A New “Day” for Local Tourism

Congratulations to Cori Day, our new Tourism Director whose first day on the job is this week. I believe this is one of the most important positions in City Hall. Independence is on the map not for minor-league sports but for our major-league history. And while many other industries are experiencing a downturn, heritage tourism continues to be strong. Reports indicate that visitors to Missouri spent $8 billion while traveling through our state last year. Independence, one of the most historic communities in Missouri, has a lot to offer travelers and tourists, and happens to be on one of the most traveled corridors, I-70. Here is a list of ideas and advice for Cori as she begins this important job:

1) Do a complete audit of the bed-tax (tourism) revenue and the way we handle tourism statistics. Review where past budgets have gone and how sites handle head-counts. It would not surprise me to see staff, volunteers, and even the janitor counted as tourists at some sites.

2) Revive the 12-year-old endeavor to establish a Tourism Visitor’s Center in the old Courthouse. County officials say it will take $8 million for a complete restoration of the interior. Just in the last 10 years, city officials have actually collected $8.5 million in bed-tax revenue that has been designated only to be used for tourism. The resources appear to be available with appropriate planning and priorities.

3) Establish an “Interim” Tourism Visitor’s Center somewhere on the Square until the Courthouse restoration project is complete. Maybe ICC would be interested in partnering in an interim (or permanent) facility using proceeds from Santa-Cali-Gon.

4) Use the Tourism Advisory Board to actually provide advice and input. They are not just there to coordinate schedules and statistics.

5) Push Missouri officials to replace the current under-performing Tourism Welcome Center at the Truman Sports Complex. Again, and as reported on the blog of 10-15-09, “Last Place in the Standings”, it has the lowest head counts of all the state’s Welcome Centers. Yes, even the center in Eagleville, Missouri (population 321) exceeded Kansas City’s head counts by a whopping 50 percent. “Really?” Partner with the State to implement a new state-of-the-art facility at Little Blue Parkway & I-70 with a satellite location at the Independence Square Courthouse.

6) Push Missouri officials to place KC area or, yes, even Independence citizens to serve on both the Missouri Tourism Commission and the Missouri Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. Currently, nobody from the Kansas City region serves on either of these important boards. There are reasons Western Missouri routinely gets left out from the resources coming from Jeff City.

7) Consider reserving tourism budget for sidewalk improvements along historical interpretive paths, maintenance and updates to interpretive signs, and improvements to the National Trails Center such as an elevator to open up additional space on the second floor.

8) Don’t allow other activities in City Hall not related to heritage tourism to use those designated tourism funds. The Events Center was sold to citizens as an investment that pays its own way and that it does not take resources from other parts of town, and in particular, Old Town.

9) Don’t forget the sesquicentennial anniversaries of the local battles and conflicts of the Civil War and Border War in Independence coming up in just a few short years. Coordinate with outside groups and plan events at the battlefield sites.

Under the current direction of the city, none of the above has happened nor is it likely to happen anytime soon until we, as a community, get over our historical self-esteem problems, our short sightedness in vision, and our hearing problems (listening to folks again who say there is no problem we cannot solve without another sales tax). Independence, once called the “Royal Suburbs” and “The Queen City of the Trails”, is now referred to recently in the New York Times as the “Hardscrabble Suburb.” You won’t see that word used in promotional brochures from the local economic development folks.

Neighborhood Revitalization – Gridlock on the Gridiron

The cover story in the KC Star Magazine from the Sunday paper is an article about Ralph Ochsner of Ochsner Hare & Hare, the creator and consultant of the Midtown / Truman Road Corridor (M/TRC) Neighborhood Revitalization project. It’s actually a good article and Ralph is brilliant and very creative but when discussing M/TRC, it requires a reality check. First of all, I believe it is important when doing the math and counting investments, the balance sheet should account for the losses. $85 million is a great total but we lost an $80 million hospital in the process. And if you read earlier blog entries, you may come up with several more items and setbacks to place in the loss column. Determining the overall success without accounting for the losses would be like playing a football game but only counting the scores from your team. In the article, a project was touted where “The front façade of that home was lying in the yard. Both stories were open to the elements, and a homeless guy was living in the basement.” The successful preservation of that circa 1853 building actually had very little to do with Ralph and M/TRC. It was a small group of neighbors who banded together, took the risks, and implemented that project while going all the way to Jefferson City to get the financial backing. In fact, some M/TRC Board members were, at the time, critical of the project while requests to M/TRC for financial support were refused. But with the assistance of neighborhood volunteers, the Truman Heartland Community Foundation, a group of architectural drafting students from William Chrisman, and the determination of a wonderful lady who wanted to contribute to a presidential neighborhood, the project was a huge success. The project got national attention on Bob Vila’s program, “Restore America” during the first season of a brand new cable TV network called HGTV. I’m glad to read in the Star Magazine that Ralph was pleased with the restoration of that Antebellum home but to somehow mention the project to a journalist while touting your accomplishments is misleading. But back to the football game, the half-time show is over, the score is dead even, and it’s time to put a fresh team on the field. We have great game plan thanks to Coach Ochsner, but the players need to actually read the plan, the players and the coach need to follow the plan, and finish with a victory before handing out trophies or awards.

Democracy on Pleasant Street

On this day, exactly 62 years ago, was one of the most dramatic elections in United States history. And, yes, that story began here in Independence, Missouri. I was actually reminded of this anniversary this morning on National Public Radio. November 2, 1948, Harry Truman, accompanied with Bess, Margaret, and several Secret Service personnel, walked one block east to the Memorial Building from his home on Delaware Street. Imagine being a student in Palmer Junior High sitting in a classroom on that day and having the teacher interrupt the lesson plan to direct students toward the windows or to the sidewalk to witness the President and his entourage marching across Pleasant Street towards the Memorial Building, scaling 16 stair steps to the front doors of the building to cast his vote for himself. This would be quite a lesson in civics. I’m sure that would be an image hard to forget every time you would cast a vote from that point on. A.G. Sulzberger, journalist with the New York Times, recently reminded us that our local history is actually very important to the nation. The physical evidence of that story is presented to the nation in our built environment; our sidewalks, the old courthouse, school buildings, neighborhood blocks, church steeples, and some of our Section 8 government-subsidized rental property. We should appreciate the national and international attention we get from the National Archives, the Truman Library, the National Park Service, and the New York Times. But let’s work together as a community to make sure that attention is positive. On that note and in the spirit of the 1948 election, support democracy, be sure to vote today.