It was strange enough that the Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce chose former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to be the star speaker at its Dec. 4 annual community meeting, given the bad management example he set in prosecuting the Iraq war. It is stranger still that the chamber has now canceled Rumsfeld’s appearance without explanation. You’d think an organization with 2,100-plus members and a high community profile would be more transparent, but for whatever reason, the change of heart is for the best. Let’s hope this lapse in judgment doesn’t end up costing the chamber a lot of cash, and that it will seek future speakers who are true leadership icons. (Alberto Gonzales need not apply.)
Posted by Rhonda Holman
As planemaker to the world, Wichita deserves a world-class air show. To be sure, it gets that at each McConnell Air Force Base open house, which again drew thousands of people last month with its fearless fliers and plane displays. But the community also needs to keep building its signature Wichita Flight Festival, which is back at Jabara Airport today through Sunday.
The festival’s mission isn’t just to entertain, though it does that with name aerobatic acts that treat the sky as their stage. It also celebrates a story unique to Wichita, how its aviation pioneers such as Clyde Cessna, Walter Beech, Lloyd Stearman and Bill Lear built an industry. “The whole event is built on our history,” festival director Janet Wright recently told The Eagle editorial board.
That need “to honor and to educate,” as Wright also put it, rightly has kept city leaders committed to the festival, despite its unexpected $189,000 shortfall last year and past conflicts over its entertainment and former name. “We expect it’s going to grow,” Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer told the editorial board.
This year’s schedule highlights women pilots now and in the era of the Women Airforce Service Pilots, and offers kids’ activities and more than 40 aircraft on display, along with tonight’s kickoff concert by the Commodores. “It provides something for everyone,” Brewer said.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Maybe it started out as some kind of prank, but a police officer could have been killed this week in Wichita. Fortunately, someone else with respect for the badge averted potential tragedy by alerting the officer to the object lodged in the patrol car’s gas tank — a fireworks mortar shell big enough to have destroyed the car if detonated. Realizing that someone in our community would do such an appalling thing is offset somewhat by knowing there are many more who’d act as the motorist did — to protect those who protect us.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Our editorial today raises a question that many people have been asking: Why don’t the Prairie Rose Wranglers start performing at Old Cowtown Museum? The Wranglers need a venue, because the Prairie Rose ranch is being auctioned off as part of Wild West World bankruptcy. And Old Cowtown needs visitors and, frankly, would provide a more interesting and convenient setting than the ranch near Benton. Seems like a great fit.
Cowtown officials haven’t seemed particularly enthusiastic, noting that their visitor center isn’t big enough, and worrying that raising money for another building might siphon away funds needed for Cowtown operations. But what about contracting with a private operator to finance, build and operate the facility, which wouldn’t need to be fancy? As successful as the Prairie Rose was, I would think there would be several takers.
What do you bloggers think?
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Area drivers are still seeing Wild West World touted by six brown traffic signs that cost the state about $18,000. "Right now, the thought is we’re going to leave them up," Lee Holmes, state traffic signing engineer, told The Eagle editorial board, adding hopefully that the bankrupt theme park could be sold and reopened. The Kansas Department of Transportation budgeted money for the signs based on state travel and tourism officials’ approval, he said. Asked about other instances of obsolete KDOT signage, he recalled the Kansas International Museum debacle in Topeka. "The intention is to not have that happen," he said.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
How sad to see the Prairie Rose Chuckwagon Supper, and its cowboy movies and wagon and train rides, apparently brought down by Wild West World’s bankruptcy. As our editorial Tuesday noted, there are other ways to enjoy "lip smacking bar-b-que and great cowboy music," as a Prairie Rose billboard put it, but none quite so informal and entertaining as at the working ranch near Benton.
With the supper club now closed and up for auction Aug. 24, its many fans can only hope a buyer will step forward who is interested in reopening the Prairie Rose and keeping its tunes and food coming.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Congratulations to all those who worked so long and hard to finally place a fitting memorial on the site of the KC-135 tanker crash at 20th and Piatt — a place that project coordinator state Rep. Oletha Faust-Goudeau (in photo), D-Wichita, once likened to “an unmarked grave.” Their tenacity and generosity will ensure that Wichita knows and remembers the story and the names of the 30 victims of that tragedy on Jan. 16, 1965, providing an enduring place of healing and tribute.
