Flight Festival running a deficit with the wind at its back

This year's Flight Festival at Jabara Airport lost $160,000, but city council members saw silver lining in the red ink -- the festival lost $30,000 less than it did in 2006. And with that they gave the informal go-ahead for the city to sign a new contract for next year's air show with Wichita Festivals Inc., which organized the event the past two years. The council will vote on the new contract in the next month or two.

Janet Wright, executive director of Wichita Festivals Inc., told the city council last week that rain, a late start recruiting sponsors and big spending on a musical act probably all contributed to the financial loss. Only 1,300 people attended the festival on Friday, when the Commodores played under rainy skies. Saturday and Sunday showed a recovery with a combined 7,800 in attendance, but it was not enough for the festival to make money. Wright said that if promoters can get a quicker start recruiting corporate sponsors that want to get their name out there, the event will not lose as much money. Wright also said she'll consider reducing the music budget significantly, even if it means they get something a little less marketable than the Commodores. Wright also plans to send in applications to the Department of Defense to see if Wichita can score the Thunderbirds, Blue Angels or other military planes that might help attract a larger crowd.

First-class flight is near ethical violation

When City Manager George Kolb and Mayor Carl Brewer accepted first-class seats on a flight to Jacksonville last week, they came close to breaking the city's own ethics policy. But the upgrades, which Brewer and Kolb insist they didn't ask for, don't have enough monetary value ($40 per upgrade) to break the rule, City Attorney Gary Rebenstorf said. What's more, Rebenstorf said, is that to be a "gift," they would have had to shown some sign of acceptance. Because they didn't know about the upgrade until just before boarding, there was no acceptance, he said.

Rebenstorf said that although the city has paid AirTran to keep airfares low, the upgrades weren't a conflict of interest either.

The city's policy on gifts reads: "An occasional non-monetary gift of nominal value shall not be considered a gift, such as food at a reception generally open to employees or the public, so long as such a gift does not present any conflict of interest in fact or appearance. For purposes of this section "nominal value" shall mean having a value not exceeding $100 on any occasion, or from one person or entity in the aggregate during a consecutive 12 month period."

Brewer criticized The Eagle in a letter to the editor Saturday for printing a story about City Manager George Kolb and Brewer getting first-class seats in their flight to Jacksonville, Fla. He called the column by Carrie Rengers a "a lapse in basic journalistic standards."

Wrote Brewer: "Rengers seemed reluctant to emphasize that neither City Manager George Kolb nor I requested or expected preferential treatment. AirTran Airways officials, unbeknownst to us, assigned the business-class seating. It seemed neither prudent nor practical to interfere with the airline's seating decisions."

See Sedgwick County's 50 most hazardous railroad crossings

Some of the railroad crossings with the most potential for train-vehicle collisions will probably go years without an significant changes. But city council member Jim Skelton has been turning up the volume of the debate.

Known for his vocal persistence on specific projects in southeast Wichita, Skelton is pressing local, state and federal officials to elevate the tracks over Pawnee Avenue where about 38 Burlington Northern-Santa Fe trains pass each day. The intersection has flashing lights and gates, but it has the highest hazard index rating in Sedgwick County because of the volume of trains and the 20,536 vehicles that pass over the tracks on average each day. It's unclear when, if ever, a multi-million dollar project will be started to raise the tracks. But when the city council approved its 10-year spending plan earlier this month, it appeased Skelton by pulling plans for a crossing improvement for a Union Pacific crossing at Pawnee and replacing it with a generalized placeholder -- that means the dollars won't be dedicated to a specific project and leaves the door open to shift money to the BNSF crossing.

Meanwhile, the first phase of the elevated central rail corridor going through downtown will be completed sometime in September. Then the next phase will begin. When it's done, the city estimates it will reduce the area's overall hazard index by 12.5 percent.

Follow the "read more" link to see the area's 50 most hazardous crossings.


