Platte County's Main Event Opening May 9th?

It's been a long week and I wanted to do an on-road bike ride through our busiest areas at rush hour because I want to see how someone who doesn't have a car has to navigate as KCMO updates it's bike plan. I rode on Green Hills Road, Barry Road, Prairie View, and NW 72nd Street including going through two I-29 interchanges.

Why would I do this? Well I kind of pigged out on Waldo Pizza over lunch and was feeling it plus if you missed it, KCMO is updating it's bike plan and when I work on something, I need to feel it, smell it, and experience it so I will be biking in different areas along with some other staff to get a feel of areas the plan needs to focus on during implementation. See my previous post on the #KCBikePlan update.

Also NOTE the FB event I created to help remind you to attend the Northland public meeting next Thursday. We need average folks. We actually had five seventh graders come visit today to learn more about the bike plan update and also how they really wish it was safer for them to ride their bikes to go to the ice cream shop in Brookside.

Focus grouping some 7th graders on #kcbikeplan update w/@mcmanuskc @polycitywander
New plan needs to accommodate allhttps://t.co/StLVY3pnGd pic.twitter.com/Kl2mBu74Qm
— Wes Minder (@WesKCMO) April 21, 2017

Anyways, back to the topic. Today on my ride, I used the now open Barrybrooke to NW 79th connector which will be great for getting around.

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This is what the road looks like towards the south. Note the street trees. It's easy to tell which projects are built by the private sector and which ones aren't by just looking at which ones include trees and which ones don't.

This is looking north towards the movie theater (on the left) and Barrybrooke Drive.

Ladies and gentlemen, I pulled "the City" card today which meant I pulled credentials to take a peak in the Platte County Main Event™. If you don't know where and what I'm talking about, flashback to my May 2016 post about where Main Event™ will be located. I got a chance to talk to the owner and thanked him on behalf of KCMO for investing in the new facility and also asked if they were having any issues with getting permits and everything ready for opening because it will be a big draw from outside the immediate area. When I have the chance I like to take the time to let the business community know that private investment is appreciated and that not all government workers are apathetic process trolls.

We talked for a while and he let me know they were on schedule for opening around May 9th. I then asked if I could take some pictures because all eight of us love going to the one in Independence and he was nice enough to oblige so I took full advantage. I figure he'll get enough free publicity from all of you reading this. This is what the entrance on the west side of the building looks like from the exterior so far.

This is the rear or east side of the building which faces the new Barrybrooke/79th Street.

I shot this one peeking in from the south door before I decided to ask for the full blown tour. The bowling alley is to the east side of the building or right up against the back wall picture shown above. The bowling pin system was humming and I asked one of the guys how they tested it. He told me they wanted to run 3,000 cycles by next week and probably 5,000 before opening date just to make sure any bugs or parts fail they can fix it so that it's all ready to go May 9th.

The next picture was taken from the entrance. The eating area and a couple of party rooms will be on the right. The offices will be on the left. The owner told me once they get their temporary occupancy permit, they will have staff there but in the meantime if you wanted to book group events or birthday parties, they are taking those reservations so check out their website for a number for sales.