Voice For Liberty

Tag: Wichita city government

  • The Wichita baseball team’s name

    The Wichita baseball team’s name

    Is the name of the new Wichita baseball team important? Yes, as it provides insight.

    Whatever you may think of the name of the new Wichita baseball team, it’s important. Important because the city is spending many millions on the stadium, much of it borrowed through bonds that must be repaid if the team doesn’t generate as much success (and tax revenue) as planned.

    Additionally, the city is depending on the team owners to successfully develop the four acres of surrounding land that the city gave to them. (Well, almost gave to them. They paid about four dollars.) Without successful development, the city and its residents are in trouble.

    But given that the reaction to the name is near-universal scorn, I don’t have a lot of confidence in the team owners and their judgment.

    Still, there are knowledgeable Wichitans who are praising the team’s ownership and management. I would suggest asking the people of New Orleans what they think of the promises made to them by Lou Schwechheimer, the majority owner of the team. See Coverage of Wichita baseball owner Lou Schwechheimer and Wichita vets its baseball partner(s).

    Can a city’s political and bureaucratic leaders want something so badly that they make bad decisions regarding who to choose as partners and how to structure the partnership? Yes, I’m afraid so.

  • Sedgwick County talent attraction

    Sedgwick County talent attraction

    In an index ranking counties in talent attraction, Sedgwick County has not performed well.

    Emsi, a labor market advisor, has released its fourth annual talent attraction scorecard. Data considered by the index includes net migration, overall job growth, skilled job growth, educational attainment, regional competitiveness, and annual openings per capita. These are weighted equally.

    Among the 600 largest counties, Sedgwick County ranked 540, 543, and 537 from 2017 to 2019.

    The interactive map and more information may be found at The Fourth Annual Talent Attraction Scorecard.

    On this map, high-ranking counties are blue, with low-ranking counties red.
  • Wichita consent agenda reform proposed

    Wichita consent agenda reform proposed

    The Wichita city council will consider reforms to the consent agenda.

    Next week the Wichita City Council will consider changes to the form of city council meetings, specifically the consent agenda. 1

    A consent agenda is a group of items — perhaps as many as two dozen or so — that are voted on in bulk with a single vote. If the consent agenda is passed, each individual item on the consent agenda is also considered as passed. An item on a consent agenda will be discussed only if a council member requests the item to be “pulled.” If that is done, the item will be discussed. Then it might be withdrawn, delayed to a future meeting, voted on by itself, or folded back into the consent agenda with the other items. Generally, consent agenda items are considered by the city to be routine and non-controversial, but that is not always the case.

    The city proposes two main changes. First, a draft, or proposed consent agenda will be presented to the mayor and vice mayor one week before a council meeting, with the finalization on Friday. City documents explain:

    A draft consent agenda will be presented to the mayor and vice mayor one week before the scheduled city council meeting. The mayor and vice mayor will make a preliminary designation of the items to be included on the consent agenda. The consent agenda will be considered only a draft until it is endorsed by the city council during its regular Friday agenda review meeting.

    Second, there is a list of items considered appropriate for inclusion on the consent agenda, as presented below.

    In the past, the city has placed major items on the consent agenda, such as authorizing a $2 million contract with the city’s convention and visitors’ bureau. 2

    Notably, this summer the city placed a long-term lease with a proposed airport hotel on the consent agenda. Before the meeting, it was found the contract had many errors. 3 At that time, Wichita Mayor Jeff Longwell expressed frustration with items such as this being placed on the consent agenda and said he would propose changes. 4

    Items appropriate for consent agenda

    From the proposed ordinance:

    In order to provide City staff with additional guidance, the following items are considered appropriate for the consent agenda:

    1. Applications for licenses
    2. Community event requests
    3. Street closures
    4. Preliminary construction estimates
    5. Petitions for public improvements
    6. Design services agreements and supplements to design services agreements
    7. Sale of remnant parcels and property previously designated as surplus
    8. Purchase of property for right-of-way
    9. Second reading ordinances
    10. Property acquisitions
    11. Minutes of advisory boards and commissions
    12. One year agreements, agreement amendments or agreement extensions with a value of $100,000 or less
    13. Grant applications and awards if the local match is less than $100,000
    14. Change orders
    15. Settlement agreements
    16. Establishing public hearing dates for the repair and removal of dangerous structures
    17. Authorizing note and bond sales
    18. Zoning applications that have no protest and are recommended for approval by the DAB and MAPC
    19. Nuisance assessments