Here are the 50 crossings with the greatest potential for collisions, according to the Wichita Area Planning Organization's analysis:

The list shows the street intersection, surface type (C&R=concrete and rubber), average vehicles per day, average trains per day, warning device (Xbucks=crossbuck signs; FL=flashing lights; FL/G=flashing lights and gates), hazard weight (based on warning device) and hazard index (combination of traffic counts, train counts, crossing type and warning device).

Pawnee Avenue C&R 20,536 38 FL/G 0.1 78037
47th Street C&R 18,090 38 FL/G 0.1 68742
13th Street C&R 14,898 38 FL/G 0.1 56612
Murdock Street C&R 13,440 38 FL/G 0.1 51072
Central Street Concrete 13,371 38 FL/G 0.1 50810
Macarthur Road Rubber 13,143 38 FL/G 0.1 49943
21st Street C&R 12,912 38 FL/G 0.1 49066
31st Street C&R 1,287 38 Xbucks 1.0 48906
Harry Street C&R 11,931 38 FL/G 0.1 45338
63rd Street C&R 10,905 38 FL/G 0.1 41439
K‐15 Highway Rubber 31,407 2 FL 0.6 37688
K‐15 Highway Rubber 29,319 2 FL 0.6 35183
Lincoln Avenue C&R 8,372 38 FL/G 0.1 31814
29th Street C&R 7,744 38 FL/G 0.1 29427
53rd Street C&R 7,583 38 FL/G 0.1 28815
Mt. Vernon Street C&R 7,108 38 FL/G 0.1 27010
Hydraulic Avenue C&R 7,065 38 FL/G 0.1 26847
21st Street C&R 13,393 20 FL/G 0.1 26786
77th Street C&R 6,762 38 FL/G 0.1 25696
37th Street Rubber 6,424 38 FL/G 0.1 24411
Washington Street C&R 5,782 38 FL/G 0.1 21972
Market Street C&R 5,219 38 FL/G 0.1 19832
Wassall Road C&R 4,933 38 FL/G 0.1 18745
Seneca Street Rubber 15,383 2 FL 0.6 18460
17th Street C&R 4,639 38 FL/G 0.1 17628
21st Street Concrete 12,983 13 FL/G 0.1 16878
Pawnee Avenue C&R 22,964 7 FL/G 0.1 16075
13th Street North Concrete 15,343 10 FL/G 0.1 15343
K‐53 Highway C&R 5,126 29 FL/G 0.1 14865
17th Street Asphalt 4,515 3 Xbucks 1.0 13545
Douglas Street C&R 10,714 2 FL 0.6 12857
Murdock Street Concrete 12,577 10 FL/G 0.1 12577
95th Street East C&R 2,215 52 FL/G 0.1 11518
Main Street C&R 3,000 38 FL/G 0.1 11400
29th Street Concrete 10,851 1 Xbucks 1.0 10851
Macarthur Road C&R 14,259 7 FL/G 0.1 9981
47th Street C&R 13,824 7 FL/G 0.1 9677
1st Street Concrete 2,520 38 FL/G 0.1 9576
Meridian Avenue C&R 7,487 2 FL 0.6 8984
Maple Street Rubber 7,446 2 FL 0.6 8935
61st Street C&R 2,187 38 FL/G 0.1 8311
71st Street Timber 2,135 38 FL/G 0.1 8113
190th Street C&R 1,540 52 FL/G 0.1 8008
55th Street Timber 348 38 FL 0.6 7934
Harry Street Concrete 10,435 7 FL/G 0.1 7305
Clifton Avenue C&R 1,871 38 FL/G 0.1 7110
Maize Road Asphalt 5,335 2 FL 0.6 6402
Meridian Avenue C&R 1,680 38 FL/G 0.1 6384
5th Street C&R 1,648 38 FL/G 0.1 6262
Woodlawn Blvd C&R 10,299 1 FL 0.6 6179

The city is sending more dollars to disadvantaged businesses

It has been four years since a local waste hauler secretly recorded the city's administrative services director alleging that high-ranking city officials discriminated against minority business owners. The tape aired on KAKE, and what unraveled was an audit and, eventually, a program aimed at making it easier for minority and disadvantaged businesses to win the often lucrative contracts let by the city. That mostly involved certifying new businesses and offering training classes on how to make successful bids on contracts.

