Hartman Arena ribbon cutting today

by Bob Weeks on March 25, 2009

Today was the ribbon cutting ceremony for Hartman Arena in Park City, just north of Wichita. This privately-owned arena should provide some competition to the Intrust Bank Arena in downtown Wichita.

Note the wind turbine to the right (north) of the building.

Normally the announcement of a facility like this would be welcomed by government officials. That wasn’t the case two years ago when this arena was announced. At that time Sedgwick County Commissioner Dave Unruh said he would prefer that this arena not be built. Assistant Sedgwick County Manager Ron Holt said “overall, it would not be in the best interest of the community.”

See Government vs. Private Investment and the Downtown Wichita Arena.

Related posts:

Tagged as: Dave Unruh, Free markets, Ron Holt

{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }

1 Joe Williams March 28, 2009 at 3:34 pm: It’s not fully privately funded. You forget the IRB’s and decade long tax abatement that Hartman secured from Park City, for without it, he wouldn’t have built it.

And almost didn’t.

While I commend Harman for building it, it just adds to the amenities here in the Wichita area, I wish him all the success.

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