Kathy Damron first thought the 2016 Kansas Legislative session might be shorter than usual. That was before The Kansas Supreme Court handed down its ruling on school finance Thursday, Feb. 11.
Damron, the lobbyist for the Kansas City, Kan., Area Chamber of Commerce, reported to the Chamber’s Legislative Committee last Friday, Feb. 12.
“The legislative landscape changed dramatically with the court ordering the legislature to fix the finance formula to address the ‘equity’ requirement in our state constitution,” Damron said. She said although the court did not tell the legislators how much money would be needed to comply, it did give lawmakers a June 30 deadline to fix it.
However, John Robb, the lawyer who filed the action for the school districts, estimated the cost could be $54 million for the fiscal year 2015 and another $73 million for the year ending June 30. Failure to fix this problem could mean that public schools could be shut down.
The Kansas City, Kan., School District was one of four plaintiffs filing the court action. The other three school districts were Dodge City, Wichita and Hutchinson.
Damron said the state doesn’t have any revenue to satisfy the court order. Gov. Sam Brownback’s proposed budget of more than $16 billion (a record amount of spending) has proposed delaying payments to the state retirement fund and raiding money from the Kansas Department of Transportation that should go toward road repair.
This is an election year when all 40 Senate and 125 House seats will be up for grabs; that usually means elected officials don’t favor a tax increase. Damron said about the only alternative in raising money to remedy the court order would be to make further cuts in an already very tight state budget.
All of this comes at a time when the governor, an ultra-conservative Republican, boasts state’s economy is in good shape, claiming that his quest to eliminate state income tax will ultimately help the state’s economy. His critics argue that in the past, Kansas has had a stable economy by relying on a healthy balance among property, income and sales tax; they argue that the massive shift that eliminated income tax on many small businesses has caused the current fiscal crisis.
Unified Government officials, including Mayor Mark Holland, are concerned about the property tax lid that the Legislature passed last year. The Chamber of Commerce and the Unified Government Commission want this law repealed. Privately, they realize there is little chance of that happening; however, opponents hope it could be modified. The law would require a vote of the people starting in 2018 if a city or county would increase spending more than the Consumer Price Index rate.
Murrel Bland is the former editor of The Wyandotte West and The Piper Press. He is the executive director of Business West.
There’s a new kid on the block. The new kid is called Gus’s World-Famous Hot Spicy Fried Chicken located at 2816 W. 47th Ave. in Kansas City, Kan. It gets five stars.
Recently, there’s been a lot of talk about Gus’s coming to Kansas City, Kan., including at the Missouri Restaurant Association dinner. A lot of my friends have tried Gus’s in other parts of the country. They told me it is the best fried chicken they’ve ever had.
After hearing so much about it I thought I would give them a try. Normally I do not review restaurants during the lunch hour but this is the exception to the rule. Boy was I surprised! It has got to be some the best chicken I’ve ever had in my life, and mind you, I like fried chicken. It’s not too hot nor is it too spicy. I was raised on fried chicken, especially Southern style.
As you enter the restaurant it is very, very clean, including the kitchen, which surprised me since it was lunch hour. Restaurants sometimes aren’t clean, particularly during the lunch period. The service was phenomenal.
The menu was also very easy to read and understand as well. Have you ever been to a restaurant where it takes you about an hour to understand it? In fact, I’ve been to restaurants where the menu is so large that you lose your appetite. Not in this case, what I found out is the menu is not only easy to read, the prices are reasonable as well. For example the plates start off at $8 and they go up to $11. All plates include baked beans, slaw and white bread.
Another thing I found very interesting, was the starters, pickles with ranch sauce, fried green tomatoes and fried okra, an all-time Southern favorite. They even have greens, mac and cheese and seasoned fries and, of course, baked beans, slaw and potato salad made fresh every day.
For dessert they have cheese pie, chocolate chess pie, coconut pie, pecan pie and sweet potato pie, and you can get the pie à la mode with vanilla ice cream.
For younger members of the family, kids 12 and under, they have grilled cheese, which includes French fries or macaroni and cheese and a drink or two, tenders, two wings, or even two legs. And for you root beer enthusiasts they have IBC root beer floats. IBC started making beer before prohibition. During the prohibition they decided to make root beer. That is why the bottle looks like a beer bottle. They even have a good selection of wine and beer to choose from.
One thing I did find out which really astounded me is that a lot of the people who work there, live nearby. This is very rare. My server told me that she has been a server for 20 years and this is the best she has ever been treated, the owner really treats her like family. This really surprised me.
Overall I give this restaurant five stars in all categories, food service and cleanliness. If you asked me if I recommend this restaurant I would say definitely yes. After doing the review I decided to introduce myself to the owner, Steve Zanone.
“We decided to choose this location because of the work ethic that Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kan., are noted for. We’re really excited to be a part of the community. We only serve fresh, never frozen chicken,” Zanone said. The restaurant fries everything in peanut oil, he added.
I give Gus’s World-Famous Hot Spicy Fried chicken located at 2816 W. 47th Ave. in Kansas City, Kan., five stars in every category. I plan to go back there.
Hours are Sunday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. until 10 p.m. Call them at 913-232-7091 for more information. Gus’s World Famous Hot Spicy Fried Chicken opened recently in Kansas City, Kan. (Photo by William Crum) Gus’s World Famous Hot Spicy Fried Chicken opened recently in Kansas City, Kan. (Photo by William Crum)
Indian Springs Shopping Center in its heyday in Kansas City, Kan. (File photo)
Window on the West
by Mary Rupert
Demolition is going on at the Indian Springs mall in Kansas City, Kan., which brings back a flood of memories for me, and probably for most people here.
According to the UG, the $1.25 million demolition project began this month on the shopping center, which is being torn down to make way for development of the property. The demolition is expected to take about seven months, according to UG information.
Mixed use retail is being considered for the property, although there not been a definitive announcement yet on what exactly will be there, and whether it will be retail. Lane4 Property Group is handling the project. This demolition follows a $1.3 million environmental abatement project, according to UG information.
When it opened in 1971, Indian Springs Shopping Center at 47th and State was the first mall in this area and attracted many visitors from the region. It was at the intersection of I-635 and I-70, two highways easily accessible to the visitors from other parts of the metro area. It had about 700,000 square feet on two levels, about 4,000 parking spaces, and lots of fountains in the mall. I was in high school when the mall opened.
In those early years, I spent many hours browsing book titles and buying a paperback once in a while at the Walden bookstore at Indian Springs.
I dropped by the music store at the mall a few times and tried out a keyboard a couple of times. I looked at music books and records.
I stopped by to enjoy an Orange Julius occasionally, and a Smaks hamburger once in a while. I ate at Italian Delight a few times. I didn’t go much to the cafeteria at the mall, however.
After I started to work, I bought some career clothes at the various department stores there, especially Penney’s and Montgomery Ward. Mom used to call me a “clothes horse” in that era when I was a young single adult with a career.
I reviewed movies for the Wyandotte West newspaper at Indian Springs theaters, until the newspaper decided they didn’t want me to do any more reviews.
I occasionally took pictures for the Wyandotte West at Indian Springs, but I remember the mall had some strange rules, such as you couldn’t let the store sign appear in the photograph.
I picked out my engagement and wedding ring with my fiancé at one of the Indian Springs jewelry shops. I didn’t shop very much at Macy’s, or later Dillard’s, but I registered my china at Macy’s at Indian Springs.
Later, I wheeled strollers around Indian Springs, taking the kids along. The kids visited Santa Claus at the mall. At one time there was an interactive Christmas tree there.
I went along when one of the kids’ youth groups sang Christmas carols at Indian Springs. They were standing on a riser in the center of the mall’s upper level.
The kids enjoyed visiting Kay-Bee Toys and picking out some gifts. I was hurriedly searching for the year’s hottest toys, sometimes finding them and sometimes not.
Mom was one of the Indian Springs mall walkers, getting exercise by walking through the shopping center.
When the kids were in grade school, I wouldn’t let them go to the Fun Factory, which featured arcade games.
Some people became afraid of going to Indian Springs after some violent incidents there.
But that’s only one of the reasons I didn’t go there as much in the late 1980s and 1990s. The main reason was that our personal income did not stretch as far when we had kids as it did when we were single, and another reason was there wasn’t as much leisure time as before.
I remember one day in 1999 when we were receiving calls on the news desk at the Kansan that there was an earthquake at the nearby Indian Springs medical and dental building. That is where I went to the dentist, at the time. There was some speculation at the time that there was an old mine, or possibly some old springs, underneath the area that might have contributed to it.
The last big anchor, Montgomery Ward, left in 2001. As the shopping center went into a decline and the major stores left, new tenants moved in, including many government offices, as well as some mom-and-pop businesses, and several Hispanic businesses. The Children’s Museum was located there. School district offices were there, as well as neighborhood resources. At one time there was a telemarketing operation, and a postal processing center.
Italian Delight left Indian Springs Shopping Center in 2010, relocating to 82nd and State. (File photo)
The last business leaving was Italian Delight, which moved to 82nd and State in 2010.
Efforts to revitalize the mall earlier hit a snag in 2009 when a developer who was to work on the project died, and also because of an economic downturn.
When the Indian Springs mall died, it was like the entire center part of Kansas City, Kan., died, too.
The Back-to-School Fair in August 2010 at Indian Springs Shopping Center, Kansas City, Kan. (File photo)
I went to Indian Springs a few times to take photos for the Wyandotte Daily at the back-to-school fair, where school supplies were distributed. Huge crowds lined up at the events.
A new transit center building was dedicated at Indian Springs Shopping Center in September 2013. (File photo)
In 2013, I went to Indian Springs to take photos for the Wyandotte Daily when a new building for the transit center, police station and aging offices was dedicated.
When the Royals won the World Series in 2015, long lines of people waited at Indian Springs Shopping Center to board a bus to take them to the victory rally at Union Station. (File photo)
I returned to Indian Springs to take photos when the Royals won the World Series in 2015 and people lined the parking lot in November to board buses for a huge rally at Union Station.
I know that indoor malls are a thing of the past, and are out of fashion, but on a winter day, especially like one this week, you can really miss them. Once you’re inside a mall, you can visit many stores without going back outside in the cold.
