KC should become the 51st state
Recently, The New York Times featured Kansas City’s economic border war. The Times blasted development incentives that entice firms back and forth across the state line.
In December, SelectQuote won $5 million from Kansas to move a few blocks from its Missouri home. Kansas also awarded AMC $36 million last year, same story. Days later, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback cut $104 million from the state education budget.
In retaliation, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon lured Applebee’s from Lenexa to Ward Parkway with a $13 million subsidy. Shortly thereafter, Missouri officials cut the early childhood education program.
These mega-incentive giveaway programs have direct consequences. Lawmakers offer short-term gains for a few on the backs of long-term investments for many.
Even area civic leaders lobbied for a cease-fire in a joint letter to the two governors.
Many families live in the region because they think their children will get a superior education. According to the Brookings Institute, an educated population is tied to better jobs and higher salaries.
So gutting the education budget hurts Kansas City, the region and ultimately the entire nation. I’m proposing the one alternative that will bring us together, put our fate back in our own hands and give us a unified voice: One Kansas City, the 51st state.
One Kansas City could carve its own future. University of Missouri-Kansas City could become the University of Kansas City, where our best and brightest get a boost toward excellent careers.
KU Medical Center and Children’s Mercy Hospital could join forces as a health care powerhouse for children and a national research hub for cancer. Such a union of health care organizations could prepare our city for an aging population.
We could resolve stormwater issues together and create cleaner air. Collaborating to achieve common goals, our transportation would not be the ninth worst peak-hour commute and our neighborhoods 33rd on walkability.
Moreover, we could stop the Border War madness. In 1950, Kansas City was the 17th largest metropolitan area in the country. Now we are 27th.
In fact, many lists fail to even include Kansas City because they split the population by the state line. In a future of global megacities, we need to capture all our assets collectively to remain relevant.
We are the hub of a vibrant region, in terms of agriculture and transportation. We boast a model of walkability and mixed uses with the Plaza.
We enjoy one of the most vibrant arts communities outside of New York. But we compete in parts, instead of as a whole. And that only hurts us.
These two states are not unifying us. They are pulling us apart. They don’t consider the whole city.
Instead the governors use Kansas City as a war zone, a boxing match, a competition. They only care about their half.
And half of Kansas City is not a major league city. We would not have professional sports, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, the Plaza, a robust network of community colleges, KU Medical Center, Sprint Arena, the Liberty Memorial, or the Kansas City Zoo.
Imagine a future for Kansas City as a visionary city-state, a place seen as a national and global leader. In the 1951 painting “The Spirit of Kansas City,” Norman Rockwell envisioned Kansas City as a vibrant metropolis of livestock, crops, planes, and blueprints.
In the 21st century, we can build jobs from manufacturing, agriculture, art, education, livability, entrepreneurism and the fastest digital infrastructure in the world. Let’s pool our resources, and become One Kansas City, in hearts, minds, and actions, if not in fact as the 51st state.
Cindy Frewen Wuellner is an architect and urban futurist. To reach her, send email to oped@kcstar.com or write to Midwest Voices, c/o Editorial Page, The Kansas City Star, 1729 Grand Blvd., Kansas City, MO 64108.
George Hunsucker
Northland
5 months agoah, I think I will pass on this option to become part of an even larger dysfunctional KC….
Appreciate the offer to help fix sewage systems….
Glen Enloe
4 months, 4 weeks agoI hesitate saying anything about this weird urban pipe dream. You’ve been eating or smoking too much globaloney.
George Calys
4 months, 2 weeks agoWhether a 51st state is the answer or some greatly improved form of regional government, the premise that coordinated, not competing, uses of financial resources makes a lot of sense. Not to mention better coordination of environmental, planning, educational, and housing needs.
That being said, there are many folks who like things just as they are, so any new formation of regional governments is not imminent. But Ms. Frewen-Wellner’s willingness to explore the issue is to be applauded.
Cindy Frewen Wuellner
4 months, 2 weeks agoThanks George, for your good ideas. It’s a matter of thinking as a whole city more than actually constructing another layer at this point.
KC wants to be known for innovation, jobs, quality of living, cool places, good bbq and arts, even good pro sports teams hopefully soon. We can come together on this, if we put our minds to it. I think it’s essential if we hope to prosper in the long run. Working together should be a drum beat in our conversations.
Best regards, Cindy
Cindy Frewen Wuellner
4 months, 2 weeks agoTo All Commenters: Thank you for reading and for taking the time to comment. It is a hypothetical, or a weird urban pipe dream - with an underlying purpose of cohesion and strategic vision for the entire region. Cities in the US are at a turning point. 20% are shrinking, 20% are growing, the others are basically in balance. KC is a slow growth city, mid market, mid size, which puts us at risk. So we need to work together, to make sure we tip forward, not back.
Your comments show that you too know there’s an issue and care about the city.
Agree, the sewer cost in KC is terrible. Forward thinking cities are choosing to lighten their infrastructure, rather than create such mega-engineered, rigid, costly solutions. KC must become very very strategic, and this solution was not that. I can’t blame anyone except that the deciders and designers were not given enough constraints. They did not have any goal for resource allocation. That heavy centralized cost to residents was in my opinion a backward looking answer. So now what? a burden to us all? well, it might be part of the solution. Because if parts of the city are damaged at all, and become blighted as a consequence, it will hurt us all. Instead, we have to find answers that lift all of us, and show us new ways ahead. Stormwater is one of those issues that we all share collectively. I think we are better than this solution, and challenge us to prove it. Now we will have to live with it, show how we can do that well, even take advantage of the investment and share that as well as the burden, and learn from it.
Urban negotiations are among the most critical skills for cities in this century.
I hope that you all keep reading, thinking, and writing. There is a second location for this article that has more comments: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/01/18/4019274/cindy-frewen-wuellner-kc-should.html
Best regards,
Cindy @urbanverse