Tuesday was bitter-sweet. It was very hard to celebrate wining my race when all around me my firends were losing theirs. I am very proud of the campaign we ran. We worked hard, stuck to the issues and successfully got our mesage out to the voters of the 31st District.

I am keenly aware however that nearly half the voters voted for someone else. I hope that my hard work and dedication to bringing jobs back to the northland will win back their support by the next election.

I'll know my committee assignments shortly and will let you all know.

Thank you for your faith in me. I won't let you down.

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For demographic information on the 64116 zip code, click on the "demographics" tab at the top of www.jayswearingen.com.

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This weekend our lives became less centered around our new house. Ava has taken center stage. Kylie is in LOVE. Tatum wants to be more involved in Ava's life, but is still a little apprehensive when Ava jumps on her or licks her face. Reid wants very little to do with that unfriendly beast stealing all his thunder.

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2006 The Kansas City Star

Nov. 25--Jennifer Hack

Jay Swearingen has worked in city planning, as a real estate broker, freelance writer and campaign finance director. At first glance, Jay Swearingen's new job might not appear as challenging as his previous jobs. He led the effort to bring businesses back to a 36-block area of downtown Oklahoma City after the 1995 bombing of the Murrah federal building.

He put together the first long-range strategic plan for Irving, Texas, and helped redevelop that city's downtown business district.

And he has worked as a real estate broker, freelance writer and finance director for several political campaigns, including one for Kansas congressman Dennis Moore. Now, Swearingen, 40, has taken on a new role as the executive director of the North Kansas City Business Council, a membership-based organization that promotes business in the small, but industry-rich, community across the Missouri River from downtown. The city has nearly 1,200 businesses. It has plenty of revenue coming in thanks to the Harrah's riverboat casino. It has its own long-range strategic plan. Its downtown business district is viable.

And other than a fire that destroyed several Armour Road businesses nearly a decade ago, North Kansas City has not weathered a major catastrophe like the Oklahoma City bombing. But for Swearingen, who has been working in politics for the last four years, the new position is a welcome return to his economic development roots. "My goal is to make sure it is as easy and profitable as possible to do business in North Kansas City," Swearingen said. Local restaurant owner Jim Chappell, who is the business council's board president, said Swearingen was hired because of his reputation for moving organizations to the next level. "We are lucky to have someone of Jay's quality," Chappell said. "The North Kansas City Business Council is a strong organization with a great history. We're looking to Jay to make it even stronger."

Business council board member Richard Lanning agreed. "This city is centrally located and has great access to the highways," Lanning said. "It has no earnings tax, a new community center and library, and a fiber-optic system that businesses can use for Internet service.

"But I don't know if the city has been leveraged to its full capacity. Jay is the guy who can get that done for us." Swearingen said the city is loaded with potential. But more can be accomplished, he said, such as bringing more retailers to the city's two main commercial thoroughfares, Armour and Burlington roads; getting vacant buildings occupied and providing a stronger voice for the many industries that operate in the city. Swearingen also suggested that the fiber-optic network could attract new businesses that would pay higher rents.

"That (fiber-optic network) opens up new opportunities for buildings that are there now," he said. "Maybe other kinds of businesses could occupy the buildings that are there and get higher rents than they are now. Occupancy is already up, but maybe instead of getting $2 per square foot, they could get $7 or $12 a square foot." Swearingen was born in Fort Smith, Ark., and lived most of his childhood in San Antonio, Texas. He has a master's degree in public administration from the University of North Texas and a bachelor's in journalism from Southwest Texas State University. His professional career began in 1991 with Bay City, Texas, where he started an economic revitalization program for its downtown business district. He worked for the city of Irving, Texas, from 1993 to 1997 as preservation/redevelopment director for the city's community development department. Two years after the bombing in Oklahoma City, Swearingen moved there to head the Automobile Alley Main Street Program. By the time he left that position in 1999, he said that business district's vacancy rate had fallen from 60 percent when he got there to 25 percent. Reinvestment in that area topped $25 million, he said, and new development created more than 200 new jobs. Swearingen stayed in Oklahoma City until 2002, during which he held positions as a commercial real estate broker and executive director of the city's Plaza District Association. In that position, he oversaw the historic preservation of a three-block neighborhood commercial district located between two inner-city neighborhoods.

