Utilitarianism In Kansas City

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Dictionary.com defines utilitarianism as “the ethical doctrine that virtue is based on utility, and that conduct should be directed toward promoting the greatest happiness of the greatest number of persons” (“The Definition of Utilitarianism”). However, how are all community members within the Kansas City metropolitan area supposed to benefit from utilitarianism when minorities do not make-up a majority of the population? A modern day example of local utilitarianism is the shopping strip that is currently being built in Liberty, MO. Contractors are building unnecessary clothing and pet stores, when there are similar businesses within the general vicinity. These types of buildings are commonly not built in Kansas City very often because contractors …show more content…
because both passages encourage equity as a superior growth model. Benner and Pastor point out clearly state that they are pro-equity, but point out that they think that “intervention will yield improved and sustained growth” (Benner and Pastor, 2015). Even though Benner and Pastor want community members, white and black people, to have equivalent growth patterns, they realize that it is difficult. Benner and Pastor know that “residential segregation, fragmented metropolitan governance, and sharp difference in city-suburb poverty levels” are factors that affect a city’s growth. Susan Treufaft, the director of equitable growth initiatives, helped develop a model that ensures that minorities “have the opportunity to benefit from and co-create that [job and competitiveness] growth (Treufaft et al., 2011). Treufaft focuses on 3 important strategies that could increase growth for a city’s community members, and they are the following: “rebuilding our public infrastructure, growing new businesses and new jobs, and preparing workers for the jobs of tomorrow” (Treufaft et al., 2011). Treufaft recognizes that it is essential for a city to improve public transportation, so that there will be more job opportunities available for minorities, and once people have the job that workers have the chance to advance their …show more content…
People generally get excited about the idea of construction in their city, but unfortunately, not everyone has that luxury. Location plays a role in whether projects will build something in an area. Therefore, “large projects don’t happen in a market unless investors see strong growth potential there” (“The KC Chamber’s Economic Forecast,” 2015). In Kansas City, MO. developers do not invest their money in poorer areas of the city because they think that the profit will be worth it. Table 1 lists the large projects that Kansas City is working on along with the cost. Although the projects sound appealing, not everyone will get to benefit from them. What is the point of the streetcar if it only travels through the affluent downtown area and not to areas like the plaza or inner-city