Local Politics

[SubGod22]

Someone dropped the ball....


MSN - City of Wichita in need of $4M to operate new water treatment plant

The City of Wichita will need to find $4 million to operate its new water treatment plant.

Mayor Lily Wu says the contract the City Council approved years ago was only for construction. She says one contract involved the upstart but that it was not selected.

“Not only do we have loans that we still have to pay for, but this new water treatment plant is also going to be paid for by ratepayers over time. Now again, this $4 million to get it operational is something that should have been accounted for by the previous administrations, but it was not,” said Wu.

Rate increases incoming.

[SubGod22]

The big deal on social media the past few days has been the news that the City of Wichita is going to turn all of the public parking in downtown and Delano into paid parking. This was set into motion under Longwell and voted in under Whipple. Wu seems to be okay with it as well.

I don't spend much time down there, but will say that I've never had to pay for parking regardless of any event I've gone to and I've never seen a major issue with parking when I've been down there. That's not to say one doesn't exist, it's just not been my experience.

Some people seem to be okay with this if Wichita had some sort of functional public transit that operated downtown. It would at least give people the ability to park and navigate the entirety of the area in an easier way and they could pay to park or pay and walk a bit to use the transit. Most people will get in their car and drive to their next destination as things are now and that would require them to pay for parking at their new location on top of what they already paid.

If Wichita had a thriving downtown, maybe this would be the time to try this. It does seem odd to implement this as you're still trying to revitalize downtown and get more people to go, though some of the safety concerns in Old Town probably keep some away as it is.

I'm not sure if there's anything downtown that you can't get from other parts of Wichita and I do think that this will push some people to the outer edges where they don't have to worry about paid parking (still no price set) or parking tickets ($35).

If parking were scarce, it would make more sense, but my understanding is that at any point in any given day there are a lot of downtown parking lots that sit virtually empty.

I'm really concerned on the negative impact this could have on a number of small businesses down there. I've seen a number of people who at least claim to own businesses downtown who have also voiced those concerns. Not only for the potential loss of customers, but also for the potential loss of employees. I think I saw someone mention that those that work downtown could pay for a monthly parking pass for $200. That seems pretty hefty and if you're working a low wage job as a server or busboy or something like that, it's going to eat into a lot of your pay. And some of those small businesses aren't going to be able to cover the costs for employees because they're already struggling to keep profits with the current economic environment.

The plan goes into effect on January 1, 2025 and as of right now, we still don't know the exact boundaries or what the price will be to park. Most assume it will be like the parking at C2 where I think it's $10 no matter how long you're there. So $10 dollars to hang out in Old Town all night or $10 to run in and grab something and go. Though I also saw some talk about peak pricing during certain times or events as well.

The parking will also be done I believe through a 3rd party app that will cost the city around $12M over 5 or 6 years.

[WuDrWu]

What do you mean "cost the city"?

Is the 3rd party taking a cut of the collections, or are they charging a flat fee, regardless of collections? Are there revenue projections?

[SubGod22]

What do you mean "cost the city"?

Is the 3rd party taking a cut of the collections, or are they charging a flat fee, regardless of collections? Are there revenue projections?

No revenue projections yet because they haven't even implemented what the fee structure will look like or how far the boundaries will go. So far I've seen mentioned Downtown, Old Town, and Delano.

I'm not sure if they get a cut or not, but everything I've seen is that they will be paid 12M over 5 or 6 years. I want to say it's 6 years as I was thinking it was essentially 2M per. I've heard people say the current 3rd party app in charge of C2 is a pain in the ass as it claims to accept Google Pay, but apparently many people are having trouble with it actually accepting Google Pay. And many people don't want to give their CC information to them.

[SubGod22]

KWCH - Wichita's planned move to paid parking gets backlash

It’s a plan getting significant pushback, enough for some to walk out during a meeting on Monday. Starting in January, free public parking in Old Town (downtown Wichita) and the Delano neighborhood becomes paid parking.

The plan has been in the works since 2009. Wichita Mayor Lily Wu says the reason for paid parking is that the city needs money to maintain parking lots. Several people, who work downtown voiced frustrations at Monday’s public hearing for questions about changes to public parking, feeling that they’re not being heard.

