A great deal is being made about the redeveloped Power & Light District in downtown Kansas City and how the Sprint Center is going to pump new life and excitement into the area.

The Sprint Center is a modern-looking basketball arena but nothing truly spectacular or an architectural gem. A lot of restaurants and bars have opened in the adjacent areas, with more to come, and the combination of a new arena and plenty of places to buy a drink and some food are supposed to be the magic touch to put spark back into the dreary downtown.

Compare this with what has been accomplished in Wyandotte County’s Legends area, which is attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors and shoppers. The area boasts two giant retailers – Cabela’s and Nebraska Furniture Mart – and other retailers, restaurants, a large luxury hotel, a NASCAR racetrack, a professional baseball team and now another $750 million water park resort with shops and restaurants. It’s likely a large casino also will be added to the area.

It is interesting how there has been such a reversal of positions between downtown Kansas City, Mo., and Wyandotte County. For years, downtown Kansas City was where the action was, the major hotels, prestigious shops and Municipal Auditorium. Wyandotte County was the blue collar area of greater Kansas City without much to brag about.

It’s been a real switcheroo with the Legends area now the focus of attention, and dreary downtown Kansas City trying to play catch-up.

Perhaps the big lesson to learn is that complacency is a dangerous disease. Wyandotte County leaders decided to take bold steps not long ago to become an attractive retail and sports-related destination while downtown Kansas City did little, if anything, to spruce up the area and make it more attractive.

A new sports arena and numerous bars and restaurants are sure to inject some life and activity into downtown Kansas City, but this is far short of what Wyandotte County leaders and developers have created.

Lawrence leaders should have taken a lesson from nearby Wyandotte County, giving serious study to ways Lawrence and Douglas County could generate more retail and destination traffic. This, in turn, would generate increased jobs and tax dollars to help pay for many badly needed improvements in the city’s infrastructure.

The failure of city or county leaders to take advantage of the abandoned 467-acre Farmland Industries site just east of Lawrence on Kansas Highway 10 offers a perfect example of complacency, laziness or a serious lack of vision. At a time when the K-10 corridor is blossoming with high-tech developments, and when the growth of Lawrence and Douglas County has slowed considerably, it would seem city and Lawrence Chamber of Commerce executives would be examining every possibility for how this prime location – with assets such as rail and highway access, ample water, an excellent state university nearby and proximity to Kansas City – could be utilized to help create new jobs and keep Lawrence in the forefront of creating bio-related jobs and developing an exceptional recreation area.

Again, complacency is a dangerous, contagious and immobilizing disease.