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Downtown Kansas City loses thousands of jobs over past decade

Andrew Magill
/
Flickr

The multi-billion dollar makeover of the greater downtown Kansas City area over the past decade was intended in part to draw businesses, but census figures show the area has lost nearly 20 percent of its private employees in that period.

Indeed, the Kansas City Star reports that U.S. Census data from 2001 to 2011 show that greater downtown lost more than 16,000 jobs.

That decade covers the period from shortly before the downtown redevelopment boom began to just after the major redevelopment projects, such as the Kansas City Power and Light District, were completed.

Bill Dietrich, president and CEO of the Downtown Council, says he believes it would have been worse if the city hadn't reinvested so heavily in downtown over the last decade.

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