Brian Platt

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Brian Platt is the City Manager of Kansas City, Missouri, United States. He began his role as City Manager of Kansas City in December 2020, previously working as the City Manager for Jersey City, New Jersey.

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Early career and education

Raised in Mountain Lakes, New Jersey, Platt attended Mountain Lakes High School before attending Emory University, where he competed in track and field. [1] He previously served as City Manager for Jersey City, New Jersey. He had served as Jersey City's first Chief Innovation Officer and established the City's Office of Innovation in 2015. [2] His previous work experience includes management consulting with McKinsey & Company and serving as a kindergarten teacher with Teach For America. Platt earned his Master of Public Administration Degree at Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in philosophy at Emory University. [3] [4]

City manager of Kansas City

As City Manager for the City of Kansas City, Missouri, Platt oversees a staff of 4,500 employees delivering city services to Kansas City's 508,000 residents. [5] [6] Platt began his role as City Manager of Kansas City in December 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic while delivering basic services with a shrinking budget. [7] [2] He created a 24-hour snow removal strategy that added plows for residential streets and increased salting. [8]

Platt developed a new street maintenance plan that doubled funding for street resurfacing, uses improved technology, and holds contractors accountable when they dig into streets. [9] The city is now resurfacing more than 3.5 times the historic average and broke 500 lane miles of resurfacing in fiscal year 2024.

He also launched the Vision Zero Campaign, with the goal of eliminating traffic fatalities and serious injuries by 2030 by improving high-risk intersections and adding 30 miles (48 km) of protected bike lanes in the first 18 months alone. [10] [11]

Platt is working towards a more inclusive workplace by creating the Chief Equity Officer position, installing all-gender bathrooms, negotiating a new union contract with the Kansas City Fire Department that works to end past discriminatory practices, and investing in staff training, recruitment, and development. [12] [13] [14]

Platt's plan to build the largest city-owned solar farm in the country has advanced and is projected to begin construction in 2024. [15] [16] [17] His other goals include developing new sustainability initiatives to reduce waste, energy usage, and dependence on fossil fuels, [18] creating programs to produce more affordable housing and to address homelessness, [8] and finding new ways to leverage technology to improve city services. [2]

Platt was a finalist for City Manager position in Austin, Texas, but withdrew from consideration to remain in Kansas City. [19] The Kansas City Council subsequently renewed and extended his contract with Kansas City until August 1, 2027. [20]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kansas City, Missouri</span> City in Missouri, United States

Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by population and area. Most of the city lies within Jackson County, and other portions spill into Clay, Platte, and Cass counties. It is the central city of the Kansas City metropolitan area, which straddles the Missouri–Kansas state line and has a population of 2,392,035. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090, making it the 37th most-populous city in the United States, as well as the sixth-most populous city in the Midwest. Kansas City was founded in the 1830s as a port on the Missouri River at its confluence with the Kansas River from the west. On June 1, 1850, the town of Kansas was incorporated; shortly after came the establishment of the Kansas Territory. Confusion between the two ensued, and the name Kansas City was assigned to distinguish them soon after.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kansas City International Airport</span> Major airport serving Kansas City, Missouri, United States

Kansas City International Airport is a public airport in Kansas City, Missouri, located 15 miles (24 km) northwest of Downtown Kansas City in Platte County, Missouri. The airport was opened in 1972 and a new complex in the airport was completed in 2023, replacing the old one. MCI replaced Kansas City Municipal Airport (MKC) in 1972, with all scheduled passenger airline flights moved from MKC to MCI. It serves the Kansas City Metropolitan Area and is the primary passenger airport for much of western Missouri and eastern Kansas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Media in Kansas City, Missouri</span> Overview of mass media in Kansas City

The following media outlets serve Kansas City, Missouri and the surrounding Kansas City metropolitan area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KCTV</span> TV station in Kansas City, Missouri

