Greater Wichita Partnership

Feb

Brookings Metro Monitor and Wichita

A research project by The Brookings Institution illustrates the poor performance of the Wichita-area economy. Metro Monitor from The Brookings Institution rates metropolitan areas on a number of indicators. On the map of metropolitan areas, blue means faster growth, and orange means slowest. You can see that Wichita has the economic growth of a typical rust belt city. (Click charts for larger versions.) The table showing changes in indicators over the past decade shows Wichita almost always below the middle. The charts of trends over time shows Wichita falling behind the nation, then catching up in 2007 and 2008, but…

In Sedgwick County, choosing your own benchmarks

Feb

By Bob Weeks

In Sedgwick County, choosing your own benchmarks

The Sedgwick County Commission makes a bid for accountability with an economic development agency, but will likely fall short of anything meaningful. The Greater Wichita Partnership is a reorganization of local economic development agencies. It has asked the Sedgwick County Commission for $300,000 to fund a portion of its activities this year. Those on the commission who are skeptical of GWP and its predecessors have asked for measurable outcomes of the progress GWP makes. Here is a paragraph from the agreement with GWP that commissioners will consider this week: 9. Measurable Outcomes. GWP shall be subject to measureable outcomes as…