Unfettered Letters

Can hardly wait

It’s September first and Mission’s new smoking ordinance is going into effect. I can hardly wait for the masses of people yearning to breathe clean air as they swamp me with new business. Tomorrow I think I will go ahead and buy the Brooklyn Bridge that guy has been offering to sell to me.

Matt Letourneau
Owner, JJ’s Other Place
Mission

Fishy leadership in KC

Kansas City leaders' stance and actions regarding its aquarium proposals and Mission's planned aquarium illustrate the attitude that has held the Kansas City metro area back for decades (8/19, A-1, "Aquarium builders push for city nod; Meanwhile, plans for an aquatic attraction on former Mission Center location are progressing").

Instead of working together for the common interest of the Kansas City area, the powers that be in Kansas City, Mo., have decided to take matters in to their own hands. It goes without saying the area will be unable to support both projects if two aquariums are built, and both would likely fail. Who wins in that scenario?

Jeff Kaczmarek, president and CEO of the Kansas City Economic Development Corp., said, "We've had inquiries for over a year." Why didn't Kaczmarek speak up when Mission and the Gateway developers were seeking (and have since been granted) STAR bonds over the past year?

Regardless of what site is best for an aquarium, Kansas City's leaders have further illustrated how their lack of looking out for the greater good of the entities making up the metropolitan area, and thus the area as a whole, continues to hinder Kansas City's progress.

John Christy
Mission

Aquarium belongs in KC

First, Kansas City missed a golden opportunity to solidify downtown’s renaissance by building a downtown baseball stadium. Now it appears we may have missed the boat again with an aquarium (7/1, A-1, “KC, Kansas want to sink their hooks into aquarium; Ground has been broken at former mall site, while downtown promoters seek a developer”).

Where are our leaders when all this is happening? How could they allow an aquarium to be built in Mission? Mission is a fine suburb, but it is not exactly a tourist destination.

Placing such an attraction in Mission further dilutes efforts to make Kansas City truly a world-class city. It’s about density of attractions. Look at where Chicago, Baltimore and Atlanta built their aquariums — all in the urban core with built-in tourism.

The riverfront or Union Station make perfect sense for an aquarium. The former Mission Center mall site does not.

It’s too bad the entire Kansas City area’s leadership has allowed it to come to this. We’re supposed to be in this together. Hopefully common sense will prevail and the aquarium will be built in a location that actually attracts tourists and therefore benefits us all.

Angelo Trozzolo
Kansas City

Mission businesses

Karen Spengler’s As I See It (10/20, “Mission, run from the Borders”) asked: “How can Mission attract and retain the kind of unique local merchants residents want?”

The answer lies in Mission’s commitment to investing in locally owned businesses and in improvements to the business district that will attract shoppers and residents and sustain diverse business opportunities.

The city is making every effort to support local merchants.

Not only does the city stage three major events annually to attract shoppers to Mission’s business district, it established matching grants for local businesses to help defray the cost of building improvements.

Other efforts have included not passing a restrictive no-smoking ordinance, due mainly to the detrimental effect on competition for local restaurants and bars, and investing in consultants and planning for the best redevelopment possible to stimulate living, shopping and business development.

Kate Michaelis
Vice president of economic development
Northeast Johnson County Chamber of Commerce