At the Nexus of North American Trade

In this month's Ingram's we focus on two related industries--transportation and hospitality. We at Ingram's have a vested interest in both, as our prosperity is synonymous with the prosperity of the Kansas City area and states of Missouri and Kansas.

As an independent, privately-owned company with ten employees and no account- ability to any corporation or political interest group, we are uniquely able to help position the region and promote its economic vitality. We are in the position to state responsibly what is true and fair and rally leaders around it--without looking over our shoulder.

And what a rally co-sponsors Burns & McDonnell, Blackwell Sanders Peper Martin and Ingram's staged this month. Senators Kit Bond of Missouri and Pat Roberts of Kansas chaired our monthly Industry Outlook on the transportation industry as it relates to the Kansas City metropolitan area and the bi-state. Never before have we convened such a high-powered assembly with information exchanged in such candid a fashion. The event, we're confident, has helped to lay the groundwork for future progress and regional collaboration as many previous Ingram's Industry Outlooks and assemblies have done.

A consensus seemed to have emerged from the forum, and it goes something like this: NAFTA has helped reorient American commerce from its traditional east-west axis to a north-south one. This reorientation puts Kansas City squarely at the crossroads no matter how you look at it. The Kansas City area may lack the population to be a great passenger hub and the experience to be a high tech center, but no one can deny its unique centralized position or its exceptional, if financially challenged, infrastructure.

There's more: Security concerns post-September 11 put a great emphasis on providing a swifter, smarter, more secure trade facilitation. Kansas City is well positioned to provide this facilitation and establish itself as the great inland port in the central United States. The area has the political backing in Washington DC to make this happen. We have initiated the studies and laid much of the groundwork. And now--the critical part--we need strong unified leadership to step up and seize the initiative. Nothing will happen without it.

In Ingram's Economic Development Assembly this month in St. Joseph we saw just this kind of community will and cooperation. We can only hope economic development agencies that compete within KC's metropolitan area, particularly the states of Missouri and Kansas, would look to St. Joseph as a model of collaboration. We hope that our government officials and leaders of business and industry will not sacrifice the long-term common good for the sake of their own short-term self-interest. Regional success in this competitive era will only be achieved through cohesion and collaboration.

If, however, we can establish ourselves as "the" inland port, we will build on the region's intrinsic Midwest virtues--the virtues that derive from ample space and are not found on any border anywhere--affordability, accessibility, centrality, congeniality, and a powerful work ethic.

In addition to transportation, these virtues will form the bedrock of an increasingly stable and profitable hospitality industry. We will cease trying to be what we are not-- or what we once were--and instead grow prosperous by focusing on what we can become--uniquely positioned, as we are at the nexus of North American trade. We encourage your involvement and welcome your input. Editor-In-Chief & Publisher jsweeney@ingramsonline.com

We encourage your involvement and welcom your input

Editor-In-Chief & Publisher
jsweeney@ingramsonline.com