My name is Kevin Koster. I am a marketing and business value advisor, a 4th generation Kansas Citian and someone who never in a million years thought he would be in the middle of a city-wide debate. But in 2013, important questions concerning KCI’s future were not being asked, let alone answered.
On the Saturday before Easter 2013, I read an article reporting that the city was paying a PR firm $117,000 to sell the idea of a new single-terminal for KCI. Having already read the proposal, it was easy enough to understand. What was hard to understand were the reasons behind it. The explanations offered as to why we needed to invest a billion dollars into a recently renovated terminal were at best misinformed and at worst, intentionally false and misleading. While the Aviation Department said our terminals were horrible, the KCCVA was saying they were great and a reason to bring your convention here.
The fact that the city felt it needed to spend over $100,000 to spin it seemed to validate those concerns. And no one in the media was questioning any of it. So I started a blog to try to do just that. Over time, most of the original reasons for a new single-terminal were refuted. However, market conditions changed and there appeared legitimate and compelling reasons for a new terminal. The voters agreed on November 7, 2017.
In the immortal words of the Grateful Dead, “What a long, strange trip it’s been.”
As I’ve said then and now. This is not about me. It’s about the issue and what’s best for KC. It’s about vision, planning, and good process. It’s about honesty and transparency. Now it’s time to move forward. Together, let’s make sure that we also move forward from the missteps of the last several years and not repeat them between now and the ribbon cutting on our new terminal.
RULES: This discussion is open to all interested parties and opinions. Comments posted will be moderated and deleted only for uncivil language and for personal attacks. If you can’t play nice, you can’t play in the sandbox.
Thanks for caring and for being involved.
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