That, simply stated, is what drives Kathy Nelson who is president of the Kansas City Sports Commission. She was the featured speaker at a meeting via Zoom at the Fairfax Industrial Association Thursday, Jan. 14.
She told of how the Sports Commission brings various sporting events to Kansas City. The Big 12 men and women’s basketball tournaments and the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics basketball tournament are three of the more well-known sporting events that Kansas City hosts.
Nelson said the National Football League draft will be held in Kansas City in 2023. The commission owns and manages the annual Kansas City Marathon which attracts more than 10,000 runners from out of town.
Presently, Nelson and a group of volunteers, including Kansas City, Kansas, Mayor David Alvey, are hoping to attract The World Cup to Kansas City in 2026. This event of the Federation International de Football Association (FIFA) is estimated to be worth the equivalent of four Super Bowls. The event would be played at Arrowhead Stadium.
Nelson was very much involved in putting together the victory parades for the World Series and Super Bowl wins.
Nelson played a key, behind–the-scenes, role in arranging for the benefit Kansas-Missouri basketball game. She said the National Collegiate Athletic Association women’s bowling championship will be at the Pro Bowl in North Kansas City.
Nelson said sports played a key role in the revitalizing of downtown Kansas City, Missouri, with the addition of the T-Mobile Arena. She said her parents both worked downtown. She could recall when it wasn’t safe to go there at night.
When asked about a Major League downtown baseball stadium, she said she was neutral on such a proposal. However, she said she has visited other cities and seen how such stadiums can enhance downtowns. She said a smaller stadium which would seat 10,000 persons might be a possibility downtown.
Before joining the Sports Commission in 2010, she held senior management positions with WDAF-TV, Time Warner Cable and Metro Sports. She is a graduate of Winnetonka High School and attended Truman State University, Kirksville, Missouri.
Murrel Bland is the former editor of The Wyandotte West and The Piper Press. He is the executive director of Business West.
General Motors today announced its Fairfax assembly plant is seeking to hire approximately 70 production team members. The new hourly positions will help support production of the Chevrolet Malibu and Cadillac XT4.
In making the announcement, Trevor Tomkins, a GM communications coordinator, said, “The jobs are available because customer demand is holding up for the vehicles and these new hires will allow GM to maintain quality production levels.”
Wages for the new part-time positions are $16.67 per hour and include holiday pay and health care options after 90 days for employment. No prior experience is necessary.
Other qualifications include the willingness and ability to work any shift. Tompkins said the typical work week consists of 16-32 hours. Production on Saturdays may be required as part of a typical schedule.
Although the current openings are temporary positions, when GM does hire full-time permanent employees, temporary employees are typically considered per the terms of the UAW/GM national labor agreement.
With regard to worker safety in times of the COVID-19, Tony Roberts, Fairfax’s director of human resources and labor relations said, “Nothing is more important to the GM Fairfax leadership team than the health and safety of the entire workforce. GM is using the best medical and scientific data available, guidance from the CDC and input from the UAW to develop screening, cleaning and social strategies for all our facilities.”
Fairfax’s safety protocols involve a multi-layered approach that includes frequent hand washing, temperature screening, additional cleaning of workstations and common areas, physical distancing, wearing a mask and safety glasses.
GM has produced vehicles in the Kansas City area since 1946 and opened the Fairfax Assembly and Stamping facility in 1987. The plant operates on two production shifts and three stamping shifts, and currently employs about 2,140 hourly and 235 salaried employees. Hourly employees are represented by UAW Local 31.
It took just over two years for the Cadillac XT4’s Core Launch Team of approximately two dozen veteran subject matter experts (SMEs) from Fairfax to translate the engineering designs into a process to actually build the vehicle at Fairfax, from stamping sheet metal to assembly on the production line. The silks were slipped from the new Cadillac by the Core Launch Team to loud applause from the assembled visitors and employees. (Staff photo)
Tuesday evening several hundred invited guests and GM employees gathered at General Motor’s Fairfax Assembly and Stamping Plant in Kansas City, Kansas, to welcome a new Cadillac to the neighborhood.
The Cadillac XT4, the brand’s first-ever entrant into the premium compact SUV segment, was revealed in a 5 p.m. ceremony and simultaneously in New York City at Cadillac House, ahead of the 2018 International Auto Show.
