From Possibility to Reality: Chamber highlights Leadership Cape projects that have come to fruition

Friday was supposed to be "presentation day," the day when members of the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce's Leadership Cape Class of 2020 presented their ideas for various civic-improvement projects at the chamber's monthly membership breakfast.

But because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which kept group members from formulating their projects, presentations have been postponed until next year.

So instead of new project presentations, the chamber took a few minutes Friday to highlight some of the dozens of Leadership Cape projects that have been adopted in Cape Girardeau over the past two decades.

Here, in chronological order, is a recap of some of those projects:

• 1999 — A downtown revitalization proposal helped plant the seeds for the creation of Old Town Cape.
• 2000 — A proposal to create a "family aqua plex" led to the opening of Cape Splash Aquatic Center 10 years later.
• 2001 — It was suggested by one Leadership Cape team Cape develop a skateboard park. Today we have two such facilities.
• 2004 — An outdoor family cinema project eventually led to "pop-up movie" programs in Capaha Park and at the Shawnee Park Center. It was also in 2004 that a Leadership Cape team proposed hosting a minor league baseball team in Cape Girardeau. Fifteen years later, in 2019, the Cape Catfish baseball team of the Prospect League had its inaugural season here.
• 2005 & 2012 — In both years, Leadership Cape teams recommended creation of a dog park for canines and their humans. In 2013, the city created the Dogtown Dog Park in Kiwanis Park.
• 2006 — The concept of a "children's museum" was presented to chamber members, and four years later, Cape Girardeau's Discovery Playhouse opened in the former Walther's Furniture building, 502 Broadway.
• 2009 — Two of the projects proposed in 2009 — Melania's Magical Playland and a downtown farmers market — eventually became reality. The downtown farmers market on Spanish Street has become a popular Saturday morning destination and Melania's Magical Playland opened in Cape County Park North in 2013, followed three years later by Levi's Adventure Trail in Cape County Park South.
• 2011 — One of the Leadership Cape groups suggested Cape create something called "A Taste of the Heartland/Rivers Edge Theatre & Dance" event. That suggestion eventually led to creation of the Summer Arts Festival on the Southeast Missouri State University River Campus. Also in 2011, a proposal to add free public Wi-Fi in downtown Cape Girardeau was one of the factors that led to creation of the Marquette Tech District and the addition of Wi-Fi access along sections of Broadway and Main and Spanish streets.
• 2014 — A Leadership Cape group suggested establishment of Food Truck Fridays. That suggestion came to fruition in 2017.
• 2015 — A project titled "SEMOepicenter" helped spawn creation of several tech-related projects in the Marquette Tech District.
• 2017 — One of the Leadership Cape projects proposed in 2017 was a music festival titled "Beats on the Bank/Rollin' on the River" and inspired creation of the Shipyard Music Festival the following year.

All told, about 50 projects presented by Leadership Cape participants over the past 21 years have led to several community enhancements.

Although the pandemic short-circuited this year's program, several businesses and organizations should be recognized for sponsoring Leadership Cape's Class of 2020: Banterra Bank, the Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center, the Cape Girardeau Public Library, Commerce Bank, Dogwood Social House, Elite Travel, GlennViewStrategies, Holloway Carpet One, Lawless Harley-Davidson, Notre Dame Regional High School, Service Master, SERVPRO of Cape Girardeau and Scott Counties, SoutheastHEALTH, The Bank of Missouri and Verdesian Life Sciences.

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The number of weekly first-time unemployment claims in Missouri appears to be inching up again as the state's economy recovers from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

For the week ending Sept. 5, the most recent week for which data is available, the Missouri Department of Labor & Industrial Relations reported 10,857 claims, up nearly 400 from the 10,458 filed the week before and about 1,600 more than the number of claims filed the week prior to that.

Still, the pace of weekly jobless claims remains only about a tenth of what it was during the initial weeks of the pandemic when the number of filings topped 100,000 in late March and early April.

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A couple of cannabis-related notes ...

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) announced Friday it is making the first of what is expected to be many fund transfers from the state's medical marijuana program to the Missouri Veterans Commission (MVC). The total transfer amount will be $2,135,510 generated through fees related to facility and patient licensing.

When Missourians voted in November 2018 to approve a constitutional amendment legalizing medical marijuana, the amendment included a provision requiring program fees and taxes collected by DHSS, less operational expenses, should be transferred to MVC for health and care services for military veterans.

Meanwhile, in Illinois, the state's Department of Financial and Professional Regulation recently reported record sales of recreational cannabis products.

In July, cannabis sales amounted to about $61 million, and during the first seven months of 2020, consumers purchased more than $300 million worth of legal marijuana for recreational use in Illinois. That amount does not include taxes generated by marijuana sales, which can exceed 40% depending on product potency.

During the first half of this year, Illinois took in $52 million in marijuana-related tax revenue.

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Are you working from home these days (like I am)?

If so, you have undoubtedly incurred some expenses setting up your home office.

According to a recent survey, the typical "work from home" employee in Missouri spent an average of $165 to set up a home office. The national average, according to the survey, is $181, with home workers in New Hampshire spending the most ($350 on average), while people working from home in Montana have spent the least ($50).

Nationwide, 85% of "work from home" employees believe their employer should reimburse them for the cost of setting up their home office and 58% of those with home offices want to keep working from home the rest of the year as long as their employers give them that option.

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