Now the city is spending millions more on contracts with minority businesses, a new report out of City Hall shows. (Click on the graph above to see more detail.) Minority owned businesses received about 17 percent of all the city's contract dollars in 2005. In 2006, 19 percent of the contracts went to those businesses. City council members applauded the increases in their meeting Tuesday. And some voiced support to continue the diversity task force -- perhaps indefinitely. "I think there should be a longstanding committee," Council member Lavonta Williams said. Mayor Carl Brewer also indicated he wants the groups work to continue.

An extension of their work is expected to come up for a vote in coming weeks.

A boost for public safety and infastructure?

With 17 vacancies in the police department and no plans for another police academy until January, some city council members are considering pumping more money into public safety in a last minute effort before next Tuesday's 2008 budget vote. And they're also considering more money for street maintenance (which is $900,000 shy of what it was last year) and they even batted around the idea of cameras in police cars.

City Manager George Kolb said his thinking behind keeping the police positions open is that the money that would have gone to salaries can go to planned savings. And, he notes, the department doesn't usually start its academies until there are 25 to 30 vacancies anyway -- this year they've had less turnover than expected. But with a huge upswing in murders this year and what the chief describes as a "gutted" larceny division, council members are pressing Kolb to hire police. After Kolb explained the planned savings, Vice Mayor Sharon Fearey said: "I don't think that's what our citizens want to hear." Council member Sue Schlapp said: "It seems to me the number one priority is the police." And Mayor Carl Brewer said: "I think we need to look at this before Tuesday."

On the street maintenance side, Council member Jim Skelton said he's afraid that a $900,000 cut could put the city on track to have to spend huge amounts to fix ailing streets because, like most maintenance issues, deterioration accelerates. The cut in funding is exasperated by big hikes to the price of materials used to build roads. But, as Public Works Director Chris Carrier pointed out, the cut simply brings street maintenance back to 2006 funding levels. That extra $900,000 was just a nice boost the city approved and hoped to maintain. But, he said, it didn't work out that way.

As for the cameras in police cars (a big issue last year), it's unlikely to happen quickly, especially after the council's inconclusive discussion. The plan is to ask companies to submit bids to supply the city with more cars and include a price tag for equipping at least the traffic division cars with cameras. If the price is right, Kolb said the city would start using them. But, Chief Norman Williams noted, there's a price to maintain the cameras and the video too. He said police used to have cameras in the early 1990s after getting a federal grant, but there was no money to maintain them and they fell to the wayside.

"I think this is important" Fearey said in their workshop Tuesday. "Other cities have this. I have had to be on the other end where I think that I've got citizens' calls that are telling me some kinda big horror stories about police action and, you know, there's no way to know (what exactly happened)." Schlapp said she thinks that the videos could exonerate police in many cases. But Chief Williams, who said cameras weren't even in the top 10 police department priorities, returned to the bottom line argument.

"Cameras are fine if you have ample funds to fund them," he said. And, he noted twice during his discussion that all five of his priorities didn't make the budget this year. That's because the city council wanted to focus on improving fire service, Kolb said. And that has been done -- with three new stations and more than 30 new firefighters expected to be hired.

(Meanwhile, on a fire department note, the city this week will interview finalists to replace the retiring Chief Larry Garcia. The city declined to release candidates' names.)

Quiet agenda -- budget looming -- management expenses

Next week's city council meeting is filled with routine stuff that probably won't spark much discussion. But, there is an opening for talk on the 2008-2009 budget, which could be interesting if someone throws out a new idea or flags a flaw.

