Jeffrey Fluhr passed the first impressions test with flying colors Thursday morning at an introductory press conference at the WaterWalk. He’s smart, vibrant, articulate and has a game plan to pull downtown redevelopment together.
The Wichita Downtown Development Corporation’s new chief spoke with a near missionary zeal about listening to the community and crafting a downtown redevelopment strategic plan that every resident can own.
Including, he said, the city’s growing anti-tax crowd, opposers of everything from the downtown arena to the public-private partnership funding a lot of downtown’s growth. That group, he said, might have ideas to help further the city’s growth plans.
It will be interesting to see if Fluhr can invigorate a dialogue with the anti-taxers – or if he gets swept away in the “no way, no how, no taxes downtown” flood that seems to be developing.