On this episode of Banking on KC, Bill Dietrich, President and CEO of the Downtown Council of Kansas City, joins host Kelly Scanlon to discuss the city’s revitalization efforts through the Imagine Downtown KC 2030 plan, new green spaces and projects that are making the city more connected, inclusive and sustainable.
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Country Club Bank, a division of FNBO—Member FDIC
Kelly Scanlon: Welcome to Banking on KC. I'm your host, Kelly Scanlon. Today we're talking with Bill Dietrich, the president and CEO of the Downtown Council of Kansas City, and that's an organization that's at the heart of downtown Kansas City's transformation from the Roy Blunt Luminary Park and the Barney Alice Plaza.
Redesign to major investments in housing Connect. And public spaces. Bill and his team are helping reimagine downtown living and working. On this episode, we'll talk about where that vision comes from, what progress has been made, and what's next for Kansas City's urban core. Bill, welcome to thanking on KC.
We're happy to have you back again.
Bill Dietrich: Well, good morning, Kelly. Thank you for the invite to give an update to folks on progress being made downtown. Congratulations. The Country Club Bank and FNBO. It's kind of fun. I was looking at the article in the business journal and it dawned on me that Joe Close and I came to these positions at the same time in 2002.
Uh, and much of downtown success has been. Determinant based upon support from organizations like Country Club Bank. So we really wanted to say thank you and look forward to continuing partnership as we move forward into the next phase.
Kelly Scanlon: Let's start by getting an update on the Imagine Downtown KC 2030 strategic plan.
I know it's a follow up to another plan. Let's talk about that and the kind of city that you are hoping to create through it.
Bill Dietrich: Indeed it does. It, it builds on a strategic plan called the downtown Core Development Study done in 2000, which really focused on how do we save the core of our greater downtown area, the central business district, which was really at risk of being lost, becoming a donut kind of city.
Uh, and that plan was quite successful in enabling us to do that over the next 10, 10, 15 years. And so, one, one of the things we did is we took a look at that plan and it dawned on us that, wow, we've, we. Pretty much done what's in this plan. It was the power and light district. It was T-Mobile Center. It was revitalizing the convention center.
It was focusing on residential population, on growing the resident base in downtown and really changing the commercial core from being that a commercial core to a modern mixed use environment. We had. Culture and arts. Culture and arts were a huge part of downtown's, revitalization, um, but culture and arts, residents, employees, visitors and guests, and we moved that needle quite considerably.
But indeed, it was, it was really focused on that. And the theory was, if you're successful in doing this, you'll be able to begin to export that. Wealth creation to downtown adjacent neighborhoods, greater downtown neighborhoods. And so the new strategic plan, which is called the Imagine Downtown KC 2030 strategic plan, really focused on that.
So that first plan was really a top down exercise. You know, how do you save the, save your, your, your central business district? This plan in a very young $10 billion of investment later, moving the needle from 6,000 residents to 34,000 reds, the employees from 65 to a hundred. 5,000 employees. First year I was here, we had 500,000 visitors to downtown.
The first half of this year, we had. 11.4 million. Wow. Unduplicated visitors to death. That's huge. 40 increase, 2 million trips. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I mean it's really, it's really moved a long way. So it was a very different time in our evolution cycle. Uh, when we wanted to update that strategic plan, it was a bottom up exercise.
So the downtown Council went out to hired a great consulting group MIG. We went out to all the neighborhoods that are part of Greater Downtown, um, and asked the leaders of those neighborhoods, what's important to your success? What do you need? What do you need in the strategic plan to help you be successful in the West?
Bottoms on the river front and 18th and Vine, that Columbus Park, the west side, all the neighborhoods that that surround downtown. And so it's very different looking exercise and where we're on the, in the development cycles. This plan really focuses on, you know, ensuring that our downtown remains livable for all, that remains affordable, that there's a place for everyone in downtown.
