SECTION G
Accelerating toward a more vibrant Topeka, Shawnee County
G2 | Sunday, August 25, 2019 | MOMENTUM 2022
‘STEPS IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION’
Greater Topeka Partnership, local officials see community engagement as next key piece in Momentum 2022 initiative By India Yarborough iyarborough@cjonline.com
According to members of the team pushing Momentum 2022 forward, there was a key piece of the puzzle missing this year from the plan’s implementation: community engagement. “We developed this beautiful strategy, and all of us understood the strategy. All of us were celebrating the great things we were seeing happening,” said Mayor Michelle De La Isla. “But the community was missing that engagement piece — and everything we were doing was based on the voice of the customer. It was based on the voice of the community, of the constituents.” To draw Topekans to the center of the community development campaign, the Greater Topeka Partnership decided to bring a new team member on board. That person, an intern, is Harvard University graduate student Rodrigo Dorador. Dorador spent 10 weeks with the Partnership as a 2019 summer fellow with the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative. “I think the missing piece that we had we have obtained with Rodrigo,” said De La Isla, who also is a Momentum 2022 tri-chair. “Rodrigo just blew all of us away.” Dorador spent much of his time this summer crafting a communication strategy aimed at bridging the gap between Momentum 2022 and the community it is designed to serve. Part of that communication strategy was to develop a speakers bureau. The speakers bureau consists of a small cohort of Shawnee County residents who volunteered to share their stories about why they choose to support Momentum 2022. “My entire mission was to find the people who are not involved at all — and basically go around town and talk to people in dive bars on the east side and west side and just start to get a feel for what the community is feeling,” Dorador said. “Very fast I think I realized Topeka doesn’t have one story. It has a multitude of stories, and to be honest, I still find no shortage of stories to tell here in Topeka.” Dorador said he wanted the speakers bureau to consist of a diverse group of people representing a variety of zip codes and identities. He and a selection committee — which consisted of GTP staffers
MOMENTUM’S MISSION
Momentum 2022 is a comprehensive five-year plan launched in January 2018 to make Topeka and Shawnee County a better place to live, work and play. The strategy includes five “pillars,” or primary objectives, and a number of work groups tasked with advancing the objectives. The pillars are: • Develop homegrown talent through educational efforts, i.e. providing better training opportunities, improving childhood learning and reducing the number of at-risk students. • Create vibrant and attractive places that improve the area’s quality of place. • Grow a diverse economy. • Promote a positive image. • Collaborate for a strong community.
From left, Kayla Bitler-Loschke, Rodrigo Dorador, Kevin Cook, Keith Warta, Michelle De La Isla, Bob Ross and Matt Pivarnik discuss the current status of Momentum 2022 implementation. They agreed community engagement, connecting community members to the plan, is essential to continue moving the strategy forward. [PHOTOS BY THAD ALLTON/THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL]
Kayla Bitler-Loschke, Bob Ross and Glenda Duboise — chose six community members to participate in the bureau. “We have a Washburn freshman. We have someone who’s part of the seniors council. We have people who grew up in East Topeka in a Topeka Housing Authority project. We have individuals who manage the wealth of some of the wealthiest people in Topeka,” Dorador said. “So we really made sure to get everyone’s voice.” The six speakers will present their stories to audiences at civic organizations, schools and businesses in coming months. A few presentations have already taken place. Dorador said he taught speakers how to turn their experiences into narratives, helping each reveal a “story of self.” “That is what brings vulnerability to the process, and it builds rapport with the audience,” he said. “So when our speakers go out, they’re going to be telling their stories, and it’s going to be able to build that camaraderie — like, ‘This is why I got involved, and I’m going to role model to you. Maybe you’re not involved, or maybe you’re skeptical or down on Topeka. I’m going to role model how I maybe felt that same way and share with you the idea or the individual that motivated me to feel Topeka proud.’” According to Shawnee County Commissioner Kevin Cook, also a Momentum 2022
MOMENTUM MESSAGES Earlier this month, The Topeka CapitalJournal’s India Yarborough and Tim Bisel sat down with seven Momentum 2022 leaders — Michelle De La Isla, Kevin Cook, Keith Warta, Matt Pivarnik, Kayla Bitler-Loschke, Bob Ross and Rodrigo Dorador — to discuss the five-year holistic strategy designed to better the Topeka/Shawnee County community and economy. Following are comments from each leader on a variety of topics related to Momentum 2022:
“It starts showing people that hey, by the way, we are not Wanamaker; we are not downtown; we are not East Topeka. We’re one Topeka. We’re one community. And everything that we’re doing — even though it may not seem like it at first — it’s all so that we can support our whole community. All of the investments that we’re making are investments to support our whole community. It’s hard work, but we’ll make it happen.” — Michelle De La Isla, Mayor and Momentum tri-chair, on recent developments in NOTO, East Topeka, downtown and elsewhere
“It’s very cliche, but it can be boiled down to, ‘Is it about me or is it about we?’ You change one letter, and suddenly it’s not you trying to do it all. And I think we’ve changed that attitude that it’s not about me, it’s about we.” Kevin Cook, Shawnee County — Commissioner and Momentum tri-chair, on the community coming together to effect change
tri-chair, feeling “Topeka proud” is about a change in attitude. “We’re seeing that change in attitude,” Cook said. “It’s not going to happen overnight. It takes time to really make that impact, but we’re seeing that impact. And we’re going to see that through the stories. We’re going to see that through the work of Momentum. But I think it’s going to take all of us to keep that positive attitude going because it’s easy to slip back into the negative.” Bitler-Loschke, GTP’s senior vice president of strategy for Momentum 2022, said a community satisfaction survey the Partnership first conducted in 2017 saw a “significant” jump in score from 2017 to 2018. The survey, following the Net Promoter Score model, asked one question of county residents, Bitler-Loschke said: “How likely are you to recommend living in Topeka and Shawnee County?” The Net Promoter Score model measures satisfaction on a index ranging from negative 100 to 100. In 2017, Bitler-Loschke said, the Partnership’s survey returned a community satisfaction score of negative 50. Last year, that score had improved to negative 37 — a 13-point increase. “We’re really excited about that and really excited to resurvey in 2019 and see how much more that has moved, because so much has happened since we took that survey in
“We started out as this was going to be an economic development strategy — you know, figure out how we can get the traditional way of economic development, get new businesses to our community, how do we offer incentives, that whole thing. We quickly found out that we’ve got to take care of a lot of different things. We’ve got to make our community likeable, not only for the people that are here right now but for the people that we hope to attract. So that meant safe neighborhoods. That meant workforce development. That meant doing all these things. And then as a result, population growth is what’s going to happen. ... We can’t ignore that there are issues happening in our community right now.” — Keith Warta, president of Bartlett & West and Momentum tri-chair, on crime and enticing city and county workers to live where they work
“We do believe that one of these days there will be a case study (on Topeka). There’s an organization out of Atlanta right now that’s writing a case study on Momentum 2022. I’m like, ‘No, not yet. We’re only 18 months in.’ We’re overwhelmed with other communities calling us. We’re being asked to be keynote speakers at international conferences right now, and we actually feel a little shy about it because we are only 18 months in, but what we’re accomplishing here is actually inspiring other communities. We
Rodrigo Dorador, a 2019 summer fellow with the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative, talks about his role in developing a communication strategy that will help residents of Topeka and Shawnee County become more emotionally connected to the Momentum 2022 plan. Dorador spent 10 weeks in Topeka this summer working with Mayor Michelle De La Isla and the Greater Topeka Partnership.
Mayor Michelle De La Isla talks about the current status of Topeka’s Momentum 2022 plan. De La Isla, a tri-chair for the plan, believes community engagement is essential in pushing the strategy forward, and she praised Rodrigo Dorador for his work in that area.
2018,” Bitler-Loschke said. Keith Warta, another Momentum 2022 tri-chair, argues it will take more time, effort and communication to get community awareness where it needs to be. “I don’t think we’re where we need to be yet, but I certainly believe we’ve taken steps in the right direction,” Warta said. Commissioner Cook agrees. “It takes time to turn a ship,” he said. “We’re constantly going to have to be upping our game.” GTP president and CEO Matt Pivarnik said the city is “indebted” to the BloombergHarvard initiative. From Dorador landing in Topeka as an initiative fellow to Mayor De La Isla visiting New York this year to learn about leadership dynamics in local government, Pivarnik said the initiative has taken Topeka’s Momentum 2022 plan to
“another level.” De La Isla said the city aims to hold itself accountable to the plan, and she is optimistic that it will truly turn the tide. “We are acknowledging when things are not working. We’re asking for help when we need redirection. And we’re all charging forward together,” De La Isla said. “Has our community completely understood what we’re trying to accomplish? No. We have 127,000 souls — and when you add the county, 180,000 souls — that have their own individual experiences. “We understand that we’re not going to be able to account for all 180,000 individuals,” she added. “But what we do want to do is make sure that the culture eventually starts to reflect the positivity that we’re talking about, and that the positivity is not empty positivity — that it’s because we’re seeing things happen.”
went from good to better. We’re not excellent yet; we’ve got a long ways to go to be excellent. But Bloomberg Harvard has taken us to another level.” — Matt Pivarnik, president and CEO of Greater Topeka Partnership, on community progress and the role of the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative
“People turn to crime when they feel like they have no hope and have no options. And what Momentum’s done is it’s giving future generations choices and a sense of hope that there is a different place for them to be at. I think it is an inclusive nature of what this is trying to do. It can’t just be lifting one boat economically. It’s also reaching into a very disenfranchised and marginalized community and saying, ‘You don’t have to go there. There’s actually a place for you. There’s a seat at the table for you.’” — Bob Ross, GTP senior vice president of marketing and communications, on addressing crime by making everyone feel included
“I could make an argument for all of them. In thinking about everything we’ve had happen in the realm of talent development lately, we’ve got Washburn Tech East, which is an amazing opportunity, specifically for East Topeka residents that they haven’t had before. That’s life changing. You think about creating vibrant,
attractive places and that’s where downtown and Wheatfield (Village) and those come in. You think about promoting a positive image, well, there’s literally numbers that show the improvement there. And you feel it — you feel it when you log into Facebook and you feel it when you talk to people in the community. So I can’t pick a winner. There’s definitely been progress.” — Kayla Bitler-Loschke, GTP senior vice president of strategy for Momentum 2022, on which pillar is making the most progress
“One of my favorite things was talking to (Advisors Excel co-founder) David Callanan. The coolest thing that he said was: ‘Why Topeka? Topeka has the best source of employees for my line of business. They are hard-working. They are friendly. And they are honest. That’s what we need in my line of business. And if I try to go to the East Coast or the West Coast, I’m going to have to train people in those qualities, which is really difficult. It’s not a skill you get. So here in the Midwest, we’re just growing them organically. This is amazing.’ And that was the first time I said, ‘Wow, what an amazing opportunity for people to be able to see what he thinks of Midwesterners.’” — Rodrigo Dorador, Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative fellow, on community stories he learned during his 10-week internship
MOMENTUM 2022 | Sunday, August 25, 2019 | G3
G4 | Sunday, August 25, 2019 | MOMENTUM 2022
Montgomery, Ala., to be site of annual intercity visit By Tim Hrenchir tim.hrenchir@cjonline.com
Topeka has much in common with Montgomery, Ala. Both are state capitals. Both are located along rivers, with Topeka being on the Kansas River and Montgomery on the Alabama River. Both have been focal points in civil rights history, as Topeka played a key role in the 1954 court ruling that ended school segregation while major reforms came after Rosa Parks’ 1955 refusal in Montgomery to give up her bus seat to a white man. And both have been clients of Atlanta-based Market Street Services, the company that helped craft the
Momentum 2022 strategy being pursued to make the Topeka community a better place to live, work and play. Officials in Montgomery have used Market Street Services three times, and recently began carrying out their third five-year plan, said Brett Oetting, president of Visit Topeka Inc., an organization that promotes Topeka as a tourism destination. Oetting said he looks forward to taking part from Oct. 2-4 in “Expedition: Montgomery,” the annual intercity visit hosted by the Greater Topeka Partnership. The trip is the latest in a series of annual intercity visits held since 2002. More than 60 people took part in last year’s trip to Chattanooga, Tenn.
Organizers hope to have 80 people take part this year, said Bob Ross, public relations manager for the GTP. The cost is $850 to participate, according to a page on the Visit Topeka website where people may register. That doesn’t include airfare. Topekans taking part in past intercity visits have enjoyed “great takeaways” from them, including the creation of North Topeka’s NOTO Arts District, Oetting said. He said that when local leaders visited Oklahoma City in 2010, they were told they needed to check out a “cool little artsy neighborhood that has popped up out of nowhere” in that community. Oetting said: “And we
get back and John Hunter and Anita Wolgast are like, ‘We’re going to do that with North Topeka.’ And everybody’s like, ‘Right.’ And there it is — and this one is bigger and better than Oklahoma City.” This year’s trip will be different than some others in recent years “because we have kind of a specific agenda,” Oetting said. Those visiting Montgomery will split into different groups to learn about various issues, he said. “I’m going to take a group and I’m going to start working on one thing,” he said. “Vince Frye with Downtown Topeka (Inc.) is going to go and he’s going to take the people on his board that are focused on downtown and
they’re going to meet with downtown people. And then we’ll come together and we’ll have group meetings where everyone is together.” The difference from past years, Oetting said, is that this year those group meetings will be with a multitude of people from Montgomery. Oetting added: “It’s essentially like, ‘What did you guys have in your plan that 18 months in you’re like, ‘We can’t do this.’ It’s a lot more (that) they’re consulting us in a way. But then the last day it’s more collaborative because we are so similar of cities with a lot of our different issues and just general demographics. We’re going to have just kind of a brainstorm session with them as well.”
