Voice For Liberty

Search results for: “"real development"”

  • Downtown Wichita: What happened?

    Recently commercial real estate agent Patrick Ahern was interviewed by the Wichita Eagle. A few portions of the interview relate directly to public policy.

    How is the downtown market reacting to the slow disappearance of the Minnesota Guys?

    The buildings they condoed, by selling the floors off, has created quite a mess. You have multiple property owners in one building. Some owners have the resources to fix things and others don’t, and the ones who do don’t want to pay for the guy who doesn’t. But that will work itself out through the foreclosure process. And two of their buildings went to auction — Farmers and Bankers, and the Landmark building. Kaufman is being foreclosed on, and it’s no secret that at the Wichita Executive Centre, the lender has taken over operations and is making the decisions now. So, the market is shaking them out. They’re swirling the drain.

    On the condominium ownership of office building floors: Two years ago the Wichita Business Journal reported on this decline: “Prices on two bank-owned floors at the Broadway Plaza building — at the corner of Douglas and Broadway — were reduced last week to just $59,000 apiece. … They are just two of a handful office condo floors that originally were developed by Minnesota-based Real Development Corp. Most of them were sold to California investors, and many of them subsequently landed in foreclosure. Prices since then have plummeted.”

    Some of these floors carried mortgage loans of over $400,000 not long ago.

    Broadway Plaza Building, Wichita, KS

    Tax values on these properties have fallen, too. According to Sedgwick County records, a typical floor in the Broadway Plaza building was appraised at around $387,000 in 2007. In 2013, the same property is appraised at only $92,000. This drop in real estate values is not reflective of the general trend of office values in downtown Wichita. A survey by two real estate firms shows rents for both class A and class B office space holding steady in downtown over the same time period.

    While the floors in question are not currently owned by Real Development, and that company did not default on bank loans, the projects were developed and marketed by Real Development. And at the same time these values were plummeting, the Wichita City Council judged it was wise economic development strategy to award the Minnesota Guys millions in tax increment financing. The developers were never able to tap that financing, however.

    For another downtown building, the Minnesota Guys stopped paying special assessment taxes as part of the city’s facade improvement program. The city says that these loans carry very low risk. In this case, it’s likely the city will get its money, but several years late, and only as part of the building’s foreclosure proceedings. (Bank of Kansas seeks to foreclose on Kaufman Building in downtown Wichita, June 12, 2013 Wichita Eagle)

    Also, Ahern talked about the Intrust Bank Arena in downtown Wichita, which was sold to voters as an engine of economic development.

    Intrust Bank Arena, Wichita, KS

    Nothing has bloomed up around the arena. Why?

    On the nights when you have a major event, say Billy Joel, the restaurants in the area, like Cafe Bel Ami, are sold out. The nights when you have hockey games, not so much. If there was a major event more frequently, maybe stuff would have popped up around it. But there is not enough going on to support a new sports bar across the street.

    So, does that mean we’ll never see any economic overflow from the arena?

    I don’t think so. I see people coming from western Kansas, from Hutch or wherever, coming to country concerts, staying overnight, eating out and whooping it up at Old Town. Even with the smaller stuff, like the hockey games, there is some economic benefit.

    This sober assessment is quite different than from what arena boosters promised.

    The full article is A conversation with Patrick Ahern.

  • Wichita’s Jeff Longwell on TIF districts, tax abatements

    Is a tax increment financing (TIF) district a tax abatement? Wichita city council member Jeff Longwell, now Wichita’s vice mayor, doesn’t think so. During this week’s city council meeting, Longwell said this in explaining his support of a TIF district created for the benefit of Real Development: “One of the things that people I think need to understand is that this is not a tax abatement.”

    He said tax revenues will increase from $28,000 to half a million dollars, repeating that it is not a tax abatement.

    So is it true that TIF is not a tax abatement?

    A little background: The Wichita City council grants property tax abatements regularly as part of its Industrial Revenue Bond program. In the IRB program, the city is not the lender of funds, and it does not guarantee that the bonds will be repaid. Instead, the benefit of the IRB program is that the applicant won’t have to pay property tax on property purchased with the bond money. This abatement is generally granted for a period of ten years, although it is reviewed after five years to see if the company is fulfilling the promises it made to justify the tax abatement. In addition, a sales tax exemption may be granted on the property purchased with the bond money.

