10 To Watch In 2010

Our Annual List Of The Most-Likely-To-Make-Headlines In The New Year
By Sandy Selby

Every year at the offices of Inside Columbia, we ring out the old year by making our list of the people we think will be our city’s most watched in the year to come. This time around, we came up with dozens of watch-worthy names and after a lot of debate (and a few minor tantrums), we culled the list to the 10 people and groups we think we’ll still be talking about as 2010 comes to a close.

Chris Belcher

Public sentiment is cautiously optimistic that the new Columbia Public Schools superintendent can regain the trust of the taxpayers and restore the prestige to our once-proud school district. Chris Belcher comes across as a straight shooter, and that’s an appealing quality, but the truth could get ugly with state budget cuts necessitating staff reductions and limiting teacher pay increases. And if that wasn’t enough to make a superintendent want to skip school, Jefferson City insiders say the budget cuts could continue for several years to come.

Yet even while his budget is getting the squeeze, Belcher is trying to convince a skeptical public that now is the perfect time for a bond issue to fund construction of a new high school. If Belcher gets the go-ahead from voters in April, that will only be a first step. Building the new school is one thing, but staffing it is another and will mean gaining enough public favor over the next few years to push through a tax increase.

The flameout of the 2008 tax levy ballot proposal shows that today’s Columbians aren’t willing to fork over extra tax dollars to their school system until they are confident it’s a worthwhile investment. It will be up to Belcher to persuade them that their money will be well spent.

The Columbia City Council

With contentious meetings that stretch into the wee hours of the morning, it’s a wonder that anyone ever runs for Columbia’s City Council. The all-volunteer group of seven (six ward representatives and the mayor) is charged with establishing the policies the rest of us must live with, and that’s no easy thing. It takes stamina and a thick skin to serve our city in that capacity, qualities that Mayor Darwin Hindman possesses in abundance. It turns out that five terms is enough, even for the energetic Hindman, who has decided not to run for a sixth term.

The mayoral front-runner appears to be Fourth Ward Representative Jerry Wade, whose fiery style may not sit well with those used to Hindman’s peacemaker approach. Some in the business community are publicly fretting that the council will tilt even further to the anti-growth left with Wade at the helm and a new member filling his current seat, but the grumblers have yet to produce a candidate from their ranks.

The council begins 2010 with a public relations problem after rejecting the use of downtown surveillance cameras, only to be overruled by a petition drive that puts the issue on the April ballot. Nearly 3,000 people signed the petition in support of the cameras, which means nearly 3,000 people think that, at least on this one issue, the City Council failed to do its job.

Karen and Adam Taylor

Is there any force of nature greater than an angry mom? Karen Taylor and her son Adam weren’t looking for the kind of local recognition that found them in 2009, but they took a bad situation and turned it into a rallying cry for a public that is fed up with crime in Columbia.

The movement was born out of a horrific event that happened in a downtown parking garage late at night on June 6, 2009. Adam was walking to his car when he was attacked and beaten by seven teenagers. The entire incident was caught on a video surveillance camera in the garage, which gave police everything they needed to track down the suspects. Just two months earlier the city council had rejected the use of city-owned mobile surveillance cameras downtown, but in light of this attack and the important role surveillance video played in the capture of the perpetrators, Karen and Adam were sure they could persuade the city council to reconsider. They went to the July 20 city council meeting to ask the council to hear public comment and reopen the discussion. In a 3 to 4 vote, the council said no.

Rather than give up, mother and son took their case to the public, forming the Keep Columbia Safe organization and launching a successful petition drive that puts the surveillance camera issue on the April 2010 ballot. We’ll find out in April whether the Taylors’ support for the cameras reflects the mood of the community, or if those who worry such surveillance treads on civil rights will make a better case with voters. We wouldn’t bet against the angry mom in any fight, but especially not this mom in this fight.

The Central Missouri Humane Society

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. It was 2009 at the Central Missouri Humane Society. The year started off like a nonprofit’s dream-come-true, with two teenage girls leading a campaign through ZooToo.com that would bring a cool million to Columbia’s financially strapped animal shelter. The campaign itself brought a bonanza of publicity to CMHS, and the eventual win had all of Columbia celebrating the end of the struggles for our animal shelter.