    —
    Notes

    1. Wichita City Council agenda packet for November 19, 2019, item V-2. ↩
    2. See, for example, For Wichita, another agenda surprise at https://wichitaliberty.org/wichita-government/wichita-another-agenda-surprise/, Naftzger Park costs up, yet again at https://wichitaliberty.org/wichita-government/naftzger-park-costs-up-yet-again/, In Wichita, spending semi-secret at https://wichitaliberty.org/wichita-government/wichita-spending-semi-secret/, A consultant to help Wichita’s confidence factor at https://wichitaliberty.org/wichita-government/consultant-help-wichita-confidence-factor/, For Wichita City Council, discussion is not wanted at https://wichitaliberty.org/wichita-government/for-wichita-city-council-discussion-is-not-wanted/, In Wichita, a gentle clawback at https://wichitaliberty.org/wichita-government/in-wichita-a-gentle-clawback/, Wichita, again, fails at government transparency at https://wichitaliberty.org/wichita-government/wichita-fails-government-transparency/, and Wichita open records issue buried at https://wichitaliberty.org/open-records/wichita-open-records-issue-buried/. ↩
    3. Lefler, Dion. What’s up with the new airport hotel? Wichita scrambles to correct errors before vote. Wichita Eagle, June 24, 2019. Available at https://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article231911503.html. ↩
    4. Lefler, Dion. Longwell proposes changes in city process after airport hotel blunder. Wichita Eagle, June 28, 2019. Available at https://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article232088887.html. ↩
  • Wichita personal income grows

    Wichita personal income grows

    Wichita personal income grew at a faster rate in 2018.

    Statistics released today by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, an agency of the United States Department of Commerce, show personal income in the Wichita Metropolitan Statistical Area growing at an increasing rate.

    The figures released today are through calendar year 2018. For that year, personal income in the Wichita MSA was $33,060.9 million, up 6.2 percent from $31,128.2 million the previous year. These are current dollars.

    The figure for 2017 was adjusted from $30,801.3 million to $31,128.2 million.

    In the nation’s metropolitan areas, personal income grew by 5.7 percent.

    Per capita personal income in the Wichita MSA for 2018 was $51,854 in current dollars, up 6.2 percent from $48,818 in 2017. This growth rate ranked at position 26 among 384 metropolitan areas. For the nation, growth was 4.9 percent.

    BEA offers these definitions:

    Personal income is the income received by, or on behalf of, all persons from all sources: from participation as laborers in production, from owning a home or business, from the ownership of financial assets, and from government and business in the form of transfers. It includes income from domestic sources as well as the rest of world. It does not include realized or unrealized capital gains or losses.

    Personal income is measured before the deduction of personal income taxes and other personal taxes and is reported in current dollars (no adjustment is made for price changes). Comparisons for different regions and time periods reflect changes in both the price and quantity components of regional personal income.

    The estimate of personal income for the United States is the sum of the state estimates and the estimate for the District of Columbia; it differs slightly from the estimate of personal income in the national income and product accounts (NIPAs) because of differences in coverage, in the methodologies used to prepare the estimates, and in the timing of the availability of source data.

    Per capita personal income is calculated as the total personal income of the residents of a given area divided by the population of the area. In computing per capita personal income, BEA uses Census Bureau mid-year population estimates.

  • City comeback bingo

    City comeback bingo

    Wichita has amenities that are promoted as creating an uncommonly superior quality of life here, but many are commonplace across the country.

    A recent graphic appeared on several sites that comments on the efforts of cities and their residents to create distinctive amenities and characteristics. I’ve reproduced the text of the image below, because some of the text is difficult to read due to the busy background. (The image may be seen here.) How much of this is present in Wichita or your city?

    —

    This-City’s-Makin’-A-Comeback Bingo

    Sure to become a favorite of every southern, mid-sized or rust-belt city, this game implores you to explore your city and find out what makes it unique … like every other place.

    10 Brewpubs
    Ramen, Ramen, Ramen!!!
    Axe-throwing bar
    Absurd rent in once-affordable places
    “Crazy” donut recipe
    Many empty lofts
    Cupcake shop
    Regional Banksy
    Instagram wall
    Spinning, crossfit, and yoga
    Bar with “Whiskey” in name
    Barcade
    Restaurant named (Something) & the (Something)
    Tea shops
    Those scooters
    Chicago cows, but it’s a local thing
    One good food truck out of 30
    Quirky, local T-shirt industry
    Unaffordable boutiques
    People telling you how good it “used to be”
    Dueling farmer’s markets
    Empty apartments used for AirBnB
    Vibrant kickball scene
    Unused community garden
    That one band/artist who made it
    Guy with stories about band/artist who made it
    Indie radio station with cult-like following
    Displaced minorities
    Airport that requires connection to somewhere interesting
    Local fat-guy food
    Regional influencer
    Robust private schools for rich white transplants
    Arts district
    Local ice cream shop with “cornbread” and “Earl Gray” flavors

    —

    (I left off a square with foul language and corrected a few misspellings.)