Also, we note in this week's agenda a simple record that the city has been transparent about for some time -- managment expense records. This month's is pretty routine. Just check the agenda each month if you'd like to see updates. Here's the report:

City Manager George Kolb, ICMA Strategic Planning Committee Meeting, Richmond, Texas $690.01

Kelly Carpenter, Director of Finance 2007 ICSC Spring Convention, Las Vegas Nev., $1,113.62

Law Joe Allen Lang, First Attorney Litigation, Wilmington, Del. $939.76

Jim Norris, Director of IT IS Broadband Wireless World @ Interop, Las Vegas, Nev. $1,523.32

Larry Garcia, Fire Chief, 2007 Metropolitan Fire Chiefs Conference, Los Angeles, Cali. $1,909.72

Cynthia Berner-Harris, Director of Libraries Strategic Planning for the Library Services & Technology Act, Topeka $124.90

Nancy Harvieux, Transporation Manager Partnerships For Transportation Conference, Kansas City $430.65

Total $6,731.98

Check out the new fire stations

About a year ago, people from Jim Skelton's southeast Wichita district walked a picket line along Main Street in front of City Hall asking the city to build a fire station in South City. It couldn't happen soon enough for Skelton. But it will happen sometime around the end of 2008, fire officials say. Above are conceptual designs of all three fire stations that the city council approved. (Just click on the images for a larger view.) The first is Station 20, which will be built in far east Wichita. Station 21 will follow in west Wichita. And, finally, Station 22. Land hasn't yet been acquired for Station 22, but Assistant Fire Chief Mike Rudd said the city is working on that. The new stations will have separate dorm-style rooms instead of the more open rooms that firefighters sleep in at other stations. The two-bed rooms are intended to give firefighters more privacy and help attract more women to the profession. The large rooms next to the fire truck bays on Stations 20 and 21 are there to house alternative communications centers if something disables dispatch and communications downtown. Local community groups could also have meetings there.

We'll update you with new station addresses and a precise timeline soon.

(If you're curious where other city fire stations are, click here.)
(If you're interested in becoming one of the 31 new firefighters the city plans to hire, click here.)

City council will call bowling congress, examine Exchange Place plans and talk budget

Real Development's plan to turn several downtown buildings into high-dollar condos is about to get one of the last go-ahead signals it needs before developers can start building. The city council votes Tuesday whether to accept the project plan.

Under the proposal, the city would buy three downtown buildings, turn them over to Real Development and build a public parking garage with 150 monthly and hourly spaces. Altogether, that would cost $6 million in property tax money that would otherwise be split among the city, county and school district. The structures included are the Exchange Place Building, Michigan Building, Lerner's Building and a parking lot near Douglas and Market. The city would buy them for $2.25 million and give them to Real Development (AKA The Minnesota Guys), which would convert them into condos that would sell for an average of $200,000. Under the proposed agreement, Real Development would have to cover any costs that the TIF doesn't generate. That is supposed to protect the city's coffers if the project falls short.
(Check out the council agenda for more on the Exchange Place project and other city business.)

And, at some point Tuesday, Mayor Carl Brewer and Vice Mayor Sharon Fearey will have a teleconference with representatives of the United States Bowling Congress, which decided to back out of their plans to have a huge tournament at Century II in 2011. The bowlers have set some ground rules about what topics they'll discuss during the conversation, so it's unclear how much information might come out of it.

Following the council meeting, there will be a discussion about the 2008-2009 budget. There are other public meetings on the budget as well.

July 16 – Evening presentation to all six district advisory boards, 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the council chamber (televised live on the city’s cable Channel 7).
July 17 - Public comment at council meeting. A workshop will follow.
July 24 - Set total dollars levied and take public comment at council meeting. A workshop will follow.
Aug. 7 – Public comment at council meeting. A workshop will follow.
Aug. 14 - Official public hearing and adoption of the of the 2008 budget at the council meeting.

