Even though the drumbeat for a new, single-terminal KCI has been getting progressively louder, convincing Kansas City voters to approve a $1 billion bond issue for the badly needed project is going to be very difficult.
I am so afraid that once this gets on an election ballot (it shouldn’t be this year; too soon) a majority of voters are going to take the short view — that KCI is “just fine” and “it’s convenience that counts.” When instead they should be thinking about the need to accommodate a larger population down the road and future generations’ demand for and right to have a modern and comfortable airport with a bright and welcoming atmosphere.
I’m afraid the attitude of many voters will be akin to what we often see when it comes to bond and other tax proposals for school expansions and improvements — that is, many older people saying something to the effect of, “The schools are good enough as they are; besides, it isn’t going to affect me.”
We’ve got a responsibility to look ahead. Way ahead. Back when KCI opened in ’72 — three years after I arrived here from Louisville — this was a pretty sleepy metro area. What little downtown “action” that existed was focused around the Muehlebach Hotel, Municipal Auditorium, the adjacent Music Hall and the Lyric Opera. And the suburbs? Forget it…A bunch of what we now would call “historic downtown squares,” where you couldn’t find much more than a diner and a drugstore.
But look at our area now. I am continually amazed — often jolted — when I drive around the metro area and see throngs of people and extensive retail, residential and entertainment districts in every direction. I recall specifically being jolted one night last fall when I went downtown on impulse to see an early-season college basketball tournament. I never dreamed I’d have a problem getting in. I don’t even remember who was playing — I believe K-State was one of the teams — but what I came upon was incredibly long ticket lines outside Sprint Center and loud music and a cacophony of boisterous conversation emanating from some of the Power & Light District bars across Grand. I didn’t get into the arena until halftime of the first game…But you know how I felt? I wasn’t frustrated. I wasn’t put out. I was in awe that this scene was taking place in my city. More than anything, I was proud.
…You know what paved the way for Kansas City to become big time? Approval in 1967 of general obligation bonds to build the Jackson County (now Truman) Sports Complex. I wasn’t even when that proposal was presented to voters. It needed two-thirds voter approval and passed by a razor-thin margin. But I recall after then being assigned in 1971 to cover the Jackson County Courthouse how people and public officials were still busting with pride that voters had approved a tax-increase for a 100-million-dollar project. Almost unimaginable at the time. But Jackson County had somehow pulled it off, and Kansas City was on its way to being a fully credentialed big-league town.
That’s where we are today with the airport. It’s a billion-dollar project. It’s hard to imagine (even though it doesn’t involve a tax increase), and it makes some people’s heads swim. It makes some think: “Hell, no, I’m not voting for that. I’m going to be dead and gone by the time it opens. What we’ve got is good enough.”
No, it’s not good enough. Not good enough at all.
The headline on a KC Star editorial a few days ago called KCI a “functional dump,” and that’s exactly what it is. If you’ve been up there lately and waited in one of those dark, cramped, uncomfortable “bullpens” where you’re herded after going through security, you know what I’m talking about. It sucks. Its day is past.
…When KCI opened, I was absolutely mesmerized by those highly polished parquet floors. I thought it was the most stunning and distinctive airport floor covering I had ever seen. Then, a dozen years ago, I was horrified and anguished when the city removed the parquet and replaced it with blue terrazzo as part of a $285 million terminal improvement project. But you know what? It was time for the parquet to go. It had lost its luster — I grudgingly acknowledged that — and it was very difficult and costly to maintain. It just wasn’t practical. I moved on.
And now it’s time for the terrazzo to go. As well as the curving terminals, the lousy concession stands, the bullpens, the inner-ring glass walls, the haphazard security lines, the disparate baggage areas…all of it. Clear it out and let’s get on with building a new new airport. It’s time to move on.
Finally, when it comes to forward thinking, I try to never forget what former mayor and now U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver used to say from the raised dais in the 26-floor City Council Chamber. When someone would dare to think small, he would frown, put his fist down and declare:
“This is not some podunk town along I-70; this is Kansas City!”
Come on, Kansas Citians, let’s rise to this challenge and do this not only for ourselves but our children and grandchildren and future generations.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
Those who are opposed to a new airport are likely opposed to any change in general. And that might be why they are so loud in their opposition. It must be noted that although KCI was state-of-the-art when it opened in 1972, it was designed and built before hijackings became commonplace. Then 9/11 happened and air travel changed forever. Because of KCI’s three-terminal configuration, they have to have multiple security checkpoints. Is this costing the TSA more than they are spending at other airports the same size? How much does it cost the city to operate three different HVAC systems? Is it cheaper to have one big HVAC system as opposed to three smaller ones? How much potential revenue are the eateries and retail vendors losing because not every airline serving KCI is in their terminal? I have stated before in your posts on this subject that these are questions and issues that simply do not resonate with many of these aginners, the majority of whom are unwilling or unable to see the bigger picture. Many of them are too cynical and prone to discount any reasons given for building the single terminal airport. Hopefully, enough voters will be looking at that big picture.
I’m happy to report that Patty says she thinks many of the “aginners” will ultimately fold their hands and vote for the proposal. It looks to me like one of those situations where, if you just keep driving the key points home and educating the voters about why this is a good deal all around, a lot of the “no” voters will come around. It makes no sense to modernize those horseshoes.
“…KCI was state-of-the-art when it opened in 1972, it was designed and built before hijackings became commonplace.”
Sorry to say that’s wrong: There were 4 US airline hijackings alone from ’70 – ’71, and 10 world-wide during the same period. Another 12 occurred during the ’60s;
The KCI architects had reference material to draw upon going back to the ’30s, should they have been interested.
Thanks for clarifying that. But I still wonder how much the public_ and the architects, for that matter_ was aware of those hijackings in the 60s.
The hijackings in the 60s and early ’70s –over 150 of them across the globe– were so out of sync with the numbers from the previous decades it became noteworthy. They almost always made the nightly news. I remember a number of them making national news in the late 60s specifically because they involved someone with a desperate need to reach the island paradise of Cuba.
However, you’re probably correct, the architects undoubtedly followed the main trend(s) of the time, with some firms varying enough to be seen as “bold” or “visionary.” Most industries, being risk averse, follow that pattern. It would not have occurred to them to add man-traps in their designs.
Not that those help, actually.
I hope she’s right about the aginners. But I’ve seen enough elections in my life to know that they will likely be singing that Groucho Marx song to the polls:
“I don’t know what they have to say, It makes no difference anyway,
Whatever it is, I’m against it.
No matter what it is or who commenced it, I’m against it.
“Your proposition may be good,But let’s have one thing understood,
Whatever it is, I’m against it.
And even when you’ve changed it or condensed it,
I’m against it.”
For some reason, I never saw “Hose Feathers.” On your cue, Mike, I checked out the song on YouTube…Hilarious. Groucho at the peak of his comedic and slapstick powers. I’ve gotta get that movie from the library…Here’s the link to that song…