We are all Kansas Citians Now

On the weekend of October 4th and 5th, the sun shone more sweetly on Kansas City than it has in a long time. Tens of thousands gathered at the venerable American Royal, many thousands more at the Kansas Speedway. Many other thousands descended on the Renaissance Festival in Bonner Springs. And at the Truman Sports Complex, the site of the Royals first pennant race in several decades, Dante Hall and the Kansas City Chiefs bedazzled the Denver Broncos and a national audience to remain undefeated and surge atop the National Football League.

More than a century of economic development initiatives culminated that glorious weekend. And from either side of the state line, from one end of the metropolitan area to the other, everyone was proud to be in and from "Kansas City," the hometown of us all. As should always be the case, we found our strength in unity.

This issue we explore many of the initiatives that will keep Kansas City unified and growing through the 21st century. And as with the Chiefs and the Royals, adversity has a way of making us more willing to share and celebrate our mutual success.

Our well-attended Industry Outlook forum on economic development was noticeably more collegial than the first one we held two years ago. ED professionals on either side of the state line have come to understand that we are competing not against each other but against other metro areas and the world, and the way to win that competition is to cooperate.

Destination Northland focuses on that one area that shows perhaps the most potential to seize the growth opportunities that is available. There is no denying the role that KCI has played in this, but there's no denying too the improved cooperation and collective power between Platte and Clay Counties and the streamlining of development processes within the various northland jurisdictions.

The Kansas City urban core, as the reader will see, is likewise showing real signs of genuine indigenous growth, the kind that has life beyond the blueprints.

As Jack Cashill's column suggests, however, one entity that should be leading the charge for renewal has lost its way--The Kansas City Star. This among other things we attribute to the corrupting power of its monopoly status. We at Ingram's felt the sting of that power a few years back when The Star joined a cartel with--of all entities--the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce. Together, they publish a business magazine that attempts to mimic the look, the feel, and the distribution of Ingram's.

Indeed, each time we see a feature of ours newly copied, we have to ask--What in God's name is a leadership organization doing competing with business and its own membership? A chamber's role is to foster local business, not undermine it. If the Kansas City area is to thrive as a fertile region for growing successful small businesses, leaders must demand that organizations established to support businesses should not, under any circumstance, compete with them.

All that said, the one thing that the Star-Chamber (hey, that's a catchy name!) cartel lacks is our entrepreneurial zeal, and that fortunately, makes all the difference in the world.

Thanks to the many organizations and area cities and counties for making this such a great issue. We genuinely hope to see the Kansas City area's momentum continue to build strong in the coming years.

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