    These things are good to have, although people will disagree on items like scooters and absurd rent, and I suppose an unused community garden is, well, unused.

    But often we hear Wichita’s boosters speak as though these things are unique to Wichita. By having them, they say, Wichita is a leader, and good things such as a flourishing economy will follow.

    But we can’t afford to be lulled into complacency or a celebration of grand achievement when so much data says otherwise:

    We should keep striving to grow our city, its economy, and the prosperity of its residents. What we’ve done, however, hasn’t worked very well, yet most of our leaders think we’re doing fine. With a new mayor, perhaps that will change.

    For more about this and references to other writers on this topic, see Wichita, not that different

  • Longwell: ‘There is no corruption’

    Longwell: ‘There is no corruption’

    Wichita Mayor Jeff Longwell says there is no corruption involving him, but this is only because of loose and sloppy Kansas and Wichita laws.

    In an advertisement in the November 3, 2019 Wichita Eagle, Wichita Mayor Jeff Longwell defended himself against charges of corruption. Referring to a recent investigation by the Sedgwick County District Attorney, the ad states:

    In 2018 and 2017, Bennett found I was 100% compliant. In 2016 he found only one instance where I was $21.33 over the annual $500 threshold allowed for “goods and services” received from local companies.

    Here’s what the District Attorney found in his investigation:

    Given the failure of Kansas Statutes Annotated 75-4301a to define “good or services,” the Mayor explained to an investigator with the Office of the District Attorney that he did not believe a round of golf constituted “goods or services.” He further explained that charitable golf outings where the entire expenditure went to charity (situations where the golf course donated their greens fees to the charity) led him to the conclusion that, because the charity received the entire donation, the golfers (including him) derived no financial benefit. As such, he did not believe it necessary to report these outings on his substantial interest form. 1

    This reasoning by Longwell is hairsplitting to the extreme. What’s important is that Longwell accepted gifts from people he later steered a large city contract to. However large or small the gifts, this is wrong.

    In his conclusion, the District Attorney wrote:

    And while I am confident, having exhaustively researched the issue, that, as an act of entertainment, golf qualifies as “goods or services” under Kansas law, it is also true that Kansas Statutes Annotated 75-4301a, et seq., governing Substantial Interest Form filings, offers little guidance. I am not filing a class B misdemeanor under these facts.

    It seems that sloppy Kansas laws are the problem, along with a mayor willing to exploit that weakness.

    Does the city have any laws or regulations on this matter? Here’s an excerpt from the Wichita city code as passed in 2008 (full section below):

    “[Council members] shall refrain from making decisions involving business associates, customers, clients, friends and competitors.”

    We also have statutory language that reads “business associates, customers, clients, friends and competitors.” But the city attorney, in a question involving former mayor Carl Brewer, felt that these terms are not defined, and therefore the mayor and city council members need not be concerned about compliance with this law. 2

    Today, city hall ethics, at least in the mayor’s chair, have not improved. It’s reasonable to conclude that people who pay the mayor to play in expensive golf tournaments are his friends. People who pay for dinner for the mayor and his wife and describe it as a social gathering (as the district attorney found) are friends. Or, maybe they just want something from the mayor and see an ersatz social relationship as a means to an end. But as we’ve learned recently, the current city attorney says council members “are left to police themselves on that city law,” according to Wichita Eagle reporting. 3

    Is it true, as the mayor’s ad screams in capital letters?

    THERE IS NO CORRUPTION LIKE YOU’VE BEEN LED TO BELIEVE

    There is none, but only because of sloppy Kansas and Wichita laws. But under any commonsense definition, yes, there is corruption. It is not necessary for an act to be illegal to be corrupt; that it is dishonest or fraudulent conduct is enough.

    Should Longwell be re-elected, can we expect reform? I don’t think it’s likely that someone will support laws criminalizing their own past behavior.

    Wichita city code

    Sec. 2.04.050. — Code of ethics for council members.

    Council members occupy positions of public trust. All business transactions of such elected officials dealing in any manner with public funds, either directly or indirectly, must be subject to the scrutiny of public opinion both as to the legality and to the propriety of such transactions. In addition to the matters of pecuniary interest, council members shall refrain from making use of special knowledge or information before it is made available to the general public; shall refrain from making decisions involving business associates, customers, clients, friends and competitors; shall refrain from repeated and continued violation of city council rules; shall refrain from appointing immediate family members, business associates, clients or employees to municipal boards and commissions; shall refrain from influencing the employment of municipal employees; shall refrain from requesting the fixing of traffic tickets and all other municipal code citations; shall refrain from seeking the employment of immediate family members in any municipal operation; shall refrain from using their influence as members of the governing body in attempts to secure contracts, zoning or other favorable municipal action for friends, customers, clients, immediate family members or business associates; and shall comply with all lawful actions, directives and orders of duly constituted municipal officials as such may be issued in the normal and lawful discharge of the duties of these municipal officials.