It's really, you know, the whole city's neighborhood. It really is about connecting downtown neighborhoods. It's all. Both physical and social kind of connections and creating corridors to tie these neighborhoods together. It really is looking at how you nurture a creative and innovative research district.
So what's happening up with UMKC and this research district is critically important to us. Keystone Innovation district's important to us because that's the next generation of kind of business in our city. Um, to preserve our unique assets. We don't wanna lose our heritage and our history. How do we celebrate 18th divine's history?
Celebrate the West Side's history, you know, all the, the Crossroads Arts District, all the kinda unique assets, the riverfront Columbus Park, all these kind of great places. So really making sure that whatever we do enhances. Those visions and finally really to make downtown more sustainable, more green and more resilient.
And so that was really the new plan's focus. So very different looking strategic plan, but appropriate for where we are in the kind of revitalization cycle.
Kelly Scanlon: Which of those goals, you mentioned quite a few there, which of those seem to have. Gained the most traction so far. The housing, the inclusivity. You mentioned sustainability.
Bill Dietrich: For our continued revitalization in the Renaissance of downtown, to be successful you, we really need to continue to hit on all cylinders. So there isn't a silver bullet, there isn't a magic thing that gets you over the top. You have to continuously be impacting the quality of the environment, the physical environment.
So we stay very. Committed to making sure that downtown is clean and safe and greener. And a couple of projects we'll talk about are major enhancements in, in adding green space to our downtown. It's really about making sure that we remain a place that is conducive for business, easy for business to access.
Centrality is. Is our asset, um, as well as making sure the environment is one where visitors and conventions and tourists want to come to like the FIFA World Cup coming in next year, which is kind of a huge deal.
Kelly Scanlon: Just a little,
Bill Dietrich: just a little. So a lot of great people doing a lot of great work to make sure that's a wonderful event.
We talked about catalyst projects and transformative strategies. So some of the major catalyst projects that have been completed are ongoing in downtown today. That I think helps us get to the goals that I stated earlier. You know, clearly the Bucknell Bridge. I think the entire community, and I mean our whole regional community, pulling together under the leadership of the MidAmerica Regional Council to get a new bridge instead of just a rehab of the old one is beautiful, functional helps downtown, helps our region, helps transit of, you know, product and distribution center.
Um, kind of a huge success. Um, Barney, Alice, you mentioned the new garage is happening there, which serves the convention center primarily, but it's gonna have a redesigned plaza on top. It'll be a five acre park that's being designed beautifully. Uh, it will come down to street level, so you won't have that huge wall on 13th anymore.
Okay. Um, and that number of things, one of the things I love is that selling a municipal auditorium and the music hall, these amazing art deco buildings in our community, I mean, national. Standard, our deco buildings will frame the southern end of the plaza, um, in, in a way that you just can't imagine until you see it with a lot of amenities in public space.
So that'll be a five and a half acres of new green space in in our downtown that we really didn't have before. The old park was kinda a hard scape. You know, and this is gonna be very lush and an amazing, incredible art installation. If you haven't seen, it's really gonna be cool. Um, our challenge is, is then we have about a block and a half away, what we're trying to build is called the Roy Blunt Luminary Park, right?
This would be built over Interstate six 70 and it will actually be four blocks. So would run from the convention center up on Wyandot, down to Grand. And if you think about Clyde Warren Park in Dallas. Is our kind of example and, and we're working with a team that actually designed Clyde Warren Park in Dallas is on our development team, which is really neat.
So we're really being able to kind of build on the shoulders of giants and, and, and benefit from the lessons learned in a dozen other parks where they've already done this. But that will be, again, a. An additional five and a half acres of new green space that has some wonderful topography in it, but it'll have lots of amenities in it, which we've never had before.
And both spaces, by the way, will have dog parks.
Kelly Scanlon: Kansas City loves dogs. Yes.
