Peter Kageyama, For the Love of Cities author will be in Joplin to present and offer a workshop to all interested members of the community on May 29 and 30.

Peter Kageyama is a community and economic development consultant based in St. Petersburg, Fla.  He  looks at what makes cities lovable and what motivates citizens to do extraordinary things for their places.  In support of his book, Peter has developed an interactive workshop that allows communities to develop their own approaches to becoming a more lovable community.  This half-day workshop will explore how people connect with in their own community, how to improve and maximize that connection, and lead more people toward being “in love” with their place.

The Community Foundation of the Ozarks  invites you to hear this remarkable author talk about what makes cities great…the love of the city by ALL  residents, visitors and guests! This presentation is free and open to the public.  Please see www.joplincc.com/love_of_joplin.html for more information and to RSVP.

Peter Kageyama is a community and economic development consultant based in St. Petersburg, Fla.  He  looks at what makes cities lovable and what motivates citizens to do extraordinary things for their places.  In support of his book, Peter has developed an interactive workshop that allows communities to develop their own approaches to becoming a more lovable community.  This half-day workshop will explore how people connect with in their own community, how to improve and maximize that connection, and lead more people toward being “in love” with their place.

Who Should Attend:

EVERYONE!!!

This is for the entire community and all that love our city.

Presentation

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

7 p.m.

Corley Auditorium, Webster Hall

Missouri Southern State University

3950 Newman Road, Joplin, Mo.

RSVP requested

www.joplincc.com/love_of_joplin.html or call 417.624.1996

Workshop

Thursday, May 30, 2013

8:30 a.m.—12:30 p.m.

Central Christian Center

410 Virginia Avenue, Joplin, Mo.

RSVP required, workshop is limited to 50 attendees.

www.joplincc.com/love_of_joplin.html or call 417.624.1996

WASHINGTON— Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano today announced that Jane Cage, Chair of the Citizens Advisory Recovery Team (CART) in Joplin Mo., and the citizens of Joplin have been awarded the Rick Rescorla National Award for Resilience, recognizing their contributions in the aftermath of the devastating tornadoes that struck Joplin in May 2011.

“The Rick Rescorla National Award for Resilience recognizes outstanding response to a catastrophic incident and leadership in fostering resilient and prepared communities,” said Secretary Napolitano. “Jane Cage and the Joplin community demonstrate this spirit of resilience and strength, serving as models for communities across our nation.”

As Chair of CART in Joplin, Jane Cage demonstrated exceptional leadership in helping the Joplin community recover from the devastating May tornado. After the tornado, the Citizens Advisory Recovery Team was established to provide a forum between citizens and the City Council as the community recovers and rebuilds. Jane Cage created the “Listening to Joplin” plan, which served as the foundation of the community’s recovery efforts. CART used a variety of opportunities to reach members across the community, including those who were personally overwhelmed by their own losses from the storm.

The entire Joplin community played an important role in the recovery process, deciding together to build more resilient schools outside of the floodplain, develop stronger standards for home construction, and to develop shared facilities to use as storm shelters.

The Joplin tornado, which killed 161 people and injured approximately 1,000, ranks as one of the deadliest disasters in United States’ history, and is the costliest tornado in U.S. history.

Earlier this year, Secretary Napolitano announced the creation of the Rick Rescorla National Award for Resilience, in memory of Richard “Rick” Rescorla, who on September 11, 2001 led a massive evacuation of Morgan Stanley’s 2,700-person workforce located in the South Tower, saving the lives of many of his coworkers.

The Rick Rescorla National Award for Resilience is the Department of Homeland Security’s first national resilience award for superior leadership and innovation by a non-governmental individual or organization who exemplifies the qualities and achievements of Rick Rescorla, emphasizing leadership in effective preparation, response, and recovery in the face of disasters.

For more information, visit www.dhs.gov.

Click here to download this document

An Explanation

A Master Developer IS:

• Someone who has dealt with large scale projects in the past (although our community will be a larger project than most).
• A partner with the capability to conduct the feasibility studies necessary to determine the market need and success of any project the city proposes.
• An entity that will bring resources in planning, development, finance and public-private partnerships to create a detailed redevelopment plan to facilitate and implement projects.
• A group that can develop some anchor projects in the devastated area that will be anchors for further development.
• A firm that will have a contractual agreement with the City of Joplin that will be performance based with guarantees to protect the community and its funding.

• A master builder that will bring all of their own resources at the expense of local contractors and builders.  The community will expect that a Master Development agreement will include local businesses.
• A single person.  No one person has the experience or knowledge to succeed.
• Someone who will dictate our future after an agreement is signed.  The community will always be in charge of its own recovery.

Partnering with a master developer is just one piece of the recovery effort.

Homeowners, learn more here.

If you are a renting an apartment, condo or house, you should consider buying renters insurance. With premiums averaging $8-21 per month for $20,000 to $30,000 worth of coverage, renters insurance is an affordable way to protect your personal belongings, such as electronics, furniture and clothing, against damage or theft.

Renters, learn more here.

The CART MDRT reviewed the six applications the city received in response to its request for a Master Developer. We chose four for personal interviews. After serious consideration, we chose Wallace Bajjali, based in Sugar Land, Texas to recommend to the City Council as our choice for Master Developer.
Wallace Bajjali comes with the following strong qualifications:
• An understanding of public-private partnerships as a result of the public service of Dave Wallace as Mayor of Sugar Land and Joe Esch as a city economic developer.
• Successful experience as a Master Developer in Waco, Texas and as the choice for downtown redevelopment in Amarillo, Texas.
• Their willingness to be an at-risk developer with compensation based on their performance and production.
• A strong local partner in Crossland Construction Company as their construction manager.
• A significant investment in understanding the Joplin-Duquesne communities already in place from their visits and studies.

The MDRT divided into a reference team and a site review team. The reference team spoke with mayors, city councilmen, city managers and economic development specialists. We heard that Wallace Bajjali were good communicators and excellent listeners. Their team was able to provide vision and direction. In any business situation relationships and investments sometimes work out and sometimes they do not. The overwhelming majority of those relationships and investments researched by our committee involving Wallace-Bajjali were successful; however we did run into a few instances that warranted further investigation. In these instances, our investigation revealed that when they began a project, they stayed the course and delivered, even when other partners encountered difficulties. Wallace Bajjali stood behind their obligations. Members of the reference team also reviewed financials of Wallace Bajjali and were satisfied with the results.
The site review team visited Waco, Texas to see some completed Wallace Bajjali projects. Their student housing unit built to house Baylor students was well-constructed and well-maintained. Many of us wished we were back in college again. Their River Square Center was a great combination of restaurant-retail-office. It was well appointed and fully occupied.

The MDRT eagerly anticipates our next steps – negotiating a contract and developing a plan.