District 3 Advisory Board

District III Advisory Board Minutes for January 2, 2019 District III Advisory Board Minutes January 2, 2019 www.wichita.gov The District III Advisory Board meeting was held at 6:30 p.m. at the WATER Center, 101 E. Pawnee, Wichita, KS 67211. Council Member James Clendenin, eight District Advisory Board members, seven City staff, and twelve members of the public were present. Members Present Staff Present Jared Cerullo Lt. JD Heitman, Wichita Fire Department David Robbins Firefighter JR Webber, WFD Ron Tracy Officer Nick Long, Wichita Police Department Michael Loop Officer Chad Clark, WPD Gerald Henry Officer Christopher Chrisman, WPD Paul Davis John D’Angelo, Arts & Cultural Services Bruce Gass Manager Catherine Johnson Maddy Campbell, Community Services Council Member James Clendenin Representative Members Absent Cindy Miles Daisy Olivar Marco Alcocer ORDER OF BUSINESS At 6:30 p.m. Council Member James Clendenin called the meeting to order. The Agenda for the current meeting was approved. The Minutes for December 5, 2018 were approved. STAFF REPORTS 1. Police Department Officer Nick Long shared statistics for 2018 for Patrol East and reported the following:  There was not a significant change in the number of robberies from 2017 to 2018.  The winter months always see an uptick in robberies.  Auto-theft has remained consistent between 2017 and 2018.  Burglaries are significantly down this year and have been dropping for the last four years.  The one crime that is consistently up is aggravated assaults and tied to that, shootings.  WPD recently received new technology, shot sensors, through a grant. The technology will help pinpoint the location of gunshots and will be used in Districts I and III.  Starting and warming unattended cars remains a big problem for WPD. Stolen cars can have a bigger impact than just affecting the person whose car is stolen. It leads to car chases and gives the criminal transportation means to conduct further crimes. DAB and members of the public asked and made the following questions and comments: Q (DAB): Do you monitor Facebook or social media for stolen cars? A: We do check the Marketplace on Facebook. Q (DAB): Do you work on online scams that steal identities? Do we have a rash of that in this area? 1  District III Advisory Board Minutes for January 2, 2019 A: We have very little to do with it. It gets sent to the federal level. I would not say that we have any more of it than other parts of the country. Q (public): In regard to the gunshot sensors, is that specific to gunshots or does it detect any explosive-type noise? A: I am not sure of the exact technology, but as it has been explained to me it detects gunshots and likely uses frequency-detecting technology to differentiate between other loud, explosive noises. Q (DAB): In reference to the recent homicide at Seneca & 27th Street, we had around 10 police officers there for multiple days. Why do we need that many officers there? A: We like to acknowledge our high clearance rate for homicides. It takes a little more personnel doing multiple jobs on site to support that high clearance rate. 2. Fire Department Lt. JD Heitman shared the following:  In December there were two house fires in District III. One was undetermined resulting in $10,000 in damages and the other was incendiary resulting in $300 in damages.  There were 12 fires city-wide in the month of December.  Smoke detectors are worth their weight in gold. Possessions can be replaced, but family members cannot. DAB and members of the public asked and made the following questions and comments: C (public): Not only are smoke detectors important, but you also need an escape route and meeting point. Q (public): You said one of the fires was from an incendiary device. Was it a fireplace? A: No. They do not know who did it, but someone threw a Molotov cocktail at the home. Action Taken: Received and filed. PUBLIC AGENDA 3. Scheduled Items None NEW BUSINESS 4. Century II Citizens Committee – Update and Discussion John D’Angelo (Arts & Cultural Services Manager, City of Wichita) and Mary Beth Jarvis (President & CEO, Wichita Festivals) presented a PowerPoint to give an update about Century II and discuss its future with the group. For the past 10 months, 12 citizen volunteers have worked to understand the needs, aspirations, and options for performing arts in our city and recommend a path forward. The issues with the 50-year-old performing arts facility include structural problems, worker safety risks, and functional issues. The committee is weighing the choices – renovate vs. build new, preserve the round building vs. create more gathering space for the community, etc. No matter what, this will be a large investment – perhaps $200 million or more – in the core/river area. The committee will continue to share their findings to both inform and engage citizens in this pivotal community initiative. DAB and members of the public asked and made the following questions and comments: 2  District III Advisory Board Minutes for January 2, 2019 Q (DAB): Is there an estimate for how much it would cost to remove the asbestos? A: $13-17 million. C (public): There are other options for asbestos. You can paint over it. Q (DAB): What was the building originally built for? A: Performing arts and conventions. Back in the 1960s and 1970s conventions did not need large ceilings for their exhibits like they do now. Q (DAB): Is a parking garage being considered in your discussions? A: Yes, it is a topic of discussion. There are many good reasons for one. The downside is that if you want people to add economic vitality to your downtown core, do not build a parking garage because then people come, park, and leave. They do not stay to eat at a restaurant or shop. Then there is also the discussion about the popularity of Uber and Lyft. Q (DAB): Has the old library (located near Century II) been discussed for any future plans? A: There has been discussion about using the building as a meeting space for the various groups that will utilize the performing arts and convention facility or facilities. C (DAB): We need a “wow factor.” We need to sell Wichita. If you can tear down Lawrence Dumont Stadium, I think you can tear down the old Century II building. Q (DAB): I cannot imagine Wichita without that building (Century II). The building is the only thing we have enough room for. We have nowhere to go except over the Arkansas River. What about truck access and parking? Unless you buy and raze hotels to make room for it, how can we do it at the same place? Q (public): Did you say we can build a new performing arts building without tearing down Century II? A: It is an option, but what will we do with the Century II building? C (public): My personal opinion is if you are going to do something there, you need to make it future-proof, state of the art. It needs to be iconic and cost-effective. I cannot see the City taking money from other areas/departments within the City to put toward this project. Q (DAB): This discussion has been centered on the performing arts. Are people from the convention side represented in your committee? A: The charter from the City has been for this committee to stay focused on performing arts. We know what a convention center needs to look like and can explore other options throughout the city. A (CM Clendenin): We know the convention and tourism businesses in Wichita support $1 billion of economic activity. That building (Century II), whatever it ends up being, has to support and grow that industry. We (the City Council) are trying to be very careful that whatever decision we end up making does not significantly affect our ability to deliver quality of life amenities all over the city. The economic impact of Century II is considerably important to the City. Same with the baseball complex. A lot of jobs are supported and created. There is a lot to factor in when we consider this building. It is not just a building to be used by those who can afford to see a $75 performing arts show. A (D’Angelo): When you look at it economically there are three types of businesses in this civic space: fairs, conventions, and performing arts. Broadway shows are important economic drivers that bring money into the city and there are certain shows we are not able to run because of Century II’s (lack of) capabilities. Right now we are leaving about $44 million on the 3  District III Advisory Board Minutes for January 2, 2019 table that we cannot capture in the convention business because we cannot compete with other markets (due to Century II not being equipped to meet the current needs of convention exhibitions). The City tasked this committee with the performing arts piece, but we must also consider the other aspects. It will be a bold decision to move this forward because it will require significant investment. There will be more than one funding source tapped to pay for this. C (public): We had this discussion back when the Intrust Bank Arena was built and it was stated Century II would be fine. The City does not invest in maintenance and continues to make the same mistake of not maintaining and up-keeping their buildings. A (CM Clendenin): John D’Angelo has not been given as much money as he needs to properly maintain Century II because the City Council is being careful not to sink too much money into a building when we do not know what we plan to do with it. Whether that is the right way or not, I will not debate that. I think when we do build things, we do not build in maintenance costs very well. There are several examples where we built something and did not take into account ongoing maintenance and we do not utilize those buildings to their fullest potential because of that. Q (DAB): Is it the committee’s sentiment that the Century II building be torn down completely? A: There are few things we are unanimous about. There is no point in pretending there is a small option here. If you are going to do a substantial project, do it with an eye for distinction. Any scenario we would support keeps our performing arts organizations alive. It is very clear if we make them go dark for a year or two or three while their space is being redone, we will kill them. Q (DAB): Are there any studies that have been done that show what we are missing by not having modern facilities? There are two things in my mind that are important to advance our community from the “biggest little city” to a “big city” and public arts and entertainment are those things. Is there anything to tell the community what we are missing out on by not bringing in modern facilities? A: We actually have a solid base of understanding that we need to change and modern facilities are needed. There are lots of facts we found, studies that surprised us, and transformation stories from other cities that have been heartening. I do not want to oversimply it, but we will continue to pass on facts. The facts that have been aired to date have convinced people change needs to happen. Q (DAB): What other cities have co-located performing arts with convention centers? Would performing arts in a stand-alone facility work better? A: There are few cities that co-locate the two under one roof. Cohabitation does not work well because the needs are so different. There is still a large number of cities that locate performing arts and convention facilities adjacently though. The idea is to use the performing arts space as part of the convention. There are multiple conventions that would make use of both facilities. Do they need to actually be connected? Probably not. In 1969 it made a lot of sense for them to be connected. Today, it probably is not the way we need to be thinking in terms of the space. Q (DAB): How many hotel beds do we have in the area that would support thousands of participants? A: When we have conventions, it fills up every hotel downtown. There is plenty of bed space though. Our hotel supply is outpacing the demand. A (CM Clendenin): In 2017 we were at an average of 58% occupancy any given day throughout the city. 4  District III Advisory Board Minutes for January 2, 2019 Q (DAB): One of my biggest issues with Intrust Bank Arena is that the seats are 12 inches wide. Are we going to have small seats in this building? A: We are not into any type of design. What we know is that we need 2,200 seats in our performing arts building. C (DAB): Our new airport is a beautiful example of the type of innovative facility we would like to see. We are talking hundreds of millions of dollars to make anything “pop.” A: As the Mayor said, if we had $500 million we could get what we want. We need a plan that creates a transparent path from funding to execution and one that creates accountability. We have looked at other cities who have created accountability in these types of projects. How do you have vision without it turning into an irresponsibly handled blank check? We are trying to find an approach that tax payers can believe in. There are ways to do this that can be distinctive and smart without ballooning finances. Q (public): What other cities have you examined for ideas? A: We have looked at the Kauffman Center in Kansas City and at Pittsburg. The city we have looked at the most closely with regard to the “how” is Oklahoma City. Q (public): Can performing arts sustain itself? A: Century II is subsidized right now. There is an economic benefit you need to factor into that though, so you can see a return on your dollars. Around 30-40 percent of our performing arts audience come from out of town. Yes, you are subsidizing it, but you are getting back in other ways. Performing arts supports about 3,000 jobs as well. C (public): There are numerous things that need to be considered for how to bring this together on a large scale, such as flight prices. A: Our airport staff does very well in recruiting affordable airlines and routes to our city. Q (DAB): Are there any kind of private/public partnerships that have been considered for the performing arts? A (CM Clendenin): Yes, a lot of partnerships have been looked at. I will tell you that a lot of times when the City tries to do a public/private partnership there are accusations about unethical financial gains. How much private versus public we want to be involved is being considered A: Because of the nature of the performing arts business, there is not a developer that is going to make money operating our performing arts facility. The public/private partnership is about getting people (businesses) to write checks because they love it and want to be a part of something great. I think there is the opportunity to have private contribution to a public asset. It is not going to be a public/private partnership where someone gets a “share of the take.” Q (public): The City Council has done an excellent job handing out incentives to a lot of industries. Any hope we can call in favors? We should appeal to the businesses that have received tax breaks to help with this quality of life project. A (CM Clendenin): When the Council votes to support a tax break, we have Return of Investment requirements. These companies are providing jobs to our residents, boosting our local economy, and giving significantly to local charities. I see Spirit, Cessna, Westar (now called Evergy), Cargill, and these other bigger corporations that receive those tax benefits give a tremendous amount back to the City of Wichita through sponsorships and charity and they often do so without announcement. One of the things we will talk about is naming rights. There is controversy around that though. 5  District III Advisory Board Minutes for January 2, 2019 A: Naftzger Park will be a million dollars cooler because of Westar (Evergy). Exploration Place is another perfect example in regard to the Spirit, Cessna, and Koch exhibits. There are opportunities for those companies that see value in quality of life to step up and be a part of this—we just need to give them something to believe in. Action Taken: Received and filed. PUBLIC AGENDA 5. Off-Agenda Items None BOARD AGENDA 6. Updates, Issues, Reports CM Clendenin reported on the status of the Starlite Drive-in and shared that there has been some misunderstanding about the City’s role in loaning money to the new operator. CM Clendenin provided a $200,000 loan (from his Hyatt funds) to facilitate the closing of the deal that kept the theater operational and said without the loan the deal would not have closed. He reiterated that he has reviewed the books for the Starlite Drive-in and the theater has always been well-supported and has not lost money (at least in the last decade). He shared that prior to loaning the money he had knowledge of there being $50,000 in community pledges and a substantial financial gift being given to the drive-in. The loan will be paid back with interest within five years and the money will be reinvested into District III, possibly to support future Clapp projects. CM Clendenin told the group he is confident in his decision and understands general concerns about City government playing a financial role in the private business sector. He felt that given the history that led to the current state of the Starlite Drive-in, the theater’s presence as a historical quality of life amenity, and the established financial safeguards that it was in the best interest of the City and community to provide the loan to keep Starlite Drive-in open and running. CM Clendenin also shared that the kick-off meeting for the Clapp Transformation Committee will be held next week on January 7 at City Hall. While this first meeting is open to the public for viewing, there will be no public input or discussion. The community will be invited to participate in discussion at future meetings throughout the community that will take place throughout the year. 7. Adjournment Meeting was adjourned at 8:30 p.m. The next District III Advisory Board meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m., Feb. 6, 2019 at the WATER Center, 101 E. Pawnee, Wichita, KS 67211. Guests Jerry Croley John Stevens Richard Ruth Vernie Wollard Debra Miller Stevens Lauren Hirsh Sheri Johnson Charles Myers Lonny Wright Mary Beth Jarvis Respectfully submitted, Maddy Campbell, Community Services Representative, District III 6