(To better understand the horror and loss of that day, see The Eagle’s slide show.)
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is speaking at the Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce’s annual community meeting in December? Say it isn’t so.
Chamber marketing director Ryan Entz said that Rumsfeld’s remarks should be "pretty insightful" because he has "been such a large part of such . . . big-time world events." Well, yes, Rumsfeld has played a big role in history — by making Iraq an epic mess.
It’s clear to nearly everyone — including most who think the United States was correct to invade Iraq — that the prosecution of the war in Iraq has been disastrous. And much of that blame falls on Rumsfeld, who didn’t deploy enough troops to secure the country and then arrogantly refused to change course.
If the chamber wants to bring in other people who botched up, maybe next year it can book former FEMA director Michael Brown. Or, closer to home, how about former Westar CEO David Wittig?
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Belated congratulations to the Wichita River Festival for its record 385,000 crowd and increased button sales. True, the May festival was fortune’s favorite this year, having booked rising star Chris Daughtry and enjoying near perfect weather. The unveiling of the Keeper of the Plains Plaza was another new draw and crowd-pleaser. But the 36th festival’s success also was a vote of public confidence in the community’s signature get-together. Here’s wishing it many more great years, as well as many more sponsors, events, volunteers, name acts.æ.æ.æ.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Even with the Wichita Wranglers’ days numbered, the gloom about the future of Lawrence-Dumont Stadium is lifting. Representatives of three independent baseball leagues have reacted positively to the facility and community, as city officials court a new team for the stadium and manager for the National Baseball Congress World Series in advance of a July 13 proposal deadline. It sounds like Wichita could fit easily into the 10-team American Association, the eight-team Northern League or the six-team United League. But Eagle columnist Bob Lutz may be right that the American Association is the best fit of all, given the involvement of Wichita Thunder hockey team owner Horn Chen and general manager Chris Presson. And the city is rightly looking out for the future of the NBC series. City Council member Paul Gray, who has met with the interested league officials in the past, is now on the sidelines as part of the proposal process. But Gray told The Eagle editorial board he’s optimistic about the prospects: “I think people are going to be very pleased with what happens.”
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Give city planners credit for pulling together the magnificent new Keeper of the Plains exhibit. But a reader raised a good question in a recent letter to the editor: Why is there no sign or plaque recognizing the statue’s creator, artist Blackbear Bosin?
It turns out the original plaque with Bosin information at the base of the Keeper was obscured when the statue was raised onto its new rock perch.
As my column today reports, city officials already realized their mistake in not having a new plaque. "A new one is in the works," lead project architect Kurt Skinner told me. One that will tell Bosin’s story and the Keeper’s.
Honoring Bosin and his vision will make the new Keeper site complete.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
After Wichita lost the 2011 United States Bowling Congress tournament last month, city officials said they hoped to have a conference call with bowling officials some time after June 5. Well, it’s now June 21, and there still hasn’t been a call.
City spokesman Van Williams said that the city and Bowling Congress have been e-mailing to try to arrange a time for the call, but it has been delayed because of scheduling conflicts with the bowlers. He expects the call to occur in the next week or two. “It doesn’t seem like they are blowing us off,” Williams said.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Summertime temperatures and all, don’t be surprised to see nicely dressed, well-spoken teenagers traveling in packs around the area this week. Several thousand of them from around the nation and South Korea will be in town through Friday to compete in the National Forensic League’s National Tournament at Wichita East High School, Derby High School and Middle School, and Century II. Counting coaches, parents and other supporters, more than 4,000 people could be visiting for the tournament, a coup for Wichita tourism. The event’s national sponsor, Lincoln Financial Group, awards $88,000 in college scholarships and prizes to NFL winners and qualifiers. Treat the competitors well; they could run the world one day. NFL alumni have ended up at the White House, the Senate, the U.S. Supreme Court and the Oscars.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
A Wednesday article in The Eagle reported that the high-quality traveling exhibits coming to Exploration Place such as Leonardo da Vinci’s “Virtual Codex Atlanticus” are coming with higher price tags for visitors — up to $20 a ticket. Still, is that such a high price to pay for a quality, must-see exhibit? Not according to museum officials, who point out that the ticket prices are in line with other national museums.