Bill Dietrich: Well, with 34,000 residents, I got 50,000 dogs. So people need, you know, more kind of that amenity. But they'll have food and beverage services. They'll have, you know, food trucks. They'll have this huge green lawn. Um, it'll have a children's play area.
It'll have this wonderful kind of youthful topography. 'cause we have a big incline up the hill to Wyandot, so it's gonna have a lot of grade change and be, you know, really kinda an exciting physical space. Um, one of the things they'll have is performance pavilion in it. And I give people the example of, in Dallas last year, the opera.
When they had their opening night at you say at the performing arts center, that's a very specific kind of event and product, but what they did was they simulcasted in the park, fun for 5,000 people, came, families and kids and you know, where you have ice cream cones and make noise and but actually get exposed to the opera, which is fabulous.
You think those about those kind of program partners and the things, let's stop on program partners. 'cause the thing that will differentiate these two spaces is that you'll have a 5 0 1 C3 nonprofit. A conservancy that will do nothing but manage those two public spaces for the city, which will own both spaces, but we'll in partnership with a convention center.
But we'll manage those spaces and program them almost every day of the year. So there'll be things from convention events to live performances with all of your kind of arts and cultural assets that you have in downtown. You know, 18th of my jazz concerts. Anything that helps partner with existing nonprofits and, and cultural organizations.
Their product gets more exposure. Um, but you'll also have things like yoga classes and book fairs and uh, food trucks and bocce ball and, you know, just a lot of things that are a lot of fun for people. Yeah. Uh, kind of to enjoy.
Kelly Scanlon: So, so bringing in people from not only the, the 33, 30 4,000 people who live down there right now, but also it can be an attraction for.
Folks from the suburbs who, who wanna come down there and experience that and maybe go eat at some of the restaurants downtown. Uh, just a real community builder and, and unifier.
Bill Dietrich: You know, the neat thing about both these public spaces, Barneys Plaza and Roy Blunt, luminary Park, is we're gonna connect them with intensive streets, scape that one and a half blocks between the spaces.
Kelly Scanlon: So it's one continuous flow from one to the other.
Bill Dietrich: Exactly. So as a, as a user or. Visitor or guest of the parks, you'll experience them as, as almost like a garden district. But super helpful to us in this respect is when we look at Clyde Warren Park in Dallas and now the Gene Lahey Park in Omaha, which are really our two Midwest examples of successful public spaces like this.
Uh, what we find is. About 1.5 million people a year visit these two publics individually, each spaced by 1.5 million people visit Clyde Warren's space in Dallas annually. Now it's a mature park. It's been there 15 years, so it's grown that base. So, I mean, think of this as a start of business, right? Your first couple years you'll be ramping up to that.
But when I think of all the visitors and guests. Coming through the convention center people coming to visit their families, folks are riding the streetcar, who can just jump off and experience these wonderful public spaces and absolutely go, go to a restaurant, go to an entertainment venue, or just, um just have an integrated, as kind of part of their lifestyle critically.
It's a critical metric to us. So we will be able to kind of tell exactly how many people are kind of using these public spaces and then cater the programming, you know, to fit that niche, that who's using these services, who, you know, what do they want more of, what do they want less of? Um, so we'll be able to dial these spaces in kind of over time as really kind of living organisms that, you know, change as, as.
As time goes by. But, but the bottom line for me is, you know, 10, almost 11 acres of new green space in downtown, which, you know, is in, in greater. Downtown is a very hardscape, absolutely is a, a real game changer. It will connect these two neighborhoods together. Uh, the Luminary Park, the Crossroads Arts District, and the central business district ho, are kind of torn asunder.
You know, back in the sixties, you wouldn't allow that today, you know, I mean, what happened there? Hundreds of homes torn down and these freeways put in, which have just strangled. Our kind of central business district. I think this will be an incredibly transformational project that will it totally change the way you experience your, your greater downtown area.
Yeah.