MOMENTUM 2022 | Sunday, August 25, 2019 | G5
G6 | Sunday, August 25, 2019 | MOMENTUM 2022
‘Children are the future’ Developing, retaining educated workforce seen as key factors for community success By Linda Ditch Special to The Capital-Journal
One of the key components to the Greater Topeka Partnership’s Momentum 2022 idea is developing homegrown talent. Doing this requires two key elements: One is creating an educated workforce, the second is keeping educated workers in Topeka. “Cities continue to prosper on the ideas and work of the next generation,” Washburn University president Jerry Farley said. “Topeka’s graduates today are the interns and new hires of tomorrow that businesses need to continue operating and to keep generating new ideas. Topeka’s school districts constantly strive to enhance educational opportunities for all students to not only provide a holistic, quality education but because those administrators and educators, who live and work in Topeka, know those children are the future of our community.” Topeka Unified School District 501 superintendent Tiffany Anderson noted students who have graduated from the local public-school system have a connection to the community they live. She feels it benefits everyone when those students remain in the community for their careers and to start families. The belief is strong, stable and thriving communities help build a strong local economy. “Recycling economic dollars is also important,” Anderson said. “Millions are invested in developing our scholars for a lifetime
of excellence, which is part of our mission, and we gain back that investment as our graduates remain in the community as future employers, leaders and investors for future generations. In Topeka Public Schools, we started offering job placement to assist graduating students with remaining in Topeka for jobs while in college and to help others move directly into the workforce for their careers.” According to the GTP, Topeka and Shawnee County are slightly less educated than similar surrounding communities, and the gap will continue to grow unless action is taken now. In the Momentum 2022 strategic plan, a key portion is to align the talent pipeline by ensuring there are job candidates for positions that businesses not only have now, but that they anticipate for the future. An employer may have all the employees necessary to run their business today, but those needs will change based on people retiring or leaving those positions. Automation may also change the employment dynamic in the business. An example given by Barbara Stapleton, vice president of business retention and talent initiatives for the Greater Topeka Partnership, showed automation in a business may mean they’ll need to keep only 90% of their current workforce, but they’ll lose 20% in the next 10 years because of retirements. Thus, their pipeline shows the need to fill a 10% employee gap. “As a community, it means we take into consideration what our employers will be needing in six months, one year, five years and beyond,” Stapleton said. “Then we
work to ensure that the youngest residents in our community are receiving the opportunities and education in an early childhood setting, as well as during elementary, middle and high school. That alignment continues through, ensuring that our educational institutions, whether K-12 school districts, technical colleges or universities, are aligning their program offerings with the positions that employers need to fill.” USD 501 made a large investment in this idea with the opening of the Topeka Center for Advanced Learning and Careers in 2018. The school’s focus is on building a highly qualified workforce and helping students gain on-the-job experiences and earn college and industry credentials from instructors who have worked in the field. Those career pathways include green energy and environmental sciences; architecture, design and construction technology; engineering and applied math; athletic training and sports medicine; web and digital communication; emergency and fire management, as well as a new law enforcement pathway partnership with the Topeka Police Department. Also in 2018, Topeka opened the College Prep Academy, which allows students opportunities to earn high school and college credits early through TCALC and Washburn Tech East. The College Prep students create partnerships and connections with the business community as future leaders in Topeka. TPS also offers graduating high school students who want to be teachers an intent to hire during their high school
Washburn Tech East, which offers technical training programs as well as English as a Second Language courses, officially opened in June. [CHRIS NEAL/THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL]
graduation, pending their graduation from college and remaining eligible. Washburn University— which includes Washburn Tech the new Washburn Tech East and the Washburn University School of Law — has focused on strengthening the area economy and retaining local talent. President Farley noted the university’s small business development center helps new businesses get established. The center is a community fixture in everything from the Chamber of Commerce to the arts community to Downtown Topeka. Plus, it was able to get the KBI Forensic Center onto Washburn’s campus, keeping jobs in Topeka and providing for expanded educational opportunities. “Another illustration is Washburn Tech East, located at S.E. 21st and Washington, which allows us to offer several technical training programs more directly to the East Topeka community,” Farley said. “This is a partnership with Washburn and JEDO/GO Topeka. And, one of our newest partnerships is our athletic teams going out to local schools and forming relationships with students well before the time comes to consider college choices.” GTP’s Stapleton noted
much of the efforts in Topeka and Shawnee County are organic, evolving over time. She said the local school districts and WU have created exceptional programming to improve educational opportunities. The Partnership’s organizations serve as facilitators to ensure those collaborations continue to move forward. She also pointed out that GTP organizations GO Topeka and Forge support local talent recruitment efforts through programs like TopCity Interns and TopCity Teachers, introducing college student interns, student teachers and new teachers to the community. “As a community, the more educated all of us are through earning a GED, obtaining a certificate, pursuing an associate’s degree or another degree beyond, the better our opportunities for well-paying jobs and the better trained we are to fill the positions employers have open,” Stapleton said. “It provides employers with the talented workforce they need to continue to provide talent in our pipeline and provides for each of us as an individual to be able to support ourselves and our families, as well as grow the community and make Topeka a place where we all want to live, work and play.”
MOMENTUM 2022 | Sunday, August 25, 2019 | G7
G8 | Sunday, August 25, 2019 | MOMENTUM 2022
Tourism an investment in community Visit Topeka sees positive return on marketing, sales
By India Yarborough iyarborough@cjonline.com
According to Visit Topeka Inc. president and CEO Brett Oetting, if you "build a place people want to visit, you’ll build a place that people want to live." That's the goal, at least, for Oetting and Visit Topeka's sales and marketing teams. Sales and marketing account for most of Visit Topeka's roughly $1.9 million annual operating budget. "We have a couple different responsibilities," Oetting said. "We sell Topeka. We market Topeka, train Topeka, develop Topeka, and we advocate for Topeka." They try to fulfill those responsibilities through educational training programs, by supporting local events, by attending national trade shows, through digital and print marketing and advertisements, and by serving as the liaison among hospitality partners and potential visitors. And the ultimate goal is to draw people to the capital city. Visit Topeka's sales team, which includes staffers Mike Bell and Jessica Schenkel, focus on bringing in convention groups, sports organizations and a variety of group tours. "Visit Topeka looks for more regional and small national events," Bell said. "We’re looking for over 1,000 attendees — 500-plus-room nights. That’s what we want because it will help everybody. High tide raises all ships." By attracting events of that size, they are able to fill multiple hotels and entice a larger number of people to eat, shop and play in Shawnee County. Bell said Visit Topeka has
Members of Visit Topeka’s marketing and sales teams, from left, Mike Bell, Brett Oetting, Rhett Flood and Jessica Schenkel, pose for a photo following their presentation of how the organization promotes the capital city. “Visit Topeka has a very specific mission: increase tourism’s economic impact on Topeka through destination development and brand management,” Oetting said. “We take that to heart.” [THAD ALLTON/THE CAPITAL-JOURNA]
done better in recent years attracting those events, making hotel rooms in Topeka more valuable and resulting in greater revenue for the city. Topeka's average daily rate — the average dollar amount spent on an individual hotel room — has grown steadily since 2015, Bell said. "In 2015, we’re sitting at about $77.50," he said. "In ‘15 we really start engaging people and saying, ‘You know, have you talked to our hotels? We’re worth more.’" Visit Topeka partners with hotels to provide information about how the hotel market fluctuates, Bell noted. "There are folks in competing cities that think they’re worth more, so we need to make sure we are," he said. "We’re pushing those rates to where they need to be." The average daily rate this year increased to $91. Since Visit Topeka is largely funded by bed tax dollars — a local tax added to the price of a hotel
room — an increased average daily rate, combined with more hotel rooms being sold, can result in more money for the city. "All these increases do lead to increased revenues for our cities," Bell said. "In ‘15, as you can see, we’re just a little above $3.7 million. We had a great bump from there to 2016. "We had some pretty cool things that came in in ‘16," he added. "One was Vizsla, which is a national dog show — the Vizsla National Championship was here. There was a large, statewide fraternal organization that was here in Topeka. We also had the Quarter Midget Western Grands, which are little race cars. There were about a thousand rooms for that, out by Heartland Park at that Quarter Midget track." And generating that revenue is a cycle. When the city makes more money, Visit Topeka has more dollars to
spend on attracting events. As the number of events coming to Topeka increases, the city's revenue continues to grow. "One thing about tourism is, it’s an investment," Bell said. "It’s not something like we’re patching a hole in the pavement. We’re actually bringing people in. We’re bringing people to our city. We’re bringing dollars to our city from the outside." Oetting said the organization's marketing department is always tracking return on investment and added that money coming into the city is used to improve the area's quality of place. "All of that money they bring in helps fill potholes, helps police, fire, helps build more trails in our parks department," he said. "It does things for the quality of life in Topeka." Once people are in Topeka, it is largely up to community members to make them feel excited to be here. That is
where Visit Topeka's "know your city" training program comes into play. "We recognized that a while back when you checked into a hotel and asked, ‘Well, what’s there to do in Topeka?’, there was the usual answer of ‘Hmm, I’m not sure. You could go to Lawrence.’ They just didn’t know," Bell said. "So we came up with this program called the Topeka Destination Specialist. Basically what this is, is a line-level training program that gets the people, line-level employees, familiar with Topeka." Visit Topeka staff conduct training in the field once a quarter and have monthly meetings and refreshers for individual businesses. Through the training, hospitality employees learn about local attractions, great places to go for a burger, breweries — things visitors to Topeka might ask about. "It is probably one of the most vital programs I think we have because it, again, reinforces that our community is good," Bell said. "And it really drives home the point that tourism is important for Topeka." And since one in 20 people in Shawnee County work in the hospitality industry, according to Oetting, tourism is "big business." The training program helps hospitality employees realize that and shows them they are part of something bigger than themselves. "They learn that they’re part of a larger community. They learn that they’re part of the tourism community," Bell said. "They don’t just work at the front desk of a hotel. They’re part of a broader community in our city. They are economic development."
MOMENTUM 2022 | Sunday, August 25, 2019 | G9
Forge helping young professionals see Topeka as more attractive option By Brianna Childers bchilders@cjonline.com
Lindsay Lebahn believes that people who are engaged in the community will find all the beauty it has to offer, and with Topeka Forge, a young professionals organization, people are given the opportunity to explore all facets of the city. Forge currently has more than 2,000 members, according to Lebahn, the organization’s executive director. While that number is impressive, Lebahn is focused on a much smaller number. “The ones that are coming to events, the ones that are finding out about other events are making those connections — whether it be through their business, in their community — that’s the number I really care about,” Lebahn said. “If I only have 100 that are really connected, that’s the number. That core number is the one I try to focus on and I think the community is trying to focus on.” Forge was instrumental in creating Topeka’s new flag, which was selected by community members following a community-wide vote. Since then, the flag design has been incorporated into T-shirts, murals and ornaments. In addition to the flag creation, Forge plans events for young professionals who are 18-40 years old, such as volunteer opportunities, cooking classes, and fitness and social events. Kayla Bitler-Loschke, the Greater Topeka Partnership’s senior vice
president of strategy for Momentum 2022, said Forge is important to Momentum 2022, which is about the collaborative direction of the community. “Youth and young people are a part of that,” BitlerLoschke said. “I think a great argument could be made that they are the most important part of that because they are the future of the community.” Bitler-Loschke and Lebhan said in the past few years they have started to see a shift among young adults and teenagers in how they view Topeka. “For so long, it was you had to go to Lawrence and Kansas City and now you don’t,” Lebahn said. “So I think we see more and more wanting to stay here. It is still just that shift in the mindset — you don’t have to go there.” Bitler-Loschke added sometimes she gets challenged on the assumption that people don’t want to be in Topeka and stay here. “That’s been the common conception of community members,” Bitler-Loschke said. “Sometimes when we go to present we are almost a little defensive, and so like now we will go talk to a group of high school students and they will say, ‘No, I don’t feel that way. You don’t have to defend yourself; I’m happy to be here and I like it here.’ “By no means is everyone there. By no means does every college student want to stay or every college student who’s not here want to come here, but I think there is a definite shift in the numbers that want to stay
Kayla BitlerLoschke, senior vice president of strategy for Greater Topeka Partnership’s Momentum 2022 plan, said she gets challenged a lot on the assumption that people don’t want to be or stay in Topeka. [PHOTOS BY THAD ALLTON/THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL]
Lindsay Lebahn, executive director of Forge, said the Top City intern program is helping Topeka attract young professionals and spreading the word about positive changes occurring in the community.
and the numbers that want to come.” Another branch of Forge that Lebahn said she is most proud of is the Top City intern program. In its third year, the program highlights everything about Topeka, she said. This year’s program had 190 interns with 12 different states being represented, including Arkansas,
Mississippi and Minnesota. “Seeing that number, I think, was one of the coolest stats we had,” Lebahn said. “A lot of them do retain here and end up finding jobs or finding local connections, but even if they don’t, that is a really cool thing that is being spread about Topeka.” During the summer program, interns attended lunch-and-learns where
they talked to local businesses, financial summits and heard from Cody Foster, co-founder of Advisor’s Excel, about why people should invest in Topeka. “We had some interns come in from Lawrence and they pushed him a little hard, like, ‘We always think east; what are you going to do to make us think west?’” Lebahn said. “Through that program, they were like, ‘Man, I didn’t know you guys had so many cool things going on,’ and so that was really neat to see.” Bitler-Loschke said the exposure the interns get to Topeka is amazing and offers an opportunity for people from different states to experience the capital city. “The ultimate goal is that they stay,” Bitler-Loschke said. “That’s what we want the most, but what we will settle for is for them to go home and be satisfied with their experience in Topeka.”
