--Royals should move downtown...Kauffman is in wrong location.
--Entertainment district would be 7 blocks.
--NHL and NBA are interested in new arena.
--"No better basketball region in the country" than KC area.
--Arrowhead is NFL's Wrigley (Kauffman was actually rated equally to Wrigley on ESPN Page 2)
--Wants to expand American Airlines base (LOL!!!!)
Barnes - Individual cooperation key to regional growth
By: Jack "Miles" Ventimiglia - Editor December 04, 2003
Regional economic development highlighted Kansas City Mayor Kay Barnes' address last week to the Liberty Rotary.
Barnes began her talk by putting Kansas City's size of 317 square miles into a world perspective. London, Paris, Boston, Miami and San Francisco could be united and all would fit within Kansas City's municipal boundaries, she said.
"And still have room left over," she said.
Most of Kansas City, 51 percent, is in the Northland, Barnes said.
"We have a challenge in maintaining and constructing the massive infrastructure necessary for the bridges and the roads, the curbs and sidewalks, the sewers," she said.
Kansas City's size creates challenges, but also opportunity, Barnes said. She described Northland development, including in Shoal Creek Valley and at Zona Rosa, as "an explosion of both commercial and residential development."
"Kansas City is leading the metropolitan area, including all communities in Johnson County and Wyan-dotte County, in new housing starts," she said.
Kansas City is gaining population quicker than Johnson County, Kan. Barnes said she has heard from metro newcomers who were directed by real estate agents to Johnson County, but later learned the Northland better suited them. As a result, she said, an effort is under way to get agents to recognize the amenities Clay and Platte counties offer.
Barnes said cooperation between area andstate government and business leaders helped retain the American Airlines overhaul base and about 2,000 jobs in the Platte County portion of Kansas City. The next move, she said, is to try to persuade American to expand the base, she said.
In addition to Northland development, Barnes said downtown economic viability is vital to the region. The downtown represents just 1/90th of the city's geography, but generates 25 percent of the city's earnings tax.
"It is the heart of this region," she said.
Barnes described work and plans in varying stages for a performing arts center; a seven-block entertainment, retail and restaurant district; and an arena and ballroom. Seattle, Denver and Cincinnati are among cities nationally that have benefited from focusing on their downtowns.
The National Hockey League and the National Basketball Association are interested in the arena, Barnes said.
"In terms of the NBA, there is a recognition that there's no better basketball region in the country," she said. "I'm very hopeful that we will be on their radar screen." The Royals should consider moving downtown, Barnes said.
"Kauffman Stadium is ... not in the right location for a baseball stadium," Barnes said, as baseball franchises elsewhere are moving in or near downtowns. "It's happening virtually everyplace. ... The economics for the team is much better when they are in a downtown."
But Barnes said Arrowhead is becoming "the Wrigley Field of the NFL," with a feeling to the stadium that fans would not want to change.
Barnes is not only the first woman to serve as Kansas City's mayor, also the first Northland mayor. She moved north of the Missouri River near the end of her first term. "Because I grew up in St. Joe, my perception of Kansas City was always from the north," Barnes said. "When I moved back north of the river, after having lived south for over 40 years, people said to me, 'Well, isn't it strange living north of the river?' as if it is some sort of unusual experience. And I said, 'Not at all,' because it really feels to me as if I'm coming back home."
©Sun-News of the Northland 2003