Kansas City thread

[Deleted User 89]

3.5” of rain and counting

wedding planners need to be kept warm too, ousie

[ousdahl]

nm not frost. Just more snow. Actively falling right meow.

[ousdahl]

3.5” of rain and counting

wedding planners need to be kept warm too, ousie

Man, fuck wedding planners.

And the bridesmaid, endowed though she was, had a ring either way.

The moment of the night was the moment of bonding with her husband. “Sorry dude. Y’all shouldn’t be treated like this. She just gets this way when she drinks. The steak was cooked just fine.”

[Shirley]

Sprint sold Overland Park campus for ‘modest’ price. Why that might not be a bad thing

[shindig]

Sprint sold Overland Park campus for ‘modest’ price. Why that might not be a bad thing

The campus cost over a billion dollars to build 20 years ago. Laughable how low the JOCO appraisal had it at.

[jfish26]

Johnson County faces ‘puzzling,’ ‘catastrophic’ threats of plunging revenues

https://www.kansascity.com/news/politic ... 66117.html

Month after month, officials around Johnson County are watching the sales tax numbers come in, hoping they’ll improve.

It doesn’t make sense. The economy is humming, the tax base is growing and the unemployment rate is historically low. But in the most affluent county in Kansas, retail sales tax revenues — among the key sources of funding that cities use to function — is flatlining or even shrinking.

“It makes you go, OK, well what is going on here? And we don’t have an answer for it,” said Merriam City Administrator Chris Engel.

The mystery pervaded an Overland Park budget discussion earlier this month. “I don’t think anybody today can quite figure out what’s going on in Johnson County and the state of Kansas, when nationally, and internationally, economies are growing,” Bill Ebel, Overland Park’s city manager, told city council members. “I don’t mean to be worrisome, but it’s real and we’re watching it, and we need to see some positive movement.”

[...]

“We’re scratching our heads, but we still have some time to make up for it,” Engel said. “This is what all of us in local government are telling ourselves with our fingers crossed.”

In the meantime, revenue officials have been trying to pinpoint the causes of sales tax declines.

“It’s kind of puzzling to everybody to figure out if it’s something economic going on in the state or if it’s the e-service type of business that people are going to every year,” said Steve Stotts, director of taxation at the Kansas Department of Revenue.

The most significant culprit is a change in consumer habits as people are more likely to skip a trip to Walmart and order from their laptop. But online sales alone can’t be responsible, Stotts said, as they’re a small piece of the retail pie.

Taxes on online sales grew by 6% last year, but they were still less than a fifth of overall retail sales taxes. It would also stand to reason that a trend toward online sales would affect other states, which hasn’t been the case. Missouri, for example, has seen about a 3% growth in sales tax, Department of Revenue data showed.

“The surrounding states all had much better growth than we did. That’s why we all are kind of confused about what’s going on,” Stotts said. He said that in April the state met with economists from universities and different agencies in Kansas, and the sales tax trend was “puzzling” to everyone.

Beyond online sales, two other main factors are squeezing governments’ bottom line, said Chris Kuehl, co-founder of Armada Corporate Intelligence, a Kansas firm specializing in economic forecasting.

First, millennials tend to be “experience buyers,” he said, preferring to pay for events, like concerts, going out to eat or travel, rather than spending more consistently on traditional retail as older buyers do. The public also seems to be spooked as fears of slowing economic growth have taken “a little bit of bloom off the rose.”

“Nationally, we’re seeing consumers continuing to spend, but they’re expressing a lot more trepidation,” Kuehl said. “We keep waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

Another possible reason is an overuse in tax incentives for new developments, he said. Future sales tax revenues are diverted to pay some construction costs. These incentives, he said, can quickly become leeches on sales tax collection.

A couple thoughts:

1. No shit, goosing development and short-term revenue with what amounts to pre-spending sales tax revenue will have rocky mid- and long-term consequences. Please bookmark this idea when the Chiefs and Royals start asking for public money.

2. The story, somewhat curiously, does not touch at all on how much growth/maturation has taken place on the Missouri side in the last ten years, particularly in areas much easier to access from the growing parts of Johnson County than is the Plaza: crossroads/downtown/northtown. Particularly because of the booming economy that's referenced, people are willing to pay a premium for retail shopping at (often local) boutiques, which of course comes at the expense of medium-sized retailers like the ones that fill the giant OP outside malls. Non-chain dining is also a big draw, and that's moving ahead a lot faster on the Missouri side.

[jhawks99]

Anyone following the Rockstar Burgers saga? How much of what I am reading is true. If even a little bit is, that is one terrible human being.

[Soklous]

Depends on which of the crime ridden, disgusting scumbag stories you want to get into. I’m assuming the latest with his dog.

As of the last 12 hours, he’s shutting down shop. Claiming death threats to his son. Only open for lunch until end of the week. Hopefully Brian leaves the city with his burgers. Or gets beaten unrecognizable.


*edit- Many are saying he’s scamming again, and just transferring ownership. Still running pole works and KC party bus. Assuming that social justice will take out these companies next.

[jhawks99]

Dude has some crazy yelp reviews.

[Soklous]

Careful what you look at. People have been posting the beastiality video in his reviews. Nothing you want for Christmas.

[CrimsonNBlue]

The stories of crime have been going around for awhile.

Seems like a real standup guy.

[ousdahl]

what's going on here?

[jhawks99]

what's going on here?

https://www.kctv5.com/news/local_news/o ... c6fef.html

[Soklous]

what's going on here?

Started with general drugs and partying at his apartment. Lots of talk of giving teens ecstasy and forcing sex acts. The past year. Drugs, beatings and underage sex and even trafficking.

Last month he allegedly taught his girlfriend a lesson by pistol whipping her in the side of the head and posting pics online of her head busted open. He then “shamed” her on SnapChat by “drugging” her, and posting a video of her giving a BJ to his dog, then having the dog do her while he sodomizes the dog. And she welcomes the dog finishing on her. The video then got posted to Facebook and every social avenue known of. Including his google and yelp reviews.

Basically a giant turd stain for a promising city and area. GTFO.

https://www.change.org/p/mayor-s-office ... ar-burgers

[NewtonHawk11]

Holy shit. FOH

[Soklous]

If you want to have a bunch of bad mojo in your soul, simply Facebook or Twitter search Rockstarr Burgers. You will be filled in with terrible anecdotes of lowest life grossness.

[CrimsonNBlue]

[jhawks99]

Good

[holidaysmore]

Wow. I had no idea. I never ate at that place but drove by it numerous times. That is some disgusting behavior.

[CrimsonNBlue]

Gates for lunch today.

Sure, there are flaws, but everything about it is so comforting.