Give former Sedgwick County Commissioner Dave Bayouth credit for being creative in proposing a downtown arena that spans the Arkansas River. But the County Commission has already chosen an arena site after an extensive process of professional evaluations and public input. It’s not worth starting that process over.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
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8 Comments
I thought it was interesting. I do agree it is too late, although I do have to question if there is enough roof to build an arena across the river.
The only think I could think of, was building it half on land, the other half on pylons across the river. The only site I could think of would to build it the fist half on land on the west bank of the river right across from Gander Mountain. That way you can utlize LD Stadium parking lot for arena parking, but that would mean closing off McClain there.
In all actuallity, I’m not for sure if it is feasible, and it is too late.
It should never be too late when a 1/4 billion dollars of taxpayers money is being grabbed by the big boys for a concrete mausoleum for which no real use is yet known. If anyone does know what its too be used for, please enlighten us.
Bayouth’s idea does have potential because there should be minimal real estate acquisition costs. Most of the land including the Arkansas River is already in the public domain. Access to public thoroughfares and the City’s bus system would be much better using both sides of the River and L-D stadium parking.
And my earlier suggestion of making the arena a world class bowling center with all the bells and whistles to attract bowlers from all over the world would be a workable solution for a creditable use. This idea needs to be thoroughly researched.
Folks, professional basketball and hockey with 20 or 30 middle-aged men running up and down the court just don’t attract crowds anymore. I believe most people prefer to stay close to their computers or watch a movie. Thats why it’s impossible to draw big crowds to expensive run of the mill sporting events and concerts.
This whole arena thing needs to be reconsidered before a gigantic tax-funded mistake is made.
Dave Bayouth is a Deboer wannabe with ties to the types that Chicago is known for, which is why he is secretly hoping that his idea becomes a Casino.
Bowling, —Ain’t gonna get it!!
Don’t care how much you and fat momma and the snotty nose kids, love the game, it wouldn’t draw diddly!
I think building the arena over the river is a great idea! Then the promoters of this monstrosity could park in the VIP lot, directly beneath it.
In newspaper parlance, STOP THE PRESSES!!
It’s not too late to give Bayouth’s proposal very serious consideration. Compared to the current pipe dream, it is absolutely fantastic. I’ll bet that had this option been made known with the others, it would have been a slam dunk.
This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the County Commission to do something truly memorable and bold for the area. This tut-tut, too-late attitude is sickening. Failure to seriously consider Bayouth’s plan will be doing nothing more distinguished than settling for the lesser of four evils (the east site.)
Furthermore, the east site sits in our maze of confusing one-way streets. And the parking (non) plan is as scatter-brained as the potential parking spaces are scattered.
The “Ark Arena” wins on almost every score.
C’mon, let’s do something right downtown for a change.
It might not require closing McLean Joe. Anchor it to the West Bank just beside the road and build pedestrian bridges connecting to L-D parking. Make a similar connection to the east bank just south of the Hyatt.
Interesting idea.
TOP TWENTY REASONS TO BUILD A WORLD CLASS BOWLING FACILITY WITH ALL THE BELLS AND WHISTLES WITH LOTS OF SPARKLING NEON IN A DOWNTOWN WICHITA BOWLING ARENA:
** The national bowling convention brings thousands of bowlers to host cities from all over the world;
** Wichita experienced this recently when the National Women’s Association came to Wichita with thousands of its members.
** I understand the National Women’s and National Men’s organizations have since combined into one large organization.
** Currently Las Vegas hosts the national bowling convention once every three years with the other two years in the cycle open to other cities;
** Las Vegas does have a remarkable Bowling Facility with lots of bells and whistles to attract bowling afficionados from around the world;
** Bowling has become the second most popular sport in America’s high schools. An important reason is it is participatory, not a couch potato sport;
** Bowling provides a physical activity and meaningful social activity for participants — not just rigid viewing such as at hockey and basketball games;
** National bowling tournaments attract participants to the host city on a continuous basis for several months. State-wide, youth, and organizational bowling tournaments would draw visitors during other periods of time.
** Bowling is a year around sport.
** Bowling is unique in that it provides an individual achievement sport at the same time as bowling teams compete.
** Wichita was a strong bowling city during World War II when men and women worked around the clock in the airplane construction industry building B-29’s. What was the nickname for women who rolled up their sleeves to weld and rivet sheet metal in WWII?
** Tourists would travel to Wichita from every country in the world to bowl and to experience the family type environment that we still have here in Wichita. Can you visualize the Wichita airport, our hotels and downtown businesses full of tourists from England, Italy, Germany, China, Japan, India, Indonesia, Russia, Vietnam, South America, and even California.
** Use an art deco theme of the late 1920’s and 1930’s when Wichita’s great entrepreneurs were developing their businesses in the oil and airplane industries.
** Location should be immediately adjacent to or over the Arkansas River to permit rain/storm water to flow directly into the river. Also, of course, to give tourists a view of our Arkansas River, one of the longer rivers in America.
** Bowling and use of laptop computers with a coffee nearby seems better than sitting in a frozen position in a half-empty arena to watch 20 or so senior basketball and hockey players run/skate up and down the court.
** Bowling provides a mutual opportunity for communication among various cultures as our world becomes more multi-cultural.
**Bowling can be a life-long sport.
** Yes Bowling provides a common sport all kinds of people: fat people, short people, thin people, tall people from all cultures.
** Challenge for Wichita would be to provide a family-friendly Kansas type atmosphere for visitors from all over the world.
WHAT DO YOU BLOGGERS THINK? DO BLOGGERS BOWL AND DO BOWLERS BLOG? LETS HAVE SOME BLOGGING FEEDBACK ON THIS. THANKS.