League Baseball team and Kansas City Chiefs National Football League team and the Country Club Plaza--and a lot more--not far away, minutes away, in our own Kansas City, Missouri.

Yeah.

That's it.

What Is It With KCPT and White People?

(crackers.  far as the eye can see).

Okay, so I asked here 3 weeks ago about our local PBS station, KCPT and their local, weekly news program, "Ruckus" when they had a fully bleached-white guest panel.  I will note that, since then, for whatever reason, they've wisely and kindly had mixed-race guests. Hopefully, that will go into the future.

Now, this week, their local news program "Kansas City Week in Review" with the very British and wonderful Nick Haines discussed two issues this week--the upcoming Missouri tobacco tax and the Johnson County Public Safety tax.

On neither issue was their even one "person of color."

Just saying.

Now, we know there are no Black or Hispanic people in Johnson County, sure. (Right?). That's why everyone moved out there, all those years ago, of course. And still, to this day, we know there are no "people of color" in any positions of authority, in government offices out there. I'm just sure of it. (Is it even legal?).

But on that first question? The Missouri state tobacco tax?

Nothing but white people?

Over the entire state?

Just asking.

Link:  Kansas City Week in Review - KCPT

Happy Birthday, Roy Inman!

Yes, indeed, wishing a very happy, happy birthday to Kansas City's own professional photographer and area history recorder, Roy Inman.

Roy Inman

Roy Inman Photographs | Facebook

Royals Rally Poster | Union Station

Photo gallery - | The Kansas City Star

Roy Inman Archives - Boelte-Hall

Roy Inman | Missouri Photojournalism 

Hall of Fame

Roy Inman - Artwork for Sale - Lenexa, KS

And then there's his blog:

Fire-Eating Press Photographer

No one has documented this city or area or region and people any more or better than you, sir. Thank you and kudos to you for your work, all these years. Terrific stuff.

For, I believe, all his working life, Roy has been photographing and documenting Kansas City, the metropolitan area and region, at least. Some of the best photos of and in the area were captured by him. It was only last Fall, Roy got on top of Union Station, for just a moment, just a shot and got what I believe most everyone in the area thinks is the best photo of the celebration there for our world champion Kansas City Royals. (Go to his Facebook page to see it, at least. It's also available for sale).

If you follow him on Facebook, you will frequently get some terrific Kansas City and local history as well as information on past trains and planes from the nation and world. It's interesting and fun, frequently.

So, again, happy birthday, Roy Inman and thank you for all the years you captured us and our city. We appreciate all you've done and all you've captured for us.

As an extra, added bonus this year, I know you are aware the President and Royals are giving you an extra special gift, too.

Champion Kansas City Royals to visit 

White House July 21

Enjoy!

Notes on a Kansas City Weekend

Things noticed over the weekend;

1)  Prairie Village seems to want to become either Kansas City, Missouri or just more like them.  If you've driven 75th Street headed West lately, you know what I mean.  I don't think any one Kansas City street has ever had any more construction plates on the road than that city (town?) does now;

2)  Meanwhile, in nearby Mission, Kansas, holy cow, people. Johnson drive is a God-awful, bumpy, crowded, narrow, nearly dangerous mess. I suppose that's the only way it can be repaired but what a driving nightmare.  As an additional note, I can't imagine how the businesses on the South side of that street are able to continue. I don't know how long it's been torn up but it's clear it won't be done any time soon;

3) And speaking of Mission, how about that mall, eh?  Seems only two questions come up:  First, will that thing ever be redone? And second, wouldn't it be terrific if they just hadn't torn down the old one?

And finally,

4)  What on Earth would get someone--anyone--who's sane, anyway, to move 1/2 way across the country---all the way to Virginia, for pity's sake---but to STILL, after all these years, focus on our city, Kansas City, and whether or not we build light rail?  What sick, twisted disease must be running around your body or mind to make you fixate like that? It has to be a combination of outrageous egotism and OCD, don't you think?

And I refuse to mention that person's name in any way here, ever, but the surname rhymes with *ss-stain.

Shootings in Kansas City

Three white people shot, he internets and media light up:

Shootings at Jewish centers in Kansas leave 3 dead

Mostly black people shot?  Not so much:

Homicide KC 

23 people have died in Kansas City-area homicides this year

Just sayin'.

Read more here: http://homicide.kansascity.com/#storylink=cpy

The Aiport people go to the Star

According to Yael T. Abouhalkah at the Kansas City Star, Mayor James and other proponents of a new, single building airport went to the Star's editorial board this last week and came up with 3 main reasons we should buy off on their very expensive boondoggle. They were/are:

• The new terminal would improve the image of Kansas City.
• It would help attract more businesses to the region.
• It would provide a better experience for airline passengers

Let's address each. (As in, apply logic and tear these things apart).

