It’s time, once again, to talk about a new bridge over the Big Ditch in northwest Wichita. Folks in that part of town are well-acquainted with the issue, which basically involves the question of where should it go — 13th Street? 21st Street? 25th Street?. But those northwest residents have also seen plans for the bridge live, die and come back to life again. Well, it’s back (officially) again on Wednesday night (Oct.8), when city officials plan to show off some options, chat with those who show up and collect input.
The Eagle requested some more details from the city Monday, but got no response. Already, the city has studied and re-studied ways to bridge the ditch. The latest of those studies was only recently completed, leading to the unveiling of options Wednesday night.
The public meeting is at 7 p.m. at the Sedgwick County Extension Office, 7001 West 21st St. North.
It was just about a reporter’s dream.
Wichita City Council members had just kicked everyone out of their board room for an executive session meeting. A few minutes passed. And then there was a little commotion and some phone calls indicating the private meeting wasn’t so private after all. Turns out the audio was still on and broadcasting online — though Channel 7 viewers were just hearing the usual elevator tunes. City staff hauled out the microphones — seen in the photo at the left — and the council resumed its meeting in private. To this reporter’s dismay, nothing sexy got on air; they hadn’t even started their discussion. But it was about as close as we non-executives get to being a fly on the wall of a closed-door session. Read More »
Back in 1998, city officials and the analysts they hired were surprised to learn some of west Wichita’s worst flooding came from Dry Creek, which ran over its banks and cut a new channel to the north fork of Calfskin Creek. Much of that water ended up in The Dell neighborhood, which again last weekend was heavily damaged by rising water.
This time, however, there don’t seem to be any surprises in flood flows, Public Works Director Chris Carrier said. Read More »
We typically don’t publish press releases or typed up statements. But, as waters damage homes and property in Wichita, we figured we would pass along Mayor Carl Brewer’s statement ASAP. It was released at 4:45 p.m. today.
Here it is word-for-word: Read More »
It’s been months since city, county and business officials said the community would have to pony-up some cash to ensure Cessna builds its Columbus jet here in Wichita. Now the loan — or the city’s share of it, anyway — is on the table.
City Council members Tuesday are all but assured to approve their $5 million share of a $10 million city/county forgivable loan. The money will help the aircraft giant build new facilities to build the jet in. Cessna estimates the project will result in $800 million in capital investment and create 1,000 engineering, production and support jobs. Read More »
It’s an unexpectedly exciting (if that word can be used in a council blog) line up for this week’s city council consent agenda and workshop.
First off, it’s not really a consent agenda, as the council calendar and 9:30 a.m. meeting time suggest. The first item is the repeal of the Intrust Bank Arena area tax increment finance district. Read more about that in Tuesday’s Eagle or here. In short, it’s a reaction to Sedgwick County’s concerns that the district is too big and diverts county-wide tax money to things the city should fund on its own. We can hear the groans of downtown developers and the cheers of limited government advocates already. Read More »
About three months after they thought they were done, Wichita’s City Manager Search Committee Wednesday will be back in board room at 1 p.m. Robert Slavin, president of the city’s chosen headhunting firm, Slavin Management Consultants, will meet with the 17-member committee, Mayor Carl Brewer said today. Brewer said he wasn’t sure whether Slavin will present any candidates yet. Committee Chairwoman Misty Bruckner said she doesn’t expect to hear about any candidates. Instead, she said, the meeting on the 10th floor of City Hall will include a short talk with Brewer, an outline of the committee’s time line and some more details on how the process will work. The meeting is open to the public, but some of the issues will be discussed in a closed-door session, Bruckner said. Read More »
Round two of the city manager search is underway, and this time it will have a different leader. It’s Misty Bruckner, coordinator of community outreach at Wichita State University’s Center for Urban Studies. She replaces the previous chair of the search committee, Steve Martens, who is president of Grubb & Ellis| Martens Commercial Group, LLC. Martens said he told Mayor Carl Brewer he wouldn’t be available to lead the search committee this time. But he praised the committee members and said he believes the city is using the right process to find a new manager. Read More »
Local agencies that provide rides to people with disabilities may get a little extra money next year. But it might not be enough to offset their rising costs or cover their estimated losses after years in which the city didn’t fully reimburse them.
The city’s proposed budget offered $360,000 more to several local agencies that provide transportation to people with disabilities. Now, Vice Mayor Sue Schlapp says she’d like to increase that by $400,000, getting the providers closer to breaking even on their expenses. Council members who heard the proposal earlier this week appeared to agree, and they plan to include it in the 2009-2010 budget, which the council will vote to adopt Tuesday. Read More »
Former interim city manager Ed Flentje proposed spending another $1.6 million on the Old Town tax increment finance district and then end it two years earlier than expected. Now city council member Sharon Fearey says the district should remain open for a little longer — long enough to fund $750,000 worth of resurfaced public parking lots and security projects. Her council counterparts seem to agree and plan to include those projects in their 2009-2010 budget Tuesday. (Here’s the list of projects… old-town-tif-2008-2012.)
The Old Town TIF was created in 1991, and a total of $4.3 million in bonds was issued to pay for the Old Town parking garage and sidewalk and street improvements, according to the city budget. Now it produces more money than it needs, and Old Town Association members and the city keep coming up with new projects to spend the money on rather than putting the property tax dollars, which have increased 423 percent since 1993, back on the general tax rolls to fund citywide projects.
The TIF district was to die naturally in 2013. But Flentje told the council that closing the TIF in 2011 would make about $250,000 a year for the city, Sedgwick County and the Wichita School District, all of which split property tax dollars. Under Fearey’s proposal, it would close whenever the projects are funded, which she and finance officials estimate would be in 2012.