G10 | Sunday, August 25, 2019 | MOMENTUM 2022
Art paints community as invigorating place Mural projects help make citizens agents of change, ARTConnect director says
By Brianna Childers bchilders@cjonline.com
One of the most fascinating things about murals for Kayla Bitler-Loschke is how they play a role in boosting community pride. With Topeka having more murals now than one person can count on their hands, Bitler-Loschke, the Greater Topeka Partnership’s senior vice president of strategy for Momentum 2022, credits several people and organizations for developing a grassroots art movement in Topeka. “It’s just sort of a beautiful thing all around and it’s awesome to go around and see the different murals, and to talk with people about how they are incorporating arts or even the future potential of arts that they might be doing, whether it is a streetscaping project with the city or a private developer,” Bitler-Loschke said. “But art is part of the conversation now and it used to be an afterthought at best.” Bitler-Loschke noted the importance of the Brown v. Board mural, S.E. 15th and Monroe Street, and the Topeka Police Department mural, S.W. 3rd Street and S. Kansas Avenue, which is currently ongoing. Both of those murals, along with 12 others, have been spearheaded by ARTSConnect, a Topeka nonprofit advocate for the arts. Sarah Fizell, executive director of ARTSConnect, said she thinks anyone who drives around Topeka can see the effect murals have on the visual landscape. “The other angle to it is really the fact that these projects are community based,” Fizell said. “So
Sarah Fizell, executive director of ARTSConnect, said she gets a lot of feedback from people who think arts aren’t for them, but in reality arts are for everyone. [PHOTOS BY THAD ALLTON/THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL]
where we invite people to come paint, those projects are even more special because not only do they look pretty when completed, but the process of painting them gives people in our community hands-on experience with being an agent of change and that is really important for community development.” Fizell said being an agent for change is especially true for younger people, and that the more people who participate, the more the community benefits as a whole. So far, the police department mural has seen about 500 volunteers and Fizell said she believes it will have the second-most interaction behind only the Brown v. Board mural. Fizell also credits the First Friday Art Walk, which was started by ARTSConnect, for being an important piece in helping people understand the importance of art. “I get a lot of feedback that people think art galleries are something you have to be an art person to do, and
I think that NOTO especially has made that clear to a lot of people in our community that the arts are for everyone,” Fizell said. “The arts benefit everyone and maybe once they have gone to NOTO a couple times, then maybe they do go to the Mulvane (Art Museum) as maybe before they wouldn’t have.” Fizell said ARTSConnect is currently in the middle of a strategic planning process to find ways to serve as many people as possible. As Fizell indicated, the NOTO Arts and Entertainment District also has seen a surge. Staci Dawn Ogle, program coordinator for the district, said she thinks the energy when NOTO was coming to life helped create momentum behind the district and artists. Ogle said during that time, many different artists were popping up and working together to find ways to make art bigger in Topeka — ideas including art projects, murals and public art. “From there I think it just
Thomas Underwood, executive director of the NOTO Arts and Entertainment District, and Staci Dawn Ogle, program coordinator for the district, have been instrumental in transforming NOTO to help improve the city’s quality of life.
continued to build, and I think NOTO has always been able to capture that energy from people when they get down here and the curiosity that comes with that,” Ogle said. “And then kind of like an addiction, you grab onto that and get all excited and you want to come down again and again.” Ogle said NOTO has been really lucky to be able to pull in people from the city who may not have had anything to do with art before, but now they want to be involved. “I think just from all that nice little mix of ingredients we have brought this great big pot of positive energy and vibes and progress that just kind of spills over into the community,” Ogle said. Thomas Underwood, executive director of the NOTO Arts and Entertainment District, said it is evident people look at NOTO as setting the
benchmark for making an area an enticing gathering place. “People like what a change from what it was 10 years ago or 20 years ago,” Underwood said. “What is NOTO? How does that contribute to quality of place? I don’t think you have to look very far — people’s testimonials, people’s comments recognizing what a different place this is and it’s a place that people want to come to.” An ongoing project that is sure to add a new element to NOTO is Redbud Park, which will sit at the southeast corner of N. Kansas Avenue and N.E. Gordon Street. The park is set to be completed this fall. Underwood, who has been working on the park since coming to NOTO, said the district has worked to make sure the park captures the See ART, G11
MOMENTUM 2022 | Sunday, August 25, 2019 | G11
Performing arts venues relish roles Local theaters help citizens engage, feel sense of ownership, official says
Vickie Brokke, Topeka Civic Theatre president and CEO, stands in TCT’s Sheffel Theatre. She said the theater has been an important part of the community over the years and does not anticipate that changing. [PHOTOS BY CHRIS NEAL/THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL]
By Brianna Childers bchilders@cjonline.com
Performing arts in a community can play a large role when it comes to a place like Topeka that is trying to get more people engaged and understand that there are things to do not only occasionally, but every day. Kayla Bitler-Loschke, the Greater Topeka Partnership’s senior vice president of strategy for Momentum 2022, said as someone who grew up in a small town, she is always amazed at how often she hears about parents in Topeka sending their kids to theater camp and how many adults participate in plays. She didn’t have that luxury when she was younger, she said. “Performing arts are another way for people to engage and feel ownership,” Bitler-Loschke said. “It’s a different way to put on a different hat and engage in your community in a different way, or go see people that you know and care about in those performances.” A goal of Momentum 2022 is to create a better quality of place in Topeka, and officials with Topeka Civic Theater, Topeka Performing Arts Center and Jayhawk Theatre all believe their organizations have played a vital role in this area throughout the years, and continue to do so today.
Jayhawk Theatre ◄ Larry Garownski, executive director of the Topeka Performing Arts Center, stands on the balcony in the theater’s Georgia Neese Gray Performance Hall. He said the theater has worked on diversifying its shows to make sure it has offerings for everyone.
Larry Garownski, executive director of Topeka Performing Arts Center, considers TPAC to be one of the oldest kids on the block. Around since 1940, TPAC has spent the last 79 years bringing performances to the community that create memories — performances such as comedian Tim Allen in February, country music artist and comedian Rodney Carrington in 2009 and rock band Casting Crowns in 2015. The excitement is only building for TPAC as it begins to diversify shows and make sure it provides offerings for everyone. “We had a penchant in the past for doing Broadway shows a season, then
trying to do special acts, and I think the first two years I was here I did more research into what people wanted to see,” Garownski said. Garownski identified several types of performances people like to see: comedy, christian, classic rock, children’s shows and country. In the coming months, TPAC will be hosting comedian Jeff Dunham, the Broadway show “Menopause The Musical” and is working to secure comedian Jerry Seinfeld for next year. Garownski said what is critical for the community to know is TPAC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and the theater’s mission is to foster arts education and the performing arts, while recognizing how they benefit the community, especially children and, more importantly, at-risk children. TPAC holds several fundraisers each year, such as Grape Escape, a children’s fundraiser, and Friends of TPAC. Garownski said the theater also has several youth education programs that allow kids to get involved in several different facets, like Sheffel Theater Clinic and Playhouse Theater. “We want to give (the kids)
The Jayhawk Theatre was on the brink of being demolished in 1990 when a group of preservationists saved the theater and later designated it in 1993 as the State Theater of Kansas. Now, the downtown theater has slowly been working on ways to raise its visibility, security and safety while hosting a variety of events. According to Jeff Carson, president of the Jayhawk Theatre Inc. board, officials have been working on installing security cameras, a new exit and fire escape. “Our mission is to preserve the theater,” Carson said. “We have been trying to conduct a lot of awareness events, music and arts, spoken word and comedy, and arts displays, and we’ve been, I think, living up to our mission to do that despite the fact that we aren’t fully operational and we are in a half-functional state right now.” Carson said the theater has built a trust in the community that it didn’t have before. The theater has been awarded more than $200,000 in grants, reducing the cost of renovations, Carson said. “But more important than that, we are telling everybody that we can make these improvements and spend money in a smart, pragmatic way that serves the mission,” Carson said. “I think that newfound trust in the community helps people relax a little bit about theaters going in the right direction.” Carson said the Jayhawk Theatre is excited about Momentum 2022’s initiative because “we know they are committed to bringing entertainment and quality of place alive in this community.” If Topeka can become a place with cultural comfort that offers a quality of life where people feel safe and have entertainment options, everyone wins, Carson said. Carson said the Jayhawk has been working on a lot of different fronts to continue revitalizing the theater, including partnering with Norsemen Brewing Company to offer a beer-vending station, as well as working on researching theaters similar to the Jayhawk. “We have done research, comparable market studies with other theaters and cities roughly the same size as Topeka,” Carson said. “We’ve inventoried our stage, the performance stages, and Topeka only has about four legitimate performing stages at this moment, and other cities, like Springfield (Mo.), have eight or 10. We feel like we are doing due diligence to make sure the need for theater is clear and established.”
Underwood said he is hopeful Redbud Park will be a reflection of the district as well as add to the quality of place. The district is also working on creating a courtyard next to the NOTO Arts
Center and a breezeway that will start at Norsemen Brewing Company and lead to Veterans Park. “Art invigorates people,” Underwood said. “They invigorate the visuals, communities, neighborhoods
and we know the literature is really clear and very compelling that by introducing arts or by having public art available or having access to the arts, whether that is visual arts (or) performing arts, it enhances the quality of life.”
Topeka Civic Theatre Since 1936, Topeka Civic Theatre has held a special place in the community with its dinner theaters enjoyed by many and its continued role in offering a place for people to laugh, cry and think. “TCT has been through some highs and some lows with the community, but we’ve always been an important component of the community, and I don’t think that has changed and I don’t anticipate it changing,” said Vickie Brokke, TCT president and CEO. Despite its unique offerings, TCT doesn’t make the arts community what it is alone. “TCT is blessed to be part of a wonderful arts community,” Brokke said. “We have great partnerships with other arts organizations. I think we do it as a community.” Studies show that live theater improves the quality of life from multiple perspectives, Brokke said. Brokke referenced the hundreds of volunteers who donate their time weekly to help out at TCT. “It gives them an opportunity every year, for some every week, to exercise their creative outlets,” Brokke said. “We have volunteers from all walks of life that come here after a long day of work or after a long week of work and really have an opportunity to do what they love and be creative, and then when they go back to work they are truly better employees or better students because they have their creative outlets.” From the audience perspective, Brokke said live theater allows the community to come together for a few hours and keep everything else but the performance outside the walls. “We can witness something kind of magical, sometimes beautiful, sometimes funny or moving,”
ART From Page G10
best parts of NOTO and stays true to what the district represents.
the tools that help them be better,” Garownski said. Garownski said when people look at Topeka, they should see a place to raise a family, a place for them to worship and a place with activities and events. “We feel we play a significant role in that as well,” Garownski said. “We aren’t the be-all, end-all, but we are one of the cogs in the wheel.” Garownski said as the community continues to grow, he believes TPAC will continue to have a significant role. “You can never get complacent because as soon as you do, you get passed by or people go to another city to get their entertainment,” Garownski said. “We always want to be the place where people come to us first. “
Jeff Carson, president of the Jayhawk Theatre Inc. board, stands on the theater’s main stage. He said he believes the Jayhawk has built a trust in the community that was not present before.
Brokke said. “Sometimes it’s thought provoking, sometimes it’s silly. But for a little while, we can sit beside total strangers and embrace all of that together, so if you need to you can temporarily escape what’s going on at home or anywhere else in the community, or the world, and just enjoy a wonderful performance.” Topeka Civic Theatre also provides an education aspect by doing two shows every year called Theatre for Young Audiences. This year TCT is doing “Ichabod.” Through the years, Brokke said she has noticed more young people wanting to get involved in theater. TCT has started to do more collaborations with high schools because TCT officials see theater education becoming a vital part of secondary education, she said. “Not only do we hope to mentor those kids with some of our programs, but we make sure the high schools have access to all of our costumes and anything prop-wise or set-wise that we can loan to them to help make their program as flourishing as possible,” Brokke said. “We want to do that. We know we aren’t the only theater, but
we want to make sure theater is accessible to everyone.” Two of TCT’s ongoing goals are to make sure the theater is as affordable as possible and to constantly look at how it can diversify its volunteer and community pool. “We are wanting to always look at how we can be a theater for everyone, not just for someone,” Brokke said.
