The challenge was hyped as a way to generate new ideas for the super fast network and jump start local tech business in anticipation of Google Fiber going live later this year. Top prizes went to companies from Chicago and New York, one of which plans to use the prize money to open an office in Berlin.  The only “local” winner is a Grandview company, located outside the initial Google Fiber service area.

The winning companies will ultimately have to setup at least some local presence in order to connect the network. But putting a server in a local data center is a far cry from creating new jobs or having any real impact on the technology or business community.

KC Business Journal: Gigabit Challenge shows demand for network, short supply of local winners.

Downtown Streetcar study

Business Journal: KC Council proposes special district to help pay for streetcar

The city’s vibrant growing vegetarian and vegan community is outraged, virtually pelting Sulzberger with tofu and seeds. Amber Shea’s Almost Vegan blog sums the vege-rage.

Apparently Sulzberger was too caught up in a bizarre obsession with ordering vegan food at Arthur Bryant’s to notice the many real options around the city. And he definitely seems to have missed KC’s recent star turn as the city to watch for culinary innovation in 2012.

The diseases of bad eating – obesity, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension,  etc. – are skyrocketing and taking up an ever greater share of our limited health care resources. The presence of a McDonalds in the Truman lobby is an especially bad symbol because Missouri ranks very high for these diseases, and they hit Truman’s poor and underserved population disproportionately.

For a hospital serving the poor and located in the middle of food desert, it’s especially important for them to set a good example and use their food service operation to provide healthier options.

Sadly, the Truman McDonalds is an all too common eyesore in the US.  In a climate of shrinking government resources, many hospitals and schools are turning to fast food as more affordable alternatives to traditional food service operations. KC taxpayers approved a property tax increase for our public health care provides in 2005, but health care costs continue to outpace tax revenues.  Ironically, a lot of rising health care costs come from people without access to healthy food options. Hopefully Truman can begin to break this downward spiral by replacing its McDonalds withe a healthier option.

Head over the area along the west side of Southwest Trafficway, between 31st and 39th Streets, to see the lights and some of the city’s most beautiful and historic houses.

39th and Rainbow

While single family home values continue to plummet and Downtown residential development has completely stopped, Midtown and the Country Club Plaza area are going strong.  More than 600 new units in the pipeline, largely due to suburban developers turning their attention to urban infill and redevelopment projects. Much of the new development is happening without the tax breaks so common in recent years, and it is happening organically without grand city-sponsored redevelopment plans.

West 39th Street – Soon after the new year, suburban apartment developers Price Brothers will break ground a mixed-use development at 39th and State Line Road. The former Hanna Bistro and Pizza Hut will be replaced with four stories of 70 apartments over street level retail and restaurant space. ”District 39” is a $9.7 million project that received property tax abatement and is expected to open in spring of 2013.

39th and State Line Road

39th and Rainbow - Just around the corner on the KCK side, Lane4 is currently building 39Rainbow, a large mixed-use complex across from the KU Medical Center featuring apartments, a hotel, offices, shops, and restaurants. Correction: Lane4 has scrapped the residential component in favor of more office space.

Westport – A new proposal to redevelop the northeast corner of 40th and Broadway would replace the old XO nightclub with 188 apartments.  The old Midwest Cyclery building and the adjacent payday loan shop would be renovated for restaurant and office space, joining new restaurants that have opened recently on that block of Broadway.

North Plaza – The small neighborhood between Westport and the Plaza continues to attract significant infill and residential density. Price Brothers recently received City Council approval for 46 Penn, a $30 million project with 188 apartments in four stories.  The project is being built without tax breaks.  The City Council recently approved the plan over the objections of the Plaza-Westport Neighborhood Association, which opposed the building’s height being slightly taller than current zoning allowed. Business Journal story.

South Plaza – Price Brothers is proposing a $39 million project at 51st and Main with 204 high end apartments over street level retail. The four story development would sit on the site of the former Cabaret nightclub and join recent new development housing Accurso’s, Glace, Spin Pizza, etc. The project is expected to open in 2014 without tax breaks, adding more than $400,000 a year to local government coffers. via KC Star.

It all goes down at The Backyard behind the Beaumont Club. Get the details at www.westportfoodtruckfest.com and be sure to follow our Twitter food truck list to find trucks around town during the week.

The fest also the debut of the Westport Marketplace, a new regular market for local artists, artisans, and such.

Here’s the official announcement from The GOVERNING Institute.

Tony recently reported Funkhouser’s Brookside house is for rent.

Tickets are limited to less than 1,000 people. There is no web site, no Facebook, etc.  Just word of mouth promotion. So here are the details as gleaned from KC Beer Blog and other various sources…

KC Hopfest 2011 in Waldo
Saturday, June 18th, 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
210 West 74th Street, KCMO (just east of The Well)

Tickets are $30 general or $50 VIP. Quantities are limited and are on sale only at The Well and Lew’s. The Well will have a special dinner menu with beer pairings Friday night.

KC Beer Blog has the beer list, featuring several breweries and over 100 beers.  Definitely not the stuff you’ll find in your local Berbiglia.