Category: Business

School district faces many challenges

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Opinion column

by Murrel Bland

One of the most significant challenges for the Kansas City, Kansas, School District is that nearly 9,000 of its 21,000 students do not speak English.

That was the message that Dr. Alicia Miguel brought to a meeting of the Congressional Forum Friday, Feb. 19, via Zoom. About 45 persons attended. Miguel is interim superintendent of the school district. Another challenge is that 83 percent of the district students qualify for reduced or free meals.

Dr. Alicia Miguel

And then there is the challenge of the coronavirus pandemic including the high cost of providing masks and partitions for student desks. Federal funds helped pay for $8 million of that cost; the district hopes more federal funds will come during the next three years.

Another challenge is that many of the students do not have access to the internet for distance learning. To help solve that problem, the district developed connectivity centers.

Dr. Miguel praised the cooperation of the Unified Government’s Health Department in providing vaccinations for the district’s staff. So far about 2,200 members of the staff have been vaccinated.

The Kansas City, Kansas, district has a graduation rate of 69 percent—something that Dr. Miguel says must improve.

The cost of educating students is very expensive in Kansas City, Kansas—more than $17,000 a student, according to the district’s website. When many district students who do graduate show up at Kansas City Kansas Community College, they lack basic skills in areas such as mathematics and reading.

Joe Vaught, a member of the Congressional Forum and a Realtor, suggested the district invite real estate agents to visit schools to help improve its image.

Edwin Birch, the spokesman for the district, touted the various things it does to inform the public including a direct mail newsletter and its cable television channel. Birch is a former spokesman for the Unified Government.

Dr. Miguel said she is opposed to bills in the Kansas Legislature that provide public money for tuition to private schools. Private schools would not be accountable, she said.

Dr. Miguel said students will return to classrooms starting with a select group of grade school and senior high students Monday, Feb. 22; a select group of middle school students Monday, March 1; and early childhood students Monday, April 5. Many students returning Feb. 22 and March 1 have had connectivity problems that affected remote learning.

Dr. Miguel, a native of Argentina, was the district’s executive director of early childhood education before becoming interim superintendent.

The Congressional Forum is part of the Kansas City, Kansas, Area Chamber of Commerce.

Murrel Bland is former editor of The Wyandotte West and The Piper Press. He is executive director of Business West. Opinions expressed here are those of the author and not necessarily those of this publication.

City Fish and More gearing up for busy Lenten season

City Fish and More restaurant at 2704 State Ave. in Kansas City, Kansas, is gearing up for a busy Lenten season. (Photo from Kathy Hanis)

With Ash Wednesday on Feb. 17, City Fish and More is gearing up for its busy season.

Pete Badalucco, founder of the restaurant at 2704 State Ave., Kansas City, Kansas, is expecting that the next 40 days will be good for business, although it’s also a rough stretch and a lot of work, he said.

Lent is usually the restaurant’s busy season, with a typical increase of 20 to 30 percent in business, he said.

Fridays in Lent are usually hectic, sometimes with 14 employees working eight deep fryers, and the phone ringing off the hook, he said.

City Fish and More was closed on Tuesday because of a pipe break and rolling electrical outages, but the restaurant is preparing to open on Wednesday, he said. Then he will see if the pandemic has had any effect on the usual demand.

COVID-19 hasn’t affected City Fish and More as much as a lot of the more upscale restaurants, simply because City Fish does a lot of carryout and drive-through orders, he said. They have been affected somewhat, he added.

Posted on the City Fish and More social media website is a picture of a visit from actor Eric Stonestreet, who is from Kansas City, Kansas.

“We’re pretty fortunate, we’ve got customers coming in for years and years,” Badalucco said. “We’ve kind of treaded water, hopefully we’ll get back to normal.”

The restaurant has seating for 70, and during normal times, the dining room is full at lunchtime, he said. However, due to the fact they can only have 50 percent capacity now, some people are reluctant to come in and the dine-in business has declined somewhat, he added.

“At the same time, they still want the fish, and they come to the drive-through window,” he added.

He said the window is only for pickup orders, with people usually calling in their orders in advance. Since they cook the fish fresh, it takes about 15 or 20 minutes, he explained.

