Politics of development

Word is that one or two commissioners oppose the tax increment finance district that would bring a Lowes and adjoining strip center with it north of Ark City. We know that Mel Kuhn ran ads against the proposal during his campaign.

As I see it, there is an underlying tug of war here with a pro-development attitude on one side and a traditionalists, or taxpayer watchdog, attitude on the other.

The deal would essentially give tax revenue generated on the project back to the developers to finance improvements like roads and parking. While this seems like the progressive thing to do to provide more shopping options and increase sales tax revenues, there is a fear that it prioritizes suburban development and could canibalize existing stores such as Bryants and Westlake hardware stores.

Plus, there is a feel of corporate welfare to the whole thing. Who wants to subsize a big box store like Lowes?

I think, depending on the specifics of the deal, it's hard to say "NO" when this kind of opportunity comes knocking. In total, it appears a net benefit for the city, but there are costs to aiding and abetting retail development on the edge of town that competes with existing businesses.

I think the winners, politically, will be the commissioners who support the deal, especially after its up and running and people go shopping at Lowes (or whatever home supply store opens up there)

Learning English

Here's an interesting comment

"...... 400 years ago, when the Mayflower landed at Provincetown Harbor, they were greeted by Tisquantum (Squanto), who greeted them in English. He also spoke Spanish."


Then I guess we natives should learn Spanish to welcome the current wave of immigrants?

Learning English

I'm posting the following letter to the editor that ran in the Wichita Eagle last week as food for thought. I agree that immigrants benefit from learning English, but sometimes I think we judge too harshly ....

"I read people constantly commenting on Mexicans who live in this country and how they should learn to speak English. This aggravates me. When we first came to this country, we forced American Indians to learn to speak English. When we brought Africans over, we forced them to learn to speak English. We have never respected the rights of other nationalities to communicate the way they feel comfortable; we have only tried to force them to conform to what makes us feel comfortable. If I moved to another country, I don't know how long it would take me to learn the langauge and the thought of being looked down on until I did is unfair.

When you hear someone speaking Spanish, you have no idea how long he has been here or how long he may have been trying to learn to speak English. The next tine you hear someone speaking Spanish, give him the beneift of the doubt and consider that learning another language is not something you do overnight. You might also consider that if he is not talking to you, it is none of your business what language he speaks."

David Grebenik,
Wichita

Good schools part deux

Can whoever posted this comment point me in the right direction for this info. I purused the Web site but couldn't come up with the comparisons?
Thanks

"Standard and Poors keeps a webpage which ranks all schools in the US at www.schoolmatters.com . In the past year, USD471 has used a reference to Standard and Poors as a basis for announcing awards for economic efficiency as well as other awards, but they seem to not include the whole picture.

According to www.schoolmatters.com, there are 47 Kansas high schools of a similar size to Ark City High School (500 to 999 students).

Ark City High ranks 10th from the bottom in Kansas in reading (tied with Pittsburg) and 5th from the bottom in Kansas in math (also tied with Pittsburg).

Maybe some focus could be directed to improving the high school reading and math performance."

Evangelical Crackup

This was the title of a New York Times Sunday Magazine piece that chronciled the wanning influence of the Christian conservatives in American politics. Or perhaps its evolving influence into a more moderate constituency no longer obsessed with just abortion and gay marriage. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/28/magazine/28Evangelicals-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&th&emc=th

Fascinating reading for anybody who follows these things. Especially with its focus on Wichita as a microcosism of current trends. Terry Fox, who helped lead the successful marriage amendment in Kansas just two years ago, was pushed out of his church for focusing too much on the culture wars and not enough on basic spiritual growth.

The Eagle, inspired by this piece, ran an editorial today that quoted the ex. director of the Kansas Republican Party as essentially dismissing calls for help from anti-abortion crusaders. http://www.kansas.com/611/story/214409.html

I think this highlights that we are in the middle of a huge realignment in American politics. Some Christians see that clinging so tightly to a politial party (Republican) feels like a deal with the devil. By aligning so closely with Pres. Bush, the evangelical movement was dragged into the failures of Iraq. But I think the most revealing moment of the entire piece was Mike Huckabee, a practicing evangelical running for President who can't get support from top tier evangelical leaders because some of his positions don't align with traditional Republican conservatism.

Here's Huckabee: “Some of them have spent too long in Washington. . . . I think they are going to have a hard time going out into the pews and saying tax policy is what Jesus is about, that he said, ‘Come unto me all you who are overtaxed and I will give you rest.’ ”

Beer Garden

I walked pass the infamous beer garden a few times during Arkalalah. Except for the liquor store signs on the outside, there was little evidence that alcohol was being consumed. I don't drink and did not go inside the marked off area. But there were quite a few people inside.

From the moral outrage in letters to the editor proceeding Arkalalah, I half expexted see people doing keg stands and running down the street shouting "I'm drunk as a monkey."

I wonder whether the anger about this will spill over into city commission elections in 2009. I expect not because that's a long time off. I also expect not because my guess, and it's only a a guess, is that most people supported or didn't care about the city approving a place where adults can drink beer during the event. The Traveler poll showed more than 60 percent felt this way, and I suspect it's even higher because people who don't care probably didn't even vote.

The letters in the paper, however, ran at least 3 to 1 against the beer garden. The letters supporting the garden, or at least saying it was not a big deal, seem to arrive toward the end of the debate. Personally, I was glad to see them because I think the outrage was a bit over the top ....

Good schools

I'm amazed to see, on the Traveler Web poll, how many people say Ark City schools are doing average to poor. 63 percent.

This isn't a scientific poll, and the 174 votes are kind of low compared to other questions. But this questions was posted just after news of the district winning many awards of excellence on state tests in math and reading in all grade levels. Just 38 percent rate schools as good or great.

Like other people, I'm concerned that our schools have become slaves to tests and not actually learning — problem solving, grasping concepts, harnessing creativity. Hopefully lawmakers see the need to adapt the policy.

But, overall, I'm frankly amazed at how well schools have done under the current guidelines and standards that have been foisted on them by No Child Left Behind. The district, as far as I can tell, has said OK, if that's what we have to do, we'll do it and do it well. The blue ribbon awards for IXL and Frances Willard, two schools with large number of at-risk kids, are real feathers in the district's cap, and show that educators are not using poverty and language barriers as an excuse to not teach kids. The district's high efficiency rating — doing a lot at low cost— is another reason for compliment.

We complain about a lot of things in Ark City, but it seems like one area of general agreement should be that our schools are excelling ....I wonder if the feelings on the Web poll are influenced by the bond issue coming up and the fear that taxes will be raised if school's are heralded and supported ....