    Confused? Many people are. A few weeks ago the city issued IRBs to a Wichita movie theater operator. Comments left at various online forums often argued that the city should not be lending money to the theater and its controversial ownership group. But as we’ve seen, the city is not making a loan. Instead, the IRB program is simply a vehicle that is used to grant relief from paying property taxes to the city, county, and school district.

    So the IRB program, despite its name, is a tax abatement program. What about tax increment financing, then?

    Under TIF, a district is formed. The property taxes being paid by a property in the district at the time of formation is noted and called the base. Usually this property is blighted or run-down, so this base is a very low value.

    Then a development plan is created, perhaps to build apartments or a shopping center. Based on that plan and the property taxes that the completed project will likely pay, the city will borrow money and give it to the developers.

    After the project is completed, the tax appraiser notices that there’s something new and valuable where there wasn’t before, and he levies a higher tax bill on the property. The difference between the original taxes — the base — and the new taxes is called the increment.

    Under normal conditions when new property comes on the tax rolls, the tax revenue is used to provide public services such as police and fire protection. The school district is usually a recipient of a large portion of the new tax revenue, which might be used to pay for the schooling of residents of the new apartments, for example.

    But in a TIF district, what happens to this new tax revenue — the increment?

    Recall that the city borrowed money and gave it to the developers. The new property taxes — the increment — is used to pay off these bonds.

    So council member Longwell is correct, in a way. Real Development will pay increased property taxes.

    But when these increased taxes are used to pay off bonds that exclusively benefit Real Development, how is this any different from not paying property taxes?

    Consider development not in a TIF district. Developers generally borrow money. Then they have to make loan payments and higher tax payments.

    But TIF developers pay only higher taxes. There are no loan payments, as their increased property tax payments are used to pay off the loan.

    So when considering the total economic reality, council member Longwell is wrong. Several other council members have the same mistaken belief.

    Tax increment financing is a tax abatement in disguise. Actually, it’s worse than that. Tax abatements granted in the IRB program don’t require the city to be on the hook for a loan. But in a TIF district, the city is the lender, and city taxpayers are liable if the TIF district doesn’t perform up to projections. This has happened in Wichita, and taxpayers had to pay in one way or another.

    Why is Longwell, now Wichita’s vice mayor, unable to grasp these facts? Perhaps he does but chooses to ignore them. He has a reason to do so. Downtown Wichita real estate developers — let’s be clear: developers who seek public subsidy instead of working to meet market demand — are generous with campaign contributions, funding both political liberals like Wichita city council member Janet Miller and self-styled fiscal conservatives such as Longwell.

    Longwell’s term expires next spring, and he may choose to run for his same office or even the mayor’s office, as some political observers have speculated.

    Longwell has already drawn one challenger for his city council position, tea party activist Lynda Tyler. While lacking experience holding elective office, Tyler has well-established conservative credentials and can be expected to run a vigorous and well-funded campaign.

    Longwell, who along with Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer complains that Wichita doesn’t have enough “tools in the toolbox” for dishing out economic development incentives to politically-connected city hall insiders, will have to explain his actions to voters in his largely conservative west-side district.

    Someone should ask him if he really understands the economic reality of tax increment financing districts.

  • Kansas and Wichita quick takes: Tuesday May 24, 2011

    Wichita office condo values. Wichita Business Journal: “Prices on two bank-owned floors at the Broadway Plaza building — at the corner of Douglas and Broadway — were reduced last week to just $59,000 apiece. … They are just two of a handful office condo floors that originally were developed by Minnesota-based Real Development Corp. Most of them were sold to California investors, and many of them subsequently landed in foreclosure. Prices since then have plummeted.” … Many people may know Real Development for its two principals known colloquially as the “Minnesota Guys.” Tax values on these properties have fallen, too. According to Sedgwick County records, one floor of the Broadway Plaza that is owned by a bank was appraised at $388,000 in 2007. Its appraised value dropped to $210,900 in 2008, where it has remained since then. Another floor in the building went from $385,000 to $180,000 at the same time. … This drop in real estate values is not reflective of the general trend of office values in downtown Wichita. A survey by two real estate firms shows rents for both class A and class B office space holding steady in downtown over the same time period. … While the floors in question are not currently owned by the Minnesota Guys, the projects were developed and marketed by them. … Other projects developed by Real Development have suffered problems dealing with ordinary issues. In 2009 a condo building required special waivers of city policy in order to provide special assessment tax financing for facade repairs. The Minnesota Guys also aggressively seek subsidy from local and federal government.

