Kansas City’s downtown moves forward. But what does our future really hold? | Opinion

I’ve seen progress arrive with great fanfare and fade without eulogy. Downtowns were once a gathering place for socials, entertainment and shopping. Then with hurrahs and dollars, suburban shopping malls were in favor. They met our needs — until they didn’t. Online shopping hammered one nail after another into the mall’s coffin. Now local leaders struggle to put malls to use or sell them off. They’ve turned their attention to fine old buildings and walkability downtown.

Currently, I walk downtown Kansas City sidewalks and worry. Reports about chainsaws and corruption, court cases and capitulation have made dread my companion. How, I wonder, will the dream of reinvigorating downtown end as grant money dries up, people remain unhoused, unemployment numbers increase and budgets explode in tariff wars?

Kansas City’s downtown was and is a vibrant district alive with tourists, conventions, conferences, entertainment, art and music. Venues attract sports fans because Kansas City is a city cheering for its teams. Downtown swells and contracts on game days as people shop for merchandise and socialize at watch parties.

All this traffic — on sidewalks and streets — comes at great costs. One of those costs is taxes, of course. Another is convenience. Each time I map a route, I add plenty of extra time for detours, lane closures, traffic jams, red lights and pedestrians.

Once, as I sat patiently at a red light, road crews in bright vests picked up a “Road Closed” sign and moved it directly in front of me. I sighed. On many days, I curse. But when the lanes are renewed and marked, the block open again, the result is fine indeed, worth every inconvenience.

While looking forward to the day when the downtown projects are complete, I understand we do not and will never live in a bubble. Outside interests and agendas affect our choices. Money is often the highest hurdle, and many cities cannot leap high enough. Plans for people without homes and medical care continue to stall. Death blows to grants endanger highway projects, streetcars, schools and the arts. Workers laid off, fired or forced to accept leave may not find commensurate work. They could be without safe harbor in 2026.

I think about working parents who made good decisions for their children to play and learn. As mortgage-worthy adults, they put down roots. They paid taxes and made deposits into their earned benefits accounts, including Social Security, even though from the vantage point of youth, they could not imagine a day when they would grow frail or a day when they become responsible for a disabled child. Earned benefits cannot cure either circumstance, but they are salve for a terrible wound — a salve I am eager to apply because I know that families that thrive create communities that thrive.

I think about the sleep those parents will lose to worry. I think about the unwarranted fear being inflicted on them. I think about their children who might have had a promising tomorrow, but once set back and without intervention, might never fulfill that promise. Children, too, carry the weight of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Being human, I also think about how all these drastic measures and losses will affect me. I am vulnerable, but even if I were not, I would be affected. Abandoned retail space chokes tax dollars needed to complete projects. Entrepreneurs will shutter their own dreams because of supply shortages, both human and material. Then my home’s value sinks, my safety net frays and my neighborhood fails. The quality of my life will wane.

We chose Kansas City for its beating heart fed by sports and the arts. We listed its transportation network and stellar health care options as assets. From our daily view, the city is alive with a bright future. But I walk in dread because sometimes winds sweep us into corners as if we are debris.

This story was originally published April 20, 2025 at 5:11 AM.