Sly James, mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, from 2011 to 2019, spoke about leadership, political activism and public investments at the Dole Institute of Politics at University of Kansas in Lawrence. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)
LAWRENCE — Former Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor Syl James said he was convinced “CAVE people” were the greatest obstacle to solid leadership in municipal government.
James, a Democrat who led the city from 2011 to 2019, said Wednesday at the Dole Institute of Politics that successful leaders needed vision, discipline, data and community backing. The most challenging piece of the puzzle was that some people evaluated city projects based on how they might benefit personally as opposed to the city as a whole, he said.
“They’re called CAVE people — C-A-V-E. It stands for Citizens Against Virtually Everything,” James said. “Dealing with skeptics and CAVE people was always difficult.”
He said coalition building was integral to advancing initiatives in Kansas City, including a commitment to demolish the old Kansas City International Airport’s three-terminal complex and build a single-terminal airport. The same could be said for developing a streetcar line or launching North America’s first technology-enabled “Smart City.”
“You want kids to come back home? You got to be willing to give them some stuff to come home to,” James said. “More technology. A little bit more open. It’s a little bit more edge.”
James, 73, works in consulting with Joni Wickham, a former chief of staff in the mayor’s office. She moderated the conversation with James at the nonpartisan Dole Institute on the University of Kansas campus.
Two-Scotch rule
James said he appreciated the value of social media as a vehicle for sharing information when he joined City Hall. He learned to abide by a self-imposed rule for posting to X, which was known as Twitter.
“I was banned from tweeting after two Scotches,” James said. “Media has a place, and the problem is that that place is being abused. Frankly, it just becomes mob thinking. It’s totally out of control.”
James said people who withdrew from the chaos of American politics ran the risk of empowering people “who think it’s not messy enough.”
He urged anyone drawn to electoral politics to first seek public office at a local level. That’s the place to learn how problems created at the federal and state levels flow to local government, he said.
“When you get to the upper levels, it all becomes whether you’re Democrat or Republican,” he said. “That’s not what public service is. We have a lot of politicians acting in the service of themselves and their party.”
In terms of public safety, James said he wouldn’t have welcomed a U.S. president’s deployment of National Guard troops to Kansas City without clearly articulated conditions put down in writing.
National Guard units that were assigned crimefighting roles would need to be supervised by local law enforcement officers who understood state laws and municipal ordinances, he said. Anyone who federal troops placed in a city jail wouldn’t have been eligible for transfer without legal due process, he said.
President Donald Trump dispatched National Guard personnel to Washington, D.C., in a purported effort to cut crime, but some of those soldiers were observed picking up trash and doing landscaping work.
“This is a publicity stunt. It’s a high-profile distraction. It’s also a way to infiltrate ICE into your community in a way that you can’t really avoid so they can do whatever nasty crap they want to,” James said.
Playing ball
James said he understood the argument for possibly drawing on tax dollars for new stadiums for the Kansas City Royals or Kansas City Chiefs. He said Arrowhead Stadium could be renovated, but problems with Kauffman Stadium argued for replacement.
He said there wouldn’t be much debate about taxpayer-supported stadiums if Kansas City was still trying to attract NFL and MLB franchises.
“I grew up in this city when there was no baseball or football,” James said. “It was dead.”
There were highs and lows during eight years as mayor, he said. He regretted a 2019 public vote rejecting a sales tax to finance universal pre-K instruction. And he said there was nothing worse than standing in a crowd of people as a mother disintegrated when told her child had been shot.
The opposite end of the spectrum came in 2017 when voters approved of a $1.5 billion single-terminal Kansas City International Airport.
“Regardless of whether this is good or bad, the work isn’t done. It all works together, so, ‘This is great, but let’s get back to work. This really sucks, like, let’s get back to work.’ If you don’t do that, then you’ll just be bouncing around like a ping-pong ball. And, after four years of that, you’ll be ready for a loony bin,” James said.
‘No negativity’
James said his first campaign for mayor of Kansas City came down to a runoff with fellow attorney Mike Burke. He said they had respect for each other and had comparable ideas for moving the city forward.
“There would be no negativity,” James said. “We didn’t run to beat each other. We ran in order to serve our city. And, when you don’t run to try to beat somebody, you don’t have to be a jerk.”
He said part of his mission at City Hall was to convince the public that positive things were possible. He needed that sentiment to restore public interest in investing in economic, educational and social change.
“At that time, Kansas City was a city that never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity,” he said.
He drew from childhood experiences and a career as an attorney and mediator to find consensus in the community.
“I grew up in an all-Black neighborhood. I went to an all-white high school. Every day I was in two different worlds,” he said. “If you can look at the same situation and see both sides of arguments, then you might be able to see a middle point in there where those arguments come together, and you can resolve the issue.”