What are your five big things for Kansas City?

[shinatoo]

Maybe not the place for it but Lewis Diguid (sp?) had an interesting column this morning.  Usually, I find Diguid a bit of a bore but this was a nice cheerleading piece for Kansas City....

http://voices.kansascity.com/entries/cu ... ted-about/

His last name is an anagram. "Diuguid"

[Highlander]

His last name is an anagram. "Diuguid"

Isn't that a palindrome?

[shinatoo]

Isn't that a palindrome?

Yeah, that's it. I was just testing you.

[pash]

.

[KCMax]

Chamber has cut 200 ideas to 20

http://dnakcmo.org/uploads/2/8/4/9/2849 ... _to_20.pdf

My favorites:
1. Grow downtown population by 40,000 by creating housing inventory
2. Create a creative boulevard of arts from 18th and Vine to the Westside
3. Improve regional transit
4. Downtown performing arts campus
5. Develop bike lanes and trails

I like some of the ideas regarding business, but they either seem too vague (leverage regional assets to develop entrepreneurship) rather toothless (regional metro business plan), or not the role of government (organization to support animal health corridor).

Thoughts?

[KCMax]

‘Big 5’ ideas could make Kansas City stand out

They are:
•Holding what’s being called “The World’s Symposium on Animal Health.”
•“The Making of America’s Most Entrepreneurial City.”
•“The Kansas City Regional Translational Research Institute.”
•“The New UMKC Downtown Conservatory.”
•“The Urban Core Neighborhood Initiative.”

[KCMax]

ECity’ gets a boost from KC area entrepreneurs

The pluses: The area has a strong Midwestern work ethic and stable workforce, a good transportation infrastructure, great cultural amenities and philanthropic giving, a relatively low cost of living, some outstanding schools, and entrepreneurial support from the Kauffman Foundation and the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

The minuses: lagging inner city cores, difficulty recruiting high-tech talent, a shortage of angel investors and bank funding, a “flyover” reputation from the coasts, fragmentation of assets around a sprawling metropolitan area, and an overall mindset that avoids risk.

[kboish]

At a meeting i attended last week a United Way rep stated they were going to announce what neighborhood/corridor they would be targeting for the urban neighborhood initiative. I didn't hear anything...did i miss it? Not a good sign if they've pushed it back again...they were supposed to have announced by the 1st of January, but for some reason have not. The united way person made it seem as if they have an area targeted.

I have to say the presentation they gave about what this will turn into was less than impressive...they don't seem to have a clue where its going and came across as very unenthusiastic about it, as if the chamber bascially shoved this into their lap w/o asking.

[brewcrew1000]

At a meeting i attended last week a United Way rep stated they were going to announce what neighborhood/corridor they would be targeting for the urban neighborhood initiative. I didn't hear anything...did i miss it? Not a good sign if they've pushed it back again...they were supposed to have announced by the 1st of January, but for some reason have not. The united way person made it seem as if they have an area targeted.

Maybe they had an area set and then changed it when Brad Pitt announced that big school development, so my guess would be Manheim Park

[AJoD]

I have heard that they picked the area and are scheduled to announce by the end of the month.

[KCMax]

Chamber zeroes in on Troost corridor for Big5 effort

The Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, in cooperation with the United Way of Greater Kansas City, will showcase its neighborhood improvement goals on Monday at the Nutter Ivanhoe Neighborhood Center.

The facility, at 3700 Woodland, is in the heart of an area that is targeted for the chamber’s Big 5 Urban Neighborhood Initiative.

The chamber last year chose five metro-wide goals to pursue. One of them was to marshal forces to attack decay and foster jobs in a specific part of the metropolitan core.

[FangKC]

KC Star article about business leaders' iniative to rebuild nine inner city neighborhoods between Troost and 71 Highway between 22nd and 52nd streets.

The Urban Neighborhood Initiative hopes to:

Boost prosperity

Promote health and safety

Improve education

Revitalizing urban neighborhoods was one of five big ideas to better the community that the Chamber of Commerce of Greater Kansas City identified in 2011.

http://www.kansascity.com/2012/10/04/38 ... inner.html

[bobbyhawks]

I was able to see a presentation from the Chamber of Commerce recently, and I learned that they are about to update the 5 big things for KC. They are considering Animal Health corridor done and will essentially transition stewardship of the "Making KC America’s Most Entrepreneurial City” to another entity within the next few months. The thought is that the "most entrepreneurial city" title is never completed and that someone must maintain this vision into the future. A meeting is going to be scheduled for Feb. 7th to brainstorm ~20 new ideas that will be voted down to 2. So, the current list is as follows:

•“The Kansas City Regional Translational Research Institute.”
•“The New UMKC Downtown Conservatory.”
•“The Urban Core Neighborhood Initiative.”
•TBD
•TBD

What two ideas do you think should be added to the list? Anyone with Chamber influence, now is your time to whisper in someone's ear.

[flyingember]

promote KC as a place for international office locations.

think of that company from Marsailles setting up shop in the crossroads. bring in expertise and resources needed to make opening an office in KC as easy as possible.

it could be a good coordinating item with a new airport

[KCMax]

Universal preschool program (like San Antonio). This could actually be something the city itself could do about the awful school district.

Regulatory overhaul and flexibility - business consistently cite red tape as a barrier. Look at each regulation to determine whether it still needs to be applied, and whether it needs to be applied in all cases or if we should grant variances.

[bobbyhawks]

promote KC as a place for international office locations.

think of that company from Marsailles setting up shop in the crossroads. bring in expertise and resources needed to make opening an office in KC as easy as possible.

it could be a good coordinating item with a new airport

+1 - I really like this idea.

KC - Hop, skip, and jump.

[smh]

Become America's most livable city based on walkability, affordability and happiness. Imagine the development opportunities and press coverage when one of America's most sprawl-heavy cities commits itself to righting the ship and returning to the development-style that originally made it great by emphasizing people over autos.

[bobbyhawks]

Become America's most livable city based on walkability, affordability and happiness. Imagine the development opportunities and press coverage when one of America's most sprawl-heavy cities commits itself to righting the ship and returning to the development-style that originally made it great by emphasizing people over autos.

I love the goal, but I find it difficult to believe that Cerner, Garmin, Sprint, etc., with their sprawling, exurban, parking lot laden campuses, would embrace this in the way you envision.

[smh]

Become America's most livable city based on walkability, affordability and happiness. Imagine the development opportunities and press coverage when one of America's most sprawl-heavy cities commits itself to righting the ship and returning to the development-style that originally made it great by emphasizing people over autos.

I love the goal, but I find it difficult to believe that Cerner, Garmin, Sprint, etc., with their sprawling, exurban, parking lot laden campuses, would embrace this in the way you envision.

Understood--I suppose I'm considering this more from a City perspective than a regional perspective. But as far as items that could have the biggest impact, I think increased density is in the top 5.

[Eon Blue]

#4 - Shovel Your %&*# Damn Sidewalks!