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Coming soon to a party zone near you: the Kansas City Strip.
Think of it as local bar and restaurant owners’ answer to the business drain known as downtown’s Power & Light District.
“There’s two components to it,” says transportation czar Bill George, who co-hatched the concept with Westport businessman Bill Nigro. “On Friday and Saturday nights the Kansas City Strip will be a prime cut of Kansas City night life.
“From 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. a series of mini buses and trolley cars will run from Seven downtown to the entertainment district to 18th and Vine, the Martini Corner, Westport, the Plaza, Brookside and Waldo and end up in the parking lot at Lew’s.
“It will be a continuous shuttle. You pay $10 for a wristband that allows you to pop on and pop off as much as you want that night. In addition, all the bars will provide security and run drink specials at different times for people wearing wristbands.”
One side benefit: fewer people drinking and driving.
“And there will be taxicabs working all the stops where people get on and off the buses,” George says. “So if people decide they want to go home, they can get a cab.”
The bottom line: “It will allow people to get out and explore Kansas City, and for them to get comfortable visiting different areas outside of their usual comfort zones,” George says.
Flip side of the Strip?
Would you believe, the Kansas City Trip? Believe.
From Tuesday through Sunday, George’s trolleys will run day shifts from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. out of Union Station to the Steamboat Arabia, the Kansas City Museum, the Negro Leagues and Jazz museums near 18th and Vine and Liberty Memorial. An all day pass will cost $8 (children under 10 free).
“What this does is it puts the trolleys back on the street in Kansas City,” George says. “There are none now, but we’re going to bring in a fleet of trolleys to support this.”
George’s trolleys will complement the city’s new light rail plan, expected to be on the November ballot, he notes.
“We’ve approached the city about all this, and in order to do it we need some (public) funding,” George says. “What we need is part of the tourism money — we need a half million dollars a year from that, because there’s nothing that will promote tourism better. It’s a $1.8 million project, and if we get the (tourism) funding, we could start everything up in as little as a month.”
Police report
Here’s a brief eyewitness report on the cocktail logistics at Tuesday’s Police/Elvis Costello concert at the Sprint Center …
For starters, shortly after 9 p.m. and when the Police were into their set, the lines at the lobby bar were still six or more deep.
“We waited for 40 (blanking) minutes, put that in your column,” groused Uptown main man Larry Sells. Another unhappy line-waiter added, “Here’s the problem, Christopher — they’ve got a two-drink per person maximum.”
“You need to write how (messed up) their liquor policy is,” chimed in Velvet Dog/Mint co-owner Chris Seferyn. “Look at this drink — it’s in a 20-ounce cup with just a jigger of liquor. So you get like an $8 Pepsi. They won’t even sell you a two-jigger drink, and they told me they fired two bartenders tonight for over-pouring.”
By the way, while carrying three drinks back to the people I was seated with, an usher advised me to get someone else to carry one of them or else security would force me to pour one out.
Translation: Even if you manage to buy a third beverage, you are not allowed to transport it at the Sprint Center.
Heard on the street …
Where there’s smoke … Look for the Kansas City Business Rights Coalition, a consortium of Kansas City restaurant and bar owners, to file a grievance sometime next week against the recently passed smoking ban set to debut in June.
“Cathy’s not going to be too jolly about what we’re going to do,” jokes KCBRC head Bill Nigro, referring to smoking ban supporter Cathy Jolly. “What’s that old cigarette company commercial that said, we’d rather fight than switch?”
Stay tuned.
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