KCTV is a television station in Kansas City, Missouri, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Gray Media alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate KSMO-TV. The two stations share studios on Shawnee Mission Parkway in Fairway, Kansas; KCTV's transmitter facility, the KCTV Broadcast Tower, is located in the Union Hill section of Kansas City, Missouri.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KMBC-TV</span> TV station in Kansas City, Missouri

KMBC-TV is a television station in Kansas City, Missouri, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by Hearst Television alongside CW affiliate KCWE. The two stations share studios on Winchester Avenue in the Ridge-Winchester section of Kansas City, Missouri; KMBC-TV's transmitter is located in the city's Blue Valley section.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KSHB-TV</span> TV station in Kansas City, Missouri

KSHB-TV is a television station in Kansas City, Missouri, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside Lawrence, Kansas–licensed independent station KMCI-TV. The two stations share studios on Oak Street in southern Kansas City, Missouri; KSHB-TV's transmitter is located at the Blue River Greenway in the city's Hillcrest section.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KMCI-TV</span> TV station in Lawrence, Kansas

KMCI-TV is an independent television station licensed to Lawrence, Kansas, United States, serving the Kansas City metropolitan area. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside NBC affiliate KSHB-TV. The two stations share studios on Oak Street in Kansas City, Missouri; KMCI-TV's transmitter is located at the Blue River Greenway in the city's Hillcrest section. Despite Lawrence being KMCI-TV's city of license, the station maintains no physical presence there.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WDAF-TV</span> TV station in Kansas City, Missouri

WDAF-TV is a television station in Kansas City, Missouri, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. The station is owned by Nexstar Media Group, and maintains studios and transmitter facilities on Summit Street in the Signal Hill section of Kansas City, Missouri.

Walton Marshall Bodine was an American broadcaster and author most notable for his career in Kansas City, Missouri. Better known as Walt, he was a fixture in Kansas City broadcasting for seven decades. Still broadcasting into his nineties, Bodine hosted the talk radio show The Walt Bodine Show on KCUR, the Kansas City area's NPR member station from 1983 to 2012. His final broadcast was April 27, 2012.

Chris Hernandez is an American former reporter for KSHB-TV in the Kansas City, Missouri metropolitan area and a current municipal official in Kansas City's Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity department.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kansas City Police Department</span> Law enforcement agency in Kansas City, Missouri

The Kansas City Police Department (KCPD) is the principal law enforcement agency serving Kansas City, Missouri. Jackson County 16th Circuit Court Circuit Court Judge Jen Phillips swore in Stacey Graves as the 46th chief of police of the KCPD on December 15, 2022. Graves, who served as head of the KCPD's Deputy Chief of the Patrol Bureau, became the city's 46th police chief on December 15, 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KC Streetcar</span> Streetcar in Missouri, US

The KC Streetcar is a one-route streetcar system in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. Construction began in May 2014, and service began on May 6, 2016. The KC Streetcar is part of the Kansas City metropolitan area's integrated public transit brand RideKC, and is operated by the Kansas City Streetcar Authority. It is free to ride, as it is funded by a transportation development district. As of June 2024, the KC Streetcar has had over 14 million rides since its opening in 2016. The initial line is 2.2 miles (3.5 km) long, and construction began in 2022 for extensions north to the riverfront and south to the University of Missouri-Kansas City. In the RideKC system, the KC Streetcar is internally designated as route 601.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2019 Kansas City mayoral election</span>

The 2019 Kansas City mayoral election took place on June 18, 2019, to elect the next mayor of Kansas City, Missouri. The election was held concurrently with various other local elections, and was officially nonpartisan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quinton Lucas</span> Mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, United States

Quinton Donald Lucas is an American politician elected in 2019 as the 55th mayor of Kansas City, Missouri. He is a member of the Democratic Party, and is the city's third African-American mayor. Before his election, Lucas was a private practice lawyer, community leader, city council member, and a lecturer on law at Washington University School of Law. He was a volunteer instructor at prisons in New York and Kansas, where he taught courses on constitutional law.

