KC engineering mecca?

trailerkid · Post by **trailerkid** » Wed Oct 15, 2003 11:26 pm

From Ingramsonline.com

The presence here of Black & Veatch Engineers/Architects and Burns & McDonnell Engineers/ Architects, both of which employ workers in the thousands, have helped make Kansas City something of an engineering mecca. Indeed, Kansas City boasts more engineers per capita than any metropolitan area in the world.

Kansas City could really build on this strength to lure more engineering firms into the metro. KC could become the city that designs the world.

QueSi2Opie · Post by **QueSi2Opie** » Wed Oct 15, 2003 11:41 pm

trailerkid wrote:KC could become the city that designs the world.

Even though we're already a decade behind other major cities

trailerkid · Post by **trailerkid** » Wed Oct 15, 2003 11:43 pm

Yes, but you must remember that KC is a national leader in sporting venue design and you know our status there. Why couldn't we also be a leader in overall engineering?

KCDevin · Post by **KCDevin** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 6:25 am

thatd also be a good way to add skyscrapers

they'd all compete with each other and grow. and some will of course die off.

KCPowercat · Post by **KCPowercat** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 7:47 am

Que....who the hell is saying we're a decade behind other cities? In what area? Forget it, don't answer that.....typical JoCo attitude about the city.

KC_JAYHAWK · Post by **KC_JAYHAWK** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 8:15 am

Well if you compare our downtown to cities like Denver, Portland, St. Louis or Pittsburg in terms of sports venues and light rail, then yes, I would say Kansas City is probably 8-10 years behind in development.

Our downtown infrastructure is also very outdated and most of the roads downtown are terrible.

KCPowercat · Post by **KCPowercat** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 8:20 am

I'll give you 3 of 4 but not St Louis.....they have much less housing and even retail down around their stadiums...they are the poster children for the anti-arena crowd in my opinion.

and even at that, that's 4 cities. In that case they are 20 years behind us in something like the Plaza...I mean come on, every city has it's + & - but to say the entire city is 10 years behind everybody else is stupid.

QueSi2Opie · Post by **QueSi2Opie** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 11:34 am

KC wrote:Que....who the hell is saying we're a decade behind other cities? In what area? Forget it, don't answer that.....typical JoCo attitude about the city.

You make me laugh because you're talkin' about someone that has spent about 2Â½ years in JOCO. The majority of my years, the most important, have been spent in WYCO.

Like I said once before, KC use to be ahead of the nation in terms of stadium design, parks and boulevards, and a world-class shopping district. However, today, there is more vision becoming reality and things getting done in the cores of Omaha, Des Moines, Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Little Rock.

You're mistaken if you think that you love Kansas City any more than I do. We both care about our city, but I'm jus' facing the facts.

It's like scoldin' or spankin' your kid! You love him, but dammit, he has to be disciplined or he'll keep messin' up or fallin' behind all the good lil' children in our society.

Instead of being known as the "city that designs the world", we need to first re-design ourselves!

GuyInLenexa · Post by **GuyInLenexa** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 11:51 am

It would be great to snag some more headquarters for engineering firms on the west coast or abroad.
The area should pursue the image of being a engineering hub.
Our location is a big plus.

KCPowercat · Post by **KCPowercat** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 12:37 pm

I'm not getting into it....the inferiority complex some have in this city amazes me.

KC_JAYHAWK · Post by **KC_JAYHAWK** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 1:12 pm

I wouldn't conclude the entire metro in that assumption, just our downtown. St. Louis is still far and away ahead of KC in downtown development and Denver there is no comparison.

St. Louis had the foresight to build their baseball, football and arena downtown. Kansas City leaders went for the cheap land to conserve costs and are now paying the consequences. Now the leaders are trying to play catch up at a time when layoffs are at an all time high and money is tight. The 90's were the time to build and develop the downtown core, but we missed that train. It will be a miracle is an arena gets built in the next 3-5 years, IMO.

QueSi2Opie · Post by **QueSi2Opie** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 2:06 pm

KC wrote:I'm not getting into it....the inferiority complex some have in this city amazes me.

