Sedgwick County approves arena TIF plan

[ShockerFever]

Do you think smoking should be allowed in the arena, ABC?

It's up to the owner of the arena.

The citizens of Sedgwick County own the arena.

Um, yeah - I know that.

And thus their representatives, the County Commission, can decide to ban smoking in a building they own.

I don't oppose that nor do I oppose a bar owner deciding to allow smoking a business they own.

I hope you don't mind dying a horrible death.

God bless you.

[BenWSU]

Reading comprehension isn't your strong suit I see. Must be the old age? I don't live in NY. Try again.

You people that don`t disagree with others sure love to insult. :roll:

[ShockerFever]

Reading comprehension isn't your strong suit I see. Must be the old age? I don't live in NY. Try again.

You people that don`t disagree with others sure love to insult. :roll:

You said I was from NY. You tried to make a funny, only I don't live in NY. I corrected you.

You can stop trying to spin now and just admit you made a boo-boo.

[C0|dB|00ded]

I have to agree with cold's assessment (minus the name-calling). There's no way the man should hold any office.

It's great to know you guys are so much wiser than the voters in that district who elected Peterjohn by comfortable margins in the primary and the general election.

To borrow a name from another Shockernet topic: Adolph Hitler could run for office in Kansas as a Republican with a fairly good chance of winning.

The point being that most Kansas voters simply line their finger up over the Republican side of the ticket and draw a line right through all of them.

I would predict that 50% of the people that voted for Peterhead never even heard of him...


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[C0|dB|00ded]

Reading comprehension isn't your strong suit I see. Must be the old age? I don't live in NY. Try again.

You people that don`t disagree with others sure love to insult. :roll:

You said I was from NY. You tried to make a funny, only I don't live in NY. I corrected you.

You can stop trying to spin now and just admit you made a boo-boo.

Be nice to Ben, he is a gentle soul. :good:


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[C0|dB|00ded]

Okay - I guess you don't know.

Why do you think the TIF is so important to the success of the arena area?

What percent of approved TIFs in Wichita are "successful" and thus are not being subsidized by taxpayers outside the TIF district?

If Wichitans are so eager to have the arena district succeed, why do you think a TIF is needed?

Let me summarize an earlier post (that you apparently did not read because you are asking me the same question again):

Las Vegas

Wichita

Which town do you think needs incentives to lure private investment?

The city wants to use tax incentives to redevelop 16 blocks surrounding the arena. It will use the property tax generated from development to improve streets, landscaping, signage and parking.

This would sound reasonable to any citizen of Wichita concerned about his or her town's future.

The city scaled back from 30 to 16 blocks. The city also put a cap on taxes. Usually 100% of property taxes generated go into the TIF district. But this time, it will be 70%. The other 30% will be divided between the city, county and school district. The city estimates the county will receive $650,000 a year from the area.

Again, totally reasonable and conservative by most standards.

Five members of the public, including incoming county commissioner Karl Peterhead asked commissioners to vote against the TIF district. They say the city added the parking plan at the last minute without giving notice to citizens. They told commissioners arena parking is already being paid for with arena sales tax and don't want more tax money to pay for parking.

This is the same snake-in-the-grass that was trying to get the county commission to consider an arena re-vote because he said the people were "tricked into thinking that there would be sufficient parking and the sales tax didn't allow for it". Now all of a sudden he thinks we have enough parking and the original sales tax was sufficient. This is why people at his own church don't like him. He is a dirty, devious, ... ... @#$*#&$.


You have to look beyond the actual TIF district to see the full weight of the benefit. WaterWalk, the Arena, Old Town, etc. etc. are going to create dynamic synergies if linked properly. These synergies will benefit Joe citizen, the government, and the business owners. While the Old Town TIF hasn't been a smashing success, Old Town is still a work in progress. Look how far it has come in 10+ years? Do you really think Wichita would be better off without Old Town?

When the arena is done it will be feeding massive amounts of people over to Old Town. If you think it's busy in Old Town on Friday nights now, wait until a major rock concert is finished and 17,000 (yes, that is the capacity for some concerts) floods over to our little entertainment district.

It's only going to get better ABC, and you have a choice to think positively about your city or negatively. If you look at where this town was 15 years ago and now, things are definitely improving albeit slowly.


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[ABC]

I think the arena is great.

I think TIFs are poor public policy and have proven to rarely work.

And you clearly don't really know what they are and how they work.

I believe the only cash-positive TIF in Wichita is the Central and Hillside and that is only because it included a big chunk of a Wesley hospital expansion which really has nothing to do with the retail development in the area.

[ABC]

I hope you don't mind dying a horrible death.

God bless you.

You still haven't figured out how to avoid other people's smoke?

I have figured that out, though I still might have a horrible death, like a lion attack or something.

[C0|dB|00ded]

I think the arena is great.

I think TIFs are poor public policy and have proven to rarely work.

And you clearly don't really know what they are and how they work.

I believe the only cash-positive TIF in Wichita is the Central and Hillside and that is only because it included a big chunk of a Wesley hospital expansion which really has nothing to do with the retail development in the area.

And you clearly don't really know what they are and how they work.

Hi. In the majority of your posts you continue to say that I don't know what a TIFF is. It isn't witty or funny in any way and really makes zero sense... "Best not say more..."

A TIFF is a creative instrument that can be used to stimulate a project that might not otherwise get done. Who says they must be cash positive? If their availability spurs other projects directly or creates an environment where new projects are undertaken, then they are a success in my book. You can't be so simple-minded as to think that if the TIFF isn't cash positive immediately, or very quickly that the idea was bad. The positive effects that occur when a city revitalizes their core and/or invests in their cultural offerings cannot always be easily measured. But rest assured, all the cities that are growing (increasing their tax base) and have happy citizens, are doing all of that and more.

Your close-minded, myopic view on government investment mirrors your hero Peterhead. Hopefully you have more character. Peterhead is one seedy misfit...

http://www.kfor.com/Global/story.asp?S=9534496

http://www.hotel-online.com/News/PR2006_4th/Nov06_OmahaTIF.html

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[derbycpa]

If the downtown arena is a benefit for the community as a whole why do we use a TIF? It would seem it all benefit then the "growth" in tax from the City as a whole and even Sedgwick county could pay for the parking. Why is the revenue only coming from a 16 block area?

[ABC]

OK so you still don't know how a TIF works.

Why do you think a TIF was so necessary for this area?

What do you think the TIF should pay for ?

TIFs are sold on the fact that they will be cash positvie from the proceeds within the TIF district and not require subsidy from other taxpayers in the city. As I stated, the reality is different from the marketing material.

Look you are a big government guy. That's a fine point of view, but one that leads to less economic growth.

What else do you want government to build for you in Wichita?

[C0|dB|00ded]

What else do you want government to build for you in Wichita?

A really first-class train station (refurbish the old one) if the route from KC to OKC reopens. We could use a 1/4 cent, 24 month sales tax. It needs a nice restaurant, gift shop, etc. etc. etc. etc.!!!!


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