    Gates’ education reform criticized. Bill Gates of Microsoft fame has long been interested and involved in reform of public schools. But not all appreciate his efforts. Since Gates has turned his attention to “the hunt for bad teachers,” Diane Ravitch concludes that “So far, the main effect of Gates’ policy has been to demoralize millions of teachers, who don’t understand how they went from being respected members of the community to Public Enemy No. 1.” … I might be able to help Ravitch understand: It was when the teachers unions transformed from a professional association to a labor union, one which constantly fights all reforms, especially those that are aimed at improving teacher quality.

    Pawlenty, Gingrich on ethanol. The Wall Street Journal notes that Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty is opposed to the federal subsidies for ethanol — “a challenge to King Corn,” as the Journal phrased it. This is in opposition to Newt Gingrich, who the Journal recently labeled “Professor Cornpone.” In the op-ed from January, the editorial board wrote: “Given that Mr. Gingrich aspires to be President, his ethanol lobbying raises larger questions about his convictions and judgment. The Georgian has been campaigning in the tea party age as a fierce critic of spending and government, but his record on that score is, well, mixed.” … After noting two of Gingrich’s failures to support limited government, the January article concluded: “Now Republicans have another chance to reform government, and a limited window of opportunity in which to do it. The temptation will be to allow their first principles to be as elastic as many voters suspect they are, especially as Mr. Obama appropriates the language of ‘investments’ and ‘incentives’ to transfer capital to politically favored companies. Many Republicans have their own industry favorites, and such parochial interests could undercut their opposition to Mr. Obama’s wider agenda. So along comes Mr. Gingrich to offer his support for Mr. Obama’s brand of green-energy welfare, undermining House Republicans in the process. … Some pandering is inevitable in presidential politics, but, befitting a college professor, Mr. Gingrich insists on portraying his low vote-buying as high ‘intellectual’ policy. This doesn’t bode well for his judgment as a president. Even Al Gore now admits that the only reason he supported ethanol in 2000 was to goose his presidential prospects, and the only difference now between Al and Newt is that Al admits he was wrong.”

    Permission required to export natural gas. Friends University Professor Malcolm Harris explains at least one reason why we have a deficit in our balance of payments: “Apparently we have rules that prohibit exporting natural gas. Getting a ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ card also allows others to lobby against the license.” And someone did lobby against the license. … Harris also explains the importance of shale gas, meaning gas extracted using a relatively new drilling process. Gas prices today are just one-third of the peak in 2008, Harris writes.

  • Wichita city hall silent on handling of ethics issue

    A correction has been noted in this article.

    On Tuesday the Wichita city council will hold a public hearing regarding a request by Real Development for a $2.5 million increase in tax increment district financing. While this proposal should be opposed on its merits, there is reason to give extra scrutiny to this matter. That’s because Real Development employs the services of Wichita public relations executive Beth King. What matters to public policy is that last year she and Wichita City Manager Robert Layton began a dating relationship which continues to the present.

    Documents released to me in response to a records request indicate that King is no mere publicist. Instead, it is apparent she plays an active role in negotiations between city staff and Real Development.

    The mayor, city manager, and city staff have policies in place to control what is an obvious conflict of interest. The efficacy of these policies might be the subject of discussion and debate — except there is no discussion.

    The Wichita Eagle has researched a story on this matter. Reporters interviewed the mayor, city council members, and government ethics experts. (The following sentence in this article is in error. Eagle newsroom management says research was never developed into a story. See here for more.) But Eagle newsroom management has squashed the story, citing the difficulty of drawing a line between public and private behavior. (The Eagle has mentioned the dating relationship and briefly described the city’s response as a small part of a story marking Layton’s first anniversary as Wichita city manager.)

    The Eagle’s editorial board has not written on this issue, either.

    The line between private and public life is difficult to draw, no doubt. But when a company actively represented by a person who is involved in a dating relationship with the city’s top executive is asking the city for millions in tax increment financing, the line has definitely been crossed.

    There needs to be a public discussion of the city’s response to this matter. The people of Wichita need to know that the city believes the conflict of interest has been handled, and by what measures. We need to hear from experts — and regular citizens — as to whether these policies are an appropriate and effective response.

    In a meeting with Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer Friday afternoon, I told him of my concern about the lack of public disclosure of the measures the city has taken. The mayor stressed several times that the manager’s private life is not a subject for public discussion, and I agree.

    The mayor feels that by providing information to news media and having been interviewed, his obligation is fulfilled. That could be true if the management of the Wichita Eagle, our town’s only daily newspaper, printed the story that would let citizens know of the city’s policies regarding this matter.

    But since that story is apparently not forthcoming from the Eagle, I feel that the city needs to come forward and tell citizens of the policies it instituted and why the city believes they are effective. It is not appropriate for the city manager to do this, since he is the subject of these policies. Instead, this is the job of the mayor, as he is the political head of the city.

    Besides this issue there is another area of concern. King served as campaign manager for Mayor Brewer and Council Member Lavonta Williams. Should theses elected officials abstain from participating in a decision involving a client of their campaign manager? At the minimum, these relationships need to be disclosed.

    In his first state of the city address, the mayor addressed government accountability, stating: “I’m talking about public trust in government.” Citizens become cynical, however, when they feel there is a group of insiders — commonly called the “good ol’ boy network” — who get whatever they want from city hall at the expense of taxpayers. An obvious conflict of interest can’t simply be swept under the rug — as the city has done in this case — without fueling this cynicism. There’s a tension between widespread knowledge of this matter and the city’s refusal to deal with it in public. This is the case whether the city’s policies are an effective and appropriate response, or if they are not.

  • Wichita Center City South TIF Changes Slip Through

    At the December 16, 2008 meeting of the Wichita City Council, a major revision to the development plan of a downtown Wichita TIF district was made. This TIF district is a project of Real Development, whose principals Michael Elzufon and David Lundberg are commonly known as the “Minnesota Guys.”

    The changes to this plan were not made in secret, but the document describing them was buried in the 675-page agenda report (or “green sheets”) for that meeting. These changes escaped the notice of any local news media (at least my searches show no stories being reported), including the Wichita Eagle and Wichita Business Journal. At the city council meeting, no one from the public spoke or asked questions. No council members did, either.

    The original plan dates from July, 2007. Highlights of the changes from then to now include:

    1. Changing from condominium ownership to rentals.

    2. Property acquisition costs are now $3,000,000, up from $2,250,000 in the original plan. The city is reimbursing Real Development for these costs as part of the TIF. Probably a primary reason for this increase is that another building is being bought by the city for the developers.

    3. The cost of the parking garage is now $6,300,000, up from $3,750,000 in the original plan. This again is paid for by the TIF.

    As stated in a document titled “FIRST AMENDMENT CENTER CITY SOUTH REDEVELOPMENT DISTRICT FOR EXCHANGE PLACE PROJECT PLAN December 16, 2008” in Section 2: “The amount of Eligible Project Costs is hereby increased from Six Million Five Hundred Eighty Thousand Dollars $6,580,000.00) to Ten Million One Hundred Eighty Thousand Dollars ($10,180,000.00).” This represents an increase of 54.7% from the original plan.

  • Wichita Exchange Place project passes

    At today’s meeting of the Wichita City Council, final approval of the city’s involvement in a downtown Wichita development passed.

    The item, which appeared on the consent agenda, was the second reading for the ordinances that authorize the Exchange Place Project, including the expansion of its tax increment financing district.

    (A consent agenda is a group of items that will be voted on in bulk with a single vote. An item on a consent agenda will be discussed only if a council member requests the item to be “pulled.” If that is done, the item will be voted on separately. Generally, consent agenda items are considered by the city to be non-controversial, but that is not always the case.)

    Council Member Lavonta Williams wanted to know more about the change to the parking plan. On Saturday reporting by the Wichita Eagle’s Brent Wistrom told of how the number of parking spaces that will be available to the public has declined as the project plan has evolved: “Now the proposed garage near Douglas and Market would have only 64 spaces saved for public parking. That’s down from 103 promised earlier this month, which was down from the 149 projected in March. Meanwhile, the number of spaces reserved for apartment tenants increased from 195 to 209.”

    The availability of additional public parking spaces in downtown was one of the major reasons cited by city council members as a reason for approving the Exchange Place project.

    Assistant City Manager Cathy Holderman asked Pat Ayers, a former Key Construction executive, to respond to the question. He said that the unique aspects of the proposed garage actually increased the number of parking spaces available during the work day, as residents of the apartments drive their cars to work.

    (City manager Bob Layton, although present at the meeting, is not able to participate in this matter due to a conflict of interest.)

    Is this a deviation from what was originally planned, asked Williams? Yes, was the reply from Ayers.

    Vice Mayor Jeff Longwell asked Holdeman about a safeguard in place for this project, a ten percent “retainage.” Ayers replied that this provision is in effect for this project. But Council Member Paul Gray said a retainage is common to construction contracts, and that it simply ensures that the contractor completes the job, not the sustainability of the project.

    There was mention of the fact that payments will be made directly to vendors, not to Real Development, the developers of the project. This is a reminder of the peculiar arrangement where the city is placing a huge bet of the success of downtown Wichita redevelopment in the hands of the principals behind Real Development, but evidently we don’t trust them enough to write them a check and be confident they will pay their bills.

    The measure passed with Gray and Jim Skelton voting against the measure, as they did last week.

    Other reporting is at Downtown condo project gets final approval.

  • How to turn $399,000 into $65,000 in downtown Wichita

    How to turn $399,000 into $65,000 in downtown Wichita

    Once embraced by Wichita officials as heroes, real estate listings for two floors of a downtown Wichita office building illustrate the carnage left behind by two developers.

    Broadway Plaza Building, Wichita, KSA decade ago the “Minnesota Guys” were the darlings of downtown Wichita. With a controversial form of real estate ownership — tenancy in common — they promised to revive downtown Wichita. City officials and civic leaders praised them. The city council found them so endearing that it awarded the Minnesota Guys over $10 million in tax increment financing — later increased at their request — although the developers were never able to tap into those funds. Now the two developers are facing numerous felony charges relating to securities violations.

    This week the Wichita Business Journal reports that two floors of a prominent downtown office building are for sale at very low prices. The building is Broadway Plaza at 105 S. Broadway.

    In 2007 the fourth floor of this building had an appraised value of $388,000, according to Sedgwick County records. The value fell to $210,900 the next year and stayed at that value for five years. Now the appraised value is $98,000.

    The value of the eleventh floor followed a similar trajectory, being valued at $399,000 in 2007, falling to $160,100 for four years, and now appraised at $82,300.

    Now the asking price for each floor is $65,000. At attempt at sale at auction earlier this year failed to produce any bids. The asking price represents a cost of about $13 per square foot. That’s less than the annual rent for class A office space in Wichita, downtown and suburban.

    In 2011 I reported on how some downtown Wichita properties are plummeting in value:

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    blockquote>A strategy of Real Development — the “Minnesota Guys” — in Wichita has been to develop and sell floors of downtown office buildings as condominiums. Some of these floors have been foreclosed upon and have come back on the market. Some once carried mortgages of $400,000 or more, meaning that at one point a bank thought they were worth at least that much. But now four floors in the Broadway Plaza Building, three floors of the Petroleum Building, two floors of Sutton Place, and one floor of the Orpheum Office Center are available for sale at prices not much over $100,000, ranging from $14 to $25 per square foot. Other downtown office buildings — very plain properties — are listed at much higher prices. For example, one downtown property is listed at $82 per square foot. … Some of these floors have had declining appraisals. According to the Sedgwick County Treasurer, the fifth floor of Sutton Place, which is listed for sale at $135,000, was appraised in 2008 for $530,900. In 2009 the appraised value dropped to $215,000.

  • In Wichita, special assessment financing gone wild

    At today’s meeting of the Wichita City Council, a privately-owned condominium association is seeking special assessment financing to make repairs to its building.

    Special assessment financing means that the cost of the repairs, $112,620 in this case, will be added to the building’s property taxes. Actually, in this case, to each of the condominium owners’ taxes. They’ll pay it off over the course of 15 years.

    So the city is not giving this money to the building’s owners. They’ll have to pay it back. The city is, however, setting new precedent in this action.

    First, special assessment financing has traditionally been used to fund infrastructure such as streets and sewers, and new infrastructure at that. The city, under its facade improvement program, now allows this type of financing to be used to make repairs and renovations to existing buildings. That’s if your building is located in one of the politically-favored areas of town. Not all buildings will qualify.

    By using special assessment financing in this way, the city seeks to direct investment towards parts of town that it feels doesn’t have enough investment. This form of centralized government planning is bad public policy. The city should stop doing this, and let people freely choose where to invest.

    This case, however, is an even more egregious example of the city’s desire to control where and how people invest.

    The agenda report for this item details two exceptions to the city’s facade improvement program that must be waived for this project to obtain special assessment financing.

    The first is the private investment match. Here, the city is proposing that since the building’s owners have made a past private investment in this property, there’s no need to require a concurrent investment.

    Second, facade improvement projects are required to undergo a gap analysis to “prove” the need for public financing. According to the report: “This project does not lend itself to this type of gap analysis; however, staff believes that conventional financing would be difficult to obtain for exterior repairs to a residential condominium property like this.”

    So the city proposes to waive this requirement as well.

    What would happen if the city council doesn’t approve the special assessment financing? The agenda report states “Each individual condo owner would be required to fund a share of the cost.”

    Isn’t that what private property owners do: fund the cost of repairs to their property?

    Today’s action, if approved, would set a public hearing on July 7.

    If the city council approves this project — and I suspect it will with no dissenting votes — we must now realize that Wichita has a mayor, city council, and city staff that are willing to throw any principle aside for political expediency.

    By the way, the developer of this building is Real Development. Its principles, particularly Michael Elzufon, are familiar to the mayor and some council members as campaign donors. Its public relations executive has been the campaign manager for the mayor and a city council member.

    In the past I’ve referred to Real Development as “crony capitalists,” defined in Investopedia this way: “A description of capitalist society as being based on the close relationships between businessmen and the state. Instead of success being determined by a free market and the rule of law, the success of a business is dependent on the favoritism that is shown to it by the ruling government in the form of tax breaks, government grants and other incentives.”

    Elzufon took exception to that characterization. After asking for this special assessment financing project and its waivers, it fits even better.

    (This is a Scribd document. Click on the rectangle at the right of the document’s title bar to get a full-screen view.)

    Petition to Renovate Building Facade in the Core Area 2009-06-23

  • Kansas and Wichita quick takes: Monday January 31, 2011

    Some downtown Wichita properties plummet in value. A strategy of Real Development — the “Minnesota Guys” — in Wichita has been to develop and sell floors of downtown office buildings as condominiums. Some of these floors have been foreclosed upon and have come back on the market. Some once carried mortgages of $400,000 or more, meaning that at one point a bank thought they were worth at least that much. But now four floors in the Broadway Plaza Building, three floors of the Petroleum Building, two floors of Sutton Place, and one floor of the Orpheum Office Center are available for sale at prices not much over $100,000, ranging from $14 to $25 per square foot. Other downtown office buildings — very plain properties — are listed at much higher prices. For example, one downtown property is listed at $82 per square foot. … Some of these floors have had declining appraisals. According to the Sedgwick County Treasurer, the fifth floor of Sutton Place, which is listed for sale at $135,000, was appraised in 2008 for $530,900. In 2009 the appraised value dropped to $215,000.

    Kansas Days. The primary news made at this year’s Kansas Days gathering was the election of Todd Tiahrt to replace Mike Pompeo as national committeeman. Otherwise, there was a large turnout in Topeka with many receptions and meals that provided opportunities to meet officeholders and new friends, and to reacquaint with old friends from across the state. Plus, I got to sample the “Brownback” beer. It’s pretty good.

    Williams named to national economic development committee. From Wichita Business Journal: “Wichita City Council member Lavonta Williams has been named to a National League of Cities steering committee on Community and Economic Development Policy and Advocacy.” Undoubtedly for her unfailing support of any form of corporate welfare that comes before the Wichita City Council.

    Mises University this summer. If you’re a college student and would like to receive instruction in Austrian Economics — “a rigorous and logical approach to economics that gives free markets their due and takes full account of the reality of human choice” — I suggest applying to the Ludwig von Mises Institute to attend Mises University this summer. I attended as a member observer in 2007, and it was a wonderful and very intense week. For more information, click on Mises University 2011. Scholarships are available.

    A Rosa Parks moment for education. Kevin Huffman in the Washington Post: “Last week, 40-year-old Ohio mother Kelley Williams-Bolar was released after serving nine days in jail on a felony conviction for tampering with records. Williams-Bolar’s offense? Lying about her address so her two daughters, zoned to the lousy Akron city schools, could attend better schools in the neighboring Copley-Fairlawn district. … In this country, if you are middle or upper class, you have school choice. You can, and probably do, choose your home based on the quality of local schools. Or you can opt out of the system by scraping together the funds for a parochial school. But if you are poor, you’re out of luck, subject to the generally anti-choice bureaucracy.” Kansas has no school choice programs to speak of, and so far Kansas Governor Sam Brownback has not expressed advocacy for school choice.

    The state against blacks. The Wall Street Journal’s Jason L. Riley interviews economist Walter E. Williams on the occasion of the publication of his most recent book Up from the Projects: An Autobiography. The reason for the article’s title: “‘The welfare state has done to black Americans what slavery couldn’t do, what Jim Crow couldn’t do, what the harshest racism couldn’t do,’ Mr. Williams says. ‘And that is to destroy the black family.’” … On economics and why it is important, Riley writes: “Over the decades, Mr. Williams’s writings have sought to highlight ‘the moral superiority of individual liberty and free markets,’ as he puts it. ‘I try to write so that economics is understandable to the ordinary person without an economics background.’ His motivation? ‘I think it’s important for people to understand the ideas of scarcity and decision-making in everyday life so that they won’t be ripped off by politicians,’ he says. ‘Politicians exploit economic illiteracy.’” … On the current state of politics: “Mr. Williams says he hopes that the tea party has staying power, but ‘liberty and limited government is the unusual state of human affairs. The normal state throughout mankind’s history is for him to be subject to arbitrary abuse and control by government..”

    Professor Cornpone. From The Wall Street Journal Review & Outlook: “The last time these columns were lambasted by a presidential candidate in Iowa, he was Democrat Richard Gephardt and the year was 1988. The Missouri populist won the state caucuses in part on the rallying cry that ‘we’ve got to stop listening to the editorial writers and the establishment,’ especially about ethanol and trade. Imagine our amusement to find Republican Newt Gingrich joining such company. The former Speaker blew through Des Moines last Tuesday for the Renewable Fuels Association summit, and his keynote speech to the ethanol lobby was as pious a tribute to the fuel made from corn and tax dollars as we’ve ever heard. Mr. Gingrich explained that ‘the big-city attacks’ on ethanol subsidies are really attempts to deny prosperity to rural America … Yet today this now-mature industry enjoys far more than cash handouts, including tariffs on foreign competitors and a mandate to buy its product. Supporters are always inventing new reasons for these dispensations, like carbon benefits (nonexistent, according to the greens and most scientific evidence) and replacing foreign oil (imports are up). … Given that Mr. Gingrich aspires to be President, his ethanol lobbying raises larger questions about his convictions and judgment.” Another advocate for the ethanol boondoggle, and perhaps again a presidential candidate, is Kansas Governor Sam Brownback.

    Politics and city managers to be topic. This Friday (February 4) the Wichita Pachyderm Club features as its speaker H. Edward Flentje, Professor at the