C3-4 Q/As with city leaders C9 EDC columns D3 Adams Dairy Landing D4 Hippie Chow and more
PROGRESS IN EJC C SECTION
Friday, February 25, 2011
What does progress look like?
Van Horn turnaround surprises community By KELLY EVENSON kelly.evenson@examiner.net
When Independence Superintendent Jim Hinson first sat down with state Sen. Victor Callahan to discuss the possibility of annexing western Independence from the Kansas City School District into the Independence School District, he had no idea that the positive changes would have happened so quickly. “I knew we would see changes, but those changes happened
quicker than I thought,” he said. “The people of western Independence were waiting for decades for these changes to occur. The level of frustration was high. The community saw the challenge, and I think wanted to be involved even more. That is why we are seeing positive changes happen in western Independence. It is because of the community.” Seven schools were annexed into the school district in 2008 – five elementary schools, one middle
See VAN HORN / C7
10 sure signs of success Here are developments from the last year that show how Eastern Jackson County continues to grow
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More, more, more at Adams Dairy Parkway, particularly the retailers and restaurants near Interstate 70. The area anchored by Wal-Mart, Target and Home Depot also now already has Gordmans, Kohl’s, Staples, Petco, Olive Garden, Chipotle and Michaels. On the way: Chick-fil-A, Arby’s and others.
It looks like Main Street By JEFF MARTIN | jeff.martin@examiner.net Downtown Main Street in Blue Springs is the focus of new life. Once a major destination in any American city, Main Street in Blue Springs has not been exempt from hard times. With the soaring popularity of fast food restaurants and strip malls, old time Main Street has taken a beating.
See MAIN STREET / C4
Opening the Ennovation Center in Independence. Independence Economic Development opened and runs the facility at the site of the old Independence Regional Health Center, which closed in 2007. The extensively renovated building at 201 N. Forest Ave. in western Independence has kitchen space that businesses can rent, bio-tech labs (converted surgical suites) and other space and support for start-up businesses. Independence Economic Development moved its offices there, and the Independence School District is in the process of doing the same. “It’s a product. It’s one more thing we can sell,” EDC President Tom Lesnak said. “ ... It’s a product nobody else has got.”
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A significant extension of Jackson Drive in eastern Independence. The city opened a $22.49 million, two-and-a-half mile extension of the fourlane road from 37th Terrace to Missouri 78, near Metropolitan Community Colleges-Blue River. “This valley, in the next 15 years, is going to be rooftops,” said Independence Mayor Don Reimal. “... The businesses are going to come, the people are going to come, and we’re going to have a good expansion in our city.” Also under construction: a wider 39th Street from Noland
See SUCCESS / C11