Monday, June 4, 2007

Commissioners to hear arena plea Wednesday

Sedgwick County Commissioners have started each of their last two meetings hearing from people who want a second public vote on the planned downtown arena. This Wednesday, they'll get the other side of the story -- from Joe Williams, organizer of the Web site www.forarena.com.

In his email asking the county permission to speak at the June 6th meeting, Williams said he would ask the commissioners to not consider putting the arena revote question on the Aug. 7 ballot, when people will vote on a casino. Williams directly targets an arena opposition group that has said it has garnered more than 5,000 signatures from people wanting to vote again on the arena because of changes in its cost and design.

"The reasoning why the re-vote arena group's claim is illegitimate is that the organizational members of the group deliberately miscontrued the facts and information they told to the public and people they coaxed into signing the petition," Williams wrote. Most commissioners have said they do not support a second vote because 52 percent of people approved the arena in 2004. There is talk, however, of holding a public forum to let the public air its grievances and allow the county to respond to them. Commissioners will likely discuss that option on Wednesday.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Most commissioners have said they do not support a second vote because 52 percent of people approved the arena in 2004." Umm... wait, they already supported a second vote when the arena was voted down the first time. Oh wait, wasn't it voted down twice before? And 52% is such a large margin, there is no way that many people could have made a mistake or changed their minds.

I don't know why they even pretend to listen when people speak out against this pocket raping fiasco. Oh, wait, they DON'T pretend to listen. Sharon Feary and that Sciorentino dude sit over in the corner and whisper to each other like little schoolgirls and pay absolutely no attention to anyone they don't want to hear. Wichita government is a total joke.

Anonymous said...

The pro-arena campaign deliberately mis-represented the project. Voters justifiably relied upon these deliberately false reprentations. Now the pro-arena clacque claims that these details were unimportant.

Hold hearings; allow everything to come out. Then let the people decide. Tye have already re-voted this thing; it failed miserably before.

Anonymous said...

joe mama,

Would you be good enough to let us know the detail of when the arena was voted down twice. I haven't lived here but 3 years, so I'm not sure I have a grasp of the total history of this issue.

Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Why am I not surprised when joe mama was he asked for details, he could not or would not supply them.

Can't say I have much respect for those who stir the 'pot.'

Anonymous said...

This is just another case of our
local government ignoring the tax
payers. The pro arena folks got to
have several bites at the apple but
noone else can change their mind. The arena was rammed down our throats by the local rich folks. The county commishes don't want to
hear from the rest of us. Its a "just pay your taxes and shut up"
deal.

Anonymous said...

The arena was voted down, pulled off the table because it was clearly doomed to fail, misrepresented, bait and switched, changed from what was voted on, increased in costs, and almost 3 years later not a single brick has been laid!
Now it is time to scrap the original smoke and mirrors, put together a real, valid proposal and vote on it!

Anonymous said...

Wichita voters approved an arena project that didn't even have a final design. The seating capacity has changed as well as the parking plan. I voted NO but it's too late now. Let'um build it. I hope all those commissioners that think it's such a great idea put their names on that big brass plaque so everyone knows who was ram rodding this mess.