The Google Fiber headquarters.
“I wish I could convey how much the eyes of the world are on us,” Mike Burke told a crowd at Crown Center last week.
Burke says delegations from such far-flung places as Barcelona, Moscow and Singapore arrive regularly to study what’s going on in Kansas City and the community infrastructure that is being built to take advantage of Google Fiber.
Burke served as the co-chair of the Mayors’ Bistate Innovation Team and KC Digital Drive Advisory Council. He and co-chair Ray Daniels were honored Friday by the Mid America Regional Council for their work in helping the region explore how to capitalize on Google’s new ultra-high-speed fiber network.
The Mid America Regional Council (MARC) also honored three other individuals at its regional assembly on Friday. These annual awards honor individuals and organizations for their leadership and excellence in advocating regional concepts, advancing the vision of the region as a community of excellence; applying innovative solutions to regional problems; and achieving improved quality of life and equitable opportunity for the region’s citizens.
- Todd Ackerson, rescue division chief, Kansas City, Mo., Fire Department, for training specialty teams to respond to emergencies in the Kansas City region.
- CASA of Jackson County and CASA of Johnson and Wyandotte Counties for innovative regional collaboration and resource sharing that has allowed the two organizations to provide more area children with Court Appointed Special Advocates.
- Eric Rogers, executive director, BikeWalkKC, for helping to make the region more bicycle/pedestrian friendly and working with local governments as an advocate for the rights and interests of pedestrians and bicyclists.
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