About The AIAPrograms & Initiatives

Being an advocate for good planning and development is rewarding for an architect because you are helping to achieve both professional and urban design goals for your community, moreover, being advocate also pays off in the competitive arena of business.

In 1965, my brother was supporting a fellow physician for County Coroner and asked me to attend a fundraiser. His candidate was successful, then ran for County Administrative Court, then Mayor. During his terms on the Court, I successfully competed for a design commission from the city.

When he became Mayor, he asked me to serve on the Convention and Visitors’ Bureau, where I participated in evaluating and selecting the site for the convention center expansion, killing an ill-advised, early proposal. He then asked me to chair the City Planning Commission, on which I served for five years, cutting my teeth in the processes of City Hall, learning ropes that have stood me in good stead for the past thirty years of architectural practice. I could not compete for city work while on the Planning Commission and haven’t done much city work since leaving it, but the exposure established a valuable reputation for me as a committed, active citizen leader.

Today I chair the Brownfields Commission, which is bringing hundreds of thousands of state and federal revenues to reinvestment efforts in Kansas City’s urban center. I serve on the Regional Transit Alliance Board, which is advocating increased revenue for public transit in Kansas City (and recently helped win a 3/8-percent sales tax increase for transit); the Downtown Council, which has just inaugurated a Community Improvement District property tax; the Main Street Corridor Transportation Committee, which is working to coordinate our new Bus Rapid Transit proposal with the interests of residents and businesses along Main Street; and a Presbytery Board that is working to bring new uses to an abandoned church.

Success in business is inexorably tied to your success in your community. Service without direct pay-back is essential to get started, and helping competent and honest candidates is the best way I know. You can’t expect direct pay-back, but over the long haul, exposure as an honest and committed citizen leader will establish your position to successfully compete for business in your community, and it will give you a personal sense of accomplishment that is valuable.