Remarks
by
Ricki Helfer
Chairman
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
before the
Community Lenders Luncheon
Kansas City, Missouri
June 18, 1996
For many years, the economy of Kansas City revolved around the railroad and the stockyard.
Wealth from cattle trading and grain farming turned Kansas City into a booming Midwestern
city, with -- I have been told -- more miles of wide boulevards than any city other than Paris and
more public fountains than any city other than Rome -- and the world's first shopping center.
Kansas City, however, did not start life as a cattle trading center. It originally -- and for about
thirty years -- was a town that outfitted settlers and miners headed west.
That changed -- dramatically -- soon after the Civil War. Before the construction of the Hannibal
Bridge across the Missouri River at Broadway Avenue, there were no bridges across the river for
its entire length. The railroads ended at the unincorporated town of Harlem on the river's north
bank. Hannibal Bridge opened on July 3, 1869. A year later, Kansas City was a railroad hub, with
eight different radiating lines. By 1880, it was the nation's largest cattle trading center. The
people who planned and built that bridge made it happen.
In 1880, William Rockhill Nelson arrived in Kansas City from Indiana. He founded the Kansas City
Star and as editor of that newspaper spent the following decades exhorting and working with
his fellow citizens to develop Kansas City economically and culturally. He persuaded Col.
Thomas H. Swope to donate his 1,344-acre farm to the city -- while Swope was still alive --
because the city needed a public park. Kansas City's place among the top convention cities can
be traced back to Nelson -- who persuaded his fellow citizens to build the city's first convention
hall at the turn of the century. The remarkable range of 19th- and early 20th-century buildings
in Kansas City today is a monument to the vision and efforts of Nelson and his contemporaries.
They made things happen -- as did the people whose vision and efforts more recently have led
to the building of the Kansas City International Airport, the City's foreign trade zone, its
underground storage industry, and Crown Center. Economic diversification in the last few
decades has again transformed Kansas City -- from a boom town into a booming Midwestern
metropolis, the area being home to nearly a score of major insurance companies and to
by
Ricki Helfer
Chairman
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
before the
Community Lenders Luncheon
Kansas City, Missouri
June 18, 1996
For many years, the economy of Kansas City revolved around the railroad and the stockyard.
Wealth from cattle trading and grain farming turned Kansas City into a booming Midwestern
city, with -- I have been told -- more miles of wide boulevards than any city other than Paris and
more public fountains than any city other than Rome -- and the world's first shopping center.
Kansas City, however, did not start life as a cattle trading center. It originally -- and for about
thirty years -- was a town that outfitted settlers and miners headed west.
That changed -- dramatically -- soon after the Civil War. Before the construction of the Hannibal
Bridge across the Missouri River at Broadway Avenue, there were no bridges across the river for
its entire length. The railroads ended at the unincorporated town of Harlem on the river's north
bank. Hannibal Bridge opened on July 3, 1869. A year later, Kansas City was a railroad hub, with
eight different radiating lines. By 1880, it was the nation's largest cattle trading center. The
people who planned and built that bridge made it happen.
In 1880, William Rockhill Nelson arrived in Kansas City from Indiana. He founded the Kansas City
Star and as editor of that newspaper spent the following decades exhorting and working with
his fellow citizens to develop Kansas City economically and culturally. He persuaded Col.
Thomas H. Swope to donate his 1,344-acre farm to the city -- while Swope was still alive --
because the city needed a public park. Kansas City's place among the top convention cities can
be traced back to Nelson -- who persuaded his fellow citizens to build the city's first convention
hall at the turn of the century. The remarkable range of 19th- and early 20th-century buildings
in Kansas City today is a monument to the vision and efforts of Nelson and his contemporaries.
