John Todd: Wichita officials may have won a battle, but the Century II war isn’t over

The Wichita City Council’s lawsuit against the Save Century II committee and the 17,265 Wichitans who had signed our petition won a first-round legal victory in state district court Aug. 28. The effort to have a binding vote by Wichita voters at an upcoming election was rejected by the court. This is a setback for Wichitans seeking to resolve this issue at the ballot box in November.

This courtroom defeat demonstrates that the provision in the Kansas Constitution’s Bill of Rights, which says, “all political power in this state is inherent in the people,” has disappeared when it comes to this petition in district court. However, a district court decision is not the final word — not in the court of public opinion, or in Kansas appellate courtrooms. City Hall won the first round, but the public issue remains.

Should two iconic landmark buildings, Century II and the Main Street library building, be torn down? This remains the critical city issue as is demonstrated by the fact that petition signers totaled 35 percent of the total votes cast in the 2019 Wichita city election. This petition drive occurred in the middle of a pandemic that restricted petitioning.

Wichitans want to determine the fate of important city buildings. They witnessed the building of a $30 million library and a $75 million baseball complex (before significant cost overruns) with public funding, but without a public vote. Lawrence-Dumont Stadium was demolished before city officials had a signed contract from the new baseball team owner. This sweetheart deal involved the city selling prime riverfront, publicly owned land to the developer for $1 an acre and this was followed by the city purchasing similarly located privately owned land by the inside group for nearly $1 million an acre near the stadium. The insider deals, like the land sales/purchases around the Lawrence-Dumont site, appears to create a “climate of corruption” that is unhealthy for our city.

Citizens were appalled by the lack of transparency on this deal. Many believe that our former mayor lost his 2019 re-election due to this flawed project.

In July 2019, the Riverfront Legacy Master Plan group’s more than $1 billion concept came out with what the Save Century II committee believed was a predetermined design scheme for the 30-acre parcel of city-owned land, and removing these two iconic buildings.

Save Century II invited council members to our petition office to visit with average Wichitans and hear their concerns. None of the council members took advantage of this opportunity. I believe that there is still time for dialogue between Wichitans and City Hall.

The City Council should restore power to the people and away from the small redevelopment elite, who apparently dominate city policy for their own financial benefit. Wichitans deserve a better government than this!

The battle over the future of Wichita continues. Save Century II and the library will continue to battle for Wichita’s future.

This story was originally published September 12, 2020 at 6:02 AM.