2001 · City Council 1999-2007
International Trade: Mexico, Costa Rica, and Global Economic Development
Kansas City is a landlocked midwestern city that most people associate with barbecue and the Chiefs.
It is also home to regional offices of the North American International Trade Corridor Partnership, and in 2006 the City Council's new international trade committee took up development of the former Richards-Gebaur airfield as an intermodal freight center.
I recognized that potential early, and I worked to connect Kansas City's economy to international markets, including a 2001 trade delegation to Guadalajara and chairing the City Council's international trade committee created in 2006.
The Trade Missions
During my council tenure, I took part in trade missions to Mexico (2001) and Costa Rica (2004). These were not ceremonial visits. They were business development trips designed to identify specific economic opportunities for Kansas City companies and workers.
Kansas City Hispanic News covered the 2001 Mexico mission: "KC seeks new jobs, business with Mexico." That headline captures the purpose precisely. We were not going to Mexico for diplomatic experience. We were going to find deals, partnerships, and market opportunities that would translate into jobs back home.
The Costa Rica trip had a similar focus. The Kansas City Business Journal documented the Chamber of Commerce prospecting trip to Costa Rica's growing economy, looking for linkages between Kansas City businesses and Central American markets that could generate mutual benefit.
The Council Panel
In 2006 I chaired a new council panel, created by Mayor Kay Barnes, to steer Kansas City's role in global trade. This was institutional innovation: recognizing that international economic development was too important to be handled as an afterthought and deserved its own dedicated committee structure.
The panel brought together council members and the city's International Affairs and Trade Office to develop a coordinated strategy for Kansas City's international engagement. The Kansas City Star covered the panel's creation in March 2006.
My approach to international engagement was rooted in a simple observation: economic isolation is a choice, and it is a bad one. The communities I represented on the council were economically isolated not just within the city but within the global economy. Connecting those neighborhoods to international economic activity was part of my broader strategy for neighborhood transformation. Trade creates jobs. Jobs create income. Income creates stability. Stability creates the foundation for community development.
This is what we mean by community engagement.
Not a meeting series. Presence, on their schedule, until something changes.