According to community sources, Badalucco has donated food many times to help out police and fire personnel.

As a way of giving back to the community, Badalucco will donate a free lunch to Kansas City, Kansas, police officers and firefighters on Wednesday, Feb. 17, through Friday, Feb. 19. The officers and firefighters will need to go to the restaurant and show their identification to receive the meal.

“Secret Santa” once stopped by City Fish and More and gave Badalucco a medallion that says, “Change the world, one act of kindness at a time.” He tries to live by that motto.

“Secret Santa” stopped by City Fish and More one time and gave Badalucco a medallion that says, “Change the world, one act of kindness at a time.”

Badalucco started City Fish and More 38 years ago. His family, though, has been in business in the community for many more years. His grandfather, Pete Badalucco, had the first fresh fish market in Kansas City, Kansas, in 1938.

The restaurant founder’s father, Tony Badalucco, opened a fish market at 12th and Woodland in Kansas City, Missouri. Pete Badalucco, named after his grandfather, opened a fish market at 27th and State Avenue in 1983. His son is named Tony Badalucco, also, and has now assumed a leading role in the business.

For three to four years, Pete Badalucco sold fresh fish on State Avenue, then he decided to start cooking it, and opened a restaurant, he said.

In 2002, he leveled the old building, a former Dairy Queen, and built a new building next to it, he said.

Some changes through the years have been the addition of online ordering and a website, cityfishandmore.com, he said. There are delivery services such as Uber Eats that will deliver orders, he added.

City Fish and More restaurant offers a variety of menu items, including fish, shrimp, steak sandwiches, tenderloins and chicken wings, and more. (Photo from Kathy Hanis)

The menu, as the restaurant name implies, includes more than just fish. There are Italian steak sandwiches, chicken wings, a deep-fried angus burger, shrimp and chicken fritters on the menu. Some diners say City Fish and More has the best tenderloins in town.

Several types of fish are on the menu at City Fish and More.

The basa catfish dinner, a mild and sweet fish, is the most popular dish, for $9.99, he said. It includes a side order and drink. Other fish on the menu include giant catfish steaks, snapper, perch, tilapia and whiting. There are also fish and shrimp combinations.

The price range is moderate, Badalucco said. You can get lunch with a drink for $11, and most lunches run $10 to $14. A family-sized box of fish that feeds four is $29.99.

The restaurant’s hours are 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.

For more information, see https://city-fish-more-restaurant.business.site/.

Business fined $30,000 in consent agreement on alleged counterfeit vaping products

A Wyandotte County business has been ordered to pay $30,000 in penalties for allegedly selling counterfeit e-cigarette products, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt said today.

Vinodbhai Patel, operator of Jay Ganesh, LLC, and the company were ordered to pay $30,000 in civil penalties in a consent judgment approved Tuesday in Wyandotte County District Court by Judge Constance Alvey. The defendants also were ordered to reimburse $1,912.50, the cost of the attorney general’s investigation into their business practices.

Patel is a resident of Johnson County, and the business is located in Bonner Springs, according to court documents.

The attorney general alleged that the defendants knowingly misled consumers by falsely representing e-cigarette products to be authentic branded merchandise when in fact they were not. The alleged counterfeit products involved in this case included vaping devices and vaping liquids.

In the consent judgment, the defendants did not admit that there was a violation of the Kansas Consumer Protection Act.

The consumer-protection judgment is the third reached by Schmidt’s office in the past six months addressing counterfeit e-cigarette products discovered by the attorney general’s Tobacco Enforcement Unit.

In September 2020, Veneeth Kanti, Gayatri Kanti and Morani, Inc., doing business as Logan 66, were ordered to pay $7,500 in civil penalties and the costs of the attorney general’s investigation in a case filed in Franklin County.

In October 2020, Aaron Dune and Smoke Stax, LLC, were ordered to pay $5,000 in civil penalties and the costs of the attorney general’s investigation in a case filed in Sedgwick County.

Additional investigations into counterfeit vaping products remain pending, according to the attorney general’s office. Copies of the consent judgments can be found at www.InYourCornerKansas.org/judgments.