They made things happen -- as did the people whose vision and efforts more recently have led
to the building of the Kansas City International Airport, the City's foreign trade zone, its
underground storage industry, and Crown Center. Economic diversification in the last few
decades has again transformed Kansas City -- from a boom town into a booming Midwestern
metropolis, the area being home to nearly a score of major insurance companies and to
operations of about 200 of the Fortune 500 companies. In Kansas City today, the wholesale and
retail trade industries employ the greatest number of people, with the service industry ranking
close behind.
None of this happened by accident. The development and prosperity of Kansas City occurred
because people here -- business people, officials, media people, citizens -- had a strong sense of
shared purpose and community. Because of that strong sense of shared purpose and
community, people made things happen.
Because of the vision and effort of the people who live here, Kansas City, Kansas, was named an
All-American City in 1992 -- Kansas City, Missouri won the award in 1994 -- and in 1994 Kansas
City was named an Urban Enhanced Enterprise Community.
The success of Kansas City as an economic and cultural center rests upon a partnership that has
spanned neighborhoods and jurisdictions, the public and the private sector, and generations of
community-minded people.
When people work together, things happen.
Because of the partnership of banks and community representatives -- and the partnership of
banks and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation -- some things are happening in
community development here in Kansas City.
For example, Central Bank of Kansas City -- a $45 million institution -- recognized a need to
encourage remodeling and improvements for homeowners in the Northeast Community. Its
goal was to help stabilize the community. The bank believed that the income restrictions on
traditional grants and low-rate programs eliminated middle-income owners and prospective
home buyers who were needed in the community. The bank requested that Old Northeast, a
local community development corporation, develop an approach. The result is a remodeling
and home improvement loan program within a seven-neighborhood area serviced by Old
Northeast. The interest rate on the loans is five percent with no fees to the borrower. If the
home is located on what Old Northeast designates a model block, the rate can be lowered to 3
percent. There are no income restrictions. The only restriction is that the applicant must be the
owner/occupant. These low cost funds give middle income owners an incentive to stay in the
area and prospective buyers a reason to move in. So far, the bank has loaned $115,000 for
home improvements under the year-old program.
Working together, two of the sponsors of this luncheon, the Community Development
Corporation of Kansas City and Hillcrest Bank, a $68 million institution, arranged financing by
retail trade industries employ the greatest number of people, with the service industry ranking
close behind.
None of this happened by accident. The development and prosperity of Kansas City occurred
because people here -- business people, officials, media people, citizens -- had a strong sense of
shared purpose and community. Because of that strong sense of shared purpose and
community, people made things happen.
Because of the vision and effort of the people who live here, Kansas City, Kansas, was named an
All-American City in 1992 -- Kansas City, Missouri won the award in 1994 -- and in 1994 Kansas
City was named an Urban Enhanced Enterprise Community.
The success of Kansas City as an economic and cultural center rests upon a partnership that has
spanned neighborhoods and jurisdictions, the public and the private sector, and generations of
community-minded people.
When people work together, things happen.
Because of the partnership of banks and community representatives -- and the partnership of
banks and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation -- some things are happening in
community development here in Kansas City.
For example, Central Bank of Kansas City -- a $45 million institution -- recognized a need to
encourage remodeling and improvements for homeowners in the Northeast Community. Its
goal was to help stabilize the community. The bank believed that the income restrictions on
traditional grants and low-rate programs eliminated middle-income owners and prospective
home buyers who were needed in the community. The bank requested that Old Northeast, a
local community development corporation, develop an approach. The result is a remodeling
and home improvement loan program within a seven-neighborhood area serviced by Old
Northeast. The interest rate on the loans is five percent with no fees to the borrower. If the
home is located on what Old Northeast designates a model block, the rate can be lowered to 3
percent. There are no income restrictions. The only restriction is that the applicant must be the
owner/occupant. These low cost funds give middle income owners an incentive to stay in the
area and prospective buyers a reason to move in. So far, the bank has loaned $115,000 for
home improvements under the year-old program.
Working together, two of the sponsors of this luncheon, the Community Development
Corporation of Kansas City and Hillcrest Bank, a $68 million institution, arranged financing by