Getting RA in Leawood

In the world of cleverly thought-out political ploys, the city of Merriam gets a big, fat F…

So grades, uh, professor Dan Leap, the Guitar Lamp-making Merriam councilman who voted against granting developers of the vastly empty and undeveloped Merriam Pointe shopping mall a three-year extension. That on the heels of its failed mission of finding, you know, rent-paying tenants for the ghost-like mall.

As reported recently by KC Confidential, new Merriam mayor Ken Sissom broke a tie awarding Merriam Pointe’s developers the extension despite that they were in arrears on paying property taxes.

“They basically said they weren’t going to pay ’em unless the city gave ’em an extension,” Leap said. “And that’s not how it works – they have to pay ’em anyway.”

Merriam Pointe did pay its taxes after getting the extension, but then laid a surprise on the city.

“They filed for bankruptcy right after the jack(*@#*) gave ’em an extension,” Leap says. “Now the development is tied up in bankruptcy, so we struck a three-year extension with a bankrupt developer.”

Had Merriam not granted the extension, Merriam Pointe’s developers would have had to pay the taxes anyway, and Merriam would have been free to find a new, perhaps more capable partner like RED Development to market the center, Leap contends.

“So (the extension) helped the developer,” Leap says, “but it didn’t help the city at all.”

Standing at the Crossroads KC

Year Three at the concert venue known as Crossroads KC is nearly in the books…

And rainy summer aside, it was a great one, says promoter Brett Mosiman. Take the wildly stormed-on Avett Brothers concert in August.

“It was the best Avett Brothers show I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen a lot – about five or six,” Mosiman says. “People stood in the rain for like four hours. You know, we’ve had other rainy shows and people just go home or go to their cars. But the Avett Brothers played the best set I’ve ever seen because they knew what the crowd was going through. They played 75 minutes in the rain and nobody went anywhere.”

Foul weather aside, that sort of vibe comes with the territory, Mosiman says.

“This is the greatest venue in the Midwest,” he says. “We’ve all been burned for decades by bands that go from Chicago to Austin, Chicago to Denver or Minneapolis. Kansas City’s missed so many shows.”

No mas, Mosiman says.

“We’ve been open three years and the bands love this place,” he says. “We charge reasonable prices and it’s all working here. I’m telling you there’s a little magic. George Thorogood, Kevin Costner, Blondie – they all had huge crowds.”

Crossroads’ third season wraps this month with Stryper on Friday, Little Feat Oct. 15 and Ghostland Observatory Oct. 16.

How bad are they?

This year’s Kansas City Chiefs are starting to achieve critical mass – in the worst possible way.

“The sorriest chapter in Chiefs’ football history,” Al Wallace of Fox 4 is quoted by KC Confidential’s Greg Hall.

“The Chiefs have never been this bad,” Hall adds. “The last time they started 0-4? 1980. 1980? I half expect a Bill Grigsby commercial to run here.”

RA Sushi does Leawood

Let’s get the R-rated stuff out of the way. Trendy new Pacific Rim restaurant at Park Place will apparently not – I repeat, not – be doling out colorful packets of condoms as is the policy at other RA Sushi eateries around the country. Something about with so many new spots opening, it’s getting too expensive.

My theory, of course, is the company thinks Leawood is too tame for what most people mistake for matches. The Arizona Republic bagged on RA for the gimmick.

Asked where to find them at last week’s Nelson-Atkins Young Friends of Art kickoff bash, a RA staffer told me they were in the bathrooms – but no such luck. Dunno, he said on further questioning.

As for the name, the word “RA” has no meaning, but the Orange County Register says what pass for the Japanese character equivalent means “naked.”

KC Confidential food writer Jennifer Janesko’s take:

“RA delivers a nightclub experience with amped up sushi on the side. In return, RA is rewarded with the kind of young, trend-aggressive customer it so covets.”

See you there?

For more Hearne and KC Confidential, check out kcconfidential.com.

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