Monday’s meeting is the first of several sessions for the public to express their questions and concerns. The room was packed with business owners and people who live nearby where the switch to paid parking is planned. Wichita Assistant City Manager Donte Martin was also at the meeting.

“We felt like we couldn’t really voice our concerns...” said the owners of Norton’s Brewing Company at 125 S. St. Francis. “...It really felt like there was no place for residents, small business owners to like speak their concerns about the entire thing.”

Future public information meetings are set for Tuesday, Thursday of this week, Aug. 21, Aug. 22, Aug. 26 and Aug. 28. You can find the complete list of times and locations for these meetings here: https://www.wichita.gov/calendar.aspx?CID=103.

I've also seen comments on FB about how all of the days/times are during the workday which limits who can attend. Apparently they're not streamed either so if you can't take off work to go, you're **** out of luck.

This is being done too soon if you ask me. While downtown has been improving, it's still in the early stages and I really do fear that this will deter many from not only going down there, but small business owners from opening up shop downtown.

As others have said, Wichita doesn't have a big enough concentration of venues/restaurants/shops that draw people in and is easily walkable to get people to buy into this. And with the shitty public transportation options right now, it's going to do far more harm than good. If there weren't so many vacant buildings and there was more going on it might work, but we're still not there yet. This is going to be a heavy burden on those that have to be downtown for work more than anything. Again, with the growth of northwest and northeast Wichita and the continued growth and sprawl that comes with everything both sides are getting, this is only going to have a negative effect on the downtown region. There will still be people who go, but there are going to be a lot of people who are going to go less often and others who will flat out stop going at all.

[SubGod22]

WBJ - City Council hits pause after community backlash over paid parking downtown

Following multiple days of public outcry over previously approved plans to implement more paid public parking throughout Wichita's downtown, the topic took center stage during Tuesday's City Council meeting with members split on how to move forward.

At the conclusion of the 10-hour meeting — with two hours involving parking discussion and public comment — the Council landed on a near-term move that was unanimously approved: instructing the city to delay purchasing equipment tied to the plan until the Sept. 10 Council meeting, where additional policy changes could be considered.

At that point, several additional public informational meetings will have taken place where concerns and questions about the impact to residents and businesses can be further heard.

Under the plan — which allows the city to collect parking revenue in new ways, including smartphone app technology and credit and debit cards — metered spaces that have been 25 cents an hour could rise to 75 cents to $2 an hour. Updates also include minimum fines increasing from $10 to $35 for parking meter violations and $35 to $50 for other violations.

The parking plan rollout covers an area spanning from Washington Street to the east, Seneca to the west, Central to the north and Kellogg to the south.

City officials have said the parking fund is not on a fiscally sustainable path to support the maintenance needs of garages, surface-level lots and street parking in downtown Wichita. The city, which is navigating a future budget shortfall, has shared an estimated $3.3 million in annual revenue will be generated from the new plan, starting in 2025.

So they're estimating revenue of over 3M per year. We know about 2M per will go to the company running it.

Wu mentioned that the January meeting where the current council approved it didn't have anything with the parking ordinance in the agenda packet before the meeting. City attorney says that doesn't matter.

At Tuesday's meeting, multiple downtown business owners spoke about what the public's negative reaction to paid parking could mean for their businesses.

Dan Norton, owner of Nortons Brewing Company at 125 St. Francis, said he's proud to be in downtown but the last few days raised big issues.

"It's a scary thought when ... what seems like 99% of the comments online are, 'I guess we're not going downtown anymore,'" he said during the meeting.

Josh Rathbun, owner of Lotte restaurant at Fidelity Bank’s RISE Car Park downtown, said his business is trying to succeed until the anticipated boom comes from the nearby biomedical campus' first phase, expected to open in early 2027.

"In the meantime, to find out that we have another obstacle coming in our way — as far as the public response of this parking plan — does bring that uncertainty," Rathbun said to the Council.

It's no surprise that businesses down there are concerned.

So it sounds like they think they'll get around 1M per year to put into their parking fund.

There's mention of doing a 6-9 month trial to see how things go and if it will be worth continuing.

