Kansas, Missouri battle over companies

KC topics that don't fit anywhere else.
kboish
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Re: Kansas, Missouri battle over companies

Post by kboish »

tower wrote:I think Kansas City has a decent shot at this, but our lack of transit may hurt us.

The North Loop is absolutely the best location.
Its funny how a large, growing business is looking for transit connectivity, a modern airport w/ destinations, and an urban city with all its urban amenities. Gee, its almost like the people who are advocating for those things are doing so for a purpose...and yet every one of those projects are met with scorn from naysayers who are unwilling to invest anything in the community, but at the same time demand progress, demand for things to improve, while they simultaneously pine for fairy tale days gone by.

We are in no way positioned to get this HQ. And it is our own fault.
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Re: Kansas, Missouri battle over companies

Post by pash »

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Last edited by pash on Thu Sep 21, 2017 6:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
kboish
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Re: Kansas, Missouri battle over companies

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While all of those things are technically possible and I wish all of those things would happen...they are not going to happen. Plus, if you are Amazon with the timeline you have given, would you rather go plug into a city that already has all of that? or gamble on a city that has shown little political capacity or leadership to accomplish major, visionary projects in a timely fashion?

Other cities already have this stuff. They take the risk and invest for a future opportunity. People in KC seem to think it works the other way around. I'll let you in on a little secret- it doesn't. We really need to somehow expose our residents (or at least our leaders) to the fact that we are barely keeping up. It feels like a lot is going on here, but MORE is happening in other cities. And more doesn't just mean private investment, it means PUBLIC investment laying the groundwork for future private investment.

Look at our long-term project horizon in KC. Its pretty dry. Most of what is getting built today is stuff we have been planning for 5-10 years. What are we planning for the next 5-10 years?
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Re: Kansas, Missouri battle over companies

Post by earthling »

Bezos seems to be the type of guy who would like to be part of rebuilding a re-emerging downtown into a new smart hub. KC is a good candidate for that, and great fiber access to boot. If he doesn't care about suburban transit and if downtown airport gets him there, I wouldn't count KC out. Depending on how much they weigh airport flights/connections, KC otherwise may have zero chance. And the latter is more likely the case.
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Re: Kansas, Missouri battle over companies

Post by brewcrew1000 »

If its just going to be more of an Operational HQ I Could really see us getting this but wonder if they are looking for cities where the gov't owns a lot of land that they can just give it Amazon to start building.

What cities would be the most ideal place? I think the Twin Cities would make an ideal place (Great Workforce, Amazing Transit, has a feel of Portland/Seattle) but I think Target would strongly push back on this

Detroit also makes a very attractive location. There is lots of cheap land, a good education base, good airport, great universities and easy access to Canada.

I actually could see St Louis as a Darkhorse
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Re: Kansas, Missouri battle over companies

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kboish wrote: Other cities already have this stuff. They take the risk and invest for a future opportunity. People in KC seem to think it works the other way around. I'll let you in on a little secret- it doesn't. We really need to somehow expose our residents (or at least our leaders) to the fact that we are barely keeping up. It feels like a lot is going on here, but MORE is happening in other cities. And more doesn't just mean private investment, it means PUBLIC investment laying the groundwork for future private investment.

Look at our long-term project horizon in KC. Its pretty dry. Most of what is getting built today is stuff we have been planning for 5-10 years. What are we planning for the next 5-10 years?
I agree and hasn't our business leaders/economic development leaders say we want to compete with Omaha, Des Moines, Tulsa, they don't want to take the city to the next level and compete with Minneapolis, Detroit, Denver
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Re: Kansas, Missouri battle over companies

Post by pash »

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kboish
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Re: Kansas, Missouri battle over companies

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pash wrote:
KC should absolutely be planning to respond to Amazon's RFP.
No disagreement from me.

I don't mean to berate those that are hopeful it happens either, but I just feel it is at times like this that it is just as important to remind people (and i'm not referring to you here, pash) that this is the reason many of us are advocating for all of these amenities. They are not vanity projects as many suggest, they are the foundation for attracting and cultivating a better city.

I'd definitely be ecstatic to be proven wrong and somehow KC ends up winning this and we get one of the several mega-projects that come along with it (east village, north loop, transit, etc)

My concern is, none of these projects are far enough along that Amazon would want to jump on the wagon and finish them out. They are currently, as you say, pie-in the sky dreams with zero political or municipal action behind them. And you are right about this, pash, it is our responsibility to push them forward and get these projects moving. We can do this by helping the community connect the dots between these rare (and likely missed) opportunities and our larger visionary efforts.
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Re: Kansas, Missouri battle over companies

Post by flyingember »

In a future we don't get the HQ the best thing Amazon could do for KC is to seriously review the proposal and make the reasons public.

