Wichita’s facade improvement plan has recently been updated. The updated plan isn’t yet available on the city’s website, so I’ve included it at the end of this article.
This is the plan under which a local business, Delano Barbeque Partners, LLC, is likely to receive a grant of $20,000. See Wichita to consider grant to business for more. So far that business has not returned telephone calls asking for information about its application.
It appears that this grant program is an entitlement, in that if a business meets specified criteria, it will receive a grant. No consideration is given to the economic worthiness or need of each applicant, or to the effect that this has on the citizens and taxpayers of Wichita.
Programs like this are government planning. It’s our city government saying that investment in certain areas of town are more desired than investment in other parts of town. Since people aren’t investing enough to fulfill the city’s plan, the city must correct this alleged market failure by giving gifts of taxpayer money.
This type of centralized government planning is an affront to freedom, liberty, and capitalism. It’s a slap in the face to those who have invested according to their own wants and needs, rather than satisfying the needs of politicians and bureaucrats.
(This is a Scribd document. Click on the rectangle at the right of the document’s title bar to get a full-screen view.)