“It’s not going to be your traditional park where you take the kids,” Underwood said. “It’s not Garfield Park, it’s not Gage Park. This is a NOTO park, and with that we wanted to make sure that it was embracing the arts.”
Topeka Performing Arts Center
G12 | Sunday, August 25, 2019 | MOMENTUM 2022
MOMENTUM 2022 SECTION H
Putting Topeka on the map Community leaders look to solidify capital city’s place in Animal Health Corridor, capitalize on Plug and Play partnership
By India Yarborough and Sherman Smith iyarborough@cjonline.com ssmith@cjonline.com
Officials tasked with developing and diversifying the economy of Topeka and Shawnee County believe the injection of Plug and Play innovation will make Topeka a lightning rod for tech-based start-ups they hope will shine across the region. For Katrin Bridges, who oversees innovation for the Greater Topeka Partnership, landing Plug and Play is a game changer. She said it is the first step in a strategy to take advantage of the emerging Animal Health Corridor stretching from Manhattan to Columbia, Mo. More than 300 animal-health-related
companies operate within the corridor, and those companies account for 56% of global revenue from animal health, diagnostics and pet food sales. “That industry has always been on our radar,” said Molly Howey, senior vice president of economic development for the Partnership. “We just haven’t been bold enough to develop some of the resources that we need to be able to attract those companies at a greater success rate.” Bridges is helping turn that around. She arrived in Topeka a year ago for a newly created position with the Greater Topeka Partnership, the umbrella agency of area organizations that work to advance economic development and quality of life locally.
A native of Germany, Bridges came to the United States to get a graduate degree in Philadelphia and spent five years working in the biotech startup world in Boston. She said her goal is to put Topeka on the Animal Health Corridor map. Bridges unveiled an agreement with Silicon Valley-based Plug and Play in early August. She said the company helped advance 1,107 start-ups in 2018 and is expected to bring about 10 new start-ups to Topeka every six months, beginning early next year, to take part in programs aimed at helping get those businesses off the ground. The task at hand will be See PARTNERS, H11
Katrin Bridges, senior vice president of innovation for the Greater Topeka Partnership, talks of the potential long-term economic impact of Plug and Play’s partnership with Topeka. “This is the first step in actually executing our strategy,” Bridges said. “Now that we have the committment, that means other people can bank on it.” [CHRIS NEAL/THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL]
Adviors Excel co-founder Cody Foster says the Gage Shopping Center property at the southwest corner of Huntoon and Gage will look “20 times better” when renovation work is completed. Advisors Excel bought four buildings in the center to expand the company’s operations.
Vibrant vision coming into focus Gage Shopping Center, Wheatfield Village, Sherwood Crossing projects help revitalize city
By Tim Hrenchir tim.hrenchir@cjonline.com
T
urning eyesores into assets. That’s what’s being done with ongoing projects to create vibrant and attractive places — a pillar of the Momentum 2022 campaign — at separate sites near S.W. Huntoon and Gage Boulevard, S.W. 29th and Fairlawn Road and S.W. 29th and Wanamaker Road. The projects continue a revitalization process that in recent years breathed new life into downtown and NOTO. Advisors Excel The Gage Shopping Center property at the southwest corner of Huntoon and Gage will look “20 times better” when Advisors Excel completes renovation work it is about to carry out there, said Cody Foster, who cofounded Advisors Excel in 2004 with Derek Thompson and David Callanan. That company bought four buildings at Gage Center earlier this year as part of its plans to expand its operations, which are based at 2950 S.W. McClure Road. Advisors Excel is preparing to first renovate the Cobblestone office building at Gage Center’s southwest corner, as well as the office building located on the center’s west side, Foster said. He said the company hopes to start demolition
work by the end of August, with construction most likely beginning in September. The Cobblestone building will feature re-skinned exteriors accompanied by new and additional windows. Plans are also in the works to redo landscaping and parking lots on the properties involved, Foster said. He said renovation will likely begin next year: • At the strip center on the south end of the Gage Center property, which continues to be the site of Los Charros Mexican Restaurant and Cantina. • On the building facing S.W. Huntoon, which formerly contained Quintons and Jeremiah Bullfrogs Live, and continues to be the site of Annie’s Place. Advisors Excel intends to turn the former Bullfrogs Live location into an event center, where its employees would be able to hold team meet-ups and work off-site, if they wish, Foster said. Wheatfield Village Businessmen Jim Klausman and Butch Eaton sought to create a quality of place that entices younger professionals to want to live, work and play here as they crafted plans to create the Wheatfield Village development at the northwest corner of S.W. 29th and Fairlawn. That location has been an eyesore for 30 years and
A crew hangs string lights above the patio at Johnny’s Tavern earlier this month at Wheatfield Village near S.W. 29th and Fairlawn. In addition to Johnny’s, Wheatfield Village also will feature a Marriott hotel, an apartment complex, a B&B Theater, a PT’s Coffee and a SPIN! Pizza. [PHOTOS BY CHRIS NEAL/THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL]
“was just going nowhere” when Klausman and Eaton bought it in 2015, Topeka City Counclwoman Karen Hiller said at a council meeting in February. Klausman and Eaton razed the buildings that stood at that site. Their company, 29 Fairlawn LLC, is constructing a development that will include a Marriott hotel, an apartment complex, a B&B Theater, a Johnny’s Tavern, a PT’s Coffee and a SPIN! Pizza. Plans call for Johnny’s and SPIN! Pizza to open in late August, and PT’s Coffee to open in September, said Greg Schwerdt, founder of Schwerdt Design Group, which is the architect for the project. The theater is expected to
be open by Thanksgiving, Schwerdt said. Construction is expected to begin soon on the hotel, which will probably open during the mid-summer in 2020, he said. Sherwood Crossings Meanwhile, Overland Park-based 29th Street Partners, LLC, is preparing to carry out a redevelopment project to make renovations and perform new construction at the former Villa West Shopping Center at the northwest corner of S.W. 29th and Wanamaker. That center will be renamed “Sherwood Crossings.” Its clock tower will be torn down as part of a project aimed at helping it get a
fresh start and shed the notoriety of its past, which includes deterioration while being owned by developer Kent Lindemuth, city council members learned in March. 29th Street Partners plans to get rid of the center’s older, Spanish-style architecture while making improvements that include providing a new facade, newer and better signage, new landscaping and new ingress and egress, said Ferd Niemann IV, that company’s director of development. He said the property’s current tenants will be welcome to stay if they wish, while 29th Street Partners plans to bring in two new restaurants. See VISION, H9
H2 | Sunday, August 25, 2019 | MOMENTUM 2022
Police chief: Public safety improving Law enforcement working to ‘gain the trust and faith of the citizens of Topeka and Shawnee County’
Department in the area of public safety,” Cochran said, noting the arrangements the police department has with Chief Ron Brown and Topeka Unified School District 501 police; Chief Mike Cope and the Shawnee County Parks and Recreation police; and Chief Chris Enos and Washburn University police. “These partnerships allow us to address issues very quickly when they arise,” Cochran said, “which allows for positive outcomes.” Cochran added that he believes the men and woman of the Topeka Police Department — including both sworn and non-sworn personnel — “are working very hard to gain the trust and faith of the citizens of Topeka and Shawnee County. The better the relationship is between the citizens, the business community and our local government, the more efficient we become. That results in better services as a whole, which has a direct impact on public safety.”
By Phil Anderson phil.anderson@cjonline.com
Public safety is more than a police issue in Topeka and Shawnee County. Leaders from the local business, law enforcement and government communities say it is an economic issue, as well. For Topeka to grow and attract new businesses, the oft-repeated refrain goes, the city must be a safe place for people to live, play and raise their families. Consequently, the Topeka Police Department and Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office have made efforts in recent years to engage local residents to work with them in combating crime. Topeka Police Department “I believe the perception of crime in Topeka is improving, but I also realize that it is relative to a person’s situation,” said Topeka Police Chief Bill Cochran. “The reality is overall crime is down 25.6 percent compared to this time last year, but our violent crime is slightly up. “Most of our violent crime in Topeka involves individuals who are known to one another, have gotten into some form of argument or disagreement and are participating in some other activity which then contributes to a violent situation occurring.” Though the number of homicides is down from its numbers the past two years, there are still concerns about incidents in which individuals have lost their lives, particularly to gun violence. The Topeka community was shaken in late April, when Washburn University football player Dwane Simmons was shot and killed near S.W. 13th and Lane. A former teammate, Corey Ballentine, who hours earlier had been selected in the sixth round of the NFL Draft by the New York Giants, was wounded in the same incident. Ballentine was hospitalized, then released, and has since joined the Giants in New York. An 18-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the slaying, but the incident served to put the spotlight on safety of Washburn students living just north of the campus. A local real estate developer has estimated nearly 1,000 Washburn students live in that area. Cochran said police officials have been working on the safety issue in the area just north of S.W. 17th and Washburn Avenue, attempting to collaborate with the university’s administration, police department and football coaching staff “to provide a safer environment for the campus and the neighborhoods encompassing our Washburn University community.” In July, Cochran said, the police department convened a Strengthening Police and Community Partnerships forum at Washburn University, “and this topic was included in the conversation.” Coordinated efforts with other law enforcement agencies have been put into place to increase law enforcement presence in the central Topeka area to include the area around Washburn University, Cochran noted. “As an additional duty,” Cochran said, “several of our community police officers who graduated from Washburn University, to include several who also played a sport, will be serving as police liaisons to Washburn to be able to provide better response and support to
Topeka Police Chief Bill Cochran says overall crime is down 25.6 percent from this time in 2018 but violent crime has risen slightly from a year ago. [CHRIS NEAL/THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL]
all students of Washburn University while they are off campus.” Of course, the police department is tasked with protecting and serving the citizens of Topeka in all corners of the capital city. Cochran said adjustments have been made to provide the best patrol coverage for the city. Some of the adjustments have been made in coordination with the Fraternal Order of Police, the union that represents Topeka police officers. “The additional staff will also allow officers to be proactive and address issues within their assigned area,” Cochran said, “which will also improve neighborhood relations.” Cochran said one of his commitments to the city manager, mayor and the citizens of Topeka is to increase the department’s community engagement efforts. “As part of that,” he said, “we now identify a major crime issue that we focus on each year. In 2018, that focus was on gun violence, and to build on the success of 2018, this year our focus is on court compliance efforts. “This includes holding registered offenders accountable by making them adhere to their court-ordered requirements,” Cochran said. “This includes violent offenders, sexual offenders and drug offenders. This effort also addresses felons who are prohibited from possessing firearms as well as those individuals who have outstanding warrants.” Discussions in the past couple of years have included the possibility of placing cameras at several locations in downtown Topeka, which could be especially helpful in police protection during large-scale outdoor events. “The talk of cameras in areas where large amount of people gather has been discussed and those conversations continue as results of events that occur all around the world,” Cochran said. “Those discussions have been driven from community partners and not the police Department. The premise behind camera systems of this nature are of course ‘public safety’ and not for enforcement efforts. “The Topeka Police Department supports public safety endeavors including camera monitoring systems to make sure the citizens of Topeka and those who visit our great city feel safe and welcome.” The department has installed a few cameras in the downtown area and other locations to help address specific safety concerns, Cochran said. “To enhance our efforts in this arena, we initiated the See
Topeka Program,” Cochran said. “This program has been a great success and several major crimes have been impacted by this citizen-law enforcement partnership.” Other police partnerships The police department also has been actively involved with the Topeka Center for Peace and Justice and working on the issue of overall violence in the city with the Justice Unity Ministry Project, Cochran added. “This endeavor has led to our involvement and key partnership in working with JUMP for a Group Violence Intervention program to be brought to Topeka,” Cochran said. “This program has received national attention and accolades and we are excited about the possibility of what it can bring to enhance quality of life in the capital city. “We are continuing to expand our long-standing partnership with Crime Stoppers including the Gun Stoppers program. This program is specifically designed to engage citizens in guncrime prevention and to gain their assistance in active guncrime investigations.” In partnership with Topeka City Councilman Mike Padilla and Safe Streets, the police department has taken the lead role in revitalizing the Neighborhood Watch program, Cochran said. The revitalized effort will include a “rebranding” of the program, Cochran noted, with new efforts to address crime in neighborhoods. This new effort was presented at the City Council meeting on July 23 and was rolled out to the public during National Night Out Against Crime events on Aug. 10. The Topeka Police Department currently is working with the Police Executive Research Forum on a 36-month Bureau of Justice Assistance project to help reduce gun violence. The project is titled “Refining a Field-initiated Investigations Model to Reduce Firearm-related Homicides and Improve Officer and Public Safety.” Once it is completed, the research will be published and serve as a model nationally on how to respond to and reduce gun violence in communities across the United States. The project started on Oct. 1, 2018, and will conclude on Sept. 30, 2021. Crime can occur in any area of any city at any time. However, a crime map provided by the police department shows the highest concentration of violent crimes continues to occur on the city’s east side. “We must keep in mind
