Downtown KC Ballpark: It’s the bottom of the 9th, and we need to rally! Kansas City stands at a crossroads with the unique opportunity to correct past wrongs of misplacing critical community assets in isolation from other key amenities…

Downtown Kansas City is a thriving and diverse community, with 32,000+ residents, 122,000+ workers and 6.1 million annual visitors actively living their lives in the center of our city! Within this larger Downtown area, there are 25 parks, offering acres of open space for recreation and the positive environmental impacts of trees and green space.  This Greater Downtown area includes grand spaces like Penn Valley Park, home to the National WWI Museum at the Liberty Memorial, and the more recently activated acre Berkley Riverfront Park which graces the banks of the Missouri River on the northern edge of Downtown.

The Downtown Council, along with the Downtown and River Market Community Improvement Districts, have continued to prioritize a focus on crime and safety with our city and community partners. From our dialogue with leadership from the city, Kansas City Police Department, the County Prosecutor’s office, and downtown stakeholders, we have seen a renewed focus on adding resources to impact this issue. One of the key components in how this issue is addressed has been the need for a municipal rehabilitation and detention center. The Downtown Council’s board was pleased to endorse the city’s desire to extend a quarter-cent sales tax for public safety to build such a new facility.

On behalf of the staff of the Downtown Council and the Annual Luncheon Planning Committee, we are excited to announce that Friday, April 11th will be the date of the 2025 Annual Luncheon. This year’s theme will be Downtown KC: Connecting Communities. From catalytic projects such as the South Loop and the Greenline, to promoting policies around housing and neighborhoods, this year’s luncheon will focus on a community update from the Imagine Downtown KC 2030 Strategic Plan.