23 Hour Operating Hours allowed
at Liquor by the Drink Establishments
in Raytown during World Cup?!?
IS THIS A GOOD IDEA?
For the 2026 World Cup (June 11-July 19, 2026), Missouri law allows bars to serve alcohol from 6 a.m. to 5 a.m. (23 hours), but Raytown, like other cities, can opt out or modify the operating hours. So check local Raytown ordinances, though generally, they've discussed allowing extensions or similar to Kansas City.
At the last meeting of the Raytown Board of Alderman, Ward 1 Alderman Greg Walters brought forth the item for discussion. He noted that the City of Independence has already "opted out" of the extended hours for by the drink laws and was also aware that Lee's Summit City Council has discussed limiting operating hours in their town.
Mayor Michael McDonough responded saying that there will be a presentation at the next meeting covering this item.
Walters replied he did not think 23 hour daily oprating hours in Raytown for bars is a good idea.
Walters said, "Raytown just went through a very rough couple of years of lawlessnes, gunfire and shootings at a bar in Gregory Heights as well as similar problems near 87th Street and Blue Ridge Boulevard."
He continued "I know of at least three deaths that resulted during that time from gunfire . . . keeping bars open 23 hours a day will not decrease the problem . . . it will increase the problem."
Mayor McDonough said the item would be on the next agenda scheduled for January 20, 2026. The meeting will begin at 7:00 p.m. and held at Raytown City Hall located at 10000 East 59th Street.
This meeting is a Public Meeting and the Public will be allowed to speak.
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| BY GREG WALTERS |
A “Farewell” to
the Kansas City Chiefs
and a word about
where the Royals should call home.
For a “cow town” located in the middle of the United States, Kansas City does pretty well in the arena of professional sports.
Be that as it may, this story is about Chiefs and Royals and their future in the Kansas City area.
Both the Chiefs and Royals have had their ups and downs as a Professional Sports Franchises. But it is difficult to think of them without remembering their glory days of Championship runs, fueled by innovative coaching, that carried them to the the top of the game.
Who can forget the Royals as they literally clawed their way to their epic Chamionships in 1985 and 2015?
The Chiefs, not to be outdone, brought home Super Bowl Chamionships in 1970, 2020, 2023 and 2024.
Their home stadiums located at the Truman Sports Complex are one of the most recognizable sports venues in American professional sports. Easily accessed either Interstate 70 or Interstate 435, it is one of the most convenient major league sports complex in football and baseball.
The Royals homefield is named after their founder (Ewing Kauffman). Mr. Kauffman recognized that Kansas City had always been a baseball town. He brought Professional Baseball back to Kansas City when he founded the Kansas City Royals in 1969.
The Chiefs have already decided to move to Wyandotte County, in Kansas. The Royals have yet to make a decision on their future location. I am hopeful the team will continue to call Kaufmann Stadium their home. It is a tribute to Ewing Kauffmann and his successful bid to keep professional baseball in Kansas City after the Kansas City Athletics moved to Oakland, California.
Another amenity for those who live near the stadiums is the Rock Island Bicycle and Walking Trail. The Rock Island Trail is a premier bicycle and walking trail and was built by Jackson County Missouri specifically for that destination. The trail terminates at the entrance to the Chiefs and Royals parking lots.
Raytown has always been my home. I live one mile from the Stadium Complex. It is always refreshing to be able to drive by the home of championship baseball and football teams.
If both of those teams leave the Sports Complex it will be a loss the entire metropolitan area will find hard to replace.
The Royals options of relocating their team appear to be dwindling. Two of the venues they have been looking at, one in Clay County and one in Kansas are no longer being offered. The option of a location near Crown Center is deeply flawed with limited parking and the prospect of a much smaller stadium.
If you like tail-gating before your basebal game, it most likely will not happen at Crown Center. There simply is not enough room.
It is my hope the Royals will remain at their current location and continue the tradition of world class baseball in their world class home at Kauffman Stadium.