The equation suddenly changes from one of "I like things the way they are" to "how can we fix things so this doesn't happen again"

Not getting 50,000 jobs and having a list of reasons would do wonders to push through the political will.
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Re: Kansas, Missouri battle over companies

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Kansas City hopes to woo Amazon for company's second headquarters

KC Area Development Council to take lead on bid

http://www.kmbc.com/article/kansas-city ... s/12194000

6 US Cities Amazon Should Consider for its Second HQ

1. Kansas City
Possibly the nation's most underrated tech hub, Kansas City was one of the first Google Fiber markets and is home to Sprint. The city has terrific internet connectivity, it has been nurturing tech startups in the Crossroads neighborhood, land is affordable, the airport has nonstop flights to all the right places, and the local government has a very pro-tech stance. Kansas City's primary downside is its lack of international flights. "Kansas City International Airport" holds its title because of flights to Toronto and Cancun, which isn't the globe-spanning range Amazon wants.
https://www.pcmag.com/news/356056/6-cit ... headquarte

The other cities mentioned are Dallas-Ft. Worth, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and Charlotte.
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FangKC
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Re: Kansas, Missouri battle over companies

Post by FangKC »

Where are the new jobs? Studies say Missouri winning border war

For years Kansas created the most new jobs in the Metro. That's not the case now.


The report says Kansas is 50th in job creation nationally. Missouri is 14th in the nation for new jobs. The last three years, Missouri has accounted for 78% of new jobs in the Metro.

http://www.kmbc.com/article/where-are-t ... r/12842366

https://kceconomy.org/
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Re: Kansas, Missouri battle over companies

Post by bobbyhawks »

50th? I never believed Brownback's governing style and tax philosophy would lead to good things, but 50th is literally the worst you can do. Turns out Ayn Rand was an idiot.
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Re: Kansas, Missouri battle over companies

Post by Highlander »

bobbyhawks wrote:50th? I never believed Brownback's governing style and tax philosophy would lead to good things, but 50th is literally the worst you can do. Turns out Ayn Rand was an idiot.
Obviously Brownback's economic policies were destructive across the board but I wonder how much the "Border War" contributed to Kansas achieving the 50th spot for job creation. While it created jobs on the surface, in the background, it was bankrupting the state by essentially buying jobs at a very high price that contributed absolutely nothing to the state's economy while the funds to purchase more jobs were evaporating due to his tax policy. An unsustainable positive feedback loop.
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Re: Kansas, Missouri battle over companies

Post by flyingember »

Highlander wrote:
bobbyhawks wrote:50th? I never believed Brownback's governing style and tax philosophy would lead to good things, but 50th is literally the worst you can do. Turns out Ayn Rand was an idiot.
Obviously Brownback's economic policies were destructive across the board but I wonder how much the "Border War" contributed to Kansas achieving the 50th spot for job creation. While it created jobs on the surface, in the background, it was bankrupting the state by essentially buying jobs at a very high price that contributed absolutely nothing to the state's economy while the funds to purchase more jobs were evaporating due to his tax policy. An unsustainable positive feedback loop.
It's worse than that. They didn't cut money needed to purchase jobs, they cut the taxes funding the jobs that were bought with incentives.

http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics ... 85532.html
By Zakoura’s tabulations — through records requests he’s made in hopes that lawmakers repeal the policy — Kansas is forgoing tax revenues on billions of dollars in annual business income (including his). He says that rescinding the exemption would raise at least $260 million in needed revenue year after year. Even fans of the tax gift say that figure is near the mark.
They needed to replace this $290 million with 86,600 net new jobs at around $70k on average without any incentives being paid out for them.

in KS someone making about $70k pays about $3000 in taxes.
2.7% on the first $15,000 of taxable income. 4.6% on taxable income of $15,001 and more

They went supply side not caring the tax money was tied up already and it didn't work. It just made other budget issues way worse because the taxes cut weren't funding extra or entitlement programs, it was funding necessities like roads

So when they had to start cutting roads, schools and other basics they cut the things businesses look at for where to locate and that's another feedback loop right there.

What they should have done is made a promise that for every 10,000 new jobs without incentives that they would lower taxes by some amount and cut off any future incentives handouts, saying that tax cuts would do the same thing.
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Re: Kansas, Missouri battle over companies

Post by joshmv »

500 new jobs in Kansas for UnitedHealth seems like a little bit of good news.

http://kcur.org/post/unitedhealth-group ... s#stream/0
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Re: Kansas, Missouri battle over companies

Post by beautyfromashes »

^ I've heard that working at that place is hell.
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Re: Kansas, Missouri battle over companies

Post by joshmv »

beautyfromashes wrote:^ I've heard that working at that place is hell.
3.3/5 with over 6000 reviews on Glassdoor. Seems pretty average for that kind of company. I figured you’d be chiming in though.
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Re: Kansas, Missouri battle over companies

Post by beautyfromashes »

joshmv wrote:I figured you’d be chiming in though.
That’s funny! You work there, right?
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Re: Kansas, Missouri battle over companies

Post by flyingember »

I figure it like working at any large national employer with a generally bad reputation and runs call centers
kboish
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Re: Kansas, Missouri battle over companies

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Downtown KC attracts 400 jobs from Overland Park
Swiss Re, a reinsurance company based in Switzerland, plans to relocate its Overland Park office and 400 jobs to downtown Kansas City.

The move is expected in late 2018; the company will lease space at One Kansas City Place at 1200 Main Street.
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