A live video link connected the two celebrating locations. Plant Manager Bill Kulhanek welcomed guests to the Tuesday evening ceremony and explained that the new Cadillac will ensure job stability for current workers at the plant.
General Motors announced on Feb 19, 2018, that it would invest $265 million into the Fairfax facility. The investment will retain about 500 jobs at the Fairfax facility. The Fairfax plant employs nearly 2,235 people.
Workers have been assembling some of the new Cadillacs at the plant since last November, but the production has been top secret until today’s reveal.
GM and UAW officials said Cadillac chose GM’s Fairfax Assembly Plant because workers have a reputation for quality and safety.
Gov. Jeff Colyer echoed an earlier statement about the selection of Fairfax to build the new car. “GM’s commitment to producing vehicles in Kansas for more than 30 years continues to grow our economy and shows that we’re one of the best states to do business,” he said.
The XT4 gives Cadillac a second crossover in a U.S. market that is shifting away from its traditional sedans in the GM brand’s current lineup. The XT4 is the first of five major vehicle introductions that Cadillac has planned through the end of 2020.
Four area Cadillac dealers were introduced at the reveal. Price for the 2019 XT4 will start at $35,790. Orders are being accepted now for delivery of vehicles in fall 2018.
The XT4 was originally introduced during GM’s sponsorship of the 90th Academy Awards with a teaser 30-second TV spot: https://www.cadillac.com/future-concept-vehicles/xt4-crossover
When asked how the proposed tariffs on imported steel would affect supply and price of its vehicles, GM representatives explained that the company purchases over 90 percent of its steel for U.S. production from U.S. suppliers.
“We need to better understand the details around the announcement today, but the bottom line is we support trade policies that enable U.S. manufacturers to win and grow jobs in the U.S, and at the same time succeed in global markets,” a spokesman said.
Cadillac will reportedly also manufacture the Cadillac XT4 in China in the future to meet the expected increasing market demand for the brand there.
Three of the several dozen members of the XT4’s Core Launch Team enjoyed chatting about the years of hard work that made actual production possible. From left, Edward Peaslee, Liz Berger and Garrett Johnson represent over 100 combined years of working at the Fairfax Assembly Plant. (Staff photo)
Members of the XT4’s core launch team watched the festivities unfold in New York at Cadillac House, the auto maker’s display room in the SoHo District of the city. (Staff photo)
Fairfax plant manager William “Bill” Kulhanek and Daniel Kandlbinder, president of UAW Local 31, examined the XT4’s new efficient engine. Rated at 30 m.p.g. on the highway, the gas engine stops when the car comes to a stop, switches to electric battery power, then resumes combustion when the vehicle moves again. (Staff photo)
The Fairfax reveal of Cadillac’s new XT4 SUV was made simultaneously live from New York by Cadillac President Johan de Nysschen. “Our new smaller SUV is designed from the ground up,” de Nysschen explained. “We assembled the youngest design team in GM’s history and told them to build a car they would like to own and drive.” (Staff photo). (Staff photo)
Several hundred Fairfax employees and local dignitaries and Kansas state officials joined media representatives covering the XT4’s reveal. Two of the vehicles waited patiently under shrouds for the official reveal from New York, where the 2018 International Auto Show opens later this week on March 27. (Staff photo)
Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer and his wife Ruth were present for the Cadillac reveal. In brief remarks he praised the auto workers of Kansas as “classy, fast,” and with a “great drive to build the best cars in America.” He jokingly said that he and his wife would be glad to drive one of the new XT4s back to the governor’s mansion. Following the official ceremonies, the governor was inundated by representatives of the media. (Staff photo)
The subject matter experts of the Core Launch Team pose in front of the new Cadillac for which they drove the work flows that actually make production possible. From start to finished vehicle the process can take 24 to 36 hours, with the assembly line able to deliver a finished XT4 at a rate of about one per minute. The XT4 is actually assembled on the same production line as the Chevy Malibu, which is also produced at Fairfax. Hourly-staffed experts on the Core Launch Team (and their years of service) are Liz Berger (23), Garrett Johnson (44) , Janet Philips (18), Edward Peaslee (25), Darren Walker (34), Jennifer Gilane (21), Tom Reburn (34), Jimmy Hart (8), Eric Sorenson (17) and Michelle Dammen (22). (Staff photo)