The Boston Red Sox have been playing at Fenway Park in Boston since 1912. The Chicago Cubs have been at Wrigley Field since 1914.
Kauffman Stadium may be close to close to 53 years old, but it remains one of Major League baseball's most enchanting ballparks. It is not worn out. It is just coming into its prime. I hope the owners of the Royals realize the opportunity they have in growing their home at Kauffman Stadium for another 50 years.
With the Chief's leaving, the Royals have an opportunity to use and expand their operation to include a destination hotel with tourist attractions conveniently next door to Kauffman Stadium.
11 comments:
What about Jackson County promising to develop the area around the Truman Sports Complex? Hasn’t happened. It’s actually an embarrassment. Nothing has been able to last in that entire area because of the crime and slow response time of the police department. I get that they’re busy with more pressing matters but I would hope you understand why.
I too am concerned about allowing liquor by the drink sales in Raytown 23 hours a day. The hard numbers on ticket sales are difficult to find out, but it appears we will have a HUGE influx of people into the Jackson County area for the World Cup next July. the population is expected to literally explode in Kansas City when the games are played here. The center of all that activity will be at the Truman Sports Complex. Our city limits are less than a mile from the Sports Complex. Soccer fans will be looking for places to hang out and after heir games. Win or lose, many of them will be celebdrating. Encouraging heavy alcoholic intake 23 hours a day by the city is sooooo irresponsible. Nothing good will come of this scheme.
I understand Indepenendence and Lee's Summit have already decided not to participate in the expanded liquor by the drink sales during he tournament. Cities have a choice on this matter. I will be calling my Alderman (both of them) to tell them not to allow exapanded liquor by the drink sales 23 hours a day during the World Cup next July. And yes, for those who wonder. That 23 hours a day would be allowed for the entire month of July.
I couldn't agree more. The streets are already nasty with food trash and various types of liquor containers. We don't need more. For all the talk about trying to improve things in our town, it's my belief that the city avoids the most obvious signs of decay. Sadly, it's not getting better, and with the continued lack of effort, it won't. Wake up folks, those roadside cans and bottles are an indication of how much drinking and driving is goin on. We should take a lesson from Independence and Lee's Summit. Tell them to go get drunk somewhere else!
Watch out Missouri as our governor is trying to over tax us. As a typical Republican, who can't tell you the truth. He wants you to believe he is going to eliminate taxes, by ending income taxes. While this sounds good as the attorneys always say "read the fine print". Sure enough in the details is the fact the lost revenue will be made up by increasing other taxes like sales tax. That one simple statement is how the Republicans plan to take from the average residents of the state so the millionaire and billionaire earners pay less. State income tax is 4.7% therefore if you make 1 million you are taxed $47,000. However, if you make 47 thousand you are taxed $2,209. Now the basic needs food, gas, etc would be the same use and sales tax base for a family. The difference is how much does the sales tax raise to cover the near $45,000 loss. This means the lower income, seniors and average residents pay more in taxes while those millionaires and billionaires pay a lot less. The other concern is services that are currently not taxed will start being taxes as again the short fall. If services are opened to state sales taxes how long before local taxing entities are allowed to tax those services too. Plan and simply this is just another example of the rice profiting of the average individuals. We all need to call the governor's office and make it clear this idea is dead on arrival.
More is coming to light on who all the players are wanting to tax seniors with higher taxes.
I am so tired of members of the Republican party claiming to be pro-life when they keep coming up with ideas that make it harder for us seniors to survive.
Get the word out that eliminating income taxes means higher sales taxes. Higher sales taxes are not a good thing when you are on social security and have limited financial resources.
The Jackson County legislators actions earlier this month tho make Abarac Chair and Smith Vice Chair prove the entire board is disillusional about managing anything. The one thing I personally took away is Frank White is clearly not the only problem with Jackson County. Within weeks candidates will start filling for the County Legislator and we all need to make sure in 2027 all new faces hold those seats. Abarca and Smith spent the last several years doing news conference to tell us all that this would fix the property tax appraisal problems. Given those two a few months and back on TV they would have something new that would solve our problem. Get Frank White out of office and solve our problem. We all now know nothing has been solved and in fact it is worse. Tax bills didn't go out on time. Extension had to be given. Smith out telling everyone you can pay online. Once again proving he is uneducated when it comes to understanding others. Some don't have access to computers, they don't understand the technology, and others may be unbankable. It is not anyone's place to judge others situations, but we darn sure have the right to judge an elected officials lack of understanding. These problems are not just created by the County Executive. Much ownership goes to the County Legislators for lack of funding to these departments.
Don't think I right about these two self servicing clowns just Google them and look for the news clips. What makes it worse is the rest of the legislators put these two in charge of their governoring body for the year.
This is where a lof you have go it twisted. There is no constituional right in the United States to protest. That's right, You heard me.
There is not consitutional Right to that protects you to protest.
What does exist is the right to peacefully assemble. That's it. No riots. No chaos. No burning down anything. No itimidation. No blocking roads. No screaming obscentities. Only peacefully assembling.
You the right to stand there. You have the right to hold a sign. You have the right to assemble peacefully.
Quietly, lawfully, without trampling everyo ne else;s rights. The moment it becomes loud, destructive, coercive or threatening, it sops being protected and becomes lawlessness.
I am glad we could clear this up.
The essay on the danger of removing the income tax in Missouri has it all wrong. When you remove the income tax burden from the taxpayers it does not "automatically" raise other taxes.
Consider this. Tips for service is no longer taxed in America. Many people are enjoying this benefit. It did not raise any other tax. It simply removed a tax that was unfair AND was a burden on those who make the lower incomes.
The first cry of any radical partisan is to blame the other party. Learn to look beyond the path they are trying to send you down.
What is going on in America?
Manny Abarac loves to be on TV doing press conferences.
He seems to have the majority of his peers on the Jackson County Legislator fooled or do think abusing others is acceptable. Oddly Arbarca's latest TV stance is against ICE and their inability to follow the law.
Maybe next time Abarac will just stay in his lane with his mouth shut as more comes to light on his on injustice behavior.
https://fox4kc.com/news/jackson-county-legislator-manuel-abarca-faces-new-charges-in-hutchinson-kansas/
What is up with the manners of our Alderman?
I don't want to say all need to follow their own ethic rules, but the comments over the past 12 months from one individual are increasingly wrong on several levels.
This past meeting they had a verbal meltdown that citizens need to listen because since 2023 the mayor has had a commitee on the world cup. Wait a minute this is news to the general public, and brings about the ongoing lack of transparency from the mayor. Does this Alderman and Mayor understand all minutes and related information are sunshineable. It would be interesting who is on the committee and when/where they meet. Also in question is how much has the city spent. It seems once again the problem of honesty or should we say lack of is very transparent with our current mayor. If he has nothing to hide why all the closed door secrets society behavior.
This is not the first attack on citizens from this Alderman. Last year they didn't like when a citizen living next to Coleman Park read the lyrics to a song they have had to listen to. If this Alderman actually cared they would be in arms and agreeing those words don't need need blasted in our parks for the ears of children. Instead of carrying about the neighbors and Raytown youth they go off on the person explaining in detail the problem. Makes the educated believe the problem in our parks is allowed because this one Alderman wants to blame the citizens instead of make Raytown better place to raise a family.
What makes it worse is the Mayor allowing this very disrespectful behavior while at the same time calling out other Alderman whom he disagrees with. We never should have two sets of rules based on the friendship with the Mayor.
The news media has been talking about this weekend's weather for days. Many cities are preparing ahead of time. The question many in Raytown have is will those professionals the mayor talks about at city hall be working ahead of time to keep us safe or once again look they other way like they do with property maintenance violations and expired tags. Always looking to tax us more, but always failed services; the mayor Mike plan.
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