Vice Mayor Jim Skelton leveled arguments against them and said it just doesn’t make sense to pull functioning lights just to save some energy. (See The Eagle’s story about that.)

Now the city has pulled them from the list of projects they plan to fund with the federal stimulus money being given to cities across the country.

But the proposal, which council members will vote on Tuesday, still includes the other projects. Those include:

• $3.6 million to put a “green roof” on the Rounds and Porter Building that sits just west of City Hall

• $1.6 million to connect the K-96 bike path to the I-135 path

• $560,000 to synchronize stop lights at about 227 intersections

• $264,000 for voluntary energy conservation programs and education

• $15,000 to buy a cardboard baler for Century II

The city’s transit department has $6.6 million of stimulus money (that federal cash viewed by some as a boost in a down economy and by others as wasteful spending with lax oversight). That will equip virtually all buses with bicycle racks (they each hold two bikes on the front of the bus). And the city is also considering placing bike racks or lockers where trails intersect with bus paths, said Mike Vinson, the city’s transit director.

The stim cash will also be welcomed by the nonprofits that shuttle people with disabilities. (The city must provide transportation to people with disabilities – either by doing it themselves or paying someone else to.) But the city has shorted them for years, something the city has only recently acknowledged and begun to fix. The stimulus dough will help fund their services and buy some new vans.

The spending, which is expected to get a formal endorsement from the city council this Tuesday, will also buy heaps of other equipment . Here’s a look:

Equipment and storage for the new regional van maintenance facility; · Purchase of new replacement paratransit vans for Wichita Transit’s aging fleet; · Bike racks and bike locks to help tie-in this aspect to our transit system; · Purchase of ITS hardware and software (Phase II) to implement for our van and bus fleets; · Purchase “hybrid” vehicles (for administrative functions) to improve our local carbon footprint; · Purchase and installation of safety strobes for our bus fleet to improve the visibility of the vehicles to reduce accidents; · Preventive maintenance and ADA non-fixed route service operating funds; and · Purchase and installation of air-conditioning units at our Transit Center facility · Purchase paratransit vans for agencies · Administration costs

Drop a note and let us know how you feel about stimulus cash for the transit system.

On the first round, three members selected Jim Skelton, two picked Jeff Longwell and two picked Lavonta Williams. On round two, Williams only landed one vote — and Skelton got four.

The voting system city council members voted to buy a couple years ago doesn’t allow unique voting, such as putting a name or word in. It only offers council members a ‘yes,’ ‘no,’ or ‘abstain,’  Mayor Carl Brewer said.

The new arena TIF district is about half the size of the 30-block blanket the council originally agreed on — only to be shot down by County Commissioners who questioned the need to use a TIF to pay for street improvements and property acquisition in an area that is already seeing increased property values. The new TIF would appear likely to stoke a similar debate, but its more modest size may be enough to turn a few votes. Wednesday’s Sedgwick County Commission meeting will likely answer that question.

That beefier Thursday agenda can be downloaded in PDF format here. Read on for The Eagle’s coverage of the TIF debate…

COUNTY BALKS AT CITY’S TAX DISTRICT AROUND ARENA

BY DEB GRUVER, The Wichita Eagle

Sedgwick County is challenging the city to justify its plan to use public money to subsidize private development around Intrust Bank Arena.

The proposed subsidy area is “too big, too nebulous” and doesn’t speak to arena parking and private development, County Manager William Buchanan said in a letter to interim City Manager Scott Moore on Thursday. The Eagle received a copy of the letter.

Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer said Thursday evening that the county’s concerns caught him by surprise and that he was deeply disappointed.At stake for the county is $3.6 million in annual property tax money that would be diverted from county coffers to pay for streets and other public improvements in the area through a tax increment financing district, or TIF. The county’s $190 million investment in the arena “was undertaken at the explicit request of city officials for the purpose of stimulating development in central Wichita,” Buchanan stressed in the letter. The county had planned to invest much less money to renovate the Kansas Coliseum “but we agreed to set that project aside and relocate our facility in order to support you.” Buchanan outlined four major concerns about the proposal to expand the Center City South TIF District, which the city approved earlier this month. The concerns are: – Private investment is occurring downtown and the need for public investment is not clear. – The city would use TIF funds to pay for $11.5 million in street improvem ents that the county says should be paid for entirely with city funds. – The project would drain about $3.6 million a year in county funds away from county services to pay for city projects. – Every taxable downtown property is having some part of its county property tax diverted to the city to pay for city projects. “All of these factors lead us to the conclusion that the proposed expansion of the Center City TIF District would create an adverse effect to the county,” Buchanan said in the letter. “The potential loss of tax revenue would hinder effective future delivery by the county of public services.” Mayor disappointed Mayor Carl Brewer said Thursday evening that the city would review the county’s letter and concerns and respond “at an appropriate time and in an appropriate way.” “The letter that we received today is surprising and disappointing in its tone and its content,” Brewer said. “We thought we were working together on improvements around the arena and core area. The language in the letter is out of character with our strong partnership in recent years. I’ve talked to several council members who share my deep disappointment in the letter.” The county has veto power over the TIF district because county property taxes would be diverted. The proposed arena TIF district is roughly bounded by Kellogg and First Street and Santa Fe and Main. The tax increment financing district would allow any increase in property tax payments from new developments to be funneled back into the roughly 30-block area to pay for such things as city streets and sidewalks. The captured property tax payments can also be used to tear down buildings and acquire property for private developers. TIFs‘ past performance City Council member Paul Gray said Thursday that the county’s concerns are well founded. He was the only City Council member to vote against the plan on Aug. 5, saying that even city staff noted that the area appreciated in value by 10.5 percent between 2007 and 2008. Such districts are intended to revive blighted and declining areas, he said at the time. On Thursday, he said that expanding the TIF district would “guarantee no one’s going to do any future development on their own” because they would know they could get subsidized by the city. “Why wouldn’t you take advantage of it?” he said. He pointed out that the city has already invested tens of millions of dollars of public money on downtown districts including the WaterWalk, the original Old Town and Old Town Square. A recent Eagle analysis of city and county tax records showed that nearly $159 million in public money has been spent on Wichita’s tax increment financing districts, to get roughly $150 million worth of new development. That new development equals about a $37 million increase in the property tax base. Of the $159 million expended, $144 million has gone to three downtown TIF districts – the original Old Town, Old Town Square and the WaterWalk. Gray said that as far as he knows, the City Council has never rejected a TIF proposal from a developer. “All we do is listen to the people who benefit from TIFs,” Gray said. “Of course they’re going to want us to vote to do TIFs.” But, he added, “At what point is enough enough? How often do you have to give vaccinations or steroids to a sick person before they start to get healthy?” Question of blight County Commissioner Gwen Welshimer said the area around the arena is not blighted. “My word, that’s a hot area now with the arena going up down there,” she said Thursday. “It just doesn’t fit the idea of blighted.” Buchanan’s letter, written on behalf of the commissioners, was “just our first attempt to let them (the city) know we’re not interested in putting a TIF on this entire area that they have described,” Welshimer said. Commissioner Kelly Parks said he was not aware Buchanan was sending out the letter but said “I do have concerns about those points.” Parks said he wanted to visit in person some of the buildings in the proposed district to see if they were blighted. “That’s what TIFs are all about, the blight,” Parks said. “I do want to go physically inspect some of those addresses. I like to get the hands-on experience and see what it is.” Although he is concerned, Parks also said he was “not ready to have a closed mind.” Contributing: Dion Lefler of The Eagle Reach Deb Gruver at 316-268-6400 or dgruver@wichitaeagle.com.

All content © 2008 THE WICHITA EAGLE and may not be republished without permission.

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.

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.

The mics have been a bit of an issue since the city’s multi-million dollar remodeling reshaped the council’s offices and boardroom. Council members often don’t know whether they’re on air or not. Usually they’re trying to make sure they’re on air during their public meetings. But, occasionally, they’re worried their private sessions are being viewed by folks at home — or a thumb-twiddling reporter standing in front of the flat screen in the lobby of City Hall.

