News from Wichita Liberty: Confidence and trust in Wichita city hall, TIF districts
Wichita Public Hearing Action Not Evidence of Leadership
In an op-ed piece in Sunday’s Wichita Eagle, Interim Wichita City Manager Scott Moore makes the case that “the [Wichita city] council’s Dec. 2 vote demonstrated leadership and an ability to respond decisively to urgent community matters after appropriate public deliberations.”
The actions of city officials and council members, however, is not leadership. Leaders own their mistakes and accept their consequences.
Leadership at the December 2, 2008 meeting would have meant city staff or council members apologizing to the public for the last-minute changes to the plan and the defective notice. Leadership would have required a council member making a motion to delay the public hearing until citizens receive proper notice of the actual contents of the plan. Leadership would have required unanimous consent to this motion.
Click here for the full article.
| Wichita City Hall Confusion Leads to Evaporation of Confidence
Reporting in the Wichita Eagle by Brent Wistrom (City vows to better vet its partners, Sunday December 15, 2008) has revealed a city staff confused as to basic procedures for safeguarding citizens’ taxes, not to mention their trust. I won’t go into the details of Mr. Wistrom’s reporting, except to quote him as concluding that “city officials offered confusing and sometimes conflicting versions of how they analyze private business partners who ask for city assistance.” … In this matter, time is not of the essence. Let’s wait before proceeding. Given the confusion at Wichita city hall that Mr. Wistrom reported, citizens can have no confidence in proceeding with any projects like this until better procedures are put in place. Then, we’re not going to take Allen Bell’s word that these procedures are in place, as recent events give us little confidence in his capabilities or judgment. We’ll need some independent confirmation that city staff and council members are to be trusted in matters such as these.
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| Wichita TIF Developer’s Ownership Restructuring not Very Reassuring
In less than two weeks, the person that Wichita economic development director Allen Bell referred to as “principal developer” is now thrown under the bus so that the project can proceed. I would submit, however, that a little shuffling of the ownership structure of the project is hardly assurance to Wichitans that this project is on the up-and-up.
Here’s some unanswered questions:
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| Problems with Open Government in Wichita
On the KPTS television public affairs program Kansas Week, I spoke about some problems with a public hearing regarding a controversial matter in Wichita. Click here for the video.
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Dion Lefler: Problems With Wichita Developer Uncovered
On the KPTS television public affairs program Kansas Week, Wichita Eagle reporter Dion Lefler talks about problems he uncovered with a developer the City of Wichita wants to partner with.
Click here for the video.