Pittsburg, Kansas

7 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 3, ISSUE 7 The city also recently acquired almost 200 acres of land for a new industrial park that will have access to an active rail service. “We are going to focus that particular industrial park on those businesses that benefit from rail access because obviously their prices go way down when they can ship by rail,” Byers notes. “We will be able to have multiple facilities that are 500,000 square feet. We are really excited about the potential.” The City of Pittsburg has had to do very little in the way of marketing the new industrial park; word of mouth is spreading quickly. “We’ve had a lot of interest from site selectors,” Byers says. “We are already on their radar after FedEx decided to site here and, now, the addition of this particular industrial park is generating all kinds of interest.” Interest in the city as a whole has perked up recently, as well. “We get phone calls, and emails and just random people come into town wanting to know what’s going on,” Holmes says. “They want to know why Pittsburg keeps popping up on their radar and what’s the deal? It’s very organically just happening. It’s cool. I’ve never been in a community like this.” He attributes the popularity to the community spirit that weaves itself through every aspect of Pittsburg. “We are so collaborative inside our own community, there are no silos,” he says. “The city, the university, the economic development, our business leaders – there’s really a collaboration within our community. Everyone is on the same page of how we are going to grow and progress.” The collaboration is driven by a grassroots, citizen-driven strategic planning effort called Imagine Pittsburg. The group was founded in 2010 to help bring the community together to address the city’s opportunities and challenges. “It has six pillars and we are focusing the community efforts around those six pillars,” Byers says. “They are economic development, marketing, infrastructure, education, housing, and public wellness. It allows residents, organizations, and businesses in the community