Tag: Wichita city government
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Wichita city managers travel
At the same time that the City of Wichita is struggling with its budget, including making layoffs, senior managers still travel.
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At Wichita city council, special pleading of selfish interests
At yesterday’s meeting of the the Wichita City Council, a matter was presented to the council that provided an illustration of basic economic principles that are foreign to the council.
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I’m not proud of Wichita’s airfare subsidy
In today’s Wichita Eagle, editorialist Rhonda Holman gives Wichita a big pat on the back for its subsidy given to a low-cost air carrier. She goes so far as to mention a recent New York Times article that tells how Wichita was one of the first cities to do thi
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In Wichita, waiving guidelines makes for bad policy
I am here to ask you to deny the request for special assessment financing for the Lofts at St. Francis homeowners association to make repairs to their building. I’ve spoken to this council about how the facade improvement program, in general, is bad public policy. In this case, it’s bad public policy compounded by the…
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Travel should be the first Wichita expense to be cut
At tomorrow’s meeting of the Wichita City Council, council members have this item on their agenda: “Approval of travel expenses for Council Member Janet Miller and Kelly Harper, Wichita Area Sister Cities President, to attend the International Cities Conference in Paris, France and the Sister Cities Loire Festival in Orleans, France, September 21-27.”
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Wichita special assessments for repairs is bad policy
At Tuesday’s meeting of the Wichita City Council, a privately-owned condominium association is seeking special assessment financing to make repairs to its building. In order for the association to succeed in its request, the council will have to waive two guidelines of Wichita’s facade improvement program.
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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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Light rail not good for Wichita
A recent letter in the Wichita Eagle by Alden Wilner of Bel Aire worries that “flat, dusty and hot” parking lots in the neighborhood of the Intrust Bank Arena (formerly known as the downtown Wichita arena) in downtown Wichita will hamper downtown revitalization. I don’t know if this claim is true or not, but I…
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Public effort should benefit all taxpayers, not a select few
A recent Wichita Eagle commentary by Doug Stanley, vice chairman of the Greater Wichita Economic Development Coalition, made the case for government to invest taxpayer money in developing “shovel-ready” sites to attract a wide range of new employers, especially large industrial and manufacturing companies. He says consultants who work with large employers on site selection…
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Privatization of Wichita city parks
In a post concerning the possible privatization of City of Wichita parks maintenance, I called for, in a rather oblique way, privatization of city parks. A commenter picked up on this and wrote “I’m wondering how the parks would be decided by the market. Wouldn’t the parks have to charge an entry fee in that…
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Wichita budget hearing reveals fundamental problem with government
At yesterday’s public hearing regarding the City of Wichita budget, the attitude of Wichita’s public employee union became clear: more tax revenue is needed.