As city officials continue their hasty courtship of Pat Salerno to become the next city manager, it’s hard to believe that the downtown arena project is not accelerating the speed of the search.
Eagle reporter Brent Wistrom’s piece in Sunday’s Eagle on Salerno elicited both praise and criticism from folks who worked with Salerno in Sunrise, Fla. That’s not unexpected for any public official who has served in the same capacity for 18 years. The one shining highlight on Salerno’s resume is the BankAtlantic Center, the home of the NHL’s Florida Panthers. The arena has sparked tremendous growth in the area.
I’m guessing that Wichita officials would like the same thing to happen around Intrust Bank Arena. Right now, no one is really steering that ship, and the arena opens in about 18 months. Is a vibrant arena neighborhood worth the price of bringing in Salerno and some of his baggage? We’ll find out.
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Renewing downtown Wichita by building a 1/2 billion dollar tax-financed downtown arena first was the total flopheaded approach by Wichita’s good old boy network, county commissioners and a small group of opportunist “hired guns” brought here temporarily to help “the little people of Wichita.”
A plan for development of downtown should have the first order of business.
Among the disasterous problems is the white elephant downtown arena is sitting on the site that should have been reserved for the 500 car parking area for a revitalized downtown passenger railroad station in Wichita’s grand old Union Station.
The downtown arena reminds me of that old nursery rhyme:
Humpty dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty dumpty took a great fall.
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men
couldn’t put Humpty dmpty back together again.
In short, the unwanted, unneeded downtown white elephant arena is going to be a rotten egg in the middle of trying to develop a great new downtown Wichita.