Month: December 2008
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Wichita Public Hearing Action Not Evidence of Leadership
In an op-ed piece in Sunday’s Wichita Eagle, Interim Wichita City Manager Scott Moore makes the case that “the [Wichita city] council’s Dec. 2 vote demonstrated leadership and an ability to respond decisively to urgent community matters after appropriate public deliberations.”
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Dion Lefler: Problems With Wichita Developer Uncovered
On the KPTS television public affairs program Kansas Week yesterday, Wichita Eagle reporter Dion Lefler talks about problems he uncovered with a developer the City of Wichita wants to partner with. I chime in a little.
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Problems with Open Government in Wichita
On the KPTS television public affairs program Kansas Week yesterday, I spoke about some problems with a public hearing regarding a controversial matter in Wichita.
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Wichita TIF Developer’s Ownership Restructuring not Very Reassuring
Recent reporting by the Wichita Eagle uncovered troubling facts from the past of a developer the city is considering partnering with.
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No Diligence in Wichita City Hall
Rhonda Holman’s Wichita Eagle editorial today (Need vetting of City Hall partners) correctly states that city staff “missed the mark in vetting negotiator Grant Gaudreau.” Or is the proper title “principal developer,” as stated by Wichita’s director of urban development Allen Bell? (See Wichita’s Faulty Due Diligence for video.)
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Applying For Food Stamps: American Duty?
A television news story from yesterday in Wichita went like this: Television news anchor: “Some may think that using food stamps is a drain on the economy, but the truth is that’s really not right. Local organizers say using food assistance can help boost the economy during these tough times. One dollar of food assistance…
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The New Deal in Retrospect
Many people refer to incoming president Barack Obama as the next FDR. The myth of Franklin Roosevelt — primarily that he cured the Great Depression through his extreme interventionism — is starting to be exposed. In this review (The Disaster Called the New Deal) of Burton Folsom’s book New Deal or Raw Deal? How FDR’s…
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Huelskamp announces a run for Congress
Kansas Liberty reports in the post Huelskamp announces a run for Congress: “[Kansas State] Sen. Tim Huelskamp, the veteran Fowler Republican, has announced he’ll pursue a seat in the U.S. Congress for 2010.” I think he’d make a great United States Congressman.
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Schaefer Johnson Cox Frey Architecture Wins. Who Lost?
In what must be the most unsurprising news reported in Wichita this year, Schaefer Johnson Cox Frey Architecture was awarded the contract for plan management services for the USD 259 (Wichita public school district) bond issue. Their fee is one percent of the total of the bond issue, or about $3.7 million. If this contract…
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Do We Have Too Little Regulation?
One of the things we’re being told by the mainstream media is that deregulation is the cause of our current economic crisis. If only Bush hadn’t torn up so many regulations, we wouldn’t be in this trouble. Only adding more regulation will save the economy. Free markets — as if our economy is based on…
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Video Reveals Uninformed Citizenry
Utah Education Facts has released a video that illustrates the startling lack of information possessed by the average citizen. This video was made in Utah and uses Utah’s facts, but I’ve made some similar videos in Wichita, and the results are similar. People are mostly uninformed about basic facts. School districts use this to their…
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Wichita’s Faulty Due Diligence
In the Wichita city council meeting on December 2, 2008, council member Jim Skelton questioned Allen Bell, Wichita’s director of urban development, about developers the city is considering working with on a TIF district. Specifically, Skelton asked if there was anything in the backgound of the developers that the council should be concerned about. Bell…