Let’s Work Together to Create Modern Regulations in Kansas City
For Kansas City to thrive in the future, we must be smart about regulating new technology platforms today.
Among the many things I’ve learned serving on the Policy Committee of the KC Tech Council is that there are thousands of technology job openings in the region, yet not enough highly-skilled technology professionals to fill those jobs. That’s why the Tech Council’s member companies look outside of Kansas City when recruiting. And when technology professionals visit Kansas City for interviews and to explore the city, they expect a vibrant sharing economy. If they don’t find one, they move on to other cities.
That’s one of the many reasons Kansas City should embrace the sharing economy and make it easy to participate.
For example, a home owner shouldn’t be required to pay $600, provide notice to the neighborhood, and attend two public hearings just to list their home on a home-sharing platform. Yet that is in the draft regulations provided by the city. Regulations like that reduce participation in the sharing economy and make Kansas City less competitive with other cities. It also harms our local economy.
After reviewing the draft regulations the KC Tech Council sent a letter to the City Council of Kansas City on behalf of its member companies. The letter recommends the city explore different, more modern, regulations for the home-sharing industry in Kansas City. And I am proud to support the KC Tech Council’s position in that letter.
I applaud our city’s leadership for working hard to find the best overall regulatory solutions. Seriously, they have spent many hours researching these issues. But I’d like to encourage them to keep going, then go a little further, and then go a little further still.
Let’s overhaul our regulatory frameworks to be as forward-thinking as possible. Let’s make Kansas City a leader when it comes to regulating new technology platforms.
If you agree, contact your City Council representative. This is an ongoing process and I know they want to hear from you. They care about your opinion.
(Image: Adobe/alexghidan89)