Necessary or nuisance? Why security system in KC’s Crossroads blares at passersby
David Epstein, the man behind Tom’s Town Distilling Co. in the Crossroads, has a problem.
It’s not his botanical, award-winning gin. And it’s not his bar, which just rolled out a speakeasy-style concept in its basement at 1701 Main St.
It’s what’s going on across the street, where a pair of motion-activated loudspeakers and blue-and-red siren lights greet customers on their way to Tom’s Town. Their booming message, audible up and down the block: “You are under surveillance.”
“The decibel level is shocking,” Epstein says. “It’s frustrating because the Crossroads is the crown jewel of hospitality in Kansas City, and now we have this really unfortunate welcome mat for visitors on our street that blares at them and makes them feel scared.”
The security system was installed about eight months ago by Brad Nicholson, who owns multiple buildings and parking lots near the intersection of 17th and Main streets.
It patrols two adjacent lots. One is just south of Anton’s, the taproom and steakhouse at 1610 Main. The other is across from Tom’s Town; Nicholson also recently erected a wrought-iron fence around that lot. The system announces itself to pedestrians walking along the city sidewalk outside the fenced lot and when they enter the unfenced lot south of Anton’s.
For Nicholson, the surveillance system was a matter of necessity. His tenants have been dealing with a seemingly never-ending surge of crime in the area: car thefts, smash-and-grabs, assaults. And he feels the city hasn’t done much to combat the problem.
“We don’t have the luxury of inaction,” Nicholson said. “We are tackling the issue head-on while others are just complaining.”
Nicholson says he spent more than $100,000 on the system and is already seeing results: way less crime on those two lots compared to other lots in the area that continue to be plagued by car break-ins. And those lots are often at capacity on the weekends when others are not — evidence, he said, that people feel safer parking in the environment he’s created.
He knows the loudspeaker is jarring. That’s the point.
“We want the bad guys to think twice before committing a crime on these lots,” Nicholson said. “I would much rather have a few people feeling a little uncomfortable than coming back to a broken window — or no car at all.”
And not everyone shares Epstein’s sense of alarm. Anton Kotar, owner of Anton’s, says he’s fully on board with Nicholson’s approach.
“The parking lot to the north of us doesn’t have a security system, and there’s usually two or three cars a weekend broken into there,” Kotar said. “Brad’s system seems to be working. If the city’s not going to help us, we’ve got to take it upon ourselves.”
Kotar said his business is down from $4 million in revenues a year to $1.6 million since the pandemic, which he largely attributes to crime in the area. He’s cut his staff nearly in half and says that when he eventually closes Anton’s, he won’t open another business in Kansas City, Missouri.
“I’m done with this city,” he said. “I’m looking for the exits.”
Kevin Hodge, who runs Cellar Rat Wine Merchants — just west of one of Nicholson’s lots, at 1701 Baltimore — characterized the situation as a “catch-22,” but ultimately said he comes out in favor of Nicholson’s actions.
“It’s a little annoying — nobody wants to feel like they’re being watched,” Hodge said. “Could the sound be a little more, I don’t know, demure? Yeah, probably. But we used to be constantly opening our back door and seeing people peering into cars and having to yell at them. Or constantly seeing glass on the ground from a break-in. And there’s way less of that now since he put in the system.”
Epstein said he’s been lobbying city council members and the Crossroads Community Association to at least do something about the volume of the loudspeaker. But no luck so far. (The Crossroads Community Association didn’t respond to an email from The Star on Thursday.) Nicholson said he’ll keep “assessing and tweaking the system in the hopes that one day it will no longer be needed.”
Meanwhile, Tom’s Town has a new drink on its menu. It’s called Under Surveillance.
“It has our botanical gin and something sour — lemon, I think,” Epstein said. “It’s actually starting to sell pretty well.”
This story was originally published May 12, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
