[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 4]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 5892-5893]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   INTRODUCTION OF LEGISLATION DESIGNATING THE ED EILERT POST OFFICE

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. DENNIS MOORE

                               of kansas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, April 6, 2005

  Mr. MOORE of Kansas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce 
legislation designating the United States Postal Service facility 
located at 12433 Antioch Road in Overland Park, Kansas, as the ``Ed 
Eilert Post Office Building.'' I am joined in sponsoring this measure 
by my colleagues from Kansas: Representatives Todd Tiahrt, Jim Ryun and 
Jerry Moran, and I am grateful for their support of this bipartisan 
legislation.
  Later this month, an era will come to an end in Overland Park. Ed 
Eilert will step down as Mayor of Overland Park, an office to which he 
was elected six times and held for twenty-four years. Since he was 
sworn into office in 1981, Overland Park has grown to become Kansas' 
second largest city. Its population has nearly doubled to over 165,000, 
the number of people working within the city's limits has more than 
tripled, with roughly 120,000 jobs in Overland Park today, and hotel 
capacity has increased from about 800 rooms to 5,100 rooms. During his 
tenure, 21,897 single family and 19,533 multifamily residences have 
been added in Overland Park, along with 23.7 million square feet of 
office, retail and industrial space. Over the years, the city has seen 
the arrival of the Sprint campus, three new hospitals, the University 
of Kansas Edwards campus, the Carlsen Center at Johnson County 
Community College, and a city convention center.
  Additionally, under Ed Eilert's leadership the city has added the 
landmark Clock Tower Plaza and the Farmer's Market in the downtown 
area, a neighborhood conservation program, the Arboretum and Botanical 
Gardens, the International Trade Center, the W. Jack Sanders Justice 
Center, and interchanges at 1-435 at both Nall Avenue and Quivira Road. 
Mayor Eilert also supported construction of the Fire Training Center, 
used by many other city and county fire departments in the Kansas City 
metropolitan area, and he worked with Johnson County Community College 
to create a training facility for Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway 
employees on the college campus. And during Mayor Eilert's tenure, the 
city's land area expanded by 36 percent, to nearly 62 square miles. 
Finally, Overland Park enjoys a top rating for a solid financial 
condition. It has received numerous awards as an outstanding city. For 
years, Overland Park has had the lowest property tax rate of any first-
class city in Kansas.
  Ed Eilert was first elected to the Overland Park City Council in 1977 
and became Council president in 1980. A former teacher at Shawnee 
Mission North High School, he knows firsthand how Overland Park has 
benefited significantly from its nationally recognized school systems. 
He had made his first visit to the city in 1960 because it was the home 
of Jan Bush, who he met while studying at Emporia State University and 
would marry two years later. The Eilerts moved to Overland Park in 1965 
when he completed graduate school. In 1977, he began his first campaign 
for political office and has been a public servant continuously since 
then. He also has been a financial consultant with A.G. Edwards & Sons 
and serves on the board of directors of Metcalf Bank.
  When you consider the daunting array of challenges that Ed Eilert 
faced in his twenty four years as mayor of Overland Park, you cannot 
help but agree with Bob Sigmund, the opinion page editor of the Johnson 
County Sun, who recently wrote that Eilert ``provided the vision and 
leadership in shaping Overland Park's success as an ideal place to 
live, work and raise a family . . . Eilert's political skills have been 
especially useful in easing tensions--and maintaining an acceptable 
balance--between the older, established neighborhoods in northern 
Overland Park and the rapidly expanding new subdivisions in the 
south.''
  I am proud to call Ed Eilert my friend. While we are members of 
different political parties, I have always been impressed by his sound 
judgment, diligence, and dedication to his community and to the public 
welfare. When he sought the Republican nomination for the U.S. House in 
1996, however, he lost narrowly to then-State Representative Vince 
Snowbarger for the nomination to succeed Representative Jan Meyers. I 
often tell Third District residents that I would have not sought 
election to Congress myself had Ed Eilert been elected two years before 
I became a candidate for the office.
  Dedication of this Postal Service facility in Overland Park is a 
small but fitting tribute to a man who has dedicated most of his adult 
life to public service at the community level, working tirelessly to 
bring people together while ensuring quality economic development and 
competence in the delivery of local services. I commend Mayor Ed Eilert 
and again thank my colleagues in the Kansas House delegation for

[[Page 5893]]

their support. I hope the House can move quickly to approve this 
legislation so we can soon see it signed into law.

                          ____________________