Accomplishments

The first question was something of a softball, but one that has grown a lot easier to hit. “Which economic development accomplishments in the last few years are you, as a Topekan, the most proud of?”

“I think Topeka’s a big home run,” said Mike Orozco, continuing the baseball metaphor. A recent transplant from South Florida now with the U.S. Bank—Kansas Region, Orozco has been impressed “by the positive things I’ve seen in the community, in terms of being able to attract development.” He likes the attitude of the people as well. “I’m really impressed by the quality of the people in business in all facets of the community,” he added.

Jim Parrish, of the Parrish Hotel Management Corporation, expressed particular pride in the progress of the greater Topeka Chamber of Commerce, especially in terms of its encouragement of “ideas and its motivation.” The work has resulted in some impressive new assets, like the Target distribution center. Linda Ramirez Gonzales, who has been deeply involved with both the Chamber and Go Topeka, has been particularly pleased that this economic energy has helped bring in a lot of new jobs and retained a lot of existing jobs as well.

John Myers with the City of Topeka attributed much of the recent success to the passage of an economic development sales tax, which “has moved Topeka and Shawnee County to being a real player.” Myers believes that the tax has made Topeka “as competitive as any community in the Midwest.”

David Stremming, president of the Metropolitan Topeka Airport Authority, agreed. “I think the passing of the sales tax has had the greatest initial impact and the potential greatest impact in the next 10 years.”

Lucky DeFries, partner with Coffman, DeFries & Nothern is most proud of the effort that spawned Go Topeka. There had been other efforts in the past to jumpstart economic development, but this one succeeded. Now, people can see the “energy and momentum” and are eager to jump on board.

What preceded the effort and made it viable, argued Ted Ensley of Shawnee County, was the cooperation that’s been taking place between the city and county government. “Without that,” he added, “I don’t think the sales tax would have taken place.”

“If we didn’t all get together and have that sales tax or that money,” agreed Duane Fager of Commerce Bank and Trust, “we’d be singing a different tune this morning. This is just a terrific community.”

“Things have turned around so much in Topeka,” Connie Goodnow of the Topeka Board of Realtors affirmed. She noted that the area’s newly unified leadership “has had a bigger impact on Topeka than anything I’ve seen recently.”

“We’re becoming a can-do community,” Andy Jetter of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Topeka attested. Citizens now believe that things can happen, and they are motivated to make them happen. “I see that change in people (I) talk to every day here,” Jetter added. “It’s exciting.”

Joe Aleshire with Capitol Federal attributed Topeka’s resurgence to “enthusiasm and energy.” Mark Wittenburg, representing Batis Development and Go Topeka, thought the area’s recent success was due to “focus, everyday.” He argued that the biggest challenge faced by this community was the ability to identify the right projects to focus on and pursue.

“We’ve been very focused on what we can do,” Jerry Farley affirmed. “People now believe that positive things are going to happen. Once you believe things are going to happen, it’s more likely to occur.”

Following up on this line of thought, Jim Haines of Westar Energy commended Topeka for its ability “to focus on a particular project and see it through to completion.” He cited the ED sales tax and the Target Distribution Centers as examples. “When a project like that gets identified, the community has the ability to bring a variety of interest groups together, to get them to set aside what their particular agenda might be and to focus on getting this particular project accomplished. That’s a very impressive ability that this community has.”