(For those new to the executive session format, these are the quasi-weekly meetings where personnel issues are discussed, new development proposals rolled out and lawsuits and settlements outlined. And who knows what else because there are no minutes kept, no recordings made and only rarely does someone leak a little information about what happened.)

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. Carrier said city engineers haven’t yet fully analyzed and surveyed how the water flowed from designated drainage areas into neighborhoods because the focus now is on tallying up damages to see if the city qualifies for federal aid. Carrier also said, at least at this point, the city isn’t planning to hire consultants to analyze the rainfall and flood patterns as they did following the Halloween flood in 1998. But more information is likely to emerge after engineers meet this week to talk about flooding.

Here it is word-for-word:

Heavy rains across south-central Kansas have created a major crisis for residents and property owners in west Wichita. I want to assure our citizens that the City of Wichita is committing all available resources to assist residents affected by this flooding. We also are working in close cooperation with the Sedgwick County Emergency Management throughout this crisis period. Our most recent information indicates that the Dry Creek tributary in west Wichita has risen above flood level and is diverting water into the north fork of the Calfskin Creek. Those conditions are of grave concern because they mirror the situation that created the Halloween Flood of 1998. We are urging citizens in those affected areas to exercise extreme caution and alertness in anticipation of continued flooding.

The Wichita Fire Department and Sedgwick County Emergency Management are working to alert residents in the affected subdivisions. It is also extremely important that all citizens recognize the danger of flood waters in our city. We strongly discourage residents from wading or playing in flooded streets or ignoring barricades that are blocking flooded areas. Police and fire department responses to those kinds of activities only detract from their ability to deal with much more serious concerns raised by this crisis.

Other actions taken by the City of Wichita during the past 24 hours include: – Deploying 12 trucks loaded with sand and sand bags to selected areas. Citizens are welcome to fill sand bags and use them for flood protection.

– The Red Cross and Sedgwick County Emergency Management have made arrangements with the Metro East Baptist Church at West Douglas and McLean for use as an emergency shelter. Also, the City of Wichita is prepared to use its recreational centers and Century 2 as emergency shelters.

– The City and County will continue to monitor rainfall and stream flow and will continue on a high level of alert throughout this weather period.

– The Fire Department has called back to duty its off-duty water rescue team to assist the on-duty team.

In closing, I would urge all of our citizens to be aware of the dangers caused by these torrential rains. Challenging times require a united community that is willing to help its neighbors. Help where you can, but don’t contribute to the problem by traveling or playing in flooded area.

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.

Also on tap Tuesday is a resolution urging the Kansas Legislature to add local projects to the transportation plan they debate in the 2009 session. On the list are:

I-235 interchanges at Kellogg and Central Kellogg construction NW Wichita (K-254) Bypass I-135 Interchange at 47th St. S. North Junction – K-96, I-254, I-135 Rail Corridor Master Plan/Construction I-235 Floodway Bridges Hoover/K-96 Interchange

For more, see the city council’s agenda in PDF format.

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.

Next up is a proposal by Drury Southwest, Inc. to save the Broadview Hotel. This time the city’s not at as much risk as in a previous proposal that council members shot down. Drury is requesting a batch of incentives to make the deal work, including up to $25 million in industrial revenue bonds, property tax abatement and management of the city-owned parking garage on Waco across from the hotel. That’s different from the proposal council members shot down about a month ago in that it doesn’t ask for a city grant to renovate the building. But Drury is asking the city to approve a skywalk from the hotel to the garage. Learn more about that in Tuesday’s Eagle.

After the council meeting, city leaders will get a glimpse of new computer renderings of the new terminal at Mid-Continent Airport, talk about a plan to add sculptures to Old Town and review a request by the Kansas Aviation Museum for money to fund upgrades. Stay tuned to Kansas.com for updates Tuesday and Wednesday.