Old Town partiers have been holding it (or watering the shrubs)

The public restrooms in Old Town have been open for about a month, but, for at least a couple weeks, some bar hoppers have had to hold it -- or find an alternate restroom (which is often an alley or some landscaping). That's because there's been a glitch in the automatic locks that were set up to close the new public restrooms down at 2 a.m. (bar closing time) on Friday and Saturdays and at midnight Sunday to Thursday.

Dale Goter, the city's lobbyist and fill-in spokesman, assures us the restroom locks are being fixed and will soon have a telephone connection to City Hall so that security officers can lock and unlock the doors as needed.

(See The Hall Monitor's first potty post here.)

Colorful brick pulled from future Nomar International district

Drivers might get a bit confused if they have to drive over the colorful brick designers envisioned at the 21st and Broadway intersection, traffic engineers say. So they're ditching the bricks. Instead of the circular design seen in the image to the left, the intersection will have brick crosswalks that use three colors of brick and form pyramids. It's not clear if the pillar will remain.

Planners consider the intersection one of the gateways into the proposed Nomar International business district, which aims to revitalize 21st Street. (Learn more about the proposed district on the city's web site.) The city will likely pay about $300,000 to have two large utility poles moved and about $1.5 million to buy the right-of-way to build a larger intersection. That will include buying Sandy's Furniture.

Is the proposed animal shelter too fancy?

The city is considering building a new $6.7 million animal shelter to replace the cramped house and shelter they currently use to register, house and euthanize thousands of cats, dogs and other animals. But the discussion the city council had Tuesday got prickly when Jim Skelton questioned whether designers were adding too many amenities that drive up costs. After all, the very rough cost estimate quoted in 1999 was only $3.3 million -- less than half of the new estimate. Some of the money could be better spent on things like streets, Skelton said, particular in south Wichita. But because the building would be visible from K-96 and Hillside and the new design incorporates three leashless dog parks the public could use, Sharon Fearey said people will want a building that is at least somewhat attractive. (Click on the images above to get a larger view of the proposed layout, conceptual image and site plan.) Designers already made some cuts, though no one said what they were. And, after Tuesday's talk, they're going to look for more places to trim costs.

For years, the city's animal control officials have been working out of a house dubbed the "greenhouse" at 1024 N. Minnesota. The shelter is at 3303 N. Hillside. It was built in 1985, and Environmental Services Director Kay Johnson says the lack of space there leads to an unusually high kill rate, meaning thousands of adoptable cats and dogs are being put down shortly after the required three-day grace period. Last year, 6,300 animals were killed. "That's an unthinkably large number," Johnson said. Under the current plan, the city would pay for their building, the Kansas Humane Society would pay for a similar facility next door and the two would split the cost of excavating the land and building the roads and parking lots. The joint site would make it easier for people to find lost pets, Johnson says, and reduce the number of animals they kill. (Below are images of the existing buildings.)

Sunflower, George Kolb and a courtroom

It's been months since Sunflower Community Action members protested with residents at City Manager George Kolb's house. They were trying to force the city to clean up a chronically trash-packed yard at 10th and Volutsia. Now the yard has been cleaned. But the story continues. Sunflower will have a press conference Thursday afternoon to say that the city has spent an exceptionally large amount of money and energy to prosecute a brief protest at the doorstep of Kolb's home (as seen in the video below). Then, on Friday, three Sunflower members and a woman who lives next door to the now-cleaner property at 10th and Volutsia will be in court facing criminal trespass and illegal dumping charges for being on Kolb's property and leaving their protest signs behind.

Sunflower's media conference is at 2 p.m. The trial starts Friday at 9 a.m., but Sunflower members will be outside City Hall at 8 a.m. trying to gather support. (Read more about the case in previous Hall Monitor posts.)

Batter up: What the city wants from a baseball team

As The Eagle's Joanna Chadwick reported this morning, the Northern League will be in town this week chatting with potential investors who want to bring a new baseball team to Wichita. If and when the money comes together, one of the first steps new teams will take is a tour of the ballpark. In April, Northern League Commissioner Clark Griffith foreshadowed some concerns about the stadium in The Eagle. "It probably needs some upgrading to realize its full potential," he said. "When you walk in and see slabs of wood for seats, it probably needs some new seats. You can't get away with that now. People expect more, and they expect government people to supply them with more."