First, a new terminal would "improve the image of Kansas City."

Really?

And why would that be?

Because we built one? Because we built another one? Seriously?

Heads up, guys, we have one. We have an international airport. And you know what? We like it. It works.  It's handsome. It's attractive. It's convenient. You can get in and get to your plane quickly, easily and conveniently. Why would we want to throw it away, walk away from it and only to--expensively--buy another new one?

Second argument:  A new, single building facility would "help attract more businesses to the region."

Again, seriously?  They're claiming that?

How is it more businesses would come to the region?

Again, WE HAVE AN AIRPORT. How is paying for and building a new one going to bring more businesses to the region? What company or companies is going to say or think "Gosh, Kansas City has a new, expensive airport. That's going to be good for us so we should take our business and company there"?

Here's the thinking, folks:  "Kansas City has had an international airport for, what? Decades. A new airport, single-building or no, changes nothing. It doesn't change our business or markets in any way. We don't need to move there, suddenly."

Third and final point of theirs: "It would provide a better experience for airline passengers."

Again, how is that?

Maybe, maybe, just because it's a "shiny new building"? That's about the most you can say for this idea.

But again, here's a thought, the thought that makes far more sense--instead of walking away from the existing facility that a) works very well, thanks very much and that b) the people like very much, again, thanks, WHY NOT UPDATE THE EXISTING FACILITY IN ALL ASPECTS? That could include lighting (LED to cut costs), heating, cooling, even energy-generating with solar photovoltaic energy cells, all of it, and make the most of all that updating and innovation. It would still be FAR less expensive than building new, some miles away, and starting all over again.

Then, you're just as likely, if not far more so, to provide that better experience for airline passengers. It only makes sense.

You'd have this cool, retro-fitted facility YOU DIDN'T WALK AWAY FROM AND THROW AWAY, it would have all the latest, modern amenities, including, possibly and even likely, new restaurants and shopping options.

It would be a total win for all--the airline passengers, the airlines themselves, the city and region, all of us.

We have to stop throwing away whole buildings. In this case, it would not just be a few buildings we threw away, either. It would be many.

A Star article this past week stated that the Airport Authority is going to close Terminal A later this year. This fits in with just what I've proposed. Instead of closing terminal A, close terminal B. Then revamp it and make it the facility for security and check-in. Then, add ramps out to Terminals A and C for going to the gates and our waiting planes.  All problems solved. It totally works, all the way around.  We save the existing airport, we save money, we get the improvements and updates and changes we need, everything.

This is very much like our Interstate 70 issue.

It needs updating and modernizing and widening, all of it.

At one point, the Missouri Department of Transportation floated the idea of abandoning it and building a new I-70, in effect, a few miles north of the existing. 

It was roundly criticized and shown to be the absurd, wasteful idea it was.

Same here.

We cannot walk away from and throw away our existing airport, just so we can be seduced by the "sexy and new."

That works for shirts and pants but not airports and buildings.

It's stupid. It's irresponsible. It's wasteful.  No, strike that, it's horribly wasteful.

And it's obscenely expensive and in a lot of ways, money and sheer cost being the biggest one.

Original article:  New KCI terminal’s biggest challenge: Will it be convenient?

Read more here: http://voices.kansascity.com/yael-abouhalkah/#storylink=cpy

Conclusions you have to come to about Kyle James

Okay so, once again, Kyle James--son of Kansas City Mayor Sly James--is in jail. This above, is apparently his latest arrest photo, too.

Who cares what the reason is. (Well, other than the his parents, anyway).

With this, with him being arrested and put into jail once again, it seems easy and obvious to come to at least a few conclusions about him.

First, he must not learn lessons.

Second, he must not care a fig about his father's political career or personal reputation, let alone his own.

Third, he just can't seem to grow up, mature and take responsibility for his own life and actions.

Sad, very sad, as well as unfortunate and totally, utterly, completely unnecessary.

Happy birthday, Villa Capri!

 

52 years young today.

 

(Nearly old as me).

Quote of the day

Even if that concern for the less fortunate is from someone of color.

The World According to Jack Cashill

Thank God for Jack Cashill, huh?

Or so he'd have us think.

As he keeps telling us, we need him to help us all by explaining things like the Holocaust and the real racial history of Kansas City--and the US and world, I'm sure--as he's done in this month's Ingram's Magazine.

This time, he's telling the developers of this reputedly upcoming "Museum of Suburbia" that's to go out in Johnson County. I love how he even starts the column, just to straighten everyone out:

"Johnson County’s planned National Museum of Suburbia (NMOS, pronounced “no mas”) is not necessarily the horrible idea that most pundits think it is."

As I said, I love that. This museum idea is so bad, he has to make sure we know up front that it's not so bad after all.

