Kansas City Strip
Party out of bounds: Weekend nights in Westport now resemble a police state more than ever, with cop-erected barricades keeping underage loiterers out of the streets. But the celebrated crowd-control techniques have made for some cranky shoppers who just need to pick up a little salami and Cool Whip at Westport’s 24-hour grocery store.
“My boyfriend and I went to Sun Fresh for dog food, but the cops said they’d closed the parking lot and we had to park somewhere else,” says one annoyed customer. “If I had been alone, I probably would have just gone home. It would be nice if you could buy groceries somewhere at night — all they have at QuikTrip is Meaty Delicious.”
Sergeant Bob Maize of the Central Patrol Division says the lockdown doesn’t include Sun Fresh shoppers. “If a person says they need to go grocery shopping, the officers let them in.” Several of our sources, however, tell a different story: “There were police motorcycles in the middle of the street, with two uniformed officers waving people in either direction — but not into the lot,” says one. “They said the store was closed. I know Sun Fresh is open 24 hours a day, and when I went in the next day and told customer service what had happened, [the clerk] said that wasn’t the first time she’d heard that.” Another witness says one man was so desperate to go shopping that he drove down the grassy embankment between Southwest Trafficway and the parking lot — but the cops got him before he could get inside the supermarket.
“It’s such a big lot, especially the northeast part, that there are a lot of illegal activities, from sexual to drugs, public drinking, urination,” says Greg Lever of the Westport Merchants Association. “Sun Fresh is still open that late at night, the Westport Coffee House is open until 1 a.m. A lot of people use that lot. They don’t want to see cocaine and public urination.”
Recent investigations, however, reveal that the problem may be of another nature entirely: “I sure had a hard time getting into the parking lot tonight,” said one woman in the checkout line on July 7. “But I heard why. It’s because of the young homosexuals bothering people.”
