Tag: TIF districts
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Wichita’s redevelopment role model needs scrutiny
On the City of Wichita’s cable channel 7, Kansas City’s Power & Light District is presented as a model for the revitalization of downtown Wichita. Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer sees this district as Wichita’s competition. So yesterday I went to take a look for myself. And I agree with the mayor. It’s a neat place.…
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Wichita downtown revitalization discussed on Kansas Week
Bob Weeks discusses planning for downtown Wichita revitalization and what he learned on his trip to the Platinum Triangle in Anaheim, California. Host Tim Brown and guest Randy Brown also appear. From the KPTS Television show Kansas Week, August 14, 2009.
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Wichita’s getting ready to plan
The danger we face is that Wichita’s plan will end up like almost all other urban plans — a top-down effort micromanaged by politicians and bureaucrats, people whose incentives are all wrong. We already have the structure in place, with our mayor promoting the plan for downtown as his signature achievement, and a tax-supported downtown…
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Someone in California understands TIF
In California, they’re called redevelopment districts. In Kansas, we call them tax increment financing or TIF districts. By either name, they provide a way to channel money to politically favored developers.
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Wichita covered with tax-advantaged districts
Here’s a map of improvement and development districts in Wichita and Sedgwick County. Sometimes critics of tax increment financing districts (TIF districts) say things like “If TIF districts are good for development, why not make the entire city a TIF district?” Maybe we’re headed that way.
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Williams — King — Minnesota Guys connection raises concern
There’s a triangle of influence and connections that should raise flags of caution as voters decide the makeup of the Wichita city council. At the center is Beth King, a Wichita public relations executive. She’s well known in city hall, having managed the mayoral campaign of Carl Brewer in 2007. She’s said to be a…
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KenMar Shopping Center, Funded by Righteousness
Can the Lord’s work be funded by taxation? If you’re Reverend Kevass Harding, the answer is sure, why not? He might even think it’s his calling. Never mind that at its fundamental level, taxation takes money from one person against their will and gives it to another.
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Proposition K and TIF Districts Collide
A recent story in the Wichita Eagle by Dion Lefler (Tax plan could leave city with TIF debt) illustrates the some of the problems that can happen with complex economic development efforts. The problem in this case lies in the interaction of Proposition K, an effort to reform property tax appraisals in Kansas, and tax…
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In Wichita, let’s have economic development for all
There’s probably little doubt that offering incentives to companies to move to Wichita results in some that do. And, as we’ve seen, some Wichita companies are adept at inciting rumors they might move or locate new facilities somewhere else in order to gain some advantage or incentive from local or state (or sometimes both) government.
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Wichita Center City TIF Missed Linkage Between “Unrelated” Developers
A missed linkage between developers involved in a Wichita tax increment financing (TIF) project means progress should be stopped until all facts are known. In July, 2007, the City of Wichita considered a development plan (the Center City South Redevelopment District) for a tax increment financing (TIF) district in downtown Wichita. The beneficiary of the…
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Wichita Center City South TIF Changes Slip Through
At the December 16, 2008 meeting of the Wichita City Council, a major revision to the development plan of a downtown Wichita TIF district was made. This TIF district is a project of Real Development, whose principals Michael Elzufon and David Lundberg are commonly known as the “Minnesota Guys.” The changes to this plan were…
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Prudence Requires Postponement of Wichita TIF District: The Video
Bob Weeks recommends postponing approval of a Wichita TIF district until new procedures are put in place. Plus, a question about future mill levies, with a response from council member Sharon Fearey. The remarks in printed form are at this link: Prudence Requires Postponement of Wichita TIF District.