KCRag Forum

One was the riverfront park, rest were suburban types including Olathe. We didn't try sell them the best we have to offer (Northloop, I 70, CX East etc). IMHO it was a total waste of everyone's time, effort, and money to put together a bid that included these sucky sites.

I don't think it is fair to put it all on the site. Nashville, Columbus, Pittsburgh, Raleigh do all have top 60 universities located in the city. Indianapolis has some top universities in the rest of the state, and close to Illinois', which has a some great universities.

But yeah, our sites were shit.

We deserved to lose it. maybe this will help us understand that the rest of the world doesn't want to live like we do. We think that we have everything figured out and the rest of the world does it wrong i.e. Truman sports complex, corporate wood and the Cerner complex. Maybe some day, long after we're all dead and gone, we'll learn how to city.

mister816 wrote:We deserved to lose it. maybe this will help us understand that the rest of the world doesn't want to live like we do. We think that we have everything figured out and the rest of the world does it wrong i.e. Truman sports complex, corporate wood and the Cerner complex. Maybe some day, long after we're all dead and gone, we'll learn how to city.

At least we make it the article for one of the gimmicky pitches
https://www.yahoo.com/news/amazon-picks ... 00457.html

I honestly think its down to 1 of the 3 DC area spots, Atlanta and Boston

The sites didn't help, but with something like this, I think the sites are negotiable. If Amazon said they liked everything but the sites, there's 10 new proposed sites immediately.

It's the fundamentals that matter:
- UMKC is a nice but not top-rated college. Even KU & MU are meh when judged nationwide.
- Transit is still a joke if you don't live within the core. JoCo transit doesn't even run in the evenings or weekends.
- KC's crime problem is getting worse while other, larger, cities are doing better. Etc,etc.

And all this is to say we still have no idea really what's being offered financially by the finalists. The reports are disturbing about allowing Amazon to dictate the game in some proposals. KC does need to release their full proposal now that it's over, though I'm not holding my breath.

I hear everyone talk about universities and don’t understand that knock on us as a candidate. We are the largest metro area to:
KState, KU, Nebraska, MU, MSU, ISU, etc. not count MS&T and other smaller universities.

beautyfromashes wrote:I hear everyone talk about universities and don’t understand that knock on us as a candidate. We are the largest metro area to:
KState, KU, Nebraska, MU, MSU, ISU, etc. not count MS&T and other smaller universities.

KU and UMKC are the only schools close enough to partner with KC firms for school term internships and such. The other schools are many hours away.

1. while i'd rather see KC on the list, than not on the list, does anyone really think this is a legitimate search? the way amazon is run, i would bet anything they decided where HQ2 would be located well before the RFP request. The RFP request is clearly marketing and not a legitimate process. even if pressed, i doubt Amazon could explain to anyone why several cities are on the list and why several other cities are not on the list.

2. i think all signs point to HQ2 going to the DC area. 3 DC-area locations out of 20 on the list. also, Bezos has made several widely-publicized pivots towards washington - buying the Washington Post, buying a $30M home in DC (where he'll host politicos and influencers), and generally raising his profile politically. it's hard to square Bezos's manifest interest in DC with HQ2 later going to, say, Dallas, Miami, Denver, etc.

i'm guessing Amazon wanted to go to DC metro all along - so in this respect, the list may actually be legit insofar as putting MD, VA, and DC on the list may cause a bidding war to entice amazon into one or another corner of the metro that amazon long-ago decided was their choice.

beautyfromashes wrote:I hear everyone talk about universities and don’t understand that knock on us as a candidate. We are the largest metro area to:
KState, KU, Nebraska, MU, MSU, ISU, etc. not count MS&T and other smaller universities.

I'm not saying those are bad schools at all, I'm just saying that almost every city/area that made the list had at least one university that was much more highly ranked located within the city, with the exception of Denver and Indianapolis. In fact, having a University in the metro that ranks higher than 60 in the U.S. News and World reports rankings is probably the closest thing to a unifying factor that these cities have, even higher than rail transit. KU is 115. UMKC is 216.

Not that lower ranked schools give a worse education, I'm just saying that that is a metric that Amazon seems to have used.

I bet you would find a strong computer science program at the majority of the schools in the towns picked.

ldai_phs wrote: KU and UMKC are the only schools close enough to partner with KC firms for school term internships and such. The other schools are many hours away.

I’m sure the discussion about universities is more about providing quality job candidates than internships. They could be the major destination business for 3-4 very large universities. I would think that better than trying to compete with many other Fortune 500 companies for candidates from one major university.

Internships are a very important part of the recruitment process.
Philadelphia's proposal included a site literally across the street from 2 Universities both with around 20K students(Drexel and Penn). There is no way you can compare a number of meh state universities within a day's drive to 2 medium sized good universities across the street.
I think we are lying to ourselves if we try to say Nebraska, ISU, MU, K-State, etc provide the caliber and quantity of candidates that the schools of winning cities do.
Kansas City needs to develop a top 60 University within the city. STl has Wash U. Nashville has Vanderbilt. Chicago has UChicago. KC needs its own competitive school. The easiest and most efficient way would likely be to take UMKC and convert it into some type of private university.

^ Totally agree. Would be better to have a solid university within the city. I just don’t think it was near the handicap that people are portraying. There were many other reasons we lost more than that piece, IMO.

It's clear that robust rail transportation was valued less than education - Indy, Pittsburgh, Raleigh, Columbus and Austin all reflect that.

Agree and has been discussed often. Lack of a strong university within metro was possibly a factor as AMZ mentioned access to a major university as a preference. KU is not a bad school but not considered part of metro and not on many top 100 lists. Lack of high profile university in region (outside animal health) is likely to be a long term challenge for KC to step into the next tier (airport was too but now resolved). Other cities like Nashville are revving up to pass up KC, Columbus could too and maybe Indy. UMKC needs to find a way to step up their game with research. KC has been grabbing a lot of attention with Smart City initiatives but the university systems are not fully embracing it to the degree they should. And UMKC has not capitalized on Stowers Institute as much as expected even though they still team up.

Now that an airport solution is in progress and transit is in an improving direction, building up UMKC's clout should perhaps be a top 3 priority (along with city schools and crime). And would help if KU could sync up more with KC metro's industry opportunities outside med center.

If we want a university in the city with a strong technology UMKC should push for a better partnership with Missouri Science & Technology. It’s a great university with a good national reputation but is in a very tiny town. Would be mutually beneficial to both universities.

M S&T can't reach its full potential in its current location. IMHO it needs to be either moved to KC/STL.

ldai_phs wrote:M S&T can't reach its fullpotential in its current location

Yes, and I’ve heard they are having difficulty recruiting students due to not being in a major city.

beautyfromashes wrote:

ldai_phs wrote:M S&T can't reach its fullpotential in its current location

Yes, and I’ve heard they are having difficulty recruiting students due to not being in a major city.

Even the rural and small-town Ivy League schools are having this problem