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Jun
19
Star gets behind downtown baseball, but not in KC
June 19, 2006 | 11 Comments
Anyone else notice the fawning coverage of St. Louis’ new Busch Stadium in Sunday’s KC JO Star? It included lots of examples of how the new stadium was spurring additional downtown development. This is a curious article for a newspaper that worked so hard to keep baseball out of our Downtown for at least another generation. It was only a few months go that the Star resorted to an election-eve spam campaign to reinforce its heavily biased stadium coverage.
The Star: Cardinals’ stunning new stadium builds on tradition and rallies downtown development.
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Like many, I was very dissapointed in the position The Star’s Editorial took on the stadium issue.
However, let me give everyone a little bit of information about newspapers:
NEWSPAPERS ARE WRITTEN BY MORE THAN ONE PERSON.
That means it has opinions and views from SEVERAL DIFFERENT people!
I know that some think that each media outlet has one unified voice and must voice the same political and/or social position, but mostly that’s not true (unless you are Fox News, or KMBZ).
The Star ran a very similar AP piece back in April rah-rahing downtown baseball in STL only days after succeeding in killing downtown baseball in KC.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/14310182.htm
Oh and yes, newspapers are written by more than one person, but they never let ONE pro-downtown-baseball opinion from any staff member ever run.
Not one.
They even made that moronic musical video mocking the idea and kept it linked boldly on their site for months.
And even worked in mockery of downtown baseball into articles that had nothing to do with either downtown or baseball whatsoever.
Hypocrites.
Why not the St. Louis Star? Or do you just need someone to lash out at for no reason. One has to wonder why you think this type of attitude helps resolve any of the real issues that divide thed metropolitan area. You do more to fan the flames. Get over your inferiority complex.
Downtown baseball in KC is like beating a dead horse… It’s been brought up/rehashed so many times I’ve lost count.
I’ve seen where the Star has brought comparisons with other cities. Has it occurred to them that we are not St Louis, LA, nor NY? It’s comparing apples and oranges. What works for one metro area isn’t necessarily the best for others.
That being said, what’s being done about KCMO’s roads, sewers, schools? Is baseball that much more important than the city’s infrastructure?
Good point Derek. Yael and the editorial board are constantly bitching about how great other cities are and how we should be modeling our projects after other cities like San Diego. We don’t have a tourism draw like these other cities. Most of our tourists come from rural communities around Kansas City and the midwest. They then have the audacity to shoot down downtown baseball. On the other hand, I don’t think downtown baseball would pass anyway. You’ve got to have a winnin product if you want people to tax themselves for such projects.
I don’t know if anyone noticed, but this story about how great St. Louis’ new stadium is, was a story written for the TRAVEL section. It wasn’t an editorial. It wasn’t a story about comparing KC to any other city – it was about visiting another city, and it just so happens, that St. Louis has a beautiful downtown ballpark, and we do NOT.
haha..good point Chris.
we used to have a beautiful downtown stadium.
http://www.ballparksofbaseball.com/past/KCMunicipal.htm
I throw in with Scooter here: Travel Section or not, the Star did not run ONE editorial or news story from any staffer that could have in any way been seen as compromising on the stadium issue, while that election was pending. This story would never have run then. It made one think there was some type of gag order on dissenters at the Star. Derek is right in that KC can not be compared to cities with which it has nothing in common…look at how often KC is compared unfavorably with suburban cities on issues like infrastructure, schools, crime. What larger city could comapre in those areas with a suburb? The point remains however that many, myself included, feel that a Downtown ballpark could have spurred development and made our Downtown a destination. That is one reason, Derek, that we will never compare favorably to cities with healthy Downtowns. Forget NYC and Chicago, we do not stack up to Indianapolis in the area of inner core development. William (Haj), the reason that no one calls it the St. Louis Star is because 75% of articles on any given day in the Star are NOT about St. Louis. Count ‘em up anytime, and you will see that most stories inside the Star are about Kansas, and I don’t mean KCK. We just would like a little local news that focuses on Kansas City now and again. In short, we will be stuck with only Travel stories about Downtown baseball for the future, and those of us who wish to see a vibrant, fun, healthy Downtown will have to continue to do just that….travel elsewhere.