that crime in areas is driven by many different factors,” Cochran said. “High crime areas also coincide a lot of times with the overall health of the neighborhoods. To understand crime, we have to look at the whole picture.” He said that “in looking at the map, and the city’s neighborhood health maps, you find a correlation between crime and the health of a neighborhood.” As the Topeka Police Department continues to address safety in the capital city, it is finding no shortage of individuals and organizations that want to climb on board and do what they can to help reduce crime. One of the avenues that is bringing people from diverse groups together is Momentum 2022, a project aimed at improving the quality of life in Topeka at all levels. The police department has a seat at the Momentum 2022 table as discussions on public safety take place. “Momentum 2022 has shifted discussions in our community in a positive way in many different areas and public safety is one of those,” Cochran said. “Since the inception of Momentum 2022, I have felt that the involvement of the Topeka Police Department is imperative to the success of this endeavor.” Cochran said when he was asked to be the interim police chief by city manager Brent Trout, “I presented him with my road map of how the department should be involved in Momentum 2022, which also improves community relations as well as private and public partnerships. “Since then, the Topeka Police Department has been involved in multiple facets of Momentum 2022, with over 22 sworn and nonsworn personnel involved in every committee and subcommittee. I serve on the Implementation Committee of Momentum 2022.” As efforts continue to make Topeka a safe place, Cochran said he is seeing progress. “I think public safety in Topeka and Shawnee County is improving,” he said. “We enjoy a great partnership with the Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office and we address issues from a holistic approach.” Cochran said he and Sheriff Brian Hill take the approach that public safety in the county is both part of our primary mission: “Since Sheriff Hill has taken office, our agency has worked together on several events to include the Country Stampede and the Fiesta Mexicana events.” The relationship the Topeka Police Department has with “partner agencies” and their leaders “is essential to the success of the Topeka Police
Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office While Topeka police officers are at work on the streets of the capital city, Shawnee County sheriff’s deputies concentrate on patrolling areas outside the city. Shawnee County sheriff’s Sgt. Todd Stallbaumer said that when deputies and other officers from the sheriff’s office meet with citizens in Shawnee County at either events or while patrolling, “most of the feedback is very positive” regarding the work the sheriff’s office is doing in the area of crime prevention. Stallbaumer added that certain crimes, including vehicle burglaries, have been on the rise over the past few years. “We understand the frustration associated with this type of crime,” Stallbaumer said. “As part of Sheriff Brian Hill’s initiative to focus on reducing burglaries in Shawnee County, the sheriff’s office will be introducing an ‘Eyes on Crime’ program that will build a database of residential and business camera systems to allow patrol deputies and detectives additional resources when investigating crimes. “Additionally, Sheriff Hill has implemented ‘focused enforcement’ strategies that saturate certain areas with deputies. The enforcement focuses on the days and times of the highest crime activity based on crime data.” Stallbaumer added that the sheriff’s office also will be focusing on expanding the CodeRED emergency notification system. CodeRED is a platform that allows the sheriff’s office to target specific areas in the county for critical alerts, “such as upticks in burglaries or mail thefts, to impacted individuals within seconds.” Stallbaumer added that the sheriff’s office continues to work with Safe Streets in expanding the Neighborhood Watch program in the county. “We have added around five neighborhoods over the past year,” Stallbaumer said. “This program promotes interaction and communication between neighbors. We are able to hear the concerns of the citizens and pass on the latest information on crime trends, crime prevention, and the proper reporting of crimes.” Stallbaumer said the sheriff’s office understands the integral role law enforcement has in community and economic development. “As mentioned in the Momentum 2022 Community Assessment breakdown,” he said, “internal or external beliefs that a community is unsafe can impact quality of life and the community’s ability to attract residents and jobs. The sheriff’s office is committed to engaging the citizens of Shawnee County and work in partnership to reduce crime.”
MOMENTUM 2022 | Sunday, August 25, 2019 | H3
H4 | Sunday, August 25, 2019 | MOMENTUM 2022
‘On the brink of greatness’
Topeka Community Foundation working to make difference with Impact Topeka grants By Brianna Childers bchilders@cjonline.com
Topeka Community Foundation president Marsha Pope likes to use the example of apples when talking about health. She wants to know what barriers are preventing families from having apples in their homes and what systems and policies need changed so families don’t need organizations like the Boys and Girls Club to supply them apples anymore. So when TCF decided to switch its focus to community health and create Impact Topeka grants, its grant-making shifted from transactional to transformational. “We learned from the Shawnee County health agencies report to the community about the health of our community, about the social determinants of health and really how a person’s zip code determines their health more than their genetic code, and we took a look at that health from a bigger lens and tied that to economic development,” Pope said. But it wasn’t just Pope and TCF that was interested in the link between community development and economic development — so was Momentum 2022, GO Topeka and the Greater Topeka Partnership. “What are the environments and systems and policies that need to be changed in order to make this a more equitable
economic development in our community?” Pope said. “Even though we knew we need to change environments and systems and policies, there’s still some transactional kinds of things that need to be done.” The first Impact Topeka grant was given to Strengthening and Empowering Neighborhoods Together (SENT) in October 2018 in the amount of $149,758. The nonprofit used the money to help support educational efforts in the Hi-Crest neighborhood, according to Kathy Smith, TCF’s director of community investment. The next two grants were given to the LINK partnership — which includes Shawnee County Medical Society HealthAccess, Stormont Vail Health, Valeo Behavioral Health Care, Washburn University nursing students and Harvesters — and Heartland Healthy Neighborhoods and the Shawnee County Health Department. TCF has also made a grant and is co-funding an affordable housing assessment that is led by the city of Topeka. LINK Partnership The LINK Partnership was created in hopes of improving patient care and making sure patients are getting help from every avenue. The idea behind LINK came to fruition as Karla Hedquist, executive director of the HealthAccess program, and Amy Kincade, vice president of population health management for
Stormont Vail, began having conversations with each other and others about food insecurity and patient navigation. With a $371,203 twoyear grant from TCF, Stormont Vail hired a social worker who reviews patient charts and looks for food insecurity. So far, 15 people have been referred to the program. After Matthew Benorden, the LINK social worker, identifies food insecurity, he looks at risk score and social determinants. If the patient is eligible and chooses to participate in the program, LINK’s second new position, a community service navigator, meets with the patient at his home and brings a box of food from Harvesters. “It does break the ice and gives them something to talk about at that first meeting,” Hedquist said. Accompanying Ashley Aarganbright, the community service navigator, is a Washburn University nursing student. The student gets the opportunity to see population health “where it really belongs, which is in the community, and work with the patient,” Hedquist said. Kincade said from the patient’s perspective, they now have an entire care team that is united. “The other thing that’s really important and unique about this grant is often times each of us as an independent facility have received grant funding to do a piece of this and this is a grant intended to provide funds for the whole continuum,” Kincade said. “It’s not something
we are going to know in six months. It’s going to take a minimum of probably two years on a very targeted number of people to demonstrate a shift in risk and outcomes.” Hedquist said she believes the program is going to be “wildly successful.” “I hope we really identify some solutions that really address the root cause,” Kincade said. “I hope we have some lessons learned that allow us to turn and say, ‘Well, that worked for 90 percent of the people enrolled,’ and take some really target opportunities and get it out to more people.” Heartland Healthy Neighborhoods Heartland Healthy Neighborhoods knew if it wanted to take the volunteer coalition to the next level, it needed to hire a community health planner to organize and report on the outcomes of the community health improvement plan. Linda Ochs, director of the Shawnee County Health Department, said she knew it would be better to partner with TCF to make the new position happen. “It just really felt like it was better to be a team player and make this job more about this community and less about the county health department,” Ochs said. “We wanted it to be a health department employee and yet really dedicated to Heartland Healthy Neighborhoods and the community health improvement plan.” Susan Caman was hired in May as the community
Kathy Smith, Topeka Community Foundation’s director of community investment, and Marsha Pope, president of TCF, have been playing vital roles in shifting the foundation’s focus to community health and creating four Impact Topeka grants. [THAD ALLTON/THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL]
health planner and already has begun working on completing the community health improvement plan. The $160,845.85 threeyear grant allows Caman and Heartland Healthy Neighborhoods to look at strategies and outcomes and report the information gathered to the Shawnee County Commission, Topeka City Council and public. “As far as impacting health outcomes, that’s years and years and big stuff,” Ochs said. “So we are trying to break it down into steps that we can do in increments at a time in order to get to that final goal. If we want to work on decreasing the obesity rate we’ve got to work on access to exercise, access to health foods. Do people have sidewalks, access to parks? It will be small steps that will be working toward those bigger goals of making Topeka a healthier community.” Ochs said the community health planner will look at how Topeka and Shawnee County are doing in areas of access to healthy food and food
insecurity. Ochs said changing policy when it comes to health outcomes is important and includes thinking in terms of what the sidewalks are like and if they are wide enough, or creating free parking that makes people walk a little farther. “I think Marsha’s example of we can give people apples all day, but is it really going to impact their health overall,” Ochs said. “The apples are great, but as our health officer said, ‘Policy is the vaccine for the social determinants of health.’” Smith said the work TCF and the grants are taking on is not short work, but will takes years of working toward progress, with Pope adding it could take a generation. Pope said her dream is for the community to be healthy and hopes to inspire others to see that community development is economic development. “The stars are aligning and we are all talking the same language and that is what’s going to help us make progress on this issue,” Pope said.
MOMENTUM 2022 | Sunday, August 25, 2019 | H5
From Auburn to NOTO, quality of place grants finance projects that enhance our communities By Tim Hrenchir tim.hrenchir@cjonline.com
The city of Auburn has a new outdoor fitness park and Topeka's historic Jayhawk Theatre once again has sewer service for its two bathrooms, thanks to grant funding provided to improve "quality of place" using revenue from a countywide sales tax. Money from that tax is also helping pay for the creation of Evergy Plaza in downtown Topeka and Redbud Park in North Topeka's NOTO Arts District. "Economic development needs this kind of public/ private partnership," said Jeff Carson, president of the Jayhawk Theatre board of directors. The projects come at a time when local leaders are focused on creating vibrant and attractive places, which is one of the pillars of the Momentum 2022 campaign. Shawnee County in August 2016 opened the $9.25 million Midwest Health Aquatic Center at 2201 S.W. Urish Road, while work began recently on a $48 million project to renovate central Topeka's Stormont Vail Events Center. The board of directors of the Joint Economic Development Organization voted last December to disburse $2 million in quality of place grants in the amounts of $1.25 million for Evergy Plaza, $644,000 for NOTO and $53,000 each for Jayhawk Theatre and the city of Auburn in southwest Shawnee County. The JEDO board is a body of local elected officials who oversee the use of revenue from the
The “Auburn Outdoor Fitness Park,” created with the help of a $53,000 grant from the Joint Economic Development Organization, includes a skiing machine, a rowing machine and a cardio stepper. [PHOTOS BY CHRIS NEAL/THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL]
Children enjoy the water slides earlier this summer at the Midwest Health Aquatic Center, 2201 S.W. Urish Road. The center is just one example of a local attraction that has helped improve Topeka’s quality of place and quality of life.
countywide half-cent sales tax levied to raise money to finance economic development and infrastructure improvements. The four projects were chosen from among 16 applications. Auburn was awarded $53,000 to create the "Auburn Outdoor Fitness Park." Volunteers teamed up in June to install outdoor fitness equipment on a concrete base in that park just south of Auburn's Civic Center, 1020 Washington. The exercise equipment includes a skiing machine, a rowing machine and a cardio stepper. There is also a wheelchairaccessible chest press, which was donated by Greenfields Outdoor Fitness Equipment, said Dorothy Bryan, president of the Auburn City Council. "Benches have been added as well as a picnic table in the center, plus donated bushes and trees from Home Depot grace the corners," Bryan said. "By using volunteers
service to its two bathrooms, with work having been completed Aug. 6, said Carson. That project was part of ongoing efforts to restore the theater at 720 S.W. Jackson, which opened in 1926. Carson said the theater's board of directors had restored the bathrooms a couple years ago, then learned a few months later that their sewer lines had been "broken and buried" during utility work done eight or 10 years ago. The theater found itself with three potential alternatives, two of which would have cost tens of thousands of dollars despite being only temporary, Carson said. The funding from JEDO enabled the theater to exercise its other option of connecting those bathrooms with the city's sewer system, which essentially provides "a sewer solution for the next century," Carson said. People at the theater now no longer need to rely on the hospitality of Parrish Hotel Corp., which had been letting them use restrooms in
and negotiating deals, we were able to save enough out of the grant to purchase an ADA-accessible park drinking fountain, with a dog water station at the bottom. This was an unexpected boon, which will be added in the very near future." Grand opening ceremonies haven't yet been held for the park, which Bryan said is already getting considerable use. "What a wonderful addition for Auburn!" Jeri Eckhardt wrote June 28 on the city's Facebook page. The public may use the park year-round free of charge. Auburn's next project will be to install a playground next to the fitness park featuring a slide, see saws, a park swing and a merry-goround, provided by a grant through FreeState Electric's Round Up program, Bryan said. "We are swinging for the fences and refuse to strike out," she said. The Jayhawk Theatre used its $53,000 to restore sewer
the nearby Jayhawk Tower at 700 S.W. Jackson, Carson said. The $7 million Evergy Plaza remains on target to open in March 2020 on properties the Downtown Topeka Foundation owns at 618, 630 and 632 S. Kansas Ave. Funding from multiple public and private sources — including the $1.25 million from the JEDO board — is being used to create the outdoor plaza, which will feature a stage, a 30-foottall digital screen and a centrally located splash park featuring choreographed fountains. NOTO Arts and Entertainment District officials hope this fall to complete their $900,000 community improvement project to create Redbud Park at the southeast corner of N. Gordon and Kansas Avenue. The $644,000 provided by the JEDO board will help finance development of the park, which will feature indoor event space, redbud trees, a sculpture park, a gazebo and a pergola.
