After flirting with a decade of progress...Is Kansas City done?

[luzianne]

Originally Posted by shindig

Oh jeesh, here we go again. For somebody that doesn't even live in KC, kcmo sure seems to think he knows what's going on in this town. Go freaking post on the DC board, nobody here cares what you think!!!!! Always doom and gloom. KC is growing its urban core, continues to add new residents downtown and new projects like the PAC are coming online, along with Jury leading the way to get a new downtown hotel developed, but all you do is ***** about what KC is not doing. Maybe you come on here because you feel like you betrayed the city you love and moved out East...deal with it, but please quit posting all this crap about how the city is failing in "your" view...it gets old, really freaking old. I'm surprised you didn't throw in a KU rant (didn't you see a fan at the Chiefs game wearing a KU hat?....God forbid, no wonder why this city is going down hill.

End of rant....

Hey, I like you!

[shindig]

kcmo, you do realize Barnes already ran 2 terms, she couldn't run again in the 2008 election. I liked Barnes and I think she did a lot in her "second" term. Her first term was very similar to Funks. Nothing happened in dt from 2000-2004, except several large employers left for greener pastures (Shook Hardy Bacon and Bank Midwest) during her first term. I'm in no way advocating Funk could do the same. I think we all know he won't get re-elected, so basically we are stuck with him for one more year. It's going to take a year before a hotel gets approved anyway and it's not necessarily up to the mayor to decide. If the city council, EDC, etc. all support it, it will get built, but I don't see ground breaking until 2012-2013, when Funk is out of office. Also the GSA is still planning on developing an office tower in the East Village that should break ground within a year.

[kcmo]

Yes, I understand all that. But Barnes was thrown under the bus for everything she had done and Funkhouser won largely by running against "the establishment" of Barnes. When Barnes ran for Congress, even most Kansas City area residents voted against her even though she would have brought much needed representation to KC at the federal level.

She is known as pro-development and for some crazy reason, that's a bad thing in KC where developers are generally labeled as corrupt. Funkhouser even straight out called developers all sorts of negative names and the public eats it up . It's amazing anybody has wanted to work with city hall since he has been elected. What's really odd is while KCMO politicians are labeled corrupt for using incentives to rebuild downtown and keep companies from leaving, Kansas politicians somehow get a free ride as being progressive for using even more aggressive incentives to not only steal KCMO jobs, but to build developments on suburban greenfields.

Also, hopefully KC gets that federal building.

But KC should have to fully depend on government buildings for growth. The IRS, Federal Reserve and now East Village project has all been great for downtown (thank god those projects do happen). But the amount of private investment and commitment in KCMO has been pathetic.

I can see what I posted in this thread is simply not something people want to hear. I simply see KC trending back to the way things were in the 80's and 90's and that's not a good trend. If nobody else sees it, fine.

It's not all bad, KC will always be a nice city that can't quite get over the hump and go to the next level. KCMO seemed well on its way to finally getting over that hump when it city sort of ran off course after those amazing years when the city turned itself around. That is something I'm not sure I will ever understand.

Set the bar higher if you ever want to truly excel.

[shindig]

I agree that KC needs a pro-development, pro-business mayor to get the city to the next level...Funk is definitely not the answer and has definitely limited development since he took office. I would like to see something like what OKC has with the MAPS program where 1% of sales taxes increases has gone to the development of Bricktown, Ford Center, the new ballpark, conventions center upgrades, etc....but with all the good things that OKC has done, they are having a real difficult time with infill projects. Their downtown has more surface parking lots than most cities I have seen. Infill development still challenge amid Oklahoma City's downtown revival | NewsOK.com

With most of the older building stock now turned loft or commercial from the crossroads to the rivermarket, I think you'll start to see new infill development. I'm not anticipating any high rise condo towers (which I don't think KC will see for some time), but more 4-5 story infill condos like Bridgeworks in the River market. The demand for housing from the Plaza to the Rivermarket is high, so I think you will continue to see these smaller development projects that might not have the "wow" factor, but they continue to bring in new residents and overtime, create a great urban landscape.