It was, as it turned out, just the beginning of a nightmare. Columbians quickly discovered that the $1 million gift came with more fundraising strings attached. CMHS and the city squabbled over municipal reluctance to shoulder a rent increase for shelter space to house Animal Control activities. Then came the unexplained and inexplicably public breakup between the two young ZooToo champions and the shelter they had worked so hard to support. The board of directors let its disagreements spill out in the press, ZooToo rejected the first proposal for the shelter makeover, the shelter’s strict adoption policies became “Trib Talk” fodder, and in November, executive director Patty Forister resigned.

The Central Missouri Humane Society hoped to be building a new shelter in 2010, but first it’s going to have to rebuild its relationship with a community in shock over the dramatic turn of events.

Dr. Robert Churchill

Welcome to your new job as dean of the University of Missouri School of Medicine, Dr. Robert Churchill. Now that you’ve had a month or so to settle into the permanent gig, tell us how you’re going to shore up medical school funding in light of state cuts, produce enough internal medicine primary-care physicians to keep up with demand, and reform health care in America. OK, we’ll let you off the hook for that last thing; there are enough people with their fingers in that particular pie. But the other two … those are things you’re going to be dealing with for a while.

The University of Missouri educates the majority of our state’s future physicians. It’s an important job, but our medical school doesn’t get anywhere near the funding from the state that a certain rock-chalkin’ Kansas school gets. In fact, MU receives only $33,000 per student per year from the state, compared to $112,000 per student in Kansas. That means that Missouri students are saddled with more debt for their education and tend to migrate to more lucrative specialties. That may be good news for anyone needing an emergency appointment with a dermatologist, but not so great for a flu-ridden populace looking for a little primary care TLC.

Medical schools are under pressure to increase class sizes. If a health care reform plan funnels more patients into the system, that suggestion might just become a mandate. Without more state support, Churchill will need more than good medicine; he’ll need a miracle to pay for the new facilities and faculty it would take to pull that off at Mizzou.

Columbia’s Realtors

Real estate agents have a gift for finding the silver lining in every economic cloud. Perhaps you’ve heard them brag that even as local sales have slowed, property values have remained steady. That may come as interesting news to last year’s sellers who settled for the highest of the lowball offers they received, but maybe it’s time we all started believing again.

The federal government has extended and expanded its homebuyer incentives until April, which may get potential buyers to commit during the normally sluggish winter months rather than waiting for spring. These incentives come as the economy in Columbia shows signs of recovering more quickly than other parts of the nation.

Yes, things could get better and every other economic sector is hoping for real estate to rebound, but the real estate listings are still mighty sparse and only the strongest Realtors survived the rotten housing market of 2009 to sell another day. There are fewer new houses being built so there are fewer new houses to sell, and buyers are taking advantage of their power position by asking sellers to make big concessions on price, closing costs, updates and more.

We’re going to need local Realtors to inspire our confidence and spark a lucrative wave of optimism in 2010, but anyone who can sell a 1970s ranch with harvest gold appliances and shag carpeting can surely sell a growing town on the notion of optimism.

Gary Forsee

It’s a good thing University of Missouri President Gary Forsee has a head for business because it’s going to take all his brainpower to see the four-campus system through the next few years. At the beginning of 2010, the UM system ranks 33rd out of 34 colleges in the Association of American Colleges when it comes to faculty salaries. Only three states provide less funding for their universities than Missouri and that already minimal support was slashed by 5 percent last year. That’s actually the good news, because the governor threatened to cut more if the university system didn’t agree to freeze in-state tuition for the year.

But wait, there’s more! Forsee feared the federal government’s pending cap-and-trade legislation — a measure touted as a means to protect the planet from greenhouse gases — could cost the coal-powered Mizzou campus millions for the purchase of credits to use a polluting form of power. His letter to Missouri’s congressional delegation fired up critics who saw his objection to cap-and-trade as a flip-flop from his earlier sentiments about greening up the UM system.

The year ahead isn’t likely to bring a cash windfall from the state, so Forsee is going to have to look for other ways to boost funding. He’s floating the ideas of a no-frills, three-year degree and a sizeable boost in tuition for out-of-state students. The tasks ahead of Forsee are daunting and any solutions he proposes are sure to stir up controversy. Let’s hope he has the intestinal fortitude for the challenges that lie ahead.

Kurt Schaefer

State Sen. Kurt Schaefer is still relatively new to the job, but he’s already making a big impression in Jefferson City. Schaefer, who was elected in 2008, was recently appointed as vice chairman of the Missouri Senate Appropriations Committee. This is the committee that holds the purse strings for state government and is responsible for the funding that is doled out to the University of Missouri. The appointment is being lauded on all the state-funded campuses because of Schaefer’s very vocal support for higher education.

