Madnessmatrix | Eric Bowers Photography

One handheld RAW // HDR // Shutter: 1/400 // Aperture: f/8.0 // Focal Length: 17 mm // ISO 100

For me, most of the fun Saturday downtown was not so much the basketball tournament hoo-haa, but the vocal protest against the Cordish Company’s dress code for those entering the KC Live portion of the Power and Light District - as in a dress code of no white T-shirts, baggy pants…. you get the idea (we can’t scare off the gilded-lily suburbanites coming downtown for the first time in years to spend their money). Some ACLU members were on hand to stage a small protest, of which I snagged a few shots.

With the lousy economy, tax revenue from the giant downtown planned district have fallen well short of projections, and the protest alleges that Cordish goes about strong-arming the city government in these types of matters, as evidenced by city council meetings being hastily adjourned prematurely before the issue of the dress code can be brought to attention.

On the larger issue of Kansas City and the Cordish Company in general - downtown is in fact a hell of a lot better off now with people, businesses, and traffic flowing through what was once a desolate sea of parking lots - although as I said a lot of the retail component remains unfilled, not to mention the unbuilt residential phase which will probably never happen now. It often seems like people around my generation (twenty-somethings) see the need for this city to get beyond it’s damnable cowtown self-image and get back to its former glory, and meanwhile it seems like we also have a slew of geriatrics sputtering “It’s a boondoggle, I tells ya! Everything in this town is a boondoggle!”

My gripe with Cordish is one from a photographer’s perspective - their annoying restrictions on photography inside the KC Live courtyard, which is marketed as a grand public space - Kansas City’s veritable “outdoor living room.” The public realm brought to you by corporate America of course, therefore please refrain from any photography, and have a nice day.

I’ll look into obtaining a press pass and then maybe I won’t be so cranky about that aspect of it.