Who has a inferiority complex? I think KC is the best place in the world to live. But I'm not hiding from the simple truth, like most people do. Once our city/metro residents realize the potential of this great city, we'll really take off and absolutely no one will stop us! There's things I love about this city and there's things I hate about this city. But while Little Rock has downtown trolleys and Omaha has the tallest building in the four-state region along with developing a new downtown arena, I won't be satisfied until we have the best of everything. So basically, I'll never be satisfied. And people who are never satisfied keep striving to make themselves, their work, or their city the best it can be. Wouldn't you agree?

KCPowercat · Post by **KCPowercat** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 2:11 pm

agreed...but does really having a taller building and a smaller arena make you jealous of another city?

I always want the best for the city but I don't focus on the negative...I take what we have that is awesome and make sure everybody knows about it. Sure we have things to work on but saying we're a decade behind every other city because we don't have trollies downtown is shortsighted in my mind.

QueSi2Opie · Post by **QueSi2Opie** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 2:38 pm

KC wrote:agreed...but does really having a taller building and a smaller arena make you jealous of another city?

I'm not jealous, I'm jus' disappointed that we don't have those things when we should!

KC wrote:I always want the best for the city but I don't focus on the negative...I take what we have that is awesome and make sure everybody knows about it. Sure we have things to work on but saying we're a decade behind every other city because we don't have trollies downtown is shortsighted in my mind.

You always focus on the negative when talkin' about us good ol' JOCO peeps.

Go grab a "Goin' to Kansas City" Visitor's Guide at the Missouri Travel Information Center. Open it up, go to "Attractions & Special Events", and then "Art, Museums & History", and then "Destinations". I have been to 120 of the 150 things listed in those three sections. Now does that sound like someone that focuses on the negative in KC? As a matter of fact, I will bet any dollar amount (remember, I love to gamble) that I've been to more KC area museums and attractions than anybody on this entire member list! I even have photographic proof if you want me to bring'em to the Library Tour?

I love Kansas City and promote it each chance I get, but why promote it as a perfect place to people on this forum who obviously already love their city? I'll state my opinion and exactly how I feel! However, when I'm talkin' to metro residents, visitors, and outsiders, I focus on the wonderful things our city has to offer.

KCPowercat · Post by **KCPowercat** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 2:42 pm

true....I understand where you are coming from? I don't think we should promote it as a perfect place but I honestly do not see us 10 years behind other major cities as was stated.

although I really don't focus on the negative towards any of the burbs....I try to avoid it. I've lived on both sides so I try to bring everybody together not drive a bigger wedge.

KCDevin · Post by **KCDevin** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 2:44 pm

dont you know their building is only a few feet above ours? also, the top is like a spire, and if you count 1KCP's antenna, then we still rule like the Sears Tower does now.
Diagram:
http://www.skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?3822288
You will notice 1 First National Center in Omaha is a few meters (1m) above 1KCP, and the next tallest building in Omaha doesn't come till our 5th tallest building (it comes after City Hall)
We are more dominate in height over Omaha than we are STL, which is pretty sad on their part.
Also, their 3rd tallest building doesnt come till after our 13th tallest building...

QueSi2Opie · Post by **QueSi2Opie** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 2:48 pm

KC wrote:I honestly do not see us 10 years behind other major cities as was stated.

We're behind in new urbanism, downtown revitalization and transit. Most cities began tackling these problems in 1990.

KCPowercat · Post by **KCPowercat** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 2:55 pm

I think we tried to tackle those, just didn't fly (ie. light rail vote, P&L dying, etc)...yes some cities are ahead of us in those 3 aspects.

KCDevin · Post by **KCDevin** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 2:59 pm

also, Omaha doesn't even come close to comparing to us, with only around 40 highrises, a population of 400,000 and a metro of about 820,000 in its metro, it is relatively small compared to our population of 440,000 people, 130+ highrises and about 2,000,000 people in our metro. Omaha doesn't compare to KC at all as the figures show.

KCPowercat · Post by **KCPowercat** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 3:07 pm

Devin....we all know that....don't worry.

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