Brewer’s response today comes after Bob Weeks, a local blogger who has pressed the city on the issue, called the International Sister Cities Conference a “junket” that the city should not pay for in a tough economic climate.

“Even in good budget times, I would argue these trips should be avoided,” Weeks told council members this morning.

Weeks said the city estimates the cost of the trip at $4,000, which includes airfare for Miller and Kelly Harper, a non-city employee who is president of the Wichita Area Sister Cities.

Weeks referenced the city’s call for residents to make sacrifices as the city faces a $13 million budget deficit, which is leading to layoffs and cutbacks in many departments.

Miller didn’t comment. But Brewer said the trip is an important “social and economic exchange.”

He said the trip serves two purposes: One is to seek any new businesses that may come to Wichita or conduct business here; the other is to visit one of Wichita’s sister cities, Orleans, France, which Brewer said is an hour from Paris.

Previously, that would have been two trips, Brewer said, noting that the city is trying to cut back on city council travel.

Brewer said Miller and Harper will pay for all expenses besides airfare.

The trip, Sept. 21-27, has a rigorous schedule, Brewer said.

“They don’t get to sit on the beach,” he said. “They don’t get to sip pina coladas.”

Brewer said the situation is similar to a married couple going through tough times. He said you shouldn’t get a divorce just to save money — just like the city shouldn’t decline an invitation to the Sister Cities conference just because of a tight budget.

Vice Mayor Jim Skelton said a recent trip he took to Germany with aircraft industry leaders has led to some business between Wichita and a company in Germany.

Still, Skelton acknowledged Weeks’ complaint.

“We do need to watch international travel and provide an extra level of scrutiny, especially when the city is laying people off,” he said.

Topeka residents approved a half-cent sales tax Tuesday to fix streets and other infrastructure. The proposal to raise the sales tax to 7.95 cents on the dollar was approved by 57 percent of voters.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports: The 10-year tax takes effect Oct. 1, with proceeds going to pay costs of “maintenance and improvements of existing streets, gutters, curbs, sidewalks, alleys and street lighting.”

Wichita has more than 500 miles of streets in “critical” condition and isn’t spending enough to keep up with the deterioration, we reported in February.

On Monday, Senate Bill 208 is scheduled to for debate on the Senate floor. The proposal would abolish the death penalty for cases sentenced after July 1, 2009.

Six worried that the change could mean that death row inmates currently appealing their sentences – such as Michael Marsh and Gavin Scott – could be exempted from execution.

Family members also worried that Reginald and Jonathan Carr could escape the death penalty through appeals, if the law were changed.

It is’t about cost or closure, said Amy Scott, who was dating Brad Heyka, one of four people kidnapped and shot execution style on a Wichita soccer field in 2000 by brothers Jonathan and Reginald Carr. A fifth person survived. The Carrs have been on death row since 2002.

“We’re never going to have closure because we’ve lost the people we loved so much,” she said. “I just think this is a matter of justice. This just needs to be finished to the end.”

The proposal comes from Sen. Carolyn McGinn, R-Sedgwick, who says all cost-saving measures should be considered while the state faces a budget crunch.

Prosecutors, such as Six, have argued that the cases do not necessarily cost more and justice should not be predicated on expense.

He urged Kansans to contact their lawmakers and express opposition to banning the death penalty.

Kansas has 10 men on death row. No one has been executed since the death penalty was reinstated in 1994.

Last year, the mayor and city council members each got a 4 percent cost of living boost — along with most other city employees. Council members, whom most consider part-time employees, are actually listed as full time employees (or equivalent), and they make about $35,000 a year.

To see more about the council’s budget, see their portion of the city budget.

Last year, Brewer spoke to a packed city council chamber of mostly invitees. His 3,800-word speech drew applause more than 30 times, giving it the feel of a State of the State or State of the Union address. But his themes were hyper-local, addressing gang violence, the murder of Robert Ridge, fighting blight and retaining and attracting business — particularly in the aviation sector, where Brewer worked until he was elected as mayor, a full-time job, in 2007. This year, we anticipate that the speech will focus on layoffs in the aviation sector and downtown development.

In keeping with the parallels between the city speech and those of governors and presidents, here is a “word cloud” image that balloons the words he used the most in his 2007 address. This cloud was created using Wordle. Similar clouds are used by major media outlets, such as The New York Times, to give readers a sense of the dominating themes of speeches.

Brewer speech cloud

Using the tone of some of the stories chronicling President-elect Barack Obama’s win, the satirical periodical reports that Alan Klemke won the District 4 City Council seat in the Nov. 4 election. (Of course, being a serious news source, we feel compelled to note that Wichita’s city council elections are in April and District 4 isn’t up for election in 2009.)

Here’s a taste of The Onion’s story: “Klemke delivered a rousing victory address in front of his now-famous campaign headquarters, located in a vacant storefront within the Westway Shopping Center. There Klemke thanked his staff for their hard work throughout a historic campaign that captured the hearts and minds of an entire district, including all neighborhoods south of Douglas Avenue and west of the Arkansas River.”

(Yes, there is — or at least was — a Westway Shopping Center in Wichita. It’s on South Seneca. As for Klemke, there’s no sign of him in recent voter registration databases.)

For those with more serious things in mind, the legislative agenda has a familiar list of core Wichita issues — funding to subsidize airfares, money for the aquifer recharge project, more technical education, more nursing programs and small business development. The legislative requests also include a move to urge the state to pass a law allowing impoundments of motorcycles operated by unlicensed drivers — the police say five of the 11 fatal motorcycle accidents in the past two years have involved unlicensed drivers.

Council members will discuss the legislative issues Tuesday, make any changes they agree on and vote Dec. 2 on what requests to bring to Topeka.

Homelessness: This move wouldn’t commit the city to any spending, but it would let Interim City Manager Ed Flentje work with County Manager Bill Buchanan to develop yet more recommendations on what local governments should do to help people who are on the streets.

Amtrak: It has been 28 years since Wichita had passenger rail service, and now many are calling for an extension of existing rail lines through Wichita. That would provide train service from Fort Worth to Kansas City. This resolution wouldn’t authorize any spending, but it would formally encourage the project.

Cowtown: The museum is set to re-open May 9, and the city wants to hire and advertising firm to get the word out via a marketing campaign. The gig would go to Jajo, Inc., a Wichita company that would use e-mail, radio and other tactics to “generate buzz” and bring people into the struggling museum.

Cargill: The parking lot is located near First and Water streets downtown, which is near one of Cargill’s buildings. The company has been expanding downtown, and it is adding more and more employees.

Then Brewer tried to change some minds, and he said the city must do its best to end chronic homelessness and then move on to helping others who are a paycheck away from being on the streets. It’s something, Brewer said, that many people sitting on the council and in City Hall may not understand because they haven’t been there.

“I wish there was someway you could flip the script and put the policy makers in the shoes of the homeless person,” Brewer said, using a tone that he has used only a few key topics, such as gang violence. “If there was some way that that could ever happen, I think that people’s attitudes would change. We have never experienced the suffering that those individuals have to suffer.”

Brewer grew up poor, a fact that he has only discussed on a few occasions. And he hasn’t yet brought it up in the context of the plans to end homelessness.

The Mayor also emphasized that some of those on the streets are the people who fought for the country in Iraq and Afghanistan, something that the task force has noted as well. He said many men and women come home only to immediately lose their jobs, leaving them with one last paycheck to live on at a time when they may be struggling to re-adapt to life without explosions and death. Many of them end up homeless, he said. “War does that.”

With clear philosophical differences among council members, it remains unclear how they will vote when they’re asked to endorse the plan April 1.