H6 | Sunday, August 25, 2019 | MOMENTUM 2022
Housing in high demand
With local housing market favoring sellers, young professionals looking for homes may face dilemmas By India Yarborough iyarborough@cjonline.com
The inventory of homes for sale in Topeka right now is “really pretty low,” according to Linda Briden, CEO of the Sunflower Association of Realtors. Briden said Topeka had a 1.7-month supply of homes, in all price ranges, in July — down from a 2.1-month supply in June. It is a market status, she added, that favors the seller. “A month’s supply is if today, from this point forward, no new listings came on the market and you took the average sales over a 12-month period, you would divide the current active listings by that number, and that would give you the month’s supply,” Briden said. There are several different types of real estate markets: buyer’s market, balanced market, seller’s market. A market with home inventory above a six-month supply is considered a buyer’s market, while inventory below a six-month supply signifies a seller’s market. Those terms indicate who has the upper hand. Potential home buyers in Topeka’s seller’s market, therefore, may experience higher prices or more competitive races to find homes. According to Briden, the median number of days a house sits on the market is seven. “It’s influenced home valuation,” Briden said. “We’ve seen nice home valuation increases in the last three to four years.” Home valuation last year rose an average of 4%, and experts at Wichita State University, she said, are predicting a 3.5% average home
A “For Sale” sign sits in front of a home in Topeka. According to Linda Briden, CEO of the Sunflower Association of Realtors, Topeka is currently in a seller’s market, meaning the number of houses on the market is below a six-month supply. [CHRIS NEAL/THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL]
valuation increase in 2019. “So if you’re a homeowner, over the course of the last two years, your home has appreciated 6%,” Briden said. “If 2019 estimates come through, that means your value has increased 9.5%.” Since that is an average increase, individual home valuation depends on factors such as home condition and location. Regardless, Briden considers those average increases a pretty good return on investment. “However, next year it could all start to go the other way,” she added, “so it’s kind of hard to know as a seller how long I think this trend is going to last.” While that valuation increase may be beneficial to Topekans looking to sell their homes, the trend makes it more difficult for buyers in the area to find suitable homes at reasonable prices.
And when it comes to attracting and retaining talent — a goal of the Greater Topeka Partnership’s Momentum 2022 strategy — professionals looking to become local homeowners may struggle to find what they are looking for. The issue is significant in part because it follows a recent announcement that Topeka has secured an agreement with Plug and Play, a Silicon Valley-based innovation company that is expected to bring roughly 10 new startups to the capital city every six months, beginning next year. Katrin Bridges, GTP’s senior vice president of innovation, suggested improving housing options could be vital to Topeka’s hopes of retaining those start-up companies and their employees. Still, the question remains — to build or not to build? “It’s kind of a hard choice,” Briden said. “Do you build
homes before you’re successful with bringing a large influx of new business or workers? Or are you successful in landing that business or industry that will be bringing (in new workers) and then you don’t have sufficient homes? “For a builder or developer, that would be a big gamble on what to do first.” Ivan Weichert, executive director of the Topeka Area Building Association, said he thinks there are “plenty” of new homes being constructed. “I think a lot of the builders are building only what they think they can sell pretty quickly and don’t want to be stuck with a lot of extra housing on their plate,” Weichert said. He added that the number of building permits issued in Shawnee County this year has remained steady. “I get a report every month on what (building) permits have been issued in the city
and in the county,” Weichert said. “We’re holding pretty steady with that compared to last year, so I don’t think there’s a lack of new homes.” Weichert said he thinks many people look to buy existing homes, but as he and Briden note, it is hard to know exactly what potential buyers are looking for. “It depends on who’s looking and who’s looking for what,” Briden said. “All it takes is that one right person, that one buyer — no matter if it’s a $25,000 investment property or a rental or if it’s a $500,000 home. It takes that person that walks in and says, ‘This is the one. This is gonna work.’” She added that the largest number of homes sold, though, tends to fall into the same price range — $100,000 to $160,000 — year after year. “This could be an affordability issue,” she said. “It could be just because that’s what there is.” While the price range of best-selling homes may stay consistent, Briden said the market won’t. It could swing back depending on interest, inventory and housing affordability. “It won’t stay at this low inventory level, but I don’t see any short-term change,” she said. “I don’t see any change coming in the next two to three years.” And the seller’s market, she notes, is a national trend. “We are nationally so far behind with the number of homes that are available as related to the need. It could take a while at the national level,” Briden said. “Here we can adjust smaller areas, smaller markets. We might be able to adjust and change that quickly, but I don’t know what the answer is.”
MOMENTUM 2022 | Sunday, August 25, 2019 | H7
Focus on community the cornerstone of local firm Schwerdt Design Group uses work to improve, promote city
By India Yarborough iyarborough@cjonline.com
According to Greg Schwerdt of Topekabased Schwerdt Design Group, it is “absolutely mandatory” that the city looks beyond downtown when thinking of potential development. “I’ve been involved in several studies and master plans and those sorts of things over the years that have all been completed and paid for and sat on shelves forever,” Schwerdt said. “Now, this resurgence of downtown, of NOTO, of the riverfront is creating a tremendous impetus for the continuance of that development, but we’ve got to look beyond.” Schwerdt grew up in Topeka and attended Hayden High School when it was still located downtown across from the Kansas Statehouse. He said he has seen “everything that’s tried to happen” over the years. But he has also played a role in bringing some of the more recent developments to fruition. One such development is Wheatfield Village, at the intersection of S.W. 29th St. and Fairlawn. Schwerdt Design Group — of which Schwerdt is the founder — is the architect of record on the project. Wheatfield is expected to start opening doors this month to at least two of the businesses going in at that location. Johnny’s Tavern has plans to open first, followed by SPIN!
Pizza about a week later. “Most people don’t realize, but (Wheatfield) is a $100 million investment,” Schwerdt said. “Although there is some tax incentive involved, it’s very critical for any of these types of developments to be a public-private development, a partnership. That is what really has spurred these things to happen.” The village concept, Schwerdt said, was not just about developing a blighted piece of property. “We wanted to create a village more in line with where we were going from an economic development standpoint within Topeka — of creating a quality of place that entices our younger professionals to want to live, work and play here,” Schwerdt said. He added it would have been “much easier” to buy a piece of undeveloped land and build from the ground up. But that wasn’t the goal, and that isn’t the community role Schwerdt sees his design firm taking. “Refurbishing and rehabbing some of these blighted areas is kind of becoming a commitment,” he said. Schwerdt started his firm in 1990 with just four people. Since then, it has grown to around 30 employees — architects, interior designers, project managers and more. “We’ve grown considerably over those years, but we have never been a firm that grew for the sake of growing,” Schwerdt said. “I take my responsibility of keeping people employed, even during tough times,
very seriously — even if it means doing it at the expense of profitability in a project or whatever it may be.” Schwerdt still remembers his first house, car and student loan payments and recognizes he wouldn’t be where he is today without a little help, and a lot of connections, along the way. When Schwerdt first started the business, in fact, it wasn’t a good time to be opening a firm. “There were a lot of great firms in town at the time, but there just wasn’t the work to support them,” he said. That is when Schwerdt knew he had to look beyond Topeka for work. “Having the fortune of being involved with some great local developers who were beginning to expand outside of Topeka, we began doing work across the country,” Schwerdt said. “There was a time we were doing restaurants up and down the East Coast. We’ve probably done 6,000 units of multi-family housing from Minnesota to Texas. We’ve done retail centers all over the country. And that precipitated growth from the standpoint that now we’re licensed in 46 states, which is somewhat unique. The fact that we’ve done work in every single one of those states is even more unique.” Schwerdt Design Group now has offices in Oklahoma City and Seattle. But even though Schwerdt has expanded outside of Kansas, he said he will always call Topeka “home.” “I grew up here.
Amazingly, my mom and dad — dad’s 95, mom’s 94 — still live here. My three younger brothers live here. My older sister lives here,” he said. “There’s a lot of reasons for me to consider Topeka home, and I want the community to grow and thrive.” Schwerdt said he believes his firm is as committed to the community and seeing it grow “as anyone around.” “We haven’t gotten to where we are as a firm, and with the phenomenal client base we have, only by doing good architecture,” Schwerdt said. “We find more and more our clients are extremely interested and involved in the community, and I think to separate our involvement professionally from our responsibilities to the community goes against our culture and what we’re trying to do and what we try to promote.” Mike Hampton has been with Schwerdt Design Group since the beginning. Hampton, a senior project manager, describes the firm as a very collaborative environment. “The collaboration has stayed the same. Whether we’re at five (people) or 25, we still have conversations with each other about our projects,” Hampton said. “It’s kind of like when we were in school — you’d get a project and you’d do some research, but you’d also talk to your fellow classmates to get your ideas and help each other out.” Schwerdt Design Group will celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2020.
Greg Schwerdt, founder of Schwerdt Design Group, says his firm is committed to Topeka, the place he calls home. “If you believe in the community, you’ve got to sell the community, you’ve got to build the community,” Schwerdt said, “or the economic side of what we’re trying to do is never going to work.” [2018 FILE PHOTO/THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL]
While some of the faces of the design firm have changed, Hampton said their philosophy of building community hasn’t. “I’m excited about what the future holds and ready for the next decade of work to come along,” he added. Schwerdt believes some of that future work, like Wheatfield, will take place outside of Downtown Topeka. “If we’re talking about the community, then we have to focus on the community and not just downtown,” Schwerdt said. “Don’t get me wrong — we do as much work as anyone downtown, and we’ve got some really significant projects coming up downtown that are going to be really exciting. But we need to look beyond that.” Schwerdt notes his firm, and other developers in Topeka with a vested interested in the city’s community, won’t help build something that is already overbuilt. He
said Wheatfield Village and future developments should complement thriving businesses and enhance Topeka’s quality of place and life. “We should focus in different areas because it gives people opportunities,” Schwerdt said. “We truly believe we are complementing what is happening elsewhere, and everything we’re looking at doing is for the betterment of the community, not for the detriment of it.” Schwerdt added that approaching development solely from an economic standpoint is not the way to go. Development must focus on community, he said, and it has to take people into consideration. “If you believe in the community, you’ve got to sell the community, you’ve got to build the community,” Schwerdt said, “or the economic side of what we’re trying to do is never going to work.”
H8 | Sunday, August 25, 2019 | MOMENTUM 2022
City, county stay busy with public works projects By Phil Anderson phil.anderson@cjonline.com
Work never ceases on maintaining and improving streets, roads and public property in Topeka and Shawnee County. In both the city and county, efforts to keep things running smoothly are a year-round proposition. Streets and roads took a beating this past winter, with multiple rounds of rain, sleet, snow and ice pounding the area. The repair work needed as a result of the harsh winter conditions comes in addition to other improvements that already were slated for area streets and roads. Jason Peek, public works director for the city of Topeka, said street projects are done on a needs-based priority. "The city of Topeka strives to provide the right treatment to the right street at the right time," Peek said. "We do street care from a program-based rather than a project-based approach." Peek said the city measures "the conditions of our streets every four or five years." The last time the measurement was done was in 2016, Peek said. Information on the Pavement Condition Index is available online at https://www.topeka. org/streetmaintenance/ topeka-street-conditions/. Following the measurement, city engineers and staff then review the data to prioritize the work. The four treatment approaches of the Pavement Management Plan are: • Preventive Maintenance, such as crack sealing and surface seals. • Major Rehabilitation, such as full depth patching and a mill and overlay.
