The November election is expected to produce record turnout — and provide the first real test of Sedgwick County Election Commissioner Bill Gale’s drastic reduction of polling places from 208 to 63.
Is it an Election Day fiasco in the making, as some worry? Probably not. But the concerns are valid and deserve another close look.
Walt Chappell and a coalition of voting rights groups, including the League of Women Voters, told the Sedgwick County Commission last week that as many as 20 more polling sites could be needed to meet demand.
Overall, Gale’s streamlined system has worked pretty well, especially with the expansion of early voting sites from two to 16. And Gale argues that the new touch-screen machines could be supplemented with paper ballots if long lines form.
Still, it’s good that commissioners scheduled a March 25 workshop to take a closer look at the concerns. They shouldn’t hesitate to add a few more polling sites in high-volume districts if needed to ensure the new system can handle turnout.
Sedgwick County Commissioners Gwen Welshimer (in photo) and Kelly Parks voted Wednesday against a redevelopment plan for the neighborhood surrounding the new arena. Big surprise. It seems as if they’re against just about anything to do with the arena, no matter how good it could be or whether it will help protect taxpayers, such as the arena management contract that they earlier opposed. As Welshimer noted, “There’s no stopping the arena.†But she and Parks seem determined to place as many roadblocks as possible in its path.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
The Sedgwick County Commission likely will decide today to continue to charge residents solid waste fees via their property tax bills (something characterized as a transition trash tax when it debuted in 2000, by the way). At least the fees are not scheduled to rise next year, starting at $3.65 per residency. That’s somewhat surprising given that the fee funds the county’s hazardous waste facility, which has seen huge growth in the amount of waste collected.
Some also will recall that the fee was sold in part as a way to promote recycling. And how’s that going? Since 2000, the county reports, daily municipal solid waste disposal has decreased only from 6.97 pounds per person to 5.32 pounds per person last year. Not exactly a smashing success.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
The Sedgwick County Commission is rightly concerned about the high level of jail use and growing costs. And it may be correct that the way to get cities to be more mindful about whom they send to jail and for how long is to charge them. But it’s unfortunate that it has come to that. The $2.09 per hour fee to house inmates on municipal charges that the commission approved Wednesday will likely result in a lawsuit and a lot of resentment.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Sedgwick County commissioners have put a planned Stonehenge-like Solar Field in Sedgwick County Park on hold after some Wichitans worried that it had cultish religious connotations and was a bit, well, Goth.
The privately funded one-acre project, which is similar to Wichita artist Steve Murillo’s Riverside solar installation but on a larger scale, does come off as vaguely New Agey — the artists call it a peaceful and “metaphysical” place of healing.
But is that so scary? Murillo denied any religious aim.
“These pause points, these places of reflection and meditation, are opportunities to increase our enjoyment of life and our ‘well-being,’” he said in an e-mail. “These stone circles with centers offer us a place in the park where we can ‘center’ ourselves.”
Is that too pagan-sounding for Wichita? Stay tuned.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Good for Sedgwick County commissioners for heeding community criticism of a proposed parking fee at the Kansas Coliseum and finding another way to raise revenue. Coming on top of the property-tax hike, arena sales tax and jail fee plan, the parking fee seemed like overload that could end up hurting bookings and attendance. The alternative — tripling the 50-cent facility fee on each Select-A-Seat ticket to $1.50 starting May 1 — is nothing to cheer. But with national services such as Ticketmaster charging $10-$20 in fees per ticket, the fee hike seems reasonable.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Sedgwick County commissioners certainly can make the case that they should go ahead and charge a $3 parking fee at the Kansas Coliseum, because comparable venues elsewhere charge to park and the Coliseum could use the revenue. Maybe the longtime events that are talking about walking are just bluffing. But there is a context for this latest proposed fee — the arena tax, the mill levy increase, the proposed inmate jail fees, higher tax bills because of appraisals — and commissioners need to proceed with caution.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
The Legislature will begin debate Friday on some expanded gaming bills that, you guessed it, mostly exclude Sedgwick County. One would allow casinos only in the Kansas City and Pittsburg areas. Another bill would allow gambling at casinos and racetracks in Wyandotte, Crawford and Cherokee counties and, for five years, limit new gambling in Sedgwick and Ford counties to slot machines at racetracks.
If that happens, our editorialtoday argues, it will confirm that the only Wichita-area voices being heard on this issue in Topeka are coming from the anti-gambling members of our legislative delegation.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
At a time when local governments’ reliance on consultants was under scrutiny, Sedgwick County Manager Bill Buchanan courted trouble by tapping a consultant to help county staff negotiate a deal with preferred arena management company SMG, then by taking three weeks to tell county commissioners about the small-dollar consultant deal. Now, commissioners want to review and possibly revise the county’s purchasing, hiring and consulting policies. “It’s clear to me the commission needs a lot more information up front,” Buchanan said. He might have said “this commission” — because the rethinking about what has been business as usual at the county seems to be emanating mostly from new Commissioner Gwen Welshimer.
Good for Sedgwick County Commissioner Gwen Welshimer for watchdogging how much the county spends on consultants. Welshimer received a report this week on the consultants the county hired the past two years. There weren’t big red flags among the 24 consultants listed or the nearly $542,000 spent. But the county and city have seemed consultant-happy in recent years, so the scrutiny is justified to make sure the spending really is needed. One thing to evaluate: Have the consultants’ recommendations been implemented and made a positive difference, or have their reports mostly gathered dust on shelves?