Kelly Scanlon: So you've talked about connectivity on many levels and let's, let's stay with that theme. You did bring up the streetcar, the North Loop redevelopment ideas, which you just alluded to, or the West bottoms. We haven't even talked about that a little bit West. How do those revitalization projects strengthen physical and social connections?
Bill Dietrich: Great question and, and this loop in my mind. It takes me directly to that, creating corridors and connections between neighborhoods, both through physical investment as well as cultural investment, social investment, um, and. If you think of what we just talked about, you know, they kind of become hubs in the central area for our greater downtown area.
And I, I, I guess I should say kind of two things. Uh, early on I mentioned that, that that original plan was really focused on saving the core, and that if you're successful, it's like a, it's like a stone in a pond. You'll get these ripples that will go out to all neighborhoods. And when we look around today.
At what's happened in greater downtown adjacent neighborhoods, you have the West Bottoms with a $500 million mixed use project going hotel, residential, historic rehabilitation, retail park space. Incredible connected by 12th Street, which will run, you know, 12th Street are one street that really runs from Stateline Road all the way through our, our city.
It's a great connector physically, so you'll see that begin to tie together. I look at the riverfront. A billion dollars of new investment. Oh, going in on the riverfront. It's, it's going crazy down down there. It's transformational anchored by CP KC Stadium. I mean Wow. Which
Kelly Scanlon: is getting national, maybe My global
Bill Dietrich: attention, first purpose-built professional sports arena for women's sports.
Congratulations. Kansas City. Welcome. Absolutely. That's also inclusive, that's also connecting, um, social connections. And I look over 18th and Vine and what's happening at 18th and Vine with the new hotel going in the Brew Hub, the shared workspace residential, major residential projects. You have cranes in the air and 18th and Vine.
With that said, I mean, there's a lot of work yet to be done in downtown. We've got lots of surface parking lots, we've got lots of issues. Uh, making sure that we can move people easily through our downtown. That it's pedestrian friendly, that it's bicycle friendly. Um, you know, I really kinda think we're about halfway to where we need to be, so a lot of work left to be done, but, but good challenges to have.
Kelly Scanlon: Every downtown does have to feel like it's safe, like it's inviting. So what is the downtown council doing to first ensure that people feel safe coming there, and then once they're there that they really are safe?
Bill Dietrich: Multiple level question first and foremost, um, is the River market neighborhood just renewed the Community Improvement District for 10 more years.
Uh, the Downtown Community Improvement District, um, is in place for another decade. The Crossroads has just created a community improvement district. Now, these are nonprofit organizations that, um, focus on. Public safety first. And so for the river market in the central business district, you have about 40 employees, um, who daily are doing area patrols.
They're doing linear patrols, they're sharing information with the police department. Um, they're interfacing with folks who are in crisis on our streets and, and need human services assistance, making good decisions on. Who's a someone that I have to be concerned about on crime and who's someone in in crisis that needs help.
Exactly. Uh, making good decisions and, and I think they're making good decisions. 'cause we have support from the human services community. We have support from the police department, the business community. So it seems to be, you know, a model that we want to continue. So. Boots on the ground are critically important on, and again, these ambassadors are, they're observe and report sharing a lot of information.
They create a public safety network in greater downtown. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Um, one of the things that we're doing in the river market is implementing a very comprehensive. Camera program, CCTV program which is connected to the police department, monitored by the police department, but information shared, um, that really helps us in those late night hours.
Right. You know, kind of when, when people are leaving restaurants and clubs and that kind of thing. Um, so really being very committed to, and that's the business community who finances the, the community improvement district. So, you know, committing to to public safety. The management teams of organizations also do a lot of problem solving.
So they identify issues and then they work the network to get those issues resolved. Uh, for instance, this morning we have a public safety committee that meets monthly, has 64 participants on it. These are folks from throughout the urban core, from here on the plaza, all the way to the riverfront. It has, the police department has the county prosecutor's office engaged.