Another obvious solution for cost-conscious Wichitans is to buy memberships, which, besides other benefits, drastically lower the ticket prices for these special shows.
Consider that general admittance for the Leonardo show, which starts Saturday, is $19.95 for adults and $14.95 for children 5 to 15.Members pay only $6.95 for adults and $4.95 for children.
That’s a deal.
Kudos to Exploration Place for bringing in top-flight, world-class exhibits that people can’t resist. As one patron said, “if it’s good enough, we’ll come.”
Pursuing quality is a smart strategy that will pay off for the museum.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
The public has been enthusiastic about the dramatic improvements around the raised Keeper of the Plains sculpture, with reports of visitors even thanking city workers on site. But not everybody is treating the new Keeper with the respect it deserves: City officials say skateboarders, cyclists, off-the-path walkers and unwatched children have done $3,500 to $4,000 in damage to landscaping, handrails and stonework, despite the video surveillance system. In response, the city is installing two more monitoring cameras capable of spotting and following the movements of vandals.
Disheartening as the damage is, the alternative — a city without such amenities — would be much worse. As Vice Mayor Sharon Fearey told The Eagle editorial board this week, it’s sad that some people don’t recognize that the Keeper and other public artworks are "there for everybody to love, and keep your mitts off."
Posted by Rhonda Holman
President Bush’s planned visit to Wichita on June 15 will put a national spotlight on a great public-private partnership: the new Boys & Girls Club complex on East 21st Street. In addition to helping celebrate the opening of the new club, Bush will tour the Opportunity Project preschool and be able to see where a new Wichita public school is being built.
Russ Meyer, chairman emeritus of Cessna Aircraft Co. and the driving force behind the complex, encouraged Bush to come. It will be the second presidential visit to a project in the area connected with Meyer; President Clinton visited Cessna’s 21st Street training facility in November 1997.
During that visit, Clinton called the training facility "a model for the nation." The Boys & Girls complex is one, too.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
The newly transformed Keeper of the Plains site was open to casual strollers this week, and the new setting for Wichita’s iconic symbol is awe-inspiring.
Judging by the sneak peek, the Keeper plaza is going to be the must-see experience for any visitor to Wichita.
The graceful bridge offers soaring views of the Keeper statue and of Exploration Place downriver.
An attractive interpretive exhibit at the statue’s base gives a concise, meaningful overview of Plains Indian life and culture.
The views at night, when the bridge and statue will be lighted, promise to be dazzling.
The city will formally rededicate the Keeper at 9:45 p.m. May 18 in a fireworks-and-music extravaganza that will show off all the site’s new features, from lights to cascading water. It’s going to be the place to be that night.
This new Keeper will be a focus of civic pride for Wichitans for many years to come.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Seven Wichita-area lawmakers wrote a commentary published on Sunday’s Opinion pages suggesting that “good, old-fashioned political corruption” might be behind the Legislature’s expansion of gaming. Why would politicians agree to the revenue-sharing terms, they asked, if there “wasn’t something more personally appealing in the process?” Of course, one reason might be that survey after survey has shown that the public wants expanded gaming. But as to the “personally appealing” claim, it’s actually anti-expansion lawmakers who have received the most campaign money. Anti-gaming interests gave $259,500 to the current lawmakers since the start of 2001, the Topeka Capital-Journal reported, while pro-gaming organizations contributed $158,125.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Wichita might have had its Sally Field moment this week: We like Wichita! We really like it!
That was the impression of Janet Harrah, economics guru at Wichita State University, about the surprising and gratifying results of the Visioneering Wichita online survey.
The survey could be a breakthrough in Wichita’s decades-long struggle with its self-image. Turns out the widely held belief that Wichitans are overly negative about their city is wrong.
According to the survey, a large majority of Wichitans (more than 80 percent) have a positive image of their city and its quality of life — they just think their neighbors and outsiders don’t like it.
As Vera Bothner of the Bothner and Bradley agency said, the survey “gives us permission to say, ‘We love Wichita.’”
So go ahead, Wichita — don’t hold back.
Of course, the survey isn’t an excuse for complacency. Most Wichitans, while fond of their city, want to see continued progress on a host of quality-of-life and economic issues.
And still unanswered: Why do we think outsiders have negative opinions about Wichita? Is that perception accurate? And if so, what can we do to get the good word out about Wichita’s strengths?
Posted by Randy Scholfield
With a Sedgwick County casino vote on the horizon, the speculation has already started as to where it would be sited, if approved by voters. Here are a few of the ideas and arguments we’ve heard people talking about so far:
– Convert the Kansas Coliseum. It needs a new role, this argument goes, and would be next to the Wichita Greyhound Park (now with slots!), Wild West World and other Park City attractions.
– Adopt Bob Knight’s site and proposal near Park City.
– Add a casino to the west side of Century II. One developer group has already proposed it.
– Tear down Lawrence-Dumont Stadium. That might have been unthinkable a year ago, but the pending move of the Wranglers baseball team leaves the charming ballpark without an anchor team or much reason to exist after this season. And the location would be a huge boost for WaterWalk and Century II.
– Use the former Derby Coastal refinery site west of I-135 along 21st Street. This could be a very visible, accessible area that could benefit the planned 21st and Broadway area redevelopment.
– Cowtown. Large river site. Troubled attraction. You do the rest.
Heard any other ideas?
Posted by Randy Scholfield
“I want to (believe it) really bad,” said John Mathews, a homeless man, after all the candidates running for Wichita mayor and City Council endorsed a 24/7 homeless shelter. “But, no, I just can’t believe it.”
His skepticism is justified. After all, it’s been 16 years since the city began its “temporary solution” for housing the homeless during cold winter nights.
The city and Sedgwick County do have a blue-ribbon task force examining the homeless issue. It will make recommendations, which may or may not include a 24/7 shelter.
But as Ed Haynie, a member of the Advocates for Ending Chronic Homelessness, noted, several of the candidates are incumbents who have had at least four years to act. “What have they done for you lately?” he asked.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
The attorney for Sedgwick County District Court Judge Rebecca Pilshaw said she “will be very careful to conform her conduct” to suit the state’s Commission on Judicial Qualifications, which recently gave her two “cease-and-desist” orders over her handling of two criminal cases. She’d better make some changes. Pilshaw also came in last among 26 Sedgwick County judges in the 2006 survey evaluating the court conducted by The Eagle and the Wichita Bar Association. The only woman on the local bench, she could face trouble should she run for re-election next year. So could Judges Warren Wilbert and Richard Ballinger, who received similar orders from the commission last year related to a sexual harassment complaint by a Courthouse employee.
But that’s how our county’s system of electing judges works. And why it works, some would argue — because judges have to answer to voters.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
The expanded plans for WaterWalk’s $5 million amphitheater sound great — big enough for 2,500 people and complete with a 110-foot-long pool for programmed water and light shows. It’s not hard to imagine it becoming a central gathering spot in the riverfront development, and the setting for outdoor events that will boost the entire community’s quality of life.
Still, the Wichita City Council should not drop the 8-year-old dream of a first-rate replacement for the West Bank Stage, preferably privately funded. Wichita needs a large outdoor concert venue for the River Festival and otherwise, and a facility on the west bank would complement the nearby museums and improvements related to the Keeper of the Plains.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
The SC Telcom building. The KSB&T building. The Guild Plaza Hotel. The Wichita Royale. The Wichita Plaza. Or the home of the former Wichita Club. By whatever name, the 19-story, 44-year-old downtown landmark building, whose verdant sixth-floor pool area was one of the city’s best party places, deserves to see more action again. So it was great to learn more this week about the plans that the “Minnesota Guys” of Real Development have for the building, including a $5 million-plus renovation to get it into shape for more business tenants and possibly another hotel. Just more evidence that downtown Wichita is rebounding in a big way.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Bringing back passenger rail service to Wichita is an exciting idea that deserves a closer look.
A local rail group is pushing plans to extend Amtrak’s Heartland Flyer route from Oklahoma City north through Wichita to Kansas City. Proponents argue that it would give travelers more options and boost tourism by reviving the old Union Station depot on the doorstep of Old Town.
It’s possible many more Wichitans would choose rail if they didn’t have to catch the train in Newton in the middle of the night. And shouldn’t a city of Wichita’s size diversify and strengthen its travel infrastructure along this important economic corridor?
It remains unclear whether the route makes sense financially or logistically for our state — but a good first step would be for Kansas lawmakers to ask Amtrak to conduct a feasibility study.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