There's an out in the contract with The Car Park (Company running collection) that with 180 days notice of early termination of the contract that they would be paid a prorated amount based on time and expenses put into this. So the city doesn't have to be locked in for a full 6 years if they choose to go a different route.

I'm not completely against paid parking, even if I avoid it at pretty much all costs. But I still don't think it makes a ton of sense when lots aren't full and the demand isn't a problem. It's also a mistake I believe until Wichita figures out a better public transit system that would help people navigate downtown and even get there without having to drive down there and pay. I'm sure that would cut into their profits, but the alternative is people avoiding downtown like the plague and potentially forcing businesses to shut down and/or move to the edges of town.

They will have a few more public meetings before this is addressed again at I believe the September 10th council meeting.

[SubGod22]

Update on the Marion raid.

NY Post - Ex-Kansas police chief who led Marion County Record raid charged with felony

A former Kansas police chief who led a raid last year on a weekly newspaper has been charged with felony obstruction of justice and is accused of persuading a potential witness to withhold information from authorities when they later investigated his conduct.

The single charge against former Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody alleges that he knowingly or intentionally influenced the witness to withhold information on the day of the raid of the Marion County Record and the home of its publisher or sometime within the following six days.

The charge was filed Monday in state district court in Marion County and is not more specific about Cody’s alleged conduct.

The raid sparked a national debate about press freedom focused on Marion, a town of about 1,900 people set among rolling prairie hills about 150 miles southwest of Kansas City, Missouri.

Also, newspaper publisher Eric Meyer’s mother, who co-owned the newspaper and lived with him, died the next day of a heart attack, and he blames the stress of the raid.

Meyer said last week that authorities appear to be making Cody the “fall guy” for the raid when numerous officials were involved.

It's unknown who is representing Cody in this criminal case as those representing him in the federal case aren't.

There are still multiple federal cases for Cody and others involved.

An interesting note at the bottom of the article is that the raid on the Meyer home involved 7 officers. Apparently a few weeks earlier there was a raid on a suspected child rapist who was a known gun owner and they only sent 2 officers. Leads one to believe that Cody and company thought potentially bad mouthing the Marion PD and council was a more serious crime than raping children. Or at least posed a bigger threat to "officer safety".

[SubGod22]

WBJ - Sedgwick County Commissioners set precedent for commercial solar in approved regulations

Sedgwick County finally has an answer for its commercial and utility-based solar projects — one that brings a year's worth of deliberation to a temporary stop.

Sedgwick County Commissioners approved 4-1 Wednesday updated regulations that prohibit solar projects within urban areas of influence in the county — defined as urban areas of land with development growth — with some additions:

• Increase the maximum project size from the proposed 1,280 acres to 1,500 acres.
• Increase maximum contiguous land sections for a commercial project location from four to six areas.
• Increase the distance between an unattached area of a project to the concentrated project area to one mile.

The new rules are likely an end to Chisholm Trail Solar Energy Center, a 750-acre solar project proposed by Chicago developer Invenergy between Colwich and Maize.

"The alternative solar regulations approved by the Sedgwick County Commissioners today included several provisions that impact the current plans for Chisholm Trail Solar Energy Center," an Invenergy spokesperson told the WBJ in an email. "We are evaluating these newly introduced regulations and will make decisions on any necessary project updates in the coming weeks."

I'm not opposed to this. Solar has a place, but I don't believe that place is taking up massive amounts of land for a relatively small benefit. Also doesn't help that I believe all of the energy produced was to be sent to Oklahoma.

I think solar needs to be smarter and stick to rooftops of all kinds. Even covered parking lots as I've seen they do in Arizona and other places where the coverings are solar and I believe they even help charge EVs and the coverings help keep those vehicles cooler, which is a double win there.

And with so much growth potential in the metro area, I'd hate to see valuable land that could be used for growth taken up by massive solar farms. I'm sure some of the land owners may disagree and I get that as I'm not a big fan of gov't regulations, but I do believe the people being impacted should be heard and I believe they have been.

[SubGod22]

KWCH - Wichita leaders considering changes to downtown parking plan

Leaders in Wichita will consider changes in the plan to bring paid parking to downtown Wichita.