It's got the city engaged, it's got the departments from the cities and they meet monthly and they identify problems and they try to develop solutions to those issues to make it safer. There's a second committee of the community improvement districts throughout your city from here to, you know, the river.
And those CID teams can meet and share information. Um, and really create this kind of public safety network of issues and of ways to help resolve those issues. And finally, we have task force that focus on specific areas when specific bad things have happened there, and really try to identify what are the factors and how do you change those factors.
So a lot of intentional. Thought, um, a lot of design, um, and constant attention. And it works. I mean, you know, one of the things we're really proud of is the downtown Community Services Center, which is a day shelter that was developed in partnership with our human service community. The downtown council owns it.
Uh, we raised about $50,000 a year to make sure it stays in pristine condition. Um, but this was missing in our environment and it's really transformed our, um, our ability to help people who are in crisis. At the center, we serve about 50,000 meals a month to people in transitional homelessness and really kind of folks who are on the bottom rung kind of working, but need that kind of help.
Um, but while they're there getting a hot lunch, which is by the way serve cafe style, table service 'cause Dignity's important. Uh, but now we have this really healthy network that is. In the second floor up above where while you're having lunch MAs master in social work, kind of folks who, you know, professionals at this can help you do referrals.
So you could go upstairs and get a housing referral.
Kelly Scanlon: Oh, okay.
Bill Dietrich: You can see a doctor, you can see a dentist, you can see a mental health professional. You can get help with your documentation like a veteran who's lost his id, you know, can get services. Uh, but rapid rehousing is probably the most important, but it's, it's a no wrong front door.
So now there's a place you can go and receive all those services in, in one spot of referral to,
Kelly Scanlon: so you can get a warm meal and you get all these wraparound services and then you know you can come back if you continue to have that, those needs.
Bill Dietrich: Oh, absolutely. And often people do. I mean, it's a, life is a continuing kind of saga.
Right. Um, and you never. Solve homelessness. You just come up with better ways to manage and help people who end up in that situation. You know, COVID pushed a lot of people into that world, but I tell you, our human service community in, in Kansas City is I'm really impressed with them. They, they work really, really diligently to change people's lives and they're more success stories there than there are losses.
So that's, that's the way we, we really try to treat public safety is, is to really be, um. Focused on it to come up with physical programs like camera programs, like patrols, like hiring off-duty police officers.
Kelly Scanlon: But I mean, you made some really good points. Safety isn't just a one trick pony. There are so many things that go into it, and including visitors themselves.
I mean, there's that old adage, safety and numbers, and so the more people you can draw down there in many ways. That helps the safety issue because people can see what's going on and, you know, there's just more awareness and, and dent crowd often enhances safety.
Bill Dietrich: Oh, absolutely. Right. Uh, this is why the resident base is so important downtown.
'cause those are 24 7 users in livers in downtown. They're looking out that window every day. Um, and it creates a, an amazing. Kind of network of folks who care about public safety. Um, and bad things happen in empty spaces. Well, the opposite is true too. And that's why taking care of the environment is so important.
Um, if you keep it clean and safe and well lit and full of people, and it's really kind of fun by the way, throughout downtown, you know, the river. Do the crossroads down to, to Union Station. Um, we're busier in the evenings than we are in the days.
Kelly Scanlon: Oh, I can believe that. Yeah.
Bill Dietrich: And that's a real turnaround.
And we're busier on weekends than we're during weekdays now. We never foresaw that, you know, 20 years ago like the streetcar has higher ridership numbers on the weekends than it does during weekdays. More people equals better safety.
Kelly Scanlon: Shifting gears the possibility of a downtown ballpark has really sparked a lot of conversation.
And the area that the downtown council covers has been noted numerous times in the media as being a potential site. So from your perspective, what could it mean for downtown's energy and economy to get a ballpark down there?
Bill Dietrich: And how realistic is it you think, you know downtown, ballpark. Is identified as one of the catalyst projects in the strategic plan.