In 2002, Swearingen got into politics by serving as finance director of several campaigns, including Oklahoma 2002 gubernatorial candidate Vince Orza and Chris Bell, who recently ran for governor of Texas.

Swearingen's office has several photos of him standing with such prominent politicians as Jimmy Carter and Al Gore. In 2003, Swearingen moved to the Kansas City area to work as a fundraiser for various nonprofit organizations. Last year, Swearingen, his wife and young daughter moved to one of the Northgate Village town homes on Howell Street across from Macken Park. "We were looking for something with a historic and neighborhood-like feel," Swearingen said. "And we found it in North Kansas City." Business council board members are glad too that he found North Kansas City. "We think he will do great things for this organization," Lanning said. "He will take it in a new direction."

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written in 1997 by Emily Graham

Just days into his new job as executive director of the Automobile Alley Main Street Program, Jay Swearingen can already see it will be different from any job he's had before.

On the plus side, there's a large number of board members and merchants that volunteer hours, making his job easier and keeping enthusiasm for the revitalization program high.

"Generally, the Main Street boards have a board of directors that meet once a month and that's about it and the program manager does everything," Swearingen said. "Our board spends a lot of time, a lot of volunteer hours." The downside, if there is one, is that Swearingen has much, much to do.

The Auto Alley Main Street program began in 1996 under the leadership of Devery Youngblood, who left early this year to work as the manager of the MAPS investment program for the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce. "There's a huge amount of support for not just downtown revitalization, but a huge amount of support for Automobile Alley," Swearingen said. "This strip of Broadway has been talked about for a long time.

They call it the front door of downtown. You have to go through Broadway to get just about anywhere downtown."

Swearingen, 30, came to Automobile Alley from the historic preservation and downtown revitalization program in Irving, Texas. He previously worked as executive director of the Texas Main Street program in Bay City.

The Automobile Alley district includes the area surrounding Broadway Avenue, from NW Fourth to NW 10th streets and from Centennial Expressway to the alley between Broadway and Robinson. The stretch of Broadway Avenue serves as a main artery in and out of downtown. From the 1930s to the 1950s it was a hub of car dealerships and related businesses. While some auto-related businesses remain, most buildings hold offices or retail businesses. Others stand vacant.

In the approaching weeks, professional window displays will be placed in some of the vacant buildings. Board member Chad Huntington, head of the design committee, organized the project with Dillard's Department Stores. Also in the approaching months, an extensive street scape program will replace cracked sidewalks, nondescript intersections and add greenery to the route. "We want to make sure that everybody knows that it's safe to walk down here and it's attractive to walk down here," Swearingen said. "There's a perception that it's unsafe in downtown. I don't think it's fact-based, but there is that perception that we have to battle."

Current projects on the alley include the redevelopment of the St. Nicholas Hotel building, which burned in a fire last year, and the construction of a BancFirst drive-thru branch at the Magnolia Petroleum Building, where the Automobile Alley group has its office.

Swearingen said he hopes the efforts of Automobile Alley will work together with the development of MAPS projects and private business in Bricktown to revive the city's center. While Bricktown has established an entertainment district downtown, there remains a need for residential developments, according to Swearingen, who has moved into one of downtown's few residential developments near his office. Many buildings in and near downtown could be remodeled for residential use, Swearingen said, noting that Automobile Alley could provide support businesses, such as repair shops, florists and grocery stores. "We hope that if that is a potential market, that Automobile Alley is on the cutting edge of making sure that our buildings are attractive as possible for people that are going to come in and develop for that," he said.

"The first job of any downtown revitalization program is getting the people down there. If you build it they will come." Finding new uses for the old buildings is also key to historic preservation, he said. "America's not that old, so we don't have a lot of old things, and the things we do have we tear down at an alarming rate," Swearingen said. "It's important to protect our older structures, city centers. Right now we're building stuff that's only supposed to last 20 years, and that's not going to leave much of an America. "In 200 more years, we're not going to have much to show for it."

Swearingen said his goals include working to get the district placed on the National Register of Historic Places and to secure long-term funding for the program. The program began in 1996 with a three-year commitment of $50,000 from the city of Oklahoma City and $70,000 in private sector funding. In looking for a way to fund the program after 1998, Swearingen said the board will consider creating a Tax Increment Financing District and a Business Improvement District.

Copyright 1997
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.

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