Civic Affairs
Consultant Recommends City Close Barney Allis Garage ‘Immediately’
By Kevin Collison A new engineering report is recommending the Barney Allis Plaza garage be immediately closed along with the Plaza above, ratcheting the pressure as the City Council explores alternatives to rebuild the aging civic asset While the report prepared by TranSystems, a city consultant, found no “immediate structural integrity issues” in the underground…
Downtown Area Makers Take on Covid-Related Mask Projects
By Kevin Collison During much of the 20th Century, Kansas City was one of the nation’s largest garment-manufacturing centers, with many firms located in what’s now the downtown Historic Garment District That spirit is continuing strong during the Covid-19 crisis as downtown area businesses and organizations including Rightfully Sewn, Sandlot, Madison Flitch and MEDiAHEAD! pivot…
MEDiAHEAD! Switches to Fun-Time Production During Covid Crisis
By Kevin Collison Being stuck at home with kids looking for something fun to do during the Covid-19 crisis can try the patience of any parent. Worrying about keeping your print shop workers busy and employed during the current economic slowdown caused by the virus is exasperating too. Kathryn “Kat” McDaniel, president of MEDiAHEAD!, has…
Rightfully Sewn Shifts to Producing Fabric Masks to Help Healthcare Workers
By Kevin Collison Rightfully Sewn, the Crossroads workshop for training seamstresses, has shifted from making fashion wear to producing protective masks for healthcare workers encountering shortfalls during the Covid-19 pandemic. The nonprofit plans to make 20,000 fabric masks based, in part, on a pattern released by the Deaconess Health System of Evansville, Ind. And while…
Guest Commentary: Turning Toward Greatness, Before We Get to Detroit
(Editor’s note: This presentation that’s been making the rounds of local civic groups recently offers a strong public policy and economic case for continuing to reinvest in our urban core, the so-called River-Crown-Plaza corridor, and nearby neighborhoods.) By Dennis Strait, managing principal, Gould Evans Communities across the country face a fundamental problem: we’ve built cities…