Category: Wichita city government
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Wichita city hall silent on handling of ethics issue
On Tuesday the Wichita city council will hold a public hearing regarding a request by Real Development for a $2.5 million increase in tax increment district financing. While this proposal should be opposed on its merits, there is reason to give extra scrutiny to this matter. That’s because Real Development employs the services of Wichita…
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Wichita community improvement district questions unanswered
This week the Wichita city council approved the use of Community Improvement Districts. These districts are a new creation of the Kansas legislature from last year.
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Wichita economic development incentives discussed
At today’s meeting of the Wichita city council, economic development incentives were a topic of discussion.
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Wichita targeted economic development should end
Is the City of Wichita able to choose which companies are worthy of taxpayer assistance for the purposes of economic development?
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Wichita Warren Theater IRB a TIF district in disguise
On Tuesday the Wichita City Council will consider an economic development incentive for a local business. The process the city is using to grant this incentive bypasses the scrutiny that accompanies the formation of TIF districts while providing essentially the same benefit.
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Will the real robber barons please stand up?
At the April 13th meeting of the Wichita City Council a request from downtown developer Real Development will be made for an additional $2.2 million taxpayer subsidy for its condo project Exchange Place, located at Douglas and Market. With two weeks to go before this public hearing there is still time for council members to…
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Detroit, corporate welfare and Wichita’s future
Recently The Eagle printed an article by Molly McMillin, a well-respected aviation and business reporter. The question asked throughout the article is one that Wichita leaders and citizens have been asking for some time: What can we do to prevent Wichita from falling into the hole that is Detroit? A simple answer is to continue…
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Destination ICT rollout presents a look at the future of Wichita
Yesterday Rebecca Ryan of Next Generation Consulting presented “Destination ICT.” This is a program designed to “attract and retain talent to Wichita.” It’s sponsored by Young Professionals of Wichita which is an initiative of the Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce.
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David Burk, Wichita developer, overreaches
Today’s Wichita Eagle contains a story about a well-known Wichita real estate developer that, while shocking, shouldn’t really be all that unexpected. The opening sentence of the article (Developer appealed taxes on city-owned property) tells us most of what we need to know: “Downtown Wichita’s leading developer, David Burk, represented himself as an agent of…
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Kansas historic preservation building tax credits discussed
Sometimes on blogs people don’t take the time to read comments left to posts. Sometimes those comments provide valuable discussion and illumination of public policy issues. So here I take a moment to elevate a few comments left to a recent blog post.
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Wichita downtown planners hosting events
The Wichita Downtown Development Corporation is holding two events in February that should be of interest to those concerned about the future of downtown Wichita and the city and region as a whole.
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Randal O’Toole on Wichita’s WaterWalk and government planning
As part of Randal O’Toole’s visit to Wichita, he recorded some remarks in front of a few of Wichita’s monuments to government planning. Paul Soutar of Kansas Watchdog recorded video and assembled the remarks. His reporting is Randal O’Toole on Wichita’s WaterWalk and Government Planning.