Kansas City Mayor Urges Continued Development
Mayor Kay Barnes urged the city’s more than 30 candidates to continue the downtown renaissance that has placed Kansas City at the forefront of urban redevelopment nationally.
Barnes addressed a record crowd of more than 250 members of the Clay/Platte Development Corporation Jan. 31 at the Hilton Kansas City Airport Hotel. She noted the upcoming city election that marks her retirement as mayor after two terms, and urged candidates to continue downtown redevelopment with new and larger visions of their own.
“I’ve been disappointed to hear some who believe it’s time to stop pursuing economic development and focus on neighborhood concerns,” she said.
“Neighborhood concerns are important, but neighborhood concerns are inextricably connected to economic development. There has to be a healthy core-not just for this city, but for this region.”
Barnes also noted major advances at Kansas City International Airport where economic development is being supported by creation of a high-tech air-cargo hub, and at the former Richards-Gebaur air base, where a new inland port will position Kansas City as a trade center with both Mexico and Canada.
“The magnitude of that is huge,” she noted. “I don’t know how to overstate that.”
Former CPDC Chair Kelley Martin, who noted the more than $4.5 billion in construction under way downtown, introduced Barnes.
The CPDC provides low-interest, fixed-rate loans for business growth, including the creation and retention of jobs for projects in Clay and Platte counties, and elsewhere in Missouri.