What can Lees Summit learn from Independence

Independence has reinvented itself, once on the verge of being broke, with large employers downsizing or shutting down. City officials became so ashamed of their city that they often tried to find alternate ways to take VIP's from KCI to the Truman Library

The city council knew that they needed to expand the tax base but they could never reach a consensus on how to do it. “State senators and representatives would say, ‘Why should we give you money when the City Council can’t get four votes on anything?’ It was humiliating.” said Ron Stewart, former mayor.

Now Independence, some 15 years after the city, "reached a critical juncture", ranks fourth in the state in taxable dollars behind St. Louis, Kansas City and Springfield. In 2005, it generated $1.6 billion in taxable dollars, representing about a 50-percent increase from just a decade earlier. And as anyone who has driven down I-70 through Independence can see, Independence is booming.

Once, an isolated boondoggle, Independence Center, is now surrounded with new development and a new highway interchange. Soon an Arena with a minor league Hockey Team to play in it will join the expansion. All of which was built with the aid of TIF's, State Aid and I dare say supported to a great extent by sales made to residents of it's wealthy but stupid neighbor to the south, Lee’s Summit.

But more than that, the Independence City Council found the secret of cooperation amongst them, for the city’s benefit. The Council has worked together and gained the respect of state legislators and real estate developers alike. Now, they have a reputation as a city that can, and does.

Though wealthier, and not as in as dire straits as Independence was some 15 years ago. Lee's Summit finds itself in a similar predicament, it needs to expand it’s tax base. But instead of Independence, now it's Lee's Summit that has State senators and representatives saying, why should we give you money when the City Council can’t get consensus on anything. Instead of pulling together for the betterment of Lee's Summit, we find the City Council divided on whether it should offer developers, who want to invest in Lee's Summit, TIF's, for fear a group of local "Grinches" will disapprove and hurt their chances of re-election.

Meanwhile, sales tax revenue that should be staying in Lee's Summit continues to flow into Independence coffers, and I fear soon, if not already, State Officials, and Developers, alike will write off Lee's Summit as a city that could, but won't.

Will the Lee's Summit City Council learn from the experiences of Independence over the past few years or will it remain Independence's wealthy but stupid neighbor to the south. Only time will tell.

Thanks to Brian Burnes of the Kansas City Star and his article, "Independence reaches a critical juncture" for relating the experiences of Independence over the past decade and a half. My hope is that his words and mine will awaken a spirit of courage and cooperation that the Lee’s Summit City Council lacks.

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