• Reconstruction, with complete removal and replacement. • Full Depth Repairs and Stop-Gap Measures, such as pothole patching. "This approach, which was fully embraced at the city three or four years ago, is much more precise than before," Peek said. "For instance, a wide-scale micro-surfacing component, which seals the surfaces of good roads — keeping the good roads good — was implemented in 2019 using leftover county-wide sales tax funds from a previous program. "During the time between PCI assessments, the city monitors the streets constantly for changes. The last PCI was taken in the fall of 2016 and the next measurement will be taken in 2020 or 2021. "Some streets deteriorate faster than others. The combination of harsh weather, especially the wet and the cold, can take a heavier toll on some roads than others. Regular street maintenance work and contacts from the public alert us to streets that must be addressed sooner than later. "This year, 2019, following a very harsh winter that caused a lot of damage to the streets, several projects were slated that were not on the books for this year." Peek said the projects include: • S.W. Burlingame Road from 29th to 37th streets, mill and overlay. • S.W. 17th from Fairlawn to MacVicar, mill and overlay. • S.W. 21st and I-470, emergency repair. Peek said it was important to keep in mind that the lists are of major projects, not all the street and streetrelated projects such as curb
program and bridge repairs scheduled for next year. The full list of projects and programs can be found in the city's 2020-2029 Capital Improvement Plan under the categories street; traffic; cash; county sales tax; city sales tax; and federal funds. In addition to doing its own assessments, Peek said, the city also "does frequently hear from citizens and works diligently to fix any issues." People can use the "SeeClickFix" phone app to report any issues that they see in their community, Peek said. Another option is to call the city at 785-368-3111 to talk to someone about issues. These issues are then taken care of by staff in order of urgency of the problem, Peek said. Citizens also can call or email the city council or city manager’s office with any questions or concerns. In addition to street and road repairs and maintenance, the city also is actively at work in addressing neighborhood concerns. Sasha Haehn, director of neighborhood relations for the city, said all 21 Neighborhood Improvement Associations in Topeka have access to multiple options for neighborhood clean-ups, ranging from free dumpsters for a clean-up event or weekend to Department of Neighborhood Relations staff members providing support to plan an area-specific clean-up. The city has served as host for several "Rock the Block" events in partnership with groups of volunteers from area employers to spotclean a block. The city also includes "Rock the Block" events and volunteer cleanups in its "Team Up to Clean Up" projects. The East End neighborhood just sponsored one this spring.
Work took place this summer on a stretch of S.W. 17th Street just west of MacVicar Avenue, near the Washburn University campus. [PHOTOS BY PHIL ANDERSON/THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL]
Road crews have worked this summer on a Shawnee County project near S.E. 29th and West Edge Road.
Haehn added that the next ECycle event is coming in October, for the third or fourth year. "We do this annually to try to help make the community cleaner and give people a proper method of disposal for electronics that could be harmful to the environment if just placed in the landfill," Haehn said. "Thousands of tons of electronic waste are kept out of the landfill
each year through this partnership between the city of Topeka and Shawnee County." Haehn said Neighborhood Relations partners each year with Topeka Habitat for Humanity and Cornerstone of Topeka to produce infill housing units across the community. In addition to working See PROJECTS, H9
MOMENTUM 2022 | Sunday, August 25, 2019 | H9
VISION From Page H1
One will be The Big Biscuit, a Kansas City, Mo.-based chain known for its biscuits and gravy, pancakes, omelettes, burgers, chicken and salads. The other will be Jeremiah Bullfrogs, a bar and grill located since 1993 at 2940 S.W. Wanamaker Road in a
PROJECTS From Page H8
with the Community Housing Development Organization, which the city supports with HUD funding, Haehn said, “we also recently partnered with SENT, a nonprofit working in the Hi-Crest community to demo a house in preparation for a new construction project for a single-family residence. Neighborhood Relations is supporting the rehabilitation and new construction efforts of the SENT group as much as possible.” Three NIAs also have chosen to dedicate a portion of their housing rehabilitation funding to construct infill housing projects, Haehn said. Topeka Habitat and Cornerstone of Topeka are both partners in this pilot program that includes the Tennessee Town, Quinton Heights Steele and Central Park NIAs. Haehn added that the city also partnered with Pioneer Group on
building near the southeast corner of S.W. 29th and Wanamaker, which Niemann said is set to be razed. He said Bullfrogs will essentially hop over that intersection to Sherwood Crossings, where it will occupy a site that will offer 50 percent more space than its current location while providing the “best patio in Topeka.” In addition to its first phase featuring improvements to
the shopping center’s current properties, 29th Street Partners intends to carry out a second phase that would include new construction on land to the north of those buildings. Niemann said plans call for Big O Tires, currently located at 2735 S.W. Wanamaker Road, to move to a “bigger, better facility” at the site where new construction would take place.
a scattered-site affordable housing project that includes rehabilitation of the Casson Building at S.W. 6th and Topeka Boulevard starting this year. “The city donated the Van Buren School, which will eventually be rehabilitated, along with vacant property near Kansas Avenue and 16th Street, to Pioneer as part of that partnership,” Haehn said, “and construction of new affordable housing units will be included in the second phase involving the rehabilitation of the Van Buren School.” Haehn said the city has partnered with the Shawnee County Counselor’s office to create a pilot program that will combine a tax sale dedicated to developing vacant lots with the city’s Neighborhood Revitalization Program, which offers property tax rebates on new construction of housing units for up to 10 years. This pilot project will occur sometime in 2020, Haehn said. Ward Meade is the next NIA where the
“Team Up to Clean Up” program will be focused, Haehn said. The NIA kicked off the event with a walk-and-talk event in late July that included representatives from other city and neighborhood organizations. “A resource fair is planned for October,” Haehn said, “and the projects specific to each city department are currently in the works. A location specific list of projects by department will be forthcoming in the next few weeks.” Haehn said the city “has done very well maintaining its infrastructure and cleaning up blighted areas with the resources we have to work with.” The city isn’t the only entity that is working on public works projects. Curt Niehaus, director of public works for Shawnee County, said the county has a number of bridge, culvert and road projects scheduled for design and construction during a 5-year time period. Shawnee County’s 5-year capital improvement plan is available on the county’s website.
Schwerdt Design Group’s Ken Price, project architect for Wheatfield Village, stands in front of the complex’s soonto-be-opened PT’s Coffee. Wheatfield Village will be home to the coffee shop, Johnny’s Tavern, SPIN! Pizza, a B&B Theatre, a SpringHill Suites by Marriott and eventually, a high-end apartment complex. [CHRIS NEAL/THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL]
As is the case with the city, the Shawnee County Department of Public Works receives calls about various transportation-related issues by phone, email or through the county’s website, Niehaus said. “Each caller or individual gets a response from someone in the Public Works Department, or the concern is forwarded to the appropriate entity,” whether that would be another county department, a township or the Kansas Department of Transportation. “Depending on the issue or what’s found when visiting the site,” Niehaus said, “some concerns require a corrective action in the field and some don’t.” Niehaus said the county’s Solid Waste Department often partners with the city of Topeka to clean up neighborhoods. The Solid Waste Department provides waste containers and manpower to assist with neighborhood debris cleanup events. Niehaus added Shawnee County has a “long, well-established
history of successful bridge, culvert and road maintenance and infrastructure improvements.” Niehaus said Shawnee County has completed or plans to complete the following projects in 2019: • The west portion of the S.E. 29th Street road reconstruction project, from the Kansas Turnpike bridge to Wittenburg Road. • The reconstruction of S.W. Gary Orsmby Drive from US-75 highway to Innovation Parkway in a joint citycounty project. • The bridge on S.W. 37th Street over the tributary to Shunga Creek. • The bridge on N.W. Bailey Road over Snake Creek. • The bridge on S.E. 29th Street over Deer Creek. • The large culvert on S.W. 29th Street over the tributary to the Wakarusa River. • Fifty miles of chipseal overlay. • Mill and inlay of S.E. 29th Street between Croco Road and Tecumseh Road.
• Mill and inlay of S.E. 45th Street between Croco Road and Tecumseh Road. • Mill and inlay on N.W. Topeka Boulevard just south of 46th Street. • Mill and inlay portions of S.W. Topeka Boulevard between Gary Ormsby Drive and Airport Drive. • Signal upgrades at the intersection of University Drive and S.W. Topeka Boulevard. Additional maintenance projects will be undertaken by townships or Shawnee County on behalf of a township, Niehaus added. Niehaus said there are roads in the county that are outside the city limits that are maintained by the county, and there are roads in the county that are maintained by a township. Additionally, Niehaus said, there are roads in Grove and Monmouth townships that are maintained by the county on behalf of the township. In those cases, he said, the township reimburses for county maintenance expenses.
H10 | Sunday, August 25, 2019 | MOMENTUM 2022
Official sees winning sports formula
Visit Topeka working to bring even more sports, entertainment events to city, county By Rick Peterson rick.peterson@cjonline.com
Visit Topeka is proud of the success it has had drawing sports and entertainment events to the capital city. And each successful endeavor makes the organization more confident about landing more and bigger events down the road, according to Visit Topeka president and CEO Brett Oetting. “Absolutely it does,’’ Oetting said. “There’s a lot more pride in Topeka right now than what there was five years ago, definitely 10 years ago. So that is now helping us from a tourism standpoint bring more events into town.’’ Topeka’s Heartland Motorsports Park has hosted an NHRA national drag racing event since the facility opened it 1989 while the city has also been the longtime home of the Kansas Kids Wrestling championships as well as host of the Sunflower State Games and numerous state, regional and national tournaments in various sports, including baseball, softball, swimming, horseshoes and track and field. In addition to Heartland Park, Topeka is home of the Stormont Vail Events Center, Hummer Sports Park and the Capitol Federal Natatorium as well as other venues. Oetting believes the community is just starting to touch on what could come in the future. “I really do and I think that starts by the shift in mindset of the community, being
more community advocates now rather than community detractors,’’ Oetting said. “It’s led by (Shawnee County) Parks and Rec. The facilities they have are beautiful, they’re amazing and they work. “The next part is down to what relationships we have? I know out at the Bettis Sports Complex we have a great relationship with a company out of Kansas City, Midwest Sports Productions. They’ve been a great partner and they keep that facility full. They’ve also said, ‘You guys have such great facilities, you’re so great to work with, that we have bigger tournaments if you have more space.’” Oetting said the opportunity exists to host marquee events in other sports, including basketball, volleyball and soccer, if the community is able to keep growing its facilities. “Those questions are always being discussed with outside promoters, ‘Hey, are you guys ever going to build more soccer fields? Are you ever going to build more basketball courts or baseball fields?’ “ Oetting said. Expanding facilities is definitely on the wish list, but Oetting stresses that he also is proud of the quality of facilities the community has in place now. “We don’t have the biggest facilities of other cities, but our facilities that we have are as nice as any of these major cities around us,’’ Oetting said. Oetting said it also is a possibility for Topeka to expand its relationship with Lawrence to take advantage of both cities’ facilities. “That has been discussed with people in Lawrence before,’’ he said. “If you
play in a very large national championship and you go to a major city, there might be a complex bigger than anything in Topeka, but it’s still not big enough for that (tournament) and you might have to drive a half-hour or 45 minutes across town to go play your next game. “Rock Chalk Park is only 25 minutes from Topeka so there have been discussions internal to Topeka of what it would like to build more facilities here but with the emphasis that we would like to figure out a way to work together with (Lawrence) and pair those facilities together to attract national championships of all different sports.’’ As far as non-sports entertainment, Topeka Performing Arts Center and the Stormont Vail Events Center are already established concert and event venues and Heartland Motorsports Park came up with a huge get when it was named the long-term host of the Heartland Stampede country music festival after initially being named the host for 2019 when flooding at Manhattan’s Tuttle Creek State Park forced the move. Rain forced the cancellation of headliner Jason Aldean on the final night of the Stampede, but Oetting said he was pleased with how Year 1 went overall and that officials are confident about the future of the event in Topeka. “It went great,’’ Oetting said. “Given that it was a three-week timeline, it went as good as it possibly could have. It was unfortunate that it was three days of success and then Jason Aldean had to get canceled, so the very, very end kind of put a sour taste in people’s mouths, but most people
Visit Topeka president and CEO Brett Oetting is happy with the progress Topeka has made as a sports and entertainment center and is looking for more in the future. [RICK PETERSON/THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL]
were understanding because that’s happened before in Manhattan quite a few times. You can’t control the weather, especially in Kansas. “The people that were out there were happy. They were happy, they were understanding of the move because of the weather, but moving forward, it’s what can we do to make it better? We have a whole year of planning. We’ve already had two meetings with Heartland Park and with the Stampede officials to try to figure out how to make this as big as possible. “There have been discussions about making sure that we do things out there at Heartland Park and that area that are conducive to trying to get more people to come. Maybe there’s a rock festival that can move here or come here or be created here in the future. (We) don’t want to limit ourselves.’’ Oetting said a Topeka downtown arena also has been a talking point and is
not merely a pipe dream, although any decision on that is likely to be a long ways away. “We definitely think about it,’’ he said. “I don’t think anything is pie in the sky. I think there are some (options) that are more feasible than others in a shorter time frame, but it’s something that’s been discussed and it’s been discussed more than once. “There’s lots of things that have been discussed, and I really think right now what’s so exciting for our organization and hopefully the whole community is there’s a lot of things that 10 years ago would have been pie in the sky that are being discussed. “Now someone throws (something) out and you say, ‘OK, let’s talk about this,’ just because everything someone throws something out there so far, it’s happened. There’s things all over town that people are like, ‘That will never happen,’ and it happens every time.’’