Anyway, it's his contention that, while this proposal could devolve, as history would have it, as an explanation of and/or for "white flight" and racial division, that someone just needs to make it "fun" and it will, of course, work and be successful.

Golly.

What a great idea.

Forget that Kansas City is, to this day, deeply, deeply divided, racially, with the outgrowth of that white flight mentioned above, that we so clearly experienced here from the middle of the last century up to this day.

Forget, of course, that there were formal clauses in residential real estate contracts specifically calling out that blacks couldn't buy in the new developments.

Sure, Jack, forget all that.

Just paint a rosey picture of how that all developed and gee, it'll be just like it never happened.

Mr. Cashill insists that this proposed museum shouldn't make any excuses for itself and absolutely should't apologize for the fact that the 'burbs were created, at least in large part, so people could run away from people who weren't otherwise like them.

Way to rewrite history, there, Jack.

He tells, too, in the article that he does the same thing with our own national history, too, when he went back East to the Independence Hall in Philadelphia. It seems Jack was there, helping out a guide, in this example, who needed to be straightened out that the good old US of A wasn't that racist in the past, after all.

It seems a guide there mistakenly, according to Jack, told his group--God help her--that our own Constitution only applied to "White men with property."

Jack straightened her right out, of course. It's what God put him here for, clearly--to educate the rest of us.

Or, at least, God put him here to enlighten the rest of us here in reality land--those who don't agree with him and his views.

In this article, he mentions what happens to be, coincidentally, my hometown of St. Joseph, Missouri, as proof that the suburbs were'nt developed out of racism, in part or whole, at all. He states that, "despite a population that is less than one-half of 1 percent black... 'Who,'" he asked, “'are these people fleeing from?'”

Well, being from St. Joe, I can tell him. I lived there, after all.

The people in St. Joe ran from that East and downtown side of town to, yes, in fact, get away from black Americans and Hispanics and--no surprise--the lower class. The fact is, St. Joseph, Missouri makes a really poor example as a standout against the idea of "white flight" that created the suburbs because the same thing happened there that happened all across this country.

Forget the racism of the US.

Forget the racism of the Kansas City metropolitan area.

Forget the ugliness and sameness of too much of suburbia.

Totally ignore how sprawled and disconnected our metropolitan area is.

Forget how racially divided we are.

Forget all that.

If you just open a museum and have Jack run it, golly, he'll make it "fun" and you can ignore all that stuff.

Forget truth. Forget reality.

I can see it now--Jack Cashill needs to be whisked away as an international consultant to any and every Holocaust Museum in the world--from Germany to Washington, D.C. and any- and everywhere else.

Jack will make the Holocaust fun.

That'll pack 'em in.

Way to go, Jack. Thank God you're here.

Link: http://www.ingramsonline.com/Aug_2012/btl.html

Great Planned Parenthood news out of Kansas

Indeed, great news from NPR and the AP:

Charges Dropped Against Kansas Planned Parenthood

A Kansas prosecutor on Friday dropped all remaining criminal charges against a Kansas City-area Planned Parenthood clinic accused of performing illegal abortions, ending what was believed to be the first attempt in the U.S. to prosecute a facility affiliated with the group.

Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe announced that 32 misdemeanor charges against the clinic had been dismissed. Those charges were the last part of a criminal case filed in 2007 by Howe's predecessor. Howe said his decision to end the case came after consulting Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt. All three are Republicans.

"It is an unfortunate conclusion that I don't think is going to satisfy anybody, but that is the reality of what we have to deal with today," Howe said during a news conference at his office at the courthouse in Olathe. "But ultimately, the decision should be about the law and the evidence."

Yeah.

Tough thing, that.

The law, I mean.

All those rules.

Link: http://www.npr.org/2012/08/17/159037912/charges-dropped-against-kan-planned-parenthood

Good news for Google and Kansas City, likely bad for Sprint?

News out yesterday on the ever-changing technology and communications markets:

Phone cos. lose broadband subscribers for 1st time

NEW YORK (AP) — Phone companies are losing the high-speed Internet game. In the second quarter, the landline phone industry lost broadband subscribers for the first time, as cable companies continued to pile on new household and small business customers, thanks to the higher speeds they offer in most areas.

Good news for Google with their Google Fiber, sure. And good for Kansas City, since we're getting Google Fiber first in the nation.

But how about Sprint?

Are they part of the old-line phone companies, using the old utility poles and that more limited transmission capability?

It would seem so.

Sure, Sprint has the cell towers but they don't have the capabilities they write of here, in this article, that the cable companies have, it doesn't seem.

Anyway, the article then goes on to present some potentially bad news for us in time to come:

"The flow of subscribers from phone companies to cable providers could lead to a de facto monopoly on broadband in many areas of the U.S., say industry watchers. That could mean a lack of choice and higher prices."

So who really knows?

