Rotary 13 members and invited guests gathered in the Crowne Plaza Hotel at 1301 Wyandotte Street with select individuals participating remotely via Zoom and Facebook Live. President Tim Tholen brought the assembly to order at 12:10pm with a tap of the bell. The group stood for the Pledge of Allegiance, and Eric Bubb’s invocation delivered the 4-way test in the form of a prayer. (See here for a script.)
Mandy Sheldon helped to introduce multiple guests: Jan Armstrong, who brought Joan Pu, Jorge Velez, who brought Nicolus Klein and David Hanzlick who brought his coworker Kelly Welch. Visting Rotarian Jim Adams from the Nevada, MO club also attended. There were several member anniversaries to announce this week: Rick Kappa, 32 years; Terry Kilroy, 36 years; Bill Popplewell Jr., 45 years; Wade Freeman, 3 years; Eric Bubb, 14 years; Patrick Donnelly, 14 years; and Barbara Dolci, 17 years. President Tim noted that the door greeters today were bowling league members and expressed his gratitude to them.
Club 13 and American Public Square are collaborating to screen the film “Join or Die” on the Rockhurst University campus next month; table fliers contain more information on how to participate. The district foundation dinner will take place on November 9th—please save the date! Scott Holsman rose and spoke about the regatta timeline, with the sponsorship deadline for t-shirt inclusion being today. He added that regatta volunteers were needed (Mandy handles the sign-ups) and that we should all share event content on our social media channels. To underscore the good work done toward the boat race, he emphasized that the Aixios dinner this month in support of the regatta was provided in-kind by the restaurant owner, so that the receipts from the participants could all apply to this youth camp fundraiser.
As a reminder, there will be no lunch meeting on Thursday, September 5th. (Go Chiefs!!)
Upcoming Club 13 activities include:
- 13-14-15 September, Rotary 13 Regatta at Lake Jacomo
- 19 September, Join or Die Movie at Rockhurst University, 5:00pm
- 24 September, Rotary Night at the Zoo
- 26 September, 4th Thursday at Minsky’s
- 3 October, Bolte Beer & Brat Bash at Peter Ho’s home
- 9 November, Rotary district foundation dinner, Argosy Casino, 6:00pm
At 12:17 pm, Kristy Bayer began her introduction of this week’s guest speaker, city manager Brian Platt. Mr. Platt came to KCMO from Jersey City, NJ where he had served as chief innovation officer and city manager prior to relocating. He spent time on the staff of McKinsey & Company as a consultant, and with Teach for America as a kindergarten instructor. After undergraduate study in philosophy at Emory University, he earned a Master of Public Administration at Columbia University. He relocated to Kansas City in 2020, in the thick of the COVID pandemic. Mr. Platt’s remarks covered several themes, including (1) what a city manager does; (2) economic development activity; (3) sustainability as a guiding idea; and (4) homelessness. He likened his role to that of a CEO, where the board of directors (elected city councilors) is chaired by the board president (the elected mayor). Kansas City, MO operates with about 4,500 employees and a $2.3BB budget. Neither police nor schools report to his office. Mr. Platt holds the view that a city that isn’t growing is instead dying, and was pleased to share that many, many new projects were under way or wrapping up. These include the riverfront stadium (CPKC), the West Bottoms, Country Club Plaza (where new retail aims to compete with Dallas and Chicago for clientele), the approaching Four Light groundbreaking, 18th and Vine expansions, and the streetcar extensions. He singled out the opening of the new airport terminals last year as key to securing both the NFL Draft and the World Cup matches for the community. Public perception that many roads are under construction at present is correct: KCMO is resurfacing about 3 times as many streets in 2024 when compared to previous years.
Many of those public works projects have a sustainability component. The city is wrapping up converting all streetlights to LED lamps, with a projected $5MM annual savings in materials and maintenance costs. Across the last three years, they have pursued a goal of planting 10,000 new trees within the city. Many fleet vehicles, used by city employees in their varied roles, are now replaced by electric cars and trucks. Mr. Platt mentioned the aspiration that some of the land around the Kansas City airport might host a solar array to generate power for the community in future years.
He closed his remarks by calling attention to the ongoing challenges of homelessness in the Kansas City region. Importantly, he acknowledged the medical issues underlying much of the indigent population, and the importance of helping individuals and their specific needs. Coordinating services with nonprofits like Hope Faith and Cleanup KC and supplementing their work with creating low-barrier shelter spaces that accommodate more of the transient population, have been incremental successes for the community.
Questions for Mr. Platt began at 12:40 and included the stadiums for the Chiefs and Royals (the teams are in the driver’s seat, focused on their current seasons, and won’t comment on every developer-driven idea that gets floated to the media), future infrastructure projects (the $750MM bond in support of water and sewer improvements and transportation technology), street repair (now folks are complaining about road construction, not so much about potholes), Barney Allis plaza (the garage is currently in the abatement phase), and the I670 highway deck (going to bid, with groundbreaking by 2025). Other queries about his kindergarten teaching skills and their applicability to working with city government were affirmed—with 13 council members, he faces moments of herding cats.
President Tim thanked Mr. Platt for her presentation and summarizing his work to Rotarians. Ending announcements recapped upcoming Club 13 events including that there is no lunch meeting on September 5th; we resume on September 12th. He then shared the following with the group: “A great city is that which has the greatest men and women.” –Walt Whitman
At 13:00, the 4-Way Test closed the session, followed by the bell.
“Join or Die” is a film about why you should join a club — and why the fate of America depends on it. In this feature documentary, follow the half-century story of America’s civic unraveling through the journey of legendary social scientist Robert (Bob) Putnam, whose groundbreaking “Bowling Alone” research into America’s decades-long decline in community connections could hold the answers to our democracy’s present crisis.
@rotaryclub13
@rotaryclub13