    Council members shall conduct themselves so as to bring credit upon the city as a whole and so as to set an example of good ethical conduct for all citizens of the community. Council members shall bear in mind at all times their responsibility to the entire electorate, and shall refrain from actions benefiting special groups at the expense of the city as a whole and shall do everything in their power to ensure equal and impartial law enforcement throughout the city at large without respect to race, creed, color or the economic or the social position of individual citizens.

    —
    Notes

    1. District Attorney Bennett’s findings concerning Mayor Jeff Longwell. Available at https://www.sedgwickcounty.org/media/56094/520-pm-oct-17-mayor-longwell-finaldocx.pdf. ↩
    2. Weeks, Bob. City code on ethical conduct in Wichita. Available at https://wichitaliberty.org/wichita-government/city-code-on-ethical-conduct-in-wichita/. ↩
    3. Swaim, Chance. Wichita’s mayor steered multi-million-dollar water plant contract to friends. Wichita Eagle, September 29, 2019. Available at https://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article234701932.html. ↩
  • From Pachyderm: Save Century II

    From Pachyderm: Save Century II

    From the Wichita Pachyderm Club: Speakers promoting the saving of the Century II convention and performing arts center in downtown Wichita. Speakers were, in order of first appearance, Greg Kite, Dean Bradley, and Celeste Bogart Racette. This audio presentation or podcast was recorded on November 1, 2019.

    There is other material on this topic:

  • Wichita jobs and employment, September 2019

    Wichita jobs and employment, September 2019

    For the Wichita metropolitan area in September 2019, the labor force is up, the number of unemployed persons is down, the unemployment rate is down, and the number of people working is up when compared to the same month one year ago. Seasonal data shows small increases in labor force and jobs from August.

    Data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, part of the United States Department of Labor, shows a slowly improving employment situation for the Wichita Metropolitan Statistical Area.

    Click charts and tables for larger versions.

    Total nonfarm employment rose from 300,500 last September to 303,100 this September. That’s an increase of 2,600 jobs, or 0.9 percent. (This data is not seasonally adjusted, so month-to-month comparisons are not valid.) For the same period, employment in the nation grew by 1.4 percent. The unemployment rate in September 2019 was 3.1 percent, down from 3.4 percent one year ago.

    Considering seasonally adjusted data from the household survey, the labor force rose by 398 persons (0.1 percent) in September 2019 from August 2019, the number of unemployed persons fell by 204 (1.9 percent), and the unemployment rate was 3.5 percent, unchanged from August. The number of employed persons not working on farms rose to 300,233 in September from 299,531 the prior month, an increase of 602 persons, or 0.2 percent.

    The following chart of the monthly change in labor force and employment shows the rise in employment and labor force.

    The following chart of changes from the same month one year ago a decline in the rate of growth of both employment and labor force. The values are (almost all) growing, but at a slower pace each month until this month.

    The following chart of changes in employment from the same month of the previous year shows some months when the Wichita MSA performed better than the nation. Over the past 12 months, the average monthly job growth for the nation was 1.64 percent, and for the Wichita MSA, 1.46 percent.

    The following two charts show changes in jobs for Wichita and the nation over longer time periods. The change is calculated from the same month one year ago. For times when the Wichita line was above the nation, Wichita was growing faster than the nation. This was often the case during the decades starting in 1990 and 2000. Since 2010, however, Wichita has rarely outperformed the nation and sometimes has been far below the nation.

  • The cause of the low unemployment rate in Wichita

    The cause of the low unemployment rate in Wichita

    The unemployment rate for Wichita and the nation is nearly equal over the last eight years. Job growth for Wichita, however, has been much slower than the nation, and the labor force for Wichita is actually smaller than in January 2011. This is what has led to a low unemployment rate in Wichita: Slow job growth paired with a declining labor force.

    How does the Wichita metropolitan area compare with others regarding employment, labor force, and unemployment rate? A nearby example shows data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, part of the United States Department of Labor. It compares the average of all United States metropolitan areas to the Wichita metropolitan area. The chart starts with January 2011, about one and one-half years after the end of the Great Recession, and ends with August 2019, which is the most recent data for this series.

    We observe that the unemployment rate for Wichita and the nation is nearly equal over the time period. Job growth for Wichita, however, has been much slower than the nation, and the labor force for Wichita is actually smaller than in January 2011. This is what has led to a low unemployment rate in Wichita: Slow job growth paired with a declining labor force.

    This illustration came from an interactive visualization I created from BLS data. Click here to learn more and use the visualization.

    Click for larger.