Tag: Downtown Wichita revitalization
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Assessment of Wichita’s Intrust Bank Arena’s success premature
Any rational assessment of the success of the Intrust Bank Arena in downtown Wichita must realize that the arena is in its honeymoon period. Until initial enthusiasm dies down and the arena has a track record of a year or more, we simply have no idea what the financial performance of the arena will be.…
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Kansas historic preservation tax credits audit reveals inefficiency, data problems
Yesterday the Kansas legislative Post Audit Committee received an audit recently completed by the Legislative Division of Post Audit. The audit, titled Kansas Tax Revenues, Part I: Reviewing Tax Credits, revealed that the historic preservation tax credit is not efficient. Further, the Department Revenue is not accurately tracking the cost of the program.
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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.
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Kansas historic preservation tax credits should be eliminated
It’s time to recognize historic buildings for what they are: a premium feature or amenity whose extra cost should be born solely by those who chose to own them or rent them. Supporters of historic buildings tell us that renovating them is more expensive than building new. Likewise, building a home with granite kitchen counter…
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Urban planning: Wichita should reject the fads Portland has followed
Urban planners say they can make our cities more livable, our downtowns more vibrant, and our traffic calmer. The problem is that urban planners do not understand how cities work, so all of their plans often turn out disastrously wrong. Many urban planners are quite capable of planning a sewer line, a road, a bus…
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Randal O’Toole discusses urban planning in Wichita
Last week Cato Institute Senior Fellow Randal O’Toole was in Wichita. He delivered a public lecture Thursday evening to a crowd that braved poor weather to attend. O’Toole said he spent 15 years studying urban planning. He said he’s learned this: “Urban planners promise us paradise on earth, but first we have to give them…
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Urban planning discussed on Kansas Week
Economist, author, and Cato Institute Senior Fellow Randal O’Toole discusses urban planning and redevelopment on the KPTS Television public affairs program Kansas Week. Tim Brown is the host.
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WaterWalk hotel subsidy passes
Not that it matters much now since the measure has passed, but here are a few things that haven’t been discussed much regarding the subsidy to a proposed hotel in Wichita’s WaterWalk development.
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Wichita’s pursuit of convention business: a wise strategy?
One of the reasons Wichita city leaders say we need to provide subsidy to a proposed hotel in the downtown WaterWalk development is that the rooms are needed to support the city’s effort to gain convention business. On its face, this pursuit of convention business seems like a noble effort by city leaders. Vast streams…