CNN features Kansas City and St. Louis’ resilient growth
February 17, 2017 | Meghan LeVota
Kansas Citians are already familiar with the perks of calling the metro home — the friendly people, innovative culture and affordability to name a few.
The City of Fountains, as well as its neighbor to the east, St. Louis, received validation of those facts Thursday via a lengthy CNN feature on their “bounce back” from the Great Recession.
“Over the past decade, both St. Louis and Kansas City have revitalized and reinvented themselves as dynamic 21st-century cities,” CNN’s Joe Yogerst reports. “And they did it in the same way that they became global icons a century ago — by fully embracing innovation and molding it to local advantage.”
The story highlighted the budding tech scene in St. Louis and Kansas City’s burgeoning entrepreneurial community, citing the Kansas City Startup Village as an example.
“Kansas City has a vibrant energy that evokes this ‘We’re all in this together’ feeling,” Derek Klaus, senior communications manager at Visit KC, told CNN.
In addition, CNN acknowledged the growth of Kansas City’s Union Station, the River Market, the Crossroads Arts District and the Power and Light district — an area which Yogerst calls “the biggest catalyst in KC’s revival.”
In related news, Kansas City was recognized by CNBC as a place “where you can live large on $60,000.”

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