MOMENTUM 2022 | Sunday, August 25, 2019 | H11
Evel Knievel Museum flying high Bringing in visitors ‘from all over the world,’ exhibit one of several attractions bolstering Topeka’s image, tourism By Tim Bisel tbisel@cjonline.com
When he first opened the Evel Knievel Museum more than two years ago in his Historic HarleyDavidson store, Mike Patterson never could have guessed what the homage to America’s most iconic daredevil would become in such a short period of time. But today Patterson is co-founder of an attraction that routinely lures people from nearly every part of the globe and recently gained international acclaim. It’s an attraction that quickly has become a shining example of the possibilities that exist right here in Topeka. “The Evel Knievel Museum is pulling people from all over the world. All over the world,” said Brett Oetting, president and CEO of Visit Topeka. “It is amazing. You would not believe, every time I go in there there’s someone from a different country.” Through its early success, the Knievel exhibit has helped promote Topeka and improve its image — one key component of the Momentum 2022 plan to make the city and county a more desirable location to live, work and play. Patterson and Amanda Beach, the museum’s marketing director, have numbers and facts to prove it, too, because they collect key pieces of information from everyone who walks through their doors. Patterson said the museum asks three questions of all its visitors: • How did you find out about the museum? • What is your zip code? • Did you have an overnight stay in Topeka? The information is vital for two primary reasons. Not only does it help the museum know where to target marketing dollars, it also is shared with the city and helps officials see what the museum is contributing to the community. Because the museum was approved for $300,000 in transient guest tax funding in October 2015, Patterson said he takes pride in being held accountable for the reports. “That’s our No. 1
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convincing those startups to stick around. “I would want to challenge everybody to think, ‘What can I do? What can my organization do to keep them here, integrate them, integrate their kids, integrate their spouses?’” Bridges said. “Start building more housing — more short-term housing, more long-term housing — office space. I can’t do that all by myself.” Bridges said “a lot of pieces of the puzzle” need to come together to make Topeka a place start-ups want to be. “If we get (the pieces) all together, it will really put Topeka on the map as the hub of innovation for the entire region — for animal health, for technology, for ag tech,” she said. “That’s our vision.” The vision aligns with a core piece of the Momentum 2022 strategy — “grow a diverse economy.” City and county employment is
priority,” Beach said. “Our ticket counter attendee, other than selling people a ticket, their second-most important job is to find out where they came from and how they found out about it.” What museum officials have discovered through the data-collection process is eye-popping. For instance: • The museum has attracted visitors from no less than 66 different countries in only 26 months of operation, and Beach noted that it lures at least one person from a foreign country every single day. “That’s crazy,” Patterson said. “We would never have thought that.” • In the month of June, the museum saw an average of 21 different states represented through its daily ticket sales. “Just today there’s already been 17 (states come to the museum), so we’re almost there,” Beach said on an ordinary Wednesday afternoon in early August. “And what time is it — 2?” • The museum typically brings in about 150 customers on weekdays and more than 200 on Saturdays and Sundays, the average visitor spending roughly 90 minutes at the site. Beach noted that 66 percent of those customers come from out of state, with 27 percent coming from Kansas and 7 percent coming from Topeka. • About 10,000 customers have indicated they stayed overnight in a hotel or planned to do so. “That’s a large number, and that doesn’t include that now we’re starting to bring in events and meetings and conventions,” Patterson said, noting that the Harley-Davidson showroom housed the NAIA bowling tournament banquet earlier this year and that the store hosted 65 events in 2018. “There will be more this year,” Patterson promised. Patterson also said the museum played an integral role in attracting 800 Topeka visitors this past June for the Women’s Freedom Ride, and that Harley-Davidson corporate officials decided to start next month’s national owners group rally in Topeka. “It starts here and ends up in Phoenix,” Patterson explained, “but they picked Topeka because of the museum.”
If the raw data isn’t impressive enough, Patterson pointed out that the museum and its hometown were topics on two notable television game shows — “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” and “Jeopardy!” He proudly added that the contestant on “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” correctly knew where the Knievel museum was located. Finally, there’s this: In early April, Patterson, Beach and museum director Bruce Zimmerman traveled to Disneyland Resort in the Los Angeles area to accept one of only 15 International THEA awards handed out by the Themed Entertainment Association for outstanding 2018 achievements. The Evel Knievel Museum was honored in the category of “Museum, Limited Budget.” “We didn’t know how big a deal it was until we got there,” Patterson said of the red-carpet, black-tie event featuring executives from the likes of Tokyo Disney; Universal Studios in Osaka, Japan; Universal Resort in Orlando, Fla.; LEGO House in Billund, Denmark; and the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. “This is the award they all strive for.” Oetting, the Visit Topeka chief, is well aware of those accolades and attendance numbers. And even though Oetting readily admits that Topeka never will be confused with L.A., he calls the Evel Knievel Museum and Heartland Stampede music festival “mini-Disneys” because they already are bringing scores of guests to our community. Earlier this month, Visit Topeka announced that the city’s hotel revenue was on record pace at the year’s midway point, eclipsing the $23.6 million mark through June. The news release cited attractions such as Camp Cowabunga at the Topeka Zoo and the Knievel site, as well as sporting events and news conferences, as major contributors to the revenue spike. Patterson and Beach said they have begun collaborating with other Topeka attractions such as the zoo, Heartland Motorsports Park, the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site, the Capitol
heavily concentrated in the government, health and finance sectors. GTP and local officials hope to preserve those core sectors while attracting a wider range of people and businesses. “This is the first step in actually executing our strategy,” Bridges said of the Plug and Play partnership. “Now that we have the commitment, that means other people can bank on it. It’s the first step in building something together.” John Keddy, chief technology officer for Topeka-based Security Benefit, is a firm believer in creating a place that attracts young, talented people. Keddy worked with Bridges to bring Plug and Play to Topeka. He said improving quality of place — which falls under the “create vibrant and attractive places” pillar of Momentum 2022 — demonstrates an affinity for growth and innovation. “We have to show the ability to attract these types of people and keep them so they can build jobs and build companies in our community,”
Keddy said. “As we do that, you will have engineering graduates from K-State, KU, Washburn who are saying, ‘Hey, there’s some exciting stuff going on here. I don’t need to move to Silicon Valley, Austin or New York to do interesting, cool, innovative things. There’s stuff going on right here.’” Bridges said Topeka needs to make itself so attractive that companies decide to put up shop in the capital city. Another city in Kansas, Manhattan, is considered the west-end anchor of the Animal Health Corridor. Manhattan was chosen in 2009 as the site to replace the aging Plum Island Animal Disease Center in New York. The $1.25 billion National Bio and Agro-defense Facility being built at Kansas State University is scheduled to be commissioned in 2021. The facility is considered to be the economic jewel of the animal science arena. NBAF will work to conduct research, develop vaccines, diagnose emerging diseases
Historic Harley-Davidson owner and Evel Knievel Museum co-founder Mike Patterson says the museum on a typical day attracts visitors from more than 20 different states and at least one foreign country. “That’s crazy,” Patterson says. “We would never have thought that.” [CHRIS NEAL/THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL]
and the Children’s Discovery Center to devise packages that give visitors more tourism options. They also are quick to refer museum-goers to other locales in the city. “We didn’t expect this, but we’ve become kind of a concierge for Topeka, because when people pull in, they pull in here first and then they ask what to do,” Patterson said. “Or they ask advice on a hotel or they ask advice on restaurants. It’s fun to be able to tell them about our new restaurants in downtown or hotels that have gone in.” Creating a wide range of experiences for travelers is something Visit Topeka also is stressing. “It used to be that if you didn’t have Disneyland or a major attraction that you weren’t a tourism destination,” Oetting said, “but as the younger demographic grows up they don’t always want to go to Disneyland. They want to try the cool, local, hip brewery around the corner and they want to stay in a hip hotel or an Airbnb and they want to go to a festival. We can do those kind of things.” Oetting admitted Topeka faces challenges relative to its size, but said “what we can continue to do is we can continue to craft experiences for people.” Such experiences include heritage tours highlighting historical attractions such as the state Capitol, Brown v. Board site, Ritchie House, Equality House and more. Visit Topeka earlier this month announced that the 2020 African American Travel Conference will be held April 14-16 at the Capital Plaza Hotel, bringing an estimated 250 travel planners to the capital city. Joe Cappuzzello,
president and CEO of AATC, said the organization chose Topeka because it was impressed with African-American heritage sites such as Monroe Elementary School and the Ritchie House. Tours of other Topeka landmarks — Washburn University, the Combat Air Museum, Great Overland Station, the Kansas Museum of History and the Charles Curtis House Museum, for instance — also are available, and the Greater Topeka Partnership offers a “Grapes & Grains Passport” to entice both locals and guests to visit area breweries and wineries. The addition of Evergy Plaza, expected to open next March in the 600 block of S. Kansas Avenue, is expected to create even more opportunities for gatherings, events and activities. “If you can put on a good show,” Oetting said, “people are going to talk about it.” The folks at the Evel Knievel Museum clearly get that. Patterson and Beach attribute the exhibit’s success to three primary factors: strong content, positive reviews and a staff that is both friendly and passionate. Billed as an attraction for “daredevils and dreamers of all ages,” the museum features an impressive array of artifacts acquired by Lathan McKay. The collection includes everything from “Big Red” — the 63-footlong Mack Truck mobile home that was restored by Patterson and his crew — to the Skycycle X-2 rocket that Knievel rode in his failed 1974 bid to jump over Idaho’s Snake River Canyon as well as many of Knievel’s bikes and gear. It also includes a
multitude of stories, a “Bad to the Bones” touch exhibit that links Knievel’s many injuries to videos and photos of crashes that caused them, and a virtual reality “Jump Experience” that allows visitors to sit on a Knievel-model motorcyle and jump over 15 police SUVs. The jump takes place in downtown Topeka, of course, with the Capitol serving as one backdrop. “I’d love to say we’re pushing it and we made it happen — and we do push it — but we just have a great subject matter, too,” Patterson said of Knievel. “It’s part of history,” Beach added. “He’s an American pop-culture icon.” As committed as Patterson and Beach are to content, they both agree that the museum’s success also is about commitment to the customer. “So, we’re nice,” Beach said simply. “That gets you pretty far.” “It does,” Patterson chimed in. “You know, we talk about that in our meetings, too: ‘Just be nice. Smile and be nice.’ It covers a lot of sins.” That it does, but the truth is the Evel Knievel Museum hasn’t committed many sins during its first two years of existence. Much like its namesake throughout the 1960s and ‘70s, the museum is soaring — and in many ways carrying its hometown with it. “Right now the museum is marketing itself by the visitors that come,” Patterson said. “So we know that we’ve just got to continue to take care of the visitors that come into here, welcome them to Topeka and make sure that they have a good time while they’re in Topeka and see other things. That’s our goal.”
and train veterinarians. Related business interests are expected to flock to the area to capitalize on the cluster of suppliers and talent. And Topeka now has the opportunity to capitalize on that. To do so, officials will need to create a program based on the alignment of interests between startups, corporate partners and venture capital. Bridges said resources, such as the services provided by the Small Business Development Center at Washburn University, are available here but are not well connected. “We need to get better at telling our story so people know where to go when they ask for help,” Bridges said. According to GTP president and CEO Matt Pivarnik, modes of economic development are changing. “I’ve been in this business for a little over 20 years, and when I got into this business, economic development was what I would call ‘smoke stack chasing’ — which
basically meant you went to another community and you stole a business and you brought them to yours or you enticed a company to come to your city,” Pivarnik said. That is not the case anymore. He said there is now a strong focus on “entrepreneurial ecosystems,” and GTP is working to develop such an environment. Go Topeka monetarily supports 712 Innovations, a creative space in downtown Topeka where budding entrepreneurs can participate in skillbased programming and rent office space to grow their organizations. Officials are also working to help provide space, resources and access to capital — three things Bridges said are essential when starting a business. Bridges is preparing a proposal to build an innovation campus through new construction. The facility, she said, would include lab space, which Topeka currently lacks, to be utilized by the startups Plug and Play brings to town. Those start-ups that
stick around, she added, will be both profitable and sustainable, meaning the new businesses won’t depend on taxpayer subsidies. They will, however, depend on companies that make the products they need, which is where Bridges said the local economy will see “the real growth.” Animal health companies need veterinarians, she said, but they also need accountants and marketing employees, as well as housing and services to support those employees. The employees, especially recent graduates from universities along the corridor, will also look to local entertainment for fun. Such growth will allow Topeka to reverse completely its yearly population losses, Bridges added, making it easier to recruit other businesses. “It’s all about finding Topeka’s identity from a business perspective,” she said. “What is Topeka about? So far, we’ve had multiple personalities, and that’s not very attractive.”
H12 | Sunday, August 25, 2019 | MOMENTUM 2022