The Sedgwick County Commission made a great choice Wednesday in voting to build the new downtown arena on the east site. The property acquisition and preparation costs for this location are estimated to be about $6 million less than the central site — savings that could go toward parking or design enhancements. The east location also offers the best redevelopment potential, with its link to Douglas Avenue, Old Town and the Commerce Street art district.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
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28 Comments
An even better choice for the arena is “none of the above.” Has anyone yet come up with a valid use for this 1/4 billion dollar white elephant that at least half of Sedgwick countians don’t want?
Yep. It was good business for the developers and consultants, going to make them a lot of money. Money means campaign contributions. lol
On the bright side, it strengthens any future bid Wichita makes for the Summer Olympics.
“If you build it, they will shun”.Especially since there is no plan for parking. Sounds like another sales tax increase to pay for a parking garage…
Parking Garages don’t cost that much! With the 6 million they will save on property aquisition and the 1.5 million on moving telephone equipment. That will be more than enough to build a huge parking garage, if needed!
Phone equipment? I must have missed that one…
Hey, where’re all the I-hate-big-government types on this one?
The arenea is going to obliterate block after block of interesting historic buildings and small, family owned business.
Heigh ho, that’s progress.
A huge taxpayer funded white elephant that will stand empty 9/10ths of the year. That will bring in hordes of people for three or four hours and spit them out again, leaving an eerie ghost town in its wake.
435 million dollars have been spent on downtown revitalization since 1990. Just think what that money could have done had it been applied to grow the city from the bottom up rather than crush it from the top down.
Democracy in action, Galahad. The voters voted FOR it…and whether ya like it or not, that is the way the game is played.
Whether the voters were “duped” or not is not the issue. Whether it is a good idea or not is also moot.
I am trying to figure out who is going to get rich off this. No contractor was awarded the business before the vote. Who was funding the YES votes? Who stands to gain? Very curious…
Ray,
Given the evolution debate, ya think that maybe they forgot the payola step? You know like the guy with the gun to his head threatening to commit suicide..when someone tries to reason with him he says “Shut up!! You’re next !!”
Just think how much benefit Wichita’s homeless could derive from using the lockers and showers when these aren’t needed. Wow.. and downtown public restrooms left open could solve the problem with urinating drunks in Old Town. Areas could be opened as an overflow shelter to keep some of our homeless from freezing to death in the winter. There are lots of ways we could make this albatross into something worthwhile other than charging people $100’s per ticket to see events that I will never be able to afford! Yeah.. RIGHT.. I’ll bet charitable uses never even crossed the mind of the developers. Wichita will no doubt arrest any homeless person that comes within 100 yards of the place!!
Small problem…have you ever seen the public restrooms at say, Aley Park? Grafitti smeared, broken appliances, and smashed fixtures are the norm.
Public buildings for charitable uses are not that rare. (remember the Century II setup for the hurricane victims that never came?). Don’t belittle the efforts of Wichita too much. Is the city perfect? Of course not, but neither is it deserving of unwarranted criticism.
No, btw, I cannot stand “Pastor” Mayans.
On the bright side, it strengthens any future bid Wichita makes for the Special Olympics.
The east location is a good one. It is close enough to Old Town for people to walk to dine before and after their event. The fact that they will save $ to build it there should mean that the $ saved on land/property acquisitions will go toward parking.
Ray…Explain how the criticism is unwarranted….
For those of you who are still dis’n the Arena…proof you have no life. As Ray posted, we voted, it passed, it’s going to be built. Done. Fini. I’ve copied your posts and will gladly remind you of your CAVE mentality (Citizens Against Virtually Everything. Which makes sense based on your evolution arguments. ha ha ha. I make myself laugh.)
It’s 15,000 seats downtown that Century II could not handle, and therefore lost business. It’s a downtown location, which is closer to Old Town, Water Walk, Restaurants, Cowtown, Museums, and the Riverside Perk than The Coliseum.
Not to hard to figure out how the Arena will benefit Wichita when you use your head instead of your emotions.
Sam–The rather caustic claim that Wichita would arrest any homeless person that comes within 100 yards of the new arena is unwarranted criticism. Does the city have a history of arresting homeless people for being within 100 yards of anywhere? What are you basing that claim on? If you have no facts to back it up, it is unwarranted criticism.
Ray! SBC will have to reroute telephone lines and etc. On the Central site, they said they would have to charge the city $1.5 Million to reroute them, but on the East site, they will only charge $50,000.
Ray…They accost and detain homeless people for walking down the street! They find and throw in the dumpster their bags and backpacks that contain all of their worldly possessions. Trust me.. the city will not want these people anywhere near their precious arena! My “caustic” claims come from experience… where do yours come from?
Sam-
And you are basing this on…what? Arrest records? Documented proof? Lawsuits? or is it just ‘hearsay’ and ‘common knowledge’? I have ridden with the PD, and they are too busy most of the time to bother with simple harrassment. Yes, the homeless claim harrassmenet all the time. Claims are easy..where is the proof?
Ray…I have seen it with my own eyes. My personal integrity is the only proof I have. I doubt that they document trashing other’s possessions….
I too, saw a homeless guy get arrested. Yesterday, as a matter of fact. On Harry. To the casual observer, it was a simple matter of the police harrassing a homeless man.What was not obvious was that he had been brandishing a knife at pedestrians shortly before the police showed up, had drugs on him and had warrants.
You have seen the police arrest homeless people…do you know for a fact that they were being arrested for being homeless? Or maybe they had warrants…had just shoplifted…accosted someone. Just maybe? It is so easy to cast stones at the police without having all the facts.
What ever happened to the days when the police chief got the homeless guy fed, cleaned up, rested up and then bought him a bus ticket to wherever?
Ray..I can tell you about one young man we met in the park one evening. He was trying to sleep on a park bench and we told him he would need to get out of the park before 10. He was from out of town.. we prayed with him and gave him $5 to go get something to eat. We all left the park together, and as soon as he hit the street, the police had him red lights and siren. He did nothing.. unless, like you said, there was already a warrant of some kind. Also, remember when the homeless guy was found dead this last summer? The police went around throwing away all their stuff to try and get them to leave. We know… we had to help them replace alot of things. Anyway… all that did was encourage them to steal or whatever in order to eat. These are people… many of them veterans… they deserve to be treated better!!
A couple isolated incidents is not cause to castigate the entire police department. Many of the police officers are veterans as well, and how much respect do they get? I stand by my initial statement, your overall criticism in this case was unwarranted.
We’ll have to agree to disagree… I know these people… they are treated very poorly. I’m not dissing the police.. they just do what the city father’s say. My beef is more with the city because I fail to understand why they treat homeless people like a blight?
Sam,I lived in NE Wichita for 14 years, and saw the police treating black people, my neighbors, the same way. That’s why I believe you! It’s not just a few bad apples, as they would have you think; it’s policy! Always has been!
Jed..It appears in this country that if you don’t have money, then you are nothing! That is so far from the truth… there are amazing people out on the streets.
Sam,Yes, I’ve met some of them.Unfortunately, the police often see their job as protecting the haves from the have-nots, and politicians, who are beholden to the haves, encourage that outlook. Somewhere though, justice has gotten lost!