What’s more, Schaefer, a Republican, has been caught cooperating with Democrats. This rare display of cordial bipartisanship should be good for Columbia, a city that depends heavily on its state-supported institutions. He’s already gone on record criticizing Gov. Jay Nixon for withholding available and approved funding for the construction of a new Ellis Fischel Cancer Center. As Schaefer continues to gain friends and influence Jefferson City, he may collect enough clout to nudge that important project out of its budget purgatory.

Bill Watkins

When Bill Watkins took over as Columbia’s city manager in 2006, replacing long-time manager Ray Beck, many predicted his tenure would be short. After all, it’s hard to win over the “we’ve always done it this way” crowd that is used to your predecessor’s style. So far, Watkins has managed the city’s projects efficiently, keeping things on time and on budget. Perhaps he’s not as affable or as popular as Beck, but he’s outlasted the forecasts that said he’d be gone in a year.

His biggest test may come in 2010. Although Kraig Kahler, Columbia’s former Water & Light director, resigned his city job before allegedly killing his wife and teenage daughters, Watkins made that hire and critics are calling into question his judgment on personnel matters. In a few more months, the honeymoon will be over for Columbia’s new police chief and if that hire disappoints, Watkins will bear the brunt of the blame. Personnel issues are also at the heart of his contentious relationship with members of the Columbia City Council.

Some very vocal city-watchers are starting to decry Watkins’ leadership. He’s proven he can get city-funded projects built, but the length of his stay in Columbia’s brand new city hall may depend on his ability to build bridges.

Downtown Retailers

All Columbia’s downtown retailers wanted for Christmas was for you to shop in their stores. No one has felt the squeeze of the recession more than specialty boutiques and fine dining establishments that lost a significant percentage of customers to big boxes and fast food. When the economy gets better, those lost customers will come back, but how many of the downtown stores and restaurants will still be there when they return?

Marketers want us to call downtown The District, a hip title for one of the hippest parts of town. There’s certainly a lot going for the area. The removal of the ugly but utilitarian concrete awnings revealed gorgeous historical architecture. The shops are interesting, the owners take a personal interest in their customers, and shoppers can find merchandise in downtown stores they simply can’t find anywhere else.

Parking, however, remains a challenge. Try as they might, the merchant leadership hasn’t been able to convince shoppers (and sometimes even their own employees) to use the parking garages. Parallel parking presents more of a challenge than some drivers are willing to accept and delivery trucks add to midday congestion by forgoing alleys for the convenience of unloading in the middle of the street. For some shoppers, those are all the reasons they need to take their business to the mall, shopping centers or the Internet.

Now there’s a growing perception that The District is not a safe place to be, especially after dark, an idea that can only hurt downtown bars and restaurants.

There will always be eager entrepreneurs who are sure they can make a splash in downtown Columbia. Some will even succeed. But a tough 2009 will have some downtown merchants packing up and moving their businesses elsewhere in 2010. Others will simply pack it in.

Who Else Will We Be Watching In 2010?

Dianne Lynch

Can the new president of Stephens College maintain the growth her predecessor started while infusing the institution with fresh ideas?

Cindy Stein

The women’s basketball program at Mizzou has been struggling in recent years and that was before two of its players made national sports headlines for smacking around a male cheerleader. Can the coach stay in the game?

Kattesh Katti and Raghuraman Kannan

These two University of Missouri researchers have successfully treated cancer in animals by injecting tumors with gold nanoparticles. Next comes human trials and after that … maybe the greatest advance in cancer treatment in a generation.

Roger Wilson

The former governor has been keeping the chair warm for Missouri Employers Mutual Insurance’s next CEO, but the buzz is that the job may be his to keep.

Darwin Hindman

How will Columbia’s longtime mayor fill his days after he bids adieu to elected office? Will he continue to exert his influence on city policy or will he ride his bike into the sunset and leave public life behind?

John Ott

The developer has bought up prominent chunks of downtown Columbia and will be TIFing the Tiger Hotel to a posh new life. Will the end result be worth the confusion, misinformation and grumbling over his Tax Increment Financing deal?

Larry Potterfield

The founder and CEO of MidwayUSA is evangelizing about corporate excellence and plans to start teaching others the strategies that just landed his company the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.