The city is already designing improvements to the dugouts, locker rooms, infields and concession stands at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium. But whichever teams submit proposals to be Wichita's next baseball team will be asked to outline other potential improvements to the 72-year-old ballpark, according to the city's request for proposals. (See a PDF of the RFP on The Eagle's site.)

Among things the city suggests a new team check out are improvements to general seating, player facilities, the field itself, back of the house operating spaces, press facilities, fan experiences, concession and food service locations and services, merchandising locations and spaces, premium services and seating, advertising and sponsorship opportunities, parking improvements and overall site improvements.

Whew, sounds like a whole new ballpark. And the city suggests a new team identify public and private funds to pay for it.

City to examine the other wireless: cell phone towers

After mediating several fiery disputes between homeowners and cellular phone companies, the City Council is planning to consider amendments to their wireless communications tower guidelines. They'll vote Tuesday to open the discussion, a necessary precursor to an amendment to their zoning codes.

So what's in store? "Controversy," says John Schlegel, the city/county planning director.

Most folks expect a signal on their phone wherever they are in this city of 355,000. But, as companies try to put up new towers to handle more calls, neighbors are fighting to keep the poles out of their backyards -- and even the backyards that are more than a block away. They fear their home values will fall and their view of the big Kansas sky will be ruined. Wichitans aren't unique here -- people across the country have fought off towers and found companies willing to disguise their facilities, hide them or simply find a different location. So the Wichita-Sedgwick County planning department has drafted a plan to outline areas that are acceptable for towers. Schlegel says he expects cell phone companies to dislike that since they have a lot of freedom to place towers now. But, the plan is just a starting point, he said. This month, the City Council will review the plan. Then it will be heard by community people with the wireless industry before going before district advisory boards citywide in August and September. A Council vote on new regulations is expected in November. Check out this PDF link if you'd like to see what the city considers "sensitive" areas. And check out this PDF link for the city's existing policy, which was created in 2000.

A first flush for the Old Town restrooms

City Hall press releases don't get much better than this:
"Potty in Old Town!
You are invited to the...
Toilet Paper Ribbon Cutting & First Official Flush of the New Public Restrooms in Old Town!
Saturday, June 2 at 11 AM
Public Restrooms located on Mosley Street
between Douglas & 1st Street"

The Hall Monitor leaves the city's capitalization in to emphasize the excitement exclaimed in the release. After all, it's not everyday that there is an official inaugural toilet flush. The release does not specify what will be flushed.

In all seriousness, the public lavatories will be welcomed by many Old Town partiers. The city's nightlife core is notorious for having more than its share of public urination and the police have noticed. For example, in 2005, a special operation including plainclothes officers led to 26 arrests, mostly for public urination and drinking in the streets. (See the law here.)

The facility is the first of five new public restrooms in the Old Town area that the city says will be well lit, have individual locks and will be accessible to people with disabilities. They will also have a baby changing station. It all costs about $275,000 in tax increment financing funds -- which comes from the extra property tax money generated by development in that area. We're counting on former mayoral candidate James Mendenhall, who campaigned for cleaner restrooms earlier this year, to watchdog the upkeep of these water closets.

Aging Minisa Bridge will wait a year for a facelift

The city has doubled the money it will spend to rebuild the historic Minisa Bridge that carries 13th Street traffic over the Little Arkansas River. But it will probably be 2008 before the facelift begins and Riverside drivers are forced to detour around the heavily traveled bridge. That's because the city is trying to make sure North High School is on summer break at least part of the time the bridge is closed. And it's expected to close for six months. During that time, most traffic will be re-routed to 21st Street. Neighborhood traffic will take a shorter cut over the N. Bitting Avenue bridge.