On May 27, 2022, Leonna Hale, a 26-year old black woman, was shot five times by the Kansas City Police Department at a Family Dollar parking lot, in response to a suspected carjacking. She told officers she was pregnant before being shot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Alford (politician)</span> American politician (born 1963)

Mark Allen Alford Sr. is an American politician and former television news anchor serving as the U.S. representative for Missouri's 4th congressional district since 2023. He is a member of the Republican Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kansas City Tenants Union</span> Housing rights organization in Missouri

The Kansas City Tenants Union, also known as KC Tenants, is a non-profit tenant's union in Kansas City, Missouri. It was founded in 2019 by Tiana Caldwell and Tara Raghuveer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Chick Scarritt House</span> Historic house in Kansas City, Missouri, US

The William Chick Scarritt House at 3240 Norledge Avenue, is a historic house in Scarritt Renaissance, Kansas City, Missouri.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2024 Kansas City metropolitan area rent strike</span>

Since October 1 2024, members of the Kansas City Tenants Union have been on rent strike. The union's members in Kansas City, Missouri and Independence, Missouri voted to take the action after failed negotiations with their landlords and Fannie Mae.

References

  1. "Emory Athletics" . Retrieved 1 May 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 Felts, Tommy (2020-12-17). "How Brian Platt's innovation past unmasks KC's potential for newly arrived city manager". Startland News. Retrieved 2023-09-27.
  3. Staff, KMBC 9 News (2020-10-30). "KC City Council approves Brian Platt as new city manager". KMBC. Retrieved 2023-09-27.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  4. Heinis, John (2020-10-29). "Jersey City Business Administrator Platt leaving for similar post in Kansas City, Missouri". Hudson County View. Retrieved 2023-09-27.
  5. "City of KCMO Employee Demographics". data.kcmo.org. Retrieved 2023-09-27.
  6. "Kansas City, MO | Data USA". datausa.io. Retrieved 2023-09-27.
  7. "4 The People: Kansas City manager reflects while looking ahead". FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports. 2023-06-25. Retrieved 2023-09-27.
  8. 1 2 "From snow removal to housing, Kansas City Manager Brian Platt wants to focus on the basics". KCUR - Kansas City news and NPR. Retrieved 2023-09-27.
  9. "Kansas City, Missouri street resurfacing: update and resources". KCtoday. 2022-10-05. Retrieved 2023-09-27.
  10. "Can Kansas City park its cars and become more walkable?". KCUR - Kansas City news and NPR. 2022-09-26. Retrieved 2023-09-27.
  11. "Vision Zero KC | CITY OF KANSAS CITY | OFFICIAL WEBSITE". www.kcmo.gov. Retrieved 2023-10-09.
  12. "Kansas City council committee to consider expanded focus on racial equity, reconciliation". KSHB 41 Kansas City News. 2021-10-15. Retrieved 2023-09-27.
  13. Augustine, Martin (2021-07-13). "Any new or remodeled KCMO city restroom must now be gender neutral". KMBC. Retrieved 2023-09-27.
  14. "KCFD, city officials take steps to address racism, discrimination allegations". FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports. 2021-06-11. Retrieved 2023-09-27.
  15. "Kansas City advances plan for 'largest solar array in the nation'". FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports. 2023-08-17. Retrieved 2023-09-27.
  16. Rosenberg, Martin (September 13, 2023). "Evergy to Lead Group Building Massive KCI Solar Farm". Flatland. Retrieved 2023-09-27.
  17. "Solar Array Project at KCI | CITY OF KANSAS CITY | OFFICIAL WEBSITE". www.kcmo.gov. Retrieved 2023-10-09.
  18. "City Manager Brian Platt says Kansas City has 'got to act now' with sustainability initiatives". KCUR - Kansas City news and NPR. Retrieved 2023-09-27.
  19. "Kansas City's city manager, Brian Platt, withdraws from Austin top job consideration". Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved 2024-03-11.
  20. "KCMO, City Manager Brian Platt reach contract extension through 2027". KSHB 41 Kansas City News. 2024-03-28. Retrieved 2024-03-31.