Let's start with first impressions: I think John Crawford is nearly as nice and smart as God but I wonder if he'll be crucified in Kansas City's nasty political scene.
Thanks to the power of the Internets I was able to arrange a meeting with Crawford and talk about a variety of Kansas City issues and how his campaign for Council might address so many local problems.
MAKE NO MISTAKE: JOHN CRAWFORD IS A SERIOUS CHALLENGER TO COUNCIL LADY INCUMBENT BETH GOTTSTEIN!!! SO, I WANTED TO TALK TO HIM AND SEE WHAT MY HOMEGIRL WAS UP AGAINST!!!
While he has never held elected office before, his resume lists a great many community economic development partnerships that would inspire envy among most politicos. TKC Readers can check out Crawford's Resume for themselves.
The Highlights from the resume:
"Authored Missouri's Community Improvement District Law; gained its adoption by State Legislature."
"Created Kansas City’s most successful program model for housing rehab. With completion of $60 million TIF-funded Midtown commercial redevelopment (Home Depot, Costco, Westport’s Sun Fresh-anchored commercial center), designed major housing rehab program in surrounding neighborhood using surplus project revenue."
"Initiated and successfully pursued creation of one of Kansas City’s largest, most significant Historic Districts on the National Register of Historic Places — the Crossroads Freight District (honored with 2001 Preserve Missouri Award)."
And on the subject of community involvement, Crawford is a member of the Ivanhoe Neighborhood Council and Crestwood Homes Association.
Crawford started our talk with a story of how he re-enrolled in college after serving in Vietnam and working dead end jobs. He finally figured out that working with public/private partnerships was a big part of what he wanted to the with his career. He then mentioned his childhood in the Northeast U.S. and noted how his first hand contact with urban development changed the course of his life.
"I witnessed how my community was transformed by economic development close to my childhood home," Crawford said. "That offered the groundwork for my desire to try an help communities through my work."
Probably the most promising thing about Crawford's candidacy is his focus on building a consensus, demonstrated among groups with which he has worked. Crawford emphasized his desire to create "A climate of cooperation" on the City Council. Obviously, that would be a far cry of where things stand today.
Now the downside:
Even Crawford admits that he hasn't mastered soundbytes. Worse still, his experience in economic development/community based projects might be more in tune with another era in Kansas City's economic timeline.
Crawford described the proposed Downtown Hotel as a "project worth doing" much to my disappointment. Put simply, I doubt the economy is going to come around any time soon and spending our way to prosperity via development has yet to prove effective in Kansas City.
Still, it's hard avoid being persuaded by Crawford's optimism. Even worse, he's not just doing a nice guy act. He started the conversation by noting that he isn't running "Against" Council Lady Gottstein. In fact, he admits to admiring the work of the Council in general and noting that they are "a group of the most capable people a local governing body has ever seen."
Like it or not, that kind of talk doesn't unseat an incumbent.
And as I'm about to wrap up this post I realize that in this race with a really nice Irish-Catholic guy running against Beth, my leade could be misconstrued by stupid people. On the subject of Crawford's impending peril, I was actually referring to mean-spirited political watchers like myself who will undoubtedly take potshots at the Council hopeful. This is Crawford's first attempt at public office and I really do think he's unprepared for how nasty things can get. But I digress . . .
While Crawford's campaign theme of cooperation and consensus is inspiring. Right now the Kansas City electorate is awash in broke people who are pissed off. Without question, Crawford has helped lead the way to some of this town's most successful developments. Now, it remains to be seen if he can create a viable platform for his ideas amid a rather contentious Kansas City political scene.