Since it takes more than a month to get state approval and let bids for the construction, the city can't get it started this summer. The Feds will still pay $1 million, but the city has increased their budget from $800,000 to $1.6 million due to the rapidly rising cost of construction. That, the city is hoping, will lock a price in and prevent them from raising the budget for the bridge even more. The city's long-term capital budget is already getting squeezed and this will just add to that, reducing the number of capital improvement projects they can handle in coming years. Once the bridge is complete, it will have all the historic features it has today -- minus the cracks in the pillars and potholes in the red brick surface. The Minisa Bridge was built in 1932.

The dust hasn't settled on paving the city's dirt streets

Five months after the City Council first discussed ways to make it cheaper for people to get dirt streets paved, the conversation continued this week. It wasn't much more than an echo. They even saw the same PowerPoint -- complete with thrilling photos of empty gravel roads and bar graphs. As one long-time City Hall official put it in a different context this week: "Things in City Hall have two speeds: 0 MPH and 1,000 MPH."

Council member Jim Skelton has anxiously advocated for a solution to get more of the city's 96 miles of dirt roads paved, including dozens in his district in southeast Wichita. It's clear from listening to him that he feels this is one of those 0 MPH issues. Skelton got little support for his ideas to use more bar ditches to reduce costs drainage costs in areas that aren't flood-prone and extending the time people have to pay off the special assessments (a state legislature issue). But, when he suggested the city could let more people low incomes defer paying special assessments by increasing the city's poverty guidelines, he got some support. As it is, a family of four must make less than $30,600 a year to qualify for deferral (it's an annual process). That's considered "very low income." City finance officials said the city could use the "low income" level instead, allowing a family of four that makes less than $48,950 to forgo payments until they move or exceed the set income level.

City Manager George Kolb said the issue will get more serious consideration when the Council prepares its capital budget in June. Council members already say they expect things to be tight. It won't help if the Council approves a three-year contract with the police union next week that pushes them $6.5 million beyond what they had budgeted for (See story). And things could get even tighter with Sedgwick County Commissioners' decision to charge the city for the suspects it houses in the county jail (See story) and revenue lost from statewide business property tax exemptions. (See a PDF about petitioning for paving here.)

Have Wichita and Sedgwick County found peace?

This week marks the 20th anniversary of the day Wichita and Sedgwick County made peace.

On April 17, 1987, city and county officials gathered in the middle of Central Avenue dressed as American Indians, laid down the hatchets they were carrying and signed a peace treaty to symbolize a new era of govenrment cooperation. The event was the brainchild of former Commissioner Dave Bayouth who said the newfound peace would help bring jobs to the area, the Wichita Eagle-Beacon reported at the time.

"The event, billed as the 'Central Street Summit', began with the 10 officials moving up to a table draped with Indian blankets. There, they put down their hatchets - a symbol that city-county strife is now buried in the past. Truman Ware, the chairman of the board of the Mid-America All-Indian Center, presided over the passing of the peace pipe, reminding officials of its significance," the paper reported on April 18, 1987.

Click the "read more" link to see The Eagle's full front page story from that day.

GOVERNMENTS LAY DOWN HATCHETS
CITY, COUNTY SUMMIT FEATURES SYMBOLISM, PROMISES

ALISSA RUBIN, STAFF WRITER

It was a grand show for the city and the county.

In front of about 2,000 city and county employees and guests - including the governor - the five City Council members and the five county commissioners stepped up to a table in the middle of Central Avenue on Friday, laid down the hatchets they were carrying, passed an Indian peace pipe and signed a treaty with pens passed out by the acting county administrator.

The ceremony, the brainchild of County Commissioner Dave Bayouth, was to symbolize what government officials say will be a new era of cooperation between the city and the county and commitment to work together to bring jobs to the Wichita-Sedgwick County area.

Employees from both sides of the street agreed it was great to spend some time outdoors on a beautiful spring day, but as for long-term cooperation, well . . . time will tell.

