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Independence, MO —
It’s often said that peoples’ perception is, in turn, their reality.
If that’s the case, how do we tell the good stories that are constantly taking place in Independence? How can different community and civic organizations come together in one unified branding effort that promotes that positive message?
That was the question that fueled an hour-long discussion among about 50 community leaders Thursday at Maywood Baptist Church.
“How do we tell the positive story? How do we really rethink who we are as a community?” said Jim Hinson, superintendent of the Independence School District. “How do we altogether, collectively, tell the great story about our community? That’s part of the challenge.”
The city’s Tourism Department, by way of an outside consultant, recently conducted a non-scientific, online survey that reached a 300-mile radius around Independence. Notification of the survey took place at Missouri Mavericks events and through an advertising piece in The Examiner.
More than 800 responses came back, and these were the positive responses repeatedly given for the perception of Independence: Hardworking, blue collar, straightforward, progressive – looking for new ideas and proud of our community.
However, responses also included the negative adjectives that people associate with Independence, including uninteresting, lacking culture, a meth capital and white trash.
“These, of course, are not easy ones to hear,” said Cori Day, the city’s director of tourism. “We, unfortunately, have a perception problem, and this is what we need to change. We need to somehow combat this perception and get our positive story out, to not only ourselves, but also those outside of our community.”
HOW DO SUGAR CREEK AND BLUE SUMMIT FIT IN?
Longtime Sugar Creek Mayor Stan Salva said the city of Independence should be concerned about its neighboring cities. While Sugar Creek’s and Independence’s public safety departments do work well together, Salva said, more improvement is needed.
“We depend on each other so much,” he said. “...But someway, somehow, we’ve got to work closer, hand in hand.”
Salva cited the completion of the Lewis and Clark Expressway segment from Sterling Avenue to Interstate 435. That improvement would keep about 100 trucks a day from driving out of Sugar Creek and into the neighborhoods that the 12 Blocks West initiative is trying to improve, Salva said, which is now taking place.
“It’s terrible,” he said. “Nobody should live in that kind of environment. ... We need help to get this segment, and we need help to get those trucks off of our streets.”
It’s often said that peoples’ perception is, in turn, their reality.
If that’s the case, how do we tell the good stories that are constantly taking place in Independence? How can different community and civic organizations come together in one unified branding effort that promotes that positive message?
That was the question that fueled an hour-long discussion among about 50 community leaders Thursday at Maywood Baptist Church.
“How do we tell the positive story? How do we really rethink who we are as a community?” said Jim Hinson, superintendent of the Independence School District. “How do we altogether, collectively, tell the great story about our community? That’s part of the challenge.”
The city’s Tourism Department, by way of an outside consultant, recently conducted a non-scientific, online survey that reached a 300-mile radius around Independence. Notification of the survey took place at Missouri Mavericks events and through an advertising piece in The Examiner.
More than 800 responses came back, and these were the positive responses repeatedly given for the perception of Independence: Hardworking, blue collar, straightforward, progressive – looking for new ideas and proud of our community.
However, responses also included the negative adjectives that people associate with Independence, including uninteresting, lacking culture, a meth capital and white trash.
“These, of course, are not easy ones to hear,” said Cori Day, the city’s director of tourism. “We, unfortunately, have a perception problem, and this is what we need to change. We need to somehow combat this perception and get our positive story out, to not only ourselves, but also those outside of our community.”
HOW DO SUGAR CREEK AND BLUE SUMMIT FIT IN?
Longtime Sugar Creek Mayor Stan Salva said the city of Independence should be concerned about its neighboring cities. While Sugar Creek’s and Independence’s public safety departments do work well together, Salva said, more improvement is needed.
“We depend on each other so much,” he said. “...But someway, somehow, we’ve got to work closer, hand in hand.”
Salva cited the completion of the Lewis and Clark Expressway segment from Sterling Avenue to Interstate 435. That improvement would keep about 100 trucks a day from driving out of Sugar Creek and into the neighborhoods that the 12 Blocks West initiative is trying to improve, Salva said, which is now taking place.
“It’s terrible,” he said. “Nobody should live in that kind of environment. ... We need help to get this segment, and we need help to get those trucks off of our streets.”
Salva also said Sugar Creek deserves much credit in keeping a solid waste transfer station proposal out of Blue Summit. Deffenbaugh Industries earlier this week dropped its request for a permit following a strong community outcry.
“Talk about getting people involved, in my little city,” he said. “...(Blue Summit residents) have been fighting for years to get rid of this so-called ‘Dogpatch’ term.”
Many of the perception problems relate to western Independence, despite its growth in recent years, Curt’s Famous Meats owner Donna Pittman said. She cited the examples of 12 Blocks West, Englewood Business Association, the Truman Gateway commercial project and NorthWest Communities Development Corporation as signs of progress.
“But, I think, it’s just like we’ve got this big lake, and we’ve put a cup of water in it,” Pittman said. “I’m pointing at myself, as well – we’re not doing nearly what we should to make things better over here.”
WHAT ABOUT THAT METH CAPITAL STEREOTYPE?
Independence Police Department Lt. Col. Brad Halsey said he takes the “meth capital of the world” stereotype – stemming from a 1998 article in Rolling Stone magazine – personally.
He looks at photographs of his son as an infant throughout his house. That boy is now 14 years old. “I don’t remember those days at all,” Halsey said of his son’s young childhood. “Why? Because me ... and about six other officers were cleaning meth labs up and busting meth labs. We pioneered law enforcement methods that people across the nation now use that we used to bust these meth labs.”
“Our aggressiveness on the issue has created a media monster,” he said of the meth lab perception, adding that so far in 2012, Independence has seized just one meth lab.
WHERE DOES THE DISCUSSION GO FROM HERE?
In several weeks, the group will meet for about an hour to discuss a plan for what might become a branding effort known as ReThink Independence. Following that meeting, a professional facilitator may come in and meet with the leaders for a daylong discussion.
But some think the discussion should go beyond a new logo and tag line. “A big gap” also exists among those present Thursday and those who live in their neighborhoods, community leader Lois McDonald said.
“We are the interested folks, and we are the ones who roll up our sleeves,” she said. “We have a huge role in this, but instead of turning to each other with our big ideas, we also need to be talking to our little neighbor lady to find out what’s on her mind and find out what’s in our neighborhoods again.”
