Charlie Chandler and Jeff Turner: Vote ‘yes’ for a vibrant Wichita

This is our home. For many of you reading this, Wichita is home, too.

Every city has its challenges. The real question is whether people come together and address them or let them get worse over time, causing the community to decline.

While neither of us would normally look to increased taxes to address such issues, there are special circumstances when investments need to be made to keep a community vital for future generations. This is one of those times.

We’re Kansas boys, so we’d like to talk plainly about it and our future.

▪  The Yes Wichita group is the broadest, most bipartisan group we’ve seen. Its members come from every walk of life and share an unselfish desire to make Wichita a better community. In fact, 20 diverse groups have examined and endorsed the plan.

▪  We’ve been especially disappointed in the opposition’s continued claim that there is no plan. Yes, there are plans. You can read them for yourself on the city’s website, wichita.gov.

▪  After more than 100 public meetings, the people of Wichita chose water, jobs, transit and streets as our top four priorities. These aren’t “extras.” They are basic needs for any community.

▪  For those of us concerned about low-income Wichitans, 50 percent higher water rates would easily cost them significantly more than a 1-cent sales tax, which expires in five years. In addition, groups working with the disabled and disadvantaged are very concerned about maintaining public transit.

▪  Most cities put their priorities together on one ballot. Topeka has 18 projects on one ballot for its sales tax renewal on Nov. 4. Andover has 13. Oklahoma City originally had nine.

▪  We’ve also heard we should slow down. In fact, the city has been working on water plan options for a decade, and the community spent two years working together to get our priorities and plans in order. We don’t know how much slower a city can go.

▪  Finally, we accept that we must hold our elected officials accountable. So the citizen oversight process will be strict and transparent. Wichitans are certainly capable of making this work.

It seems to us that the questions are pretty simple: How are we going to pay for these basic, foundational needs, and when?

We can pay through a 1-cent sales tax that ends in five years by law and is paid by visitors, too. Or for water we can pay through 50 percent higher water rates for every person and business in Wichita. The only other option for basic needs is property taxes. If we don’t do this now, how much more will it cost in the future?

We’re voting “yes” because we believe in Wichita and a vibrant future for our hometown.

This story was originally published October 25, 2014 at 7:01 PM with the headline "Charlie Chandler and Jeff Turner: Vote ‘yes’ for a vibrant Wichita."