It's nice; it lets the public know that we're willing to stand across the table from one another and smile at each other," said County Commission Chairman Tom Scott.

It does show people we're willing to sit down and talk about our differences," he added.

Councilman Sheldon Kamensaid the celebration showed the community and state legislators that we're willing to work together."

The event, billed as the Central Street Summit," began with the 10 officials moving up to a table draped with Indian blankets. There, they put down their hatchets - a symbol that city-county strife is now buried in the past. Truman Ware, the chairman of the board of the Mid-America All-Indian Center, presided over the passing of the peace pipe, reminding officials of its significance.

Wichita was always a place of peace for all the Indians of the plains," he said.

Mel Kahn, professor of political science at Wichita State University, who served as master of ceremonies, gave a brief speech complete with biblical references. He said the city and county were fingers of the same hand and had to work together for the greater good of the community.

After Kahn spoke, Gov. Mike Hayden sounded the gong of economic development with comments of the mutual interests of the state and local governments. Our plans for economic development will fit with your plans for economic development . . . we want to work with you hand in hand," Hayden said.

After the ceremony there was a free lunch for all city and county employees and the guests. Food and soft drinks were donated by Skaggs Alpha Beta, Burger King, Wendy's of Wichita, Long John Silvers, New York Hotdog Company, 7-Up Bottling Company, Rainbo Bakery, Pizza Hut, Ohse Meat Products and the Canteen Corporation; other services were donated by Browning Ferris Industries and Superior Sound.

All content © 1987 WICHITA EAGLE-BEACON
and may not be republished without permission.

Live from the 10th floor? Maybe

You won't see it on TV, but every other Thursday at 1:30 p.m. the Metropolitan Area Planning Commission meets on the 10th floor of City Hall to decide what this city will look like. It's often decided in pieces -- such as can a subdivision expand or can someone sell a house and turn it into a business. Other times, it's not so simple. For example, can a Wal-Mart SuperCenter move in or is it OK to relocate some wetlands to make way for development?

Some of the city's most contentious issues are first ruled on at the MAPC. The City Council can always overrule, but the MAPC's decisions usually set the tone. Now some City Council members, such as Paul Gray and Sharon Fearey, think it would be best to broadcast the meetings since the decisions can change the face of a neighborhood. But a $67,225 remodel of their meeting room that the Council will vote on Tuesday doesn't include broadcasting capabilities -- just audio and visual additions to improve the information flow during the meetings. Fearey and others are asking for broadcasting capabilities. In a meeting Friday, City Manager George Kolb said he would bring back some new prices with broadcast included. "We will do the TV wiring," he said after Fearey questioned it.

As it stands today, here's what's on the city's purchase list:
21 wireless microphones
Receiver and mixer for the mics
22 4 inch speakers (two-ways with woofers and tweeters)
A 60x80 inch fabric screen
Sanyo projector with computer interfaces
A podium
Hook-ups for reporters to patch into the system with audio/visual recorders

Mayoral candidates agree: shopping bags on heads don't make sense

Mayoral candidates Carl Brewer and Carlos Mayans say those people with shopping bags, tickets and a dinner plate on their heads don't make much sense to them.

"I probably would have used something a little different myself," Brewer said, laughing. "I've never been able to figure out exactly what the catch was to it."

"I think you said it all, it's a little different," Mayans said.

Their comments came during the candidates' last face-to-face debate on KNSS NewsRadio 1330 this morning after host Gene Countryman asked whether the taxpayer-funded signs, which are on billboards all over the state, were a good idea.

"It just seems baffling to me," Countryman said.
(Get a podcast of the show here.)

The Greater Wichita Convention and Visitor's Bureau and Greteman Group, which made the ads, also took some heat in 2004 when the ad campaign was first displayed. The slogan -- "We got the goods" -- didn't sound right to some grammar hawks. Ad writers, however, said the casual wording was intentional -- like the "Got Milk" campaign.