Denver Archives - Missourinet

Columbia’s mayor says new $23 million airport terminal will put additional destinations in play

November 17, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

Top political leaders in the state joined mid-Missouri business leaders for Tuesday morning’s groundbreaking ceremony for a new $23 million terminal at Columbia Regional Airport (COU).

Missouri Governor Mike Parson, UM System President Dr. Mun Choi and other dignitaries broke ground for a new Columbia Regional Airport terminal.

The airport currently provides daily flights to Dallas, Denver, Chicago and will soon be flying to Charlotte. Governor Mike Parson says the project is big for all of mid-Missouri.

“A lot of people, you know, when you’ve got to go to St. Louis (and) Kansas City those are travel days for them,” Parson says. “That’s windshield time that they lose, but if you can come here to Columbia, I think you’re going to have an opportunity. I really think they’re going to build on this and it’s just going to get better and better and you’re going to get more flights in here.”

University of Missouri System President Dr. Mun Choi, Columbia Mayor Brian Treece, Boone County Presiding Commissioner Dan Atwill, and Jefferson City Mayor Carrie Tergin also spoke at the ceremony. U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt spoke via video from Washington.

President Choi says a new terminal will be big for the University of Missouri and for the entire region. Mayor Treece agrees.

“A new airport terminal is one of those generational investments that, you know, will pay big dividends. Not just in the short-run construction jobs at the end of this pandemic, but in years to come with the economic development this opportunity creates,” says Treece.

Mayor Treece says a new terminal puts further destinations in play, adding that Atlanta and Phoenix are two major hub cities Columbia would like to fly to. The mayor notes COU needs more space and more baggage carousels.

The old terminal at Columbia Regional was built in 1968 and is still being used today.

Dr. Choi notes the importance of the new terminal, with the NextGen facility being built on campus. State Reps. Sara Walsh, R-Ashland, and Greg Razer, D-Kansas City, led the bipartisan effort to restore cuts to Mizzou’s NextGen Precision Health initiative.

The NextGen Precision Health Institute is expected to train the next generation of scientists who will help Missouri address future health care needs. It’s a $220 million facility.

The airport terminal’s main funding source is a hotel tax approved by Columbia voters in 2016. It’s also paid for in part with enplanements, which involves per-seat charges paid by each passenger when they purchase a ticket.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the state Department of Transportation (MoDOT) are also providing some funding.

Kansas City business leaders hopeful about end to “border war” between Missouri and Kansas

June 28, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

The Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce president is praising Missouri Governor Mike Parson (R) for signing legislation into law that’s aimed at ending the economic “border war” between Missouri and Kansas.

Missouri Governor Mike Parson signs SB 182 into law on June 11, 2019 at Kansas City’s Union Station (photo courtesy of Governor Parson’s office)

Joe Reardon hopes it will lead to additional regional cooperation.

“And an end to the destructive back and forth of luring of companies from one side of the state line to the other, with no creation of net new jobs,” Reardon says.

The bill impacts companies moving between three Kansas counties and Missouri’s Cass, Clay, Jackson and Platte counties. The Missouri law will only take effect if the Sunflower State passes a reciprocal agreement.

Reardon, who spoke at Governor Parson’s bill-signing ceremony at Union Station this month, says resolving the border war has been a top priority for the Chamber and for business leaders in the region.

“We believe our true competition is not between us or across the line that’s not far from outside this door (Union Station), but it’s with other regions like Dallas, Denver, Nashville,” says Reardon.

The Hall Family Foundation says more than 10,000 jobs moved between Missouri and Kansas during the past decade, with an incentive cost of $330 million.

The jobs all moved in the Kansas City region.

Mr. Reardon notes cooperation has happened before, noting that voters on both sides of the state line backed a 1996 tax increase to restore Union Station, which was crumbling at the time. Reardon says fast forward to 2015 at Union Station, after the Kansas City Royals won the World Series.

“This became the gathering spot for almost 800,000 Kansas Citians from all over, both sides of the state line,” Reardon says.

The renovated Union Station includes an Amtrak depot, a permanent rail exhibit known as the KC Rail Experience, a planetarium and a science city.

Governor Parson says Missouri and Kansas have both spent “well over $100 million” in the border war, telling reporters after the bill-signing that “there’s no reason we can’t be using that money for a lot better purposes than just jumping from one side of the state (line) to the other.”

Kansas Governor Laura Kelly (D) has issued a statement echoing Governor Parson’s comments about the irresponsible spending by both states, “with little actual job growth for either state.”