Center High School - Yellow Jacket Yearbook (Kansas City, MO)

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No crowds. New rules on cniising and hanging out have reduced crowds on the Plaza's streets this past year. I I I g Sailors: plans. The R.ri. Sailor's proj- ect, which was passed this year, plans td dwarf the buildings on the Plaza with more skyscrapers. 1.1-1 and t T are rr oppo betwe A the J , the P the a said 4 lately F meth Patro cruisi drive loud: in X I kt

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Q .1-l .1 -... 1. f -V . , n 'fr P, ,' rs' -5, S i ir iiiak .ii Aki !'E!ii.i Calll UI lllc IQ New rules hamper fun hen, it was the apex of the teenage social scene in Kansas City. Each weekend, high schoolers would flock to the Country Club Plaza to cruise, socialize, and to be generally rowdy. Today, weekend nights are just not the same. The crowds are much older, the atmosphere is much more tranquil, and opportunities to meet peers have become fewer and further between. The teenagers have gone elsewhere. Actions during the past year on behalf of Plaza ovmers, the J.C. Nichols Co., to discourage teenage congregation on the Plaza have apparently paid off, resulting in a decline of the area as a social hangout. There's nobody dovm there from our school anymore, said Steve Schanker 4115, 'iso it's been pretty boring there lately. For the past few years, J.C. Nichols has tried various methods to drive away the youth. They established the Plaza Patrol in 1984 to oversee teenage behavior. They tried to pass cruising laws, limiting the number of times a person could drive around a block. They even tried classical music over the loudspeakers for a few weeks over the summer. This year, QW, r: eu 'c cn something finally worked. The increasing number of rules and restrictions may have been partially responsible for the decline. Some students felt that the rules finally got to be too much, making the Plaza too restricitive to be fun. l used to like to go there, said Danny Soltz 4109, but it is more fun when there aren't rules restrict- ing what you can and cannot do. Others feel that the cruising regulations themselves made the ultimate difference. During peak hours on Friday and Saturday, the main streets are banicaded off. The Plaza Patrol also keeps a close eye on the auto traffic along the out- er streets, making sure that behavior doesn't get too out of control. Since we cannot cruise on the Plaza anymore, it isn't as exciting of a place, said Brian Tischer 411l, Hand there just aren't that many people there. On the other hand, some students believe that the de- cline was inevitablep that situations on the Plaza were becom- ing so crowded and so out of hand that young people began to look for altemative places to go. HI haven't been there in awhile since it's so crowded, said Melissa Mallory 4115, I don't think that what J .C. Nichols did had anything to do with it. Whether or not people will retum to the Plaza is unknovm. Of course, certain times of the year, such as the Art Fair and the holiday season, will bring people back. As a regular han- gout place for Centerites however, the Plaza is, if not dead, definitely comatose. -- Jeff Field Since we cannot cruise on the Plaza anymore, it isn 't as exciting of a place. There just aren 't that many people there. g Brian Tischer 411, City of fountains. Fountains, such as the J.C. Nichols fountain on Brush Creek, 'attract many people to the Pla- za each year. PLAZA DEMISEI11 STUDENT LIFE