Things change and things are changing with such speed, it's difficult to say.

Just from right here, right now, and this vantage point, it doesn't look or sound good for Sprint.

Hopefully they think of something brilliant.

And quickly.

Link: http://news.yahoo.com/phone-cos-lose-broadband-subscribers-1st-time-205430306--finance.html

What Kansas City needs to do with Google fiber (if we can)

This occurred to me some time ago, when there was only still just talk of Google Fiber coming to town. I mentioned it to a Google employee earlier today at the Plaza branch of the Kansas City Public Library.

Wouldn't it be great if the area cities in our Kansas City metropolitan area could use this technology to reduce their costs mightily and coordinate the traffic lights across the city from Blue Springs to at least Olathe and from Platte City to Harrisonville?

Wow.

We could do so much for the city:

--increase productivity;

--reduce traffic jams and congestion;

--cut down on pollution;

--reduce the amount of gasoline we waste;

--possibly cut down or "road rage"

That's a lot, right there.

The city's always looking for ways to cut down on the amount of pollution and ozone we collectively put into the air as it is and we all look for ways to cut time out of our commutes.

Hopeully Google Fiber could reduce greatly the expense and complications of making this happen.

Here's hoping. Think happy thoughts.

And have a great weekend, ya'll.

Exit ramps that don't work in town

Exit ramps in the metropolitan area that are far, far overdue for reworking and updating because there are far too many cars that need to access them now:

First up--I-35 North to 635 North, especially during rush hour. It backs up for miles. Insane.

Next up--I-435 West (in Johnson County, KS--OP) to I-35 South. Another one-liner. Far backed up.

And for that matter, I-435 South to I-35 South--the same intersection. It all dumps into the same line. Crazy.

Third--I-435 South on the East side of the city, by the stadiums, to I-70 East. A famous long line either during rush hour or anywhere near a Royals baseball or Chiefs football game. Crazy lines and out-and-out dangerous, at times.

These three, at least, need updating, widening, hopefully, and improving, for safety and the good flow of traffic. It can add to productivity, too.

I'm not holding my breath.

Know how to anger a Kansas Citian?

Drive the speed limit on I-435 on the South part of the city.

Or maybe just drive the speed limit.

Annual OP Greek Festival starts today at 5 pm!

Friday, June 8th - 5:00pm to 10:00pm
Saturday, June 9th - 11:00am to 10:00pm
Sunday, June 10th - 11:00am to 8:00pm

DANCE PERFORMANCES:
Friday 6:00pm, 8:00pm
Saturday 11:30am, 2:00pm, 4:30pm, 6:30pm, 8:00pm
Sunday 12:30pm, 2:30pm, 5:30pm

For more information, check out their festival website at http://www.stdionysios.org/festival/index.php

Opa!

Have a great weekend, everyone.

In response, an online petition to KEEP the statue in Overland Park

Go here: http://www.change.org/petitions/do-not-remove-the-sculpture-at-the-overland-park-arboretum

And thank you, in advance.

Sheesh, some people...

First, Joanne Hughes; Now, the art Nazis

First one prudish and priggish Ms. Joanne Hughes protested the statue, above, in the Overland Park Arboretum.

Now, a Church organization is getting into the mix, trying to censor what you and I--the public--can or can't see in the world.

From The Star today:

Petition drive launched after Overland Park refuses to remove nude sculpture

"Tuesday night, Phillip Cosby, the director of the Kansas and Missouri chapter of the American Family Association, George Hsu, a minister with Emmanuel Chinese Baptist Church, and Joanne Hughes, a Stillwell resident who began an online petition against the statue, met with Overland Park Mayor Carl Gerlach to ask that the statue be removed from the arboretum."

Fortunately, a calmer, cooler and more intelligent head prevailed--so far:

"The mayor denied their request to remove the statue"

Kudos and salutations to the Overland Park Mayor and the City Council for not buckling to this closed-minded group--again, so far. Let's hope they don't.

Let's call these censor-freaks what they are: art Nazis. I love the irony that the name of the statue is "Accept or Reject." I'm sure that is all over these people's heads. I'm sure they don't get that. At all.

It's not bad enough their Kansas Governor Sam Brownback arbitrarily killed the state Arts Commission in the recent past, no. Now, these, again, prigs, have to go about the countryside, trying to clean the world of things inappropriate for eyes. At least they're trying to remove things "inappropriate" by their standards.

I say again, the Nazis.

Between these two moves, the Governor's killing of the state Arts Commission and now these censorship freaks, along with the Governor's much more recent destroying of the state tax base, it seems clear Kansas' arts future is dim.

Very dim, indeed. Sad, unnecessary and unfortunate.

It is, literally, going to be one sad state, Kansas.

Link: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/06/05/3644162/overland-park-refuses-to-remove.html