Other cities aren’t run by developers
By KEN MIDKIFF
Published Friday, May 9, 2008
(http://archive.columbiatribune.com/2008/may/20080509comm003.asp)
A couple of weeks ago in this column, I asked the question, "How is it that we let real estate developers define the economy of this community?"

A former Columbia city councilman took me aside at a gathering and suggested the answer might be found in the makeup of the Columbia Chamber of Commerce’s board of directors and that if I looked around at other communities in this state and similar communities in other states, I would see that developers were either not represented at all or were in a minority.

So, I took a look. Sure enough, even in cities that are growing rapidly, those city’s economies were not defined by development. To the contrary, many other aspects and amenities were pointed to as examples of the way Springfield, St. Louis, St. Joseph, Joplin and Kansas City rely on home-grown industries and commercial-retail businesses to provide jobs and economic stability.

The Springfield Chamber of Commerce was particularly telling. Akin to Columbia, there is a major university in town that supports a vibrant community. Springfield also has strip malls, large malls (Battlefield Mall), thriving businesses in retail and wholesale groceries and, of course, a burgeoning industry around outdoor recreation.

But there’s not a developer on Springfield’s Chamber of Commerce board of directors. There are several bankers, a county commissioner, a city utilities staffer and several representatives of various businesses. No one can deny that Springfield is booming. Although the type of growth occurring along the James River Parkway to the southwest of downtown Springfield is abhorrent and the essence of all the bad things about sprawl, the city’s economy does not depend on that growth.

In other cities, minorities are represented - not too many, but still there - on the chambers’ board of directors. There are Hispanics, blacks and other nationalities, reflecting that lily-white folks don’t own everything. There are all sorts of businesspeople, and all are represented.

Even the St. Louis Regional Commerce and Growth Association (sort of a super chamber of commerce) has diverse representation and diverse interests, with "development" hardly mentioned. Given the woes of the St. Louis area when it comes to a shrinking population, one would think that much attention would be focused on new suburbs and development in general, but no. The focus is on attracting new industries, assisting those new industries and promoting existing ones - Anheuser-Busch, Emerson Electric, Solutia, downtown hotels and amenities, for example.
Then take a look at the leadership of the Columbia Chamber of Commerce. The focus is on growth and development. Even the chair-to-be is a major developer. There are, to be sure, the usual number of bankers and other representatives, but those seem to be in thrall of the Central Missouri Development Council (aka Columbia Bulldozer and Backhoe Association).

How did this happen? Somehow, our chamber - allegedly the movers and shakers of this community - was taken over by those who define economic dynamism by the amount of dirt moved. There are lots of businesses, lots of industries and lots of commercial/retail interests who don’t depend at all on that movement of dirt or the expensive, cheaply built "stick" houses filling the subdivisions ringing Columbia.

It is past time that the Columbia Chamber of Commerce started representing all its members rather than giving most of its attention to a few real estate speculators and developers intent on destroying the very things that make this community so desirable.

It is the quality of life achieved through those amenities that makes this area an attractive place to live and work.