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Blog

Service Is Better Than Ever … For Now

Oct 5, 2023
PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER, 2023 Having driven across the eastern half of the country four times this summer, I am pleased to report that, despite all the caterwauling to the contrary, the American service economy has never worked better. That said, unless… more

Momentum for a Celebration

Aug 2, 2023
I served on the board of directors of the Alliance of Area Business Publications for years, and in 1998 it was my pleasure to recruit our keynote speaker for the 1999 Summer Conference in Washington, D.C. I pursued Steve Forbes… more

The View From a New Front Door

Aug 2, 2023
Full disclosure: I’m not the kind of passenger whom airlines look to for long-term revenue. Heck, I can’t even remember the last time I flew out of the old Kansas City International Airport’s three-ring configuration—it might have been as far… more

Custard’s Not-So-Last Stand

Aug 2, 2023
During the early days of COVID-19, I found myself driving out to the hiking trails in Johnson County to avoid the lethargy-inducing madness of a locked-down Kansas City. Just south of I-435 on State Line Road, I took heart in… more

There Is No Place Like Home

Jul 17, 2023
Some years back, I accepted a Fulbright to teach urban studies at the Université de Lorraine in Nancy, France. The textbook for one course featured four cities considered to be the world’s best planned.  Paris, Nancy, Bath in England—no surprises… more

Want to Save the World? Sustain This

Jul 6, 2023
PUBLISHED JULY 6, 2023 Another one of those stop-the-world moments that make so many rational people want to get off: In researching a feature on commercial real estate that ran in last month’s issue, I stepped into a puddle of… more

Has the USPS Gone Postal?

Jun 27, 2023
PUBLISHED JUNE 27, 2023 Even as the nation’s focus of late is on Washington—with the finger-pointing over unethical or unlawful actions by past and current occupants of the Oval Office—there remains critically important work to be done in each branch… more

Let Them Eat Cake . . . But NO Ice Cream!

May 30, 2023
Last month in this space, we teed off on consumer choices that contribute to the current once-in-two-generations inflationary spike. Now let’s take a little stroll down Data Dump Drive and see what’s taking place in the state capitals. My hunch… more

The Racialist’s Divide

May 30, 2023
I grew up near the Troost divide and attended St. Elizabeth’s grade school at 75th and Main, and the block we grew up on included mostly white Catholic and Jewish families. Between school, 3&2 baseball, days spent at Tower Park and… more

Skinny Jeans Crowd to Skin Us Once Again

May 30, 2023
Perhaps no predilection better sums up the essence of today’s young “thought leaders” than their affection for so-called “skinny jeans.” Uncomfortable, expensive, and unattractive, these jeans shout conformity from the rooftops. Whenever I hear a wearer speak—especially if he/she/they “upspeak”—I… more