In every market in America where we've done a downtown ballpark you'll see an additional billion to $2 billion of investment around that ballpark in corporate headquarters and hotels and residential and retail. It's like transit orient development. It, it will happen. Um, and so economically, that's the upside right in the kind of area that we're looking at today.
The downtown alternative. Um, in addition to that think about the streetcar, which will be running from UMKC through the Country Club Plaza through Midtown blocks away from the new hotel on the Riverfront and CPKC stadium. Um, you can stay on the plaza, get on a free streetcar. Get dropped off a block from the downtown baseball park.
If it were to fall at Washington Square Park, which is the site they're looking at a block away. You can come out, you can watch 4, 5, 6 innings, jump back on the street car, have a visit, a sports pub in the crossroads or run down to watch a, a match at CPK stadium, then ride that street car back to you or tell 'em never need a car.
Kelly Scanlon: Right? Right.
Bill Dietrich: Uh, but if you think about. Connecting unique assets is the huge upside here. CPKC stadium, great stuff happening on the riverfront, the river Market, T-Mobile, and the Power and Light District, and the convention district and the Kaufman Center for Performing Arts down to through the Crossroads Arts District to a.
State-of-the-art ballpark and ballpark village located at Washington Square Park down through Midtown, which is blossoming with lots of great retail and restaurants and fun things to do, and then to the plaza, and it's an amazing synergy that you only get in downtown. With that said the three sites they're looking at are all viable sites.
Each has its pros and cons. Our goal keeping the Kansas City Royals in Kansas City is kind of the most important part here, and the Royals picking the site that they think helps them the most is, you know, kind of the bottom line on this. So we're, we think downtown is the right choice. Um, they've got some great alternatives in our community, so.
Kelly Scanlon: When you look across downtown right now, let's say you're at the UMKC Health Sciences building over to the riverfront, to the Buck O'Neill Bridge, it really feels like the city's in the middle of a big reinvention. What story do you think all these projects tell about where Kansas City's headed next?
You talked a lot about where we are today, but where are we headed next? Once, once all this gets accomplished, what will it mean?
Bill Dietrich: For me, um, it means at, at the end of the day that you have a greater downtown area that's a collection of 22 unique neighborhoods, a mosaic of neighborhoods, something individual in each that celebrates our heritage in the, you know, west Bottoms or the West side, or the, our 18th and vine, or the crossroads, you know, that, that really kind of celebrates that the riverfront.
Um, and that engages people. That's easy to access. Through all modalities of transportation that is denser than today. Density is not a bad word.
Kelly Scanlon: No, we just talked about that. It's not, yeah.
Bill Dietrich: What density does is it gives you ecosystems. Ecosystems of arts and culture. Uh, ecosystems of residential choices.
So you'd come in from very affordable, you know, all the way up to luxury product that you have single family homes to multi-family apartments, to townhouses that you have this density lets you do that. Um, having. Millions of visitors and guests annually adds to the vibrancy of downtown and helps your retail community be successful.
So this is why, by the way, in our ballpark question, is also important that 3 million more customers a year coming outta that ballpark and discovering the crossroads or, you know, discovering the center business, the roof, incredibly important to our retail community. And it, and you only get, again, that kind of synergy in a dense, kind of urban environment, a, a downtown greater town that remains affordable.
Uh, many of our peers and colleagues, cities, um, that I love dearly have priced the working person out of the marketplace. Um, so my son, who's a chef, you know, can today afford to live in downtown Kansas City, couldn't downtown Nashville. You know, you're, you're living 15 miles outta downtown. 'cause that's, it's just too expensive.
We have not become that yet. So we can still save that affordability. You know, I say downtown that has more green spaces, more trees, um. Uh, one of the projects we're working on, we haven't talked about, it's called the Green Line. It's like the high line in in New York. It's a 10 mile walking bicycle trail that connects all the greater downtown neighborhoods together.
Um, I can give you the pathway, um, but also connects all the amenities together so it could hike or bike on this trail. Um, and walk up, visit 18th and Vine and walk up to the riverfront to CP Key Stadium. You can walk all the way not, or ride a bicycle over to, um, over to the Rock Island Bridge.
Kelly Scanlon: Oh, yes, yes.
Bill Dietrich: Which is gonna be a fabulous new kinda amenity for people and obvious hyvee Arena. Then, you know, through where the new Ferris wheel is and by Union Station, you know, connect that. That, all that in the loop, when you think about projects like that, it they add to the livability of downtown and the enjoyment of downtown for all of our, you know, 2 million citizens in the metroplex.
So I, I see a downtown list really welcoming. Uh, by the way density is important also because we need to help the city grow its tax base and that's how you do. Um, that's where revenues come from through all the different kind of evaluations and sales and, you know, the, the economy of downtown and, and finally I say downtown that's integrated with Midtown and with the Plaza much more than it's ever been in the past.
It's almost like Kay Barnes string of pearls thing. Um, but. We're almost there. The streetcar people have no idea how that's gonna change the way they, they experience their urban core. Um, and so tying those neighborhoods together as a seamless experience for citizens and visitors, I think that's my, that's our tenure album.
Kelly Scanlon: And one of the things we haven't even touched on is when you create. The kind of connectivity you're talking about, the kind of density that you're talking about the ability to attract tourists from not just regionally, but from other further parts of the country. It makes Kansas City more attractive as a destination for the conventions for entertainment acts to put Kansas City on their st, you know, as a stop on their tours and, and the revolving art exhibits and so forth.
So all of those things too. Uh, we start getting the best of the best when that happens.
Bill Dietrich: Yes, and, and that's out there. Uh, when I go to national international conferences, like their International Downtown Association conference, Kansas City has a huge buzz. Doesn't it? Does it hurt the Taylor and,
Kelly Scanlon: oh, I know
Bill Dietrich: Kelsey are here.
Kelly Scanlon: You went there. It's okay.
Bill Dietrich: That's alright. But it's, it's valid. I mean, it has, it's valid, yeah. It has this huge kind of international buzz about it. And people want to discover Kansas City visitors and conventions and guests and the opportunities ours to grab ours to disease.
Kelly Scanlon: That's a great way to put it.
Bill Dietrich: It, and, and fifa, I think is that launching platform to kind of a broader international community. I think that buzzes out there today. Um, and it's our opportunity just to seize that day.
Kelly Scanlon: It definitely is. Bill, and thank you so much to you, to your team, to all your collaborators for being a big, huge part of that.
I know it's hard work and sometimes it feels like you're pushing the rock uphill, but progress is being made, so thank you for that.
Bill Dietrich: Thank you very much. It takes all of us.
Joe Close: This is Joe Close, regional leader. Thank you to Bill Dietrich for being our guest on this episode of Banking on KC Bill Dietrich, president, and CEO of the Downtown Council of Kansas City. Shared to have the Imagine Downtown KC 2030 strategic plan is guiding the next phase of the city's transformation.
From the redesign of Barney Alice Plaza to the creation of Roy Blunt Luminary Park, these projects are adding nearly 11 acres of new green space while connecting neighborhoods across downtown. Bill also discussed how investments in housing, public safety and infrastructure, including the street car expansion and community improvement districts are fostering inclusivity, sustainability, and economic vitality.
At Country Club Bank, we're proud to support efforts that strengthen our city's core and create opportunities for all who live and work here. Building community and connecting people. That's how progress takes shape. As Banking on KC comes to a close, we want to thank you for joining us on this journey of spotlighting the people and organizations shaping Kansas City.
We're excited to share that FNBO will continue highlighting community voices through a new podcast. The vault by FNBO inspiring stories will be unlocked across all the communities that FNBO serves, including right here in Kansas City. Thanks for tuning in this week. We're Banking on you, Kansas City Country Club Bank, a division of FNBO, member FDIC.