On Tuesday, Wichita’s City Council will hear options for paid public parking. Last month, City Council hit pause on plans to implement paid parking by January. People who live and work downtown shared their concerns with city leaders during a series of public forums.

The council isn’t expected to take formal action on Tuesday, but it will discuss a few changes proposed by city staff. That includes allowing one hour of free parking, then charging 75 cents per hour after that point.

Staff also suggests parking passes or discounted daily rates for employees downtown.

This sounds like a road towards something more acceptable for many. I believe a lot of the initial thoughts were it would be a flat rate no matter how long you were parked somewhere. Paying $10 or something to be somewhere for 15 minutes wouldn't sit well with many people. Keeping costs lower will probably scare fewer people away from downtown and in the end raise more money for the downtown parking lot fund. It apparently costs about $4M a year to maintain downtown parking.

There is a middle ground to be had here and I hope this is a step in that direction from the City

[SubGod22]

KWCH - Judge allows camera in courtroom for Gideon Cody trial

A district court judge ruled on Monday that one camera and one audio recording device will be allowed in the courtroom during the trial of former Marion police chief Gideon Cody.

Last week, Cody and his defense team asked a judge not to allow cameras in court. Cody is charged with obstruction of justice in a raid on the Marion County Record newspaper last year. He faces a maximum sentence of 23 months in prison.

12 News was one of more than a dozen media outlets that challenged Cody’s request. Lyndon Vix, the attorney representing the outlets, including KWCH, said a request to not allow cameras in a courtroom for an obstruction of justice or another case carrying a low-level charge is uncommon.

Cody argued that his right to a fair trial would be violated if cameras were present.

Funny how Cody seems to care about his rights while he pissed on the rights of others.

[Shockm]

KWCH - Judge allows camera in courtroom for Gideon Cody trial



Funny how Cody seems to care about his rights while he pissed on the rights of others.

Small town personalities, and politics on display. Some small town people become the ELITE, just like people from national politics, and people from state politics. In small towns, some like each other while others go to the opposite side. The ELITES attack others in Marion, just like they do in Wichita, Topeka, and Washington DC. I don’t like it when Wichita, Topeka, etc become involved in small town politics. But Marion has been hijacked by the state and national media.

[SubGod22]

For the first time ever, I believe, Kansas has over 2M registered voters. Over 83K newly registered voters this year.

[shock]

For the first time ever, I believe, Kansas has over 2M registered voters. Over 83K newly registered voters this year.

What’s the housing situation in Emporia and Dodge City?

[SubGod22]

[SubGod22]

Updated parking plan(s)

KNSS - City of Wichita is moving forward with plans for paid parking

During a public meeting Monday night, officials unveiled four new paid-parking options for Old Town, Delano and downtown. City Council member Brandon Johnson and Assistant City Manager Troy Anderson presented the options and then answered questions for about two hours. The proposals include a 75-cent hourly rate, and no fees for Sunday parking. A final public meeting will be held Thursday, November 7th at 6 p-m at the Kansas Leadership Center, 325 E. Douglas. City staff will present the proposals at an evening meeting of the Wichita City Council Tuesday, Nov. 19th.

Hours of operation:
Monday-Thursday: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Friday and Saturday: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Sunday: No paying for parking

Minor change to geography to include more parking spaces

Changes to hourly, daily and monthly fees
$0.75 hourly, or
$5 daily for parking lots and $10 in parking structures, or
$35 monthly in parking lots and $70 in parking structures
Certain exceptions
Accessibility parking remains free

Special events can request exemptions, such as the Farm & Art Market, concerts, etc.
Special locations, such as Century II and Intrust Bank Arena, can continue to charge for parking outside of the previously listed hours.
Option A is similar to the original parking plan laid out in 2019 but with the above changes.

Option B is similar to Option A, but the first hour of parking is free.
Option C is similar to Option B but excludes Old Town.
Option D is to not change anything about the current parking situation.

I would say this sounds more reasonable than what was initially being floated.

I'm still not sure that I'd go downtown and deal with it, but I don't spend much time downtown as it is.