A few weeks ago, I noticed in the City Council minutes that we pledged $200,000 to support "enhanced business retention efforts" at the EDC. That money is being added to $400,000 in private contributions for the same purpose. I hope they're looking at more than just retention. To explain why, let me share a few stories I've heard over the last few years.My spies around the city tell me that City Hall bureaucracy is the most horrendous to deal with in the entire metro area. I know a local entrepreneur, the proprietor of a small lunch place. She had teamed up with another restaurateur to start a side business. The side business was unique, perhaps even a bit forward thinking. After several months of fighting City Hall, they gave up. I can't tell you who this entrepreneur is, but more about that later.
This isn't the only such story I've heard. In recent years I've met a real-estate man who said the city's water department was a constant thorn in his side. I've met a renovator of old properties who gave up on Kansas City completely after years of frustration with the permitting process. I've met a landscaper who was frustrated with business licensing. Liquor control appears to be the worst of the lot. From the stories I've heard they give the impression they're still trying to take down the Pendergast machine.
Why have I never written about this before now? Because I can't back any of it up. None of these individuals will go on the record. No one has explained to me exactly why. It's a safe assumption that every business owner has the ambition to get bigger—a second store, a bigger facility, a better location. My guess is that no one wants to risk alienating people who stand between them and their ambitions.
(Why does Kansas City, Missouri not have it's own chamber of commerce? The Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce speaks for an 11 county region. Every other little burg in the metro has it's own chamber. There doesn't appear to be an organization that speaks for just the businesses in Kansas City, Missouri proper.)
Let me make one thing clear. This is not a put down of any individual employee of City Hall. When I hear from some of these entrepreneurs how much easier it is to open up shop in Olathe or Overland Park. It makes me think that the solution is higher up the City Hall ladder.
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5 comments:
We launched a comprehensive initiative called "Open for Business" several weeks ago to address these very concerns. It can be found at jimrowland.com.
Jim
Casey,
No one will speak "on the record" for fear of retribution by the bureaucracy that they still have to deal with. Vindictiveness runs deep in the system. A major overhaul of how the City serves its businesses is desperately needed - and there will be no point in doing it if you don't also make wholesale personnel changes.
1AverageGuy
Casey -
This has been said before. I know a couple of people who located just outside of the city limits for the very same reason. It's an order of magnitude more easy to step through the paperwork to setup a business just outside of Kansas City proper.
They need to do two things, as I see it:
1) Work, work, work to simplify paperwork to start businesses. There should be LESS work to start a business in the city as compared to the suburbs. The people who collapse the paperwork should NOT be the same bureaucrats who thrive on the complexity. The effort should be lead by a group of small business owners. People like you and I might not always like what they have to say, but they're the ones in the trenches.
2) A sort of extension office should be in place to help foster small businesses. This does not need to come in the form of a government program. But it does need to help people navigate the process, and advocate on behalf of new businesses.
tacitus,
The existing BizCare Office, which is the commercial space of the City's 12th & Oak parking garage, does help businesses find their way through the maze. The problem is that there is a maze to get through.
One of the classic complaints is finally getting your building plans approved and your construction work well underway, only to be told by an inspector that the work doesn't meet code. If your plans were approved and is being built exactly as drawn, doesn't it by definition meet code? Evidently not in KCMO.
I like your idea of using a group of outsiders to reform the process. The problem will be that without major staff changes, the same people will be implementing the process. Cleaning house is probably necessary.
1AverageGuy
I wasn't referring to who I think should do it. I was referring to the only people who, right now, have the power to do it. The bureaucratic heads in City Hall may have some power. The real authority ultimately lies with City Council.
Speaking of mazes, don't you just love how some politicians think the solution to a bureaucracy problem is more bureaucracy? It seems that they want something to point to when someone asks them what they did about a problem. They want to make us think they've baked a cake without breaking any eggs. Makes me wonder how much of our current mess is the result of earlier demands to do something.
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