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
As you’ve probably read, the Wichita Police Department is using a mannequin, Officer Dolly, to slow down speeders. My column points to other possible uses for dummies — to give a lively feel to WaterWalk, say, or keep the Wranglers here in Wichita.
Before police go too far down this road, though, they should investigate the national outbreak of mannequin-on-human violence.
Mannequins, it seems, have a dark side.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Walt Chappell’s contention that votes were miscounted in his race against state Rep. Brenda Landwehr, R-Wichita, never seemed very credible. But the good thing about his requested recount was that it tested the accuracy of Sedgwick County’s new electronic voting machines. The recount showed that the votes were accurately counted, which is reassuring to voters, especially given voting machine problems in other states — such as the almost 18,400 people in Sarasota, Fla., who apparently didn’t get their votes recorded in a hotly contested congressional race. The recount also proved the wisdom of Election Commissioner Bill Gale’s decision to purchase machines that produced a printed audit tape.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
A few weeks back, a WE Blog item questioned whether Sedgwick County was behind in booking an opening act for the new downtown arena. Don’t big music acts have to be signed years in advance?
Not to worry. County Manager Bill Buchanan e-mailed to point out that no one books acts more than two years out, except maybe family acts such as the circus. Moreover, it’s still uncertain when the arena will be completed and ready to open, so at this point “it is impossible to pick a date for an opening act.”
And the county must also decide who will operate the arena (a decision is still a few weeks away) before booking acts.
Kansas Coliseum director John Nath also was reassuring. “All the tours know that we have a new building here,” he told The Eagle editorial board, and his staff has started talking about who would be a good opening act. But it’s too soon to choose, he said — even big stars like Sir Elton John or Bruce Springsteen “could be yesterday’s news three years from now.”
That said, other events, such as basketball games, can be booked years ahead. Nath said that Wichita State University has already expressed enthusiasm about the Shockers playing a game downtown. He’s also made initial contacts with the University of Kansas and the NCAA.
In short, the county seems on top of the situation. Stay tuned.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
The Sedgwick County Zoo just keeps getting bigger and wilder and better. The latest news: An anonymous donor (thank you, whomever you are) recently gave $1 million to the zoo to start a new tiger exhibit, scheduled to open in late 2008 or early 2009.
Tigers, the largest cats in the animal kingdom, are also among the most popular zoo attractions, but the Sedgwick County Zoo hasn’t had an Asian tiger exhibit since the 1980s.
They’ll generate a lot of excitement when they return.
Among the zoo’s other ambitious plans in coming years: adding four more elephants and expanding their acreage to roam, doubling the size of the jungle exhibit, and adding sea lions.
Wichitans tend to disparage the cultural offerings in their city, but they should be proud of this first-class regional attraction.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Creating an industrial park dedicated to composite materials — as a new study by the Greater Wichita Economic Development Coalition recommends — could be an economic development boon for Wichita and the region. Such a park could help Wichita become a global Center of Excellence for advanced materials, which could strengthen our existing aircraft companies, attract new companies and help diversify our economy, as composite products could be used in other industries. As GWEDC president Patrick French said, “It’s a tremendous opportunity.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
It was good to hear that all four Sedgwick County Commission candidates who appeared at a recent issues forum — Gwen Welshimer, Dr. James Donnell, Michael Kinard and Kelly Parks — said they’d support franchising trash pickup. Two candidates who didn’t attend — incumbents Ben Sciortino and Dave Unruh — also favor franchising.
As we argued in an editorial, trash franchising is the best way to ensure that Wichita residents get the best deal on trash prices as well as the benefits of additional services such as curbside recycling and yard waste composting.
Wichita needs to take control of its trash policy. At present, corporate trash companies are in the driver’s seat.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Frustrating as it is for Sedgwick County voters to judge which judicial candidates are best, the answer is not for candidates and sitting judges to declare positions on hot-button social and political issues during the campaign. So it’s disturbing that Sedgwick County District Judge Eric Yost recently asked to join the other plaintiffs, including incoming Judge Robb Rumsey, in the federal lawsuit challenging the state’s judicial ethics canon, which limits what candidates for judge can say during campaigns.
Part of a national effort in reaction to a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court decision in a Minnesota case, the push to let judges and judicial candidates speak freely sounds great on its face. “There are two sets of rights involved here — the right of the judge to speak and the right of the people to know,” Richard Peckham, the Andover attorney who chairs the statewide Kansas Judicial Watch group, told the Kansas City Star.
But the questions on the group’s candidate questionnaire reveal a narrower goal: to pin down candidates on the school-finance lawsuit, same-sex marriage, assisted suicide and abortion. Such opinions are irrelevant to a judge’s decision making, which should be based on the law. The expression of such opinions also jeopardizes impartiality and the ability to do the job once on the bench, forcing the judge to recuse himself from cases related to his stated opinions. How does that serve justice?
Posted by Rhonda Holman
The November election is expected to produce record turnout — and provide the first real test of Sedgwick County Election Commissioner Bill Gale’s drastic reduction of polling places from 208 to 63.