Category: Business

Wyandotte Plaza and State Avenue renovation event planned Dec. 9

Renovations have been taking place at Wyandotte Plaza at 78th and State in Kansas City, Kan. (File photo)
Renovations have been taking place at Wyandotte Plaza at 78th and State in Kansas City, Kan. (File photo)

The Unified Government and Business West are inviting the public to a special event to celebrate completion of the State Avenue rehabilitation project and renovation of the Wyandotte Plaza Shopping Center.

The event will be held from 11 a.m. to noon on Tuesday, Dec. 9, in the former Payless Shoe store located at 7714 State Ave. in the Wyandotte Plaza Shopping Center; next door to Burger King.

Residents and businesses along the State Avenue Corridor are encouraged to attend as representatives from Red Legacy, the developers of Wyandotte Plaza, Schlitterbahn Kansas City, Business West and UG staff provide remarks on the current improvements and future plans for this rapidly growing area of Kansas City, Kan.

The State Avenue rehabilitation project was completed in two phases from 73rd Street to 94th Street and includes new curbs and sidewalks, street resurfacing, lighting, and new medians with decorative landscaping. The project was funded through a combination of local and federal dollars totaling slightly more than $15 million.

In addition to street improvements, Wyandotte Plaza is currently undergoing renovation. The nearly 70-year old shopping center includes a new 60,000 square foot Price Chopper grocery store, which recently opened in July of 2014. Krispy Kreme, Marshall’s and Pets Smart are new retail stores that are scheduled to open early summer of 2015.

Both the street improvements and renovation of the Wyandotte Plaza Shopping Center by Red Development are major milestones for the State Avenue Corridor. The projects have revitalized an older section of the city that hadn’t received this level of improvements in more than three decades.

The infrastructure enhancements and shopping center renovation will strengthen small businesses, create new jobs, and attract new businesses in this prime retail location.

Business West serves on area west of 57th Street from Parallel Parkway to the Kansas River. The organization is open to businesses, nonprofit organizations and individuals. A board of directors that meets monthly governs the organization. For more information visit the Business West Inc. website at: http://businesswest.org/about-us/.


– Story from Unified Government

KCKCC joins with area organizations to offer ‘Business Basics 4 Boomers’

by Kelly Rogge

The Workforce Development and Entrepreneurship Center at Kansas City Kansas Community College, AARP in Kansas City and Next Chapter Kansas City, a program of Shepherd’s Center of Kansas City, Kan., have joined together to offer a business course targeted toward the Baby Boomer generation.

“Business Basics 4 Boomers” will be from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday, Dec. 12, at KCKCC’s Dr. Thomas R. Burke Technical Education Center, 6565 State Ave.

The Jewish Heritage Foundation is providing funds to help cover the costs of the conference.

The registration fee for the conference is $15 per person or $10 for members of Next Chapter Kansas City, SEEN (Sustainable Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Network) and the Prime Time Club. The registration deadline is Dec. 9. Registration can be completed online at www.eventbrite.com/e/business-basics-4-boomers-tickets-14417710761.

People at all stages of starting a business and those who are just considering the idea can attend. While the event targets the Baby Boomer generation, younger people can also participate.

The half-day conference will consist of a panel of successful business owners as well as a panel of representatives from business resource organizations, who will share experience, information and advice for the “encore entrepreneur.”

Encore entrepreneurs are the growing number of persons who are seeking to launch income-generating ventures that make a positive difference in their communities after leaving their primary career or in anticipation of doing so.

The business owners’ panel will be moderated by Charley Vogt, senior vice president of business-economic development with Country Club Bank. Panel members will include Joyce Moore, owner of Goin Postal; Tim Ney, owner-operator of Drive Kansas and Doug Danforth, founder and CEO of Links-It.

The panel of business resource organizations will be moderated by Patricia Brown-Dixon, Region 7 Administrator for the U.S. Small Business Administration. Panelists include Elisa Waldman, with the Kansas Small Business Development Center; Kate Hodel with KCSource Link; Debra Ramsey, with the Small Business Administration and a representative from Kansas City SCORE – Chapter 19.

In addition, conference attendees will have the opportunity to visit booths from a variety of business resource organizations. Lunch is included with Mike Peters, life coach and owner of Interaction Coaching. He will be speaking on the topic, “How to Get Unstuck: Getting Back on Track with Your Passion.”

For more information, contact Karen Hostetler, Next Chapter Kansas City Director, at [email protected] or by calling 913-485-0975. Information is also available by contacting Tom Kelso at the KCKCC Workforce Development Office, 913-288-7644.

Kelly Rogge is the public information supervisor at Kansas City Kansas Community College.

Kansas asks high court to uphold anti-price fixing law

Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to shield a Kansas consumer-protection law from a legal challenge backed by the federal government.

Schmidt last week led a bipartisan group of 21 state attorneys general in filing an amicus curiae brief that asks the Supreme Court to allow continued enforcement of state anti-price fixing laws against retail sellers of natural gas who illegally rig prices.

The federal government, which is opposite Kansas in this lawsuit, is arguing that state antitrust laws are preempted by the federal Natural Gas Act. The defendants and the federal government argue the preemption extends to the retail market when the challenged practice is engaged in by a federally regulated seller and affects a federally regulated wholesale rate.

“We’re asking the Supreme Court to reject the federal government’s view that only Washington has the legal power to protect Kansas natural gas purchasers from costly illegal price fixing,” Schmidt said. “The federal Natural Gas Act clearly gives states a regulatory role over natural gas as it is transported and distributed within the state. Kansas antitrust laws protect consumers and taxpayers by ensuring a fair, competitive retail marketplace for natural gas. We have asked the Supreme Court to maintain the longstanding shared regulatory authority in this industry.”

The underlying lawsuit involves accusations by the plaintiffs, which include both Kansas-based Learjet, Inc., and Topeka Unified School District No. 501, that the defendants illegally drove up the retail price of natural gas, costing gas purchasers millions of dollars.

Similar cases from around the country were consolidated into multi-district litigation in Nevada, and the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit Court of Appeals eventually allowed the plaintiffs to proceed with their state-law claims.

The defendants have asked the Supreme Court to reject the lawsuit by concluding that federal law preempts state laws that combat price-fixing in the natural gas retail market when the challenged industry practices also affect the wholesale gas market.

The case, ONEOK v. Learjet, is scheduled for oral argument in the U.S. Supreme Court next month.