Twitter — the social-networking Web site that allows real-time status updates in 140-character bursts — isn't going to make your life easier. Unless, that is, you'd rather be somewhere other than City Hall on a weekday afternoon while keeping up with the blow-by-blow of an insane public hearing there. If you're sensible that way, Pitch staff writer Nadia Pflaum had your back last Wednesday, when she spent a couple of hours "tweeting" from a meeting on a proposed dress-code ordinance. The target: the Cordish Company's Power & Light District, which restricts entrance to its venues based on patrons' clothing. Among the players: Planning and Zoning Committee Chairman Terry Riley; Riley's fellow City Council members Sharon Sanders Brooks, Beth Gottstein and John Sharp; former Councilwoman Carol Coe; PR flacks and globe-trotting scenemakers Shawn Edwards (putting aside his Fox 4 movie-reviewing popcorn bags for the day) and Emiel Cleaver (son of U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver); various TV and Star types; and Cordish suit Zed Smith. Below is a condensed, slightly edited version of Pflaum's tweets from the hearing.
• Of course this meeting can't start on time. Anyway, reminder: This is Nadia, Tweeting from the Planning and Zoning Committee ... 1:48 p.m. March 4 from Web
• There are, like, five reporters and lawyers for every regular joe here.
• Sharon Sanders Brooks is up speaking. Says she's received hateful, ugly e-mails.
• SSB doesn't support baggy pants, never has, never will.
• Oh SSB. You did not just pull a pair of panties and a bra out of a Stein Mart bag.
• SSB: "This is acceptable in the Power & Light District."
• SSB says the women who work at P&L wear tiny tops and bottoms and fishnets.
• SSB reminds the council that [Public Improvements Advisory Committee] just had to shore up P&L's finances. "I expect public entities to have fair and equitable treatment."
• Um, I'm still stuck on the fact that Sharon Sanders Brooks brought props to illustrate the skank factor of the female P&L waitstaff.
• How do you think [City Councilman] Terry Riley gets his head so shiny? Is there a product for that?
• "I believe there does need to be rules and regs," says Emiel Cleaver. Says no one in room been to as many bars and clubs as he and Shawn Edwards.
• He is speaking as a "nightlife connoisseur."
• "If you're enjoying the nightlife ... African-American men have set the dress code since the 1930s."
• He works for Phillips-West, which does PR work for Cordish.
• Shawn Edwards is up. He also works with Phillips-West PR. He's opposed to the ordinance, which means he doesn't want to limit Cordish.
• Edwards: It's 2009. We're influenced by hip-hop culture. To say dress code is race-biased doesn't make sense because everyone affected.
• Edwards: Cordish aren't rookies. Nobody more well-traveled than I am. Gone to clubs in London that don't allow sneakers.
• Edwards: Been to Vegas where they don't allow chains. Level of expectation in Cordish development — we should respect that.
• Edwards: Unfair to single out district. If I stood before you in baggy jeans ... how credible would my remarks be? Shawn Edwards OUT!
• Gottstein: It would have meant more if you had your hat on backwards. (What does that mean?!)
• Gottstein: This ordinance doesn't ban dress codes. No one development district is being targeted.
• Gottstein: We're not going to be the decency police.
• Sean O'Byrne, Downtown Council: Opposes ordinance. We believe it sets an unsettling precedent ... for new businesses.
• Sharp: I'd suggest DC remember the negative impact occurring when a number of residents shy away from downtown and don't feel welcome.
• Sharp: Also says it's a heavily tax-subsidized project. Haven't gotten any complaints about any entertainment area but this one.
• Friends of this dress-code ordinance: John Sharp has your back.
• Tiffany Williams [citizen]: Supports ordinance. Comes as person who's been denied access.
• Tiffany: I too have traveled. It's about what's going on here in KC. (Take that, Shawn Edwards.)
• Lisa W. of ACLU of KS and Western MO. ACLU supports a race-neutral dress code.
• ACLU: Pre-Cordish, dress code issue wasn't an issue in KC.
• ACLU: Tiffany turned away for head scarf. First Amendment violation to micromanage what adults wear.
• Former Councilwoman Carol Coe supports ordinance.
• Despite the fact that she is wearing a ratty orange hat, despite her tarnished legacy, Carol Coe is still a powerful speaker.
• Ppl are murmuring with Carol like it's church. "Tell it like it is."
• She's chiding black Cordish workers. "Zed [Smith] here, a black man from Baltimore, he knows better!"
• Woo, Carol is just warming up. Getting applause.
• Coe: "You want to invite us down to picket you? I'm embarrassed black people stand up here and advocate discrimination!"
• Shawn Edwards says, "Carol Coe needs a mental test." Yikes. Riley hammers [gavels] them down.
• Whew. That was tense.
• Note: Cordish hired Phillips-West — one of the only minority-owned PR firms in KC.
• Zed Smith, dir of asset mgmt for Cordish — this is the guy from Baltimore whom Coe gave so much hell.
• Smith: "We view this as infringement on biz rights." Also, unconstitutional.
• Smith: "Dress codes enhance the quality of the guest experience."
• Smith is giving a dissertation on the history of dress codes. This could take awhile. Hey, Jay-Z's 40/40 Club has a dress code!
• "In ancient Greece, dress codes dictated how people went to the marketplace ... " j/k
• Smith is totally talking to Dave Helling's news camera right now. Not even looking at the council. HAM!! haha
• Smith: Businesses fail because of lack of rules.
• Sharp's got some questions for Smith. Sharp says KC legal dept. signed off on this.
• Sharp challenges Smith: Bad pub didn't start with this ordinance. You've never yet taken one of those code issues out.
• Sharp: You haven't changed anything!
• Smith says NAACP opposes the city's ordinance. Sharp's like, I doubt it.
• Sharp: This ordinance is result of two years of being unable to get your company to make any changes.
• Sharp: Had there been a spirit of compromise, we'd never have had to write an ordinance. This is a last resort.
• Riley: Stop clapping. I get calls back from Cordish on time. Can't we dialogue? So racially polarizing. (Can't we all just get along!)
• Gwen Grant: The Urban League of KC never received any [communication] from Cordish. MLK: An injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
• GG: Cordish talks about reaching out. But take no action to change. There's no compromise when it comes to civil rights.
• GG: Many of us have gone to clubs in our day.
• Malcolm Wilson of NAACP: not speaking for NAACP, though. I miss very few meetings ... I will tell you we have talked about the issue on many ...
• ... occasions. NAACP hasn't taken any position. (Refutes what Smith said.)
• Mark Tolbert: Uniforms in school solved lots of problems. Worried his charter-school kids will fight HIS dress code.
• @KrisKetz:Who's winning? If it's measured by crowd response, the pro-ordinance ppl have it.
• [Kansas City lawyer] Clinton Adams! Talks so freaking fast!
• Nadia here: Did you know Twitter can cut you off for too many Tweets? haha
• In brief: The P&Z still has to vote on the billboard and dress-code ordinance. Coe Adams Curls FTW [for the win].
4:26 p.m. March 4 from Web
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