Want the fun of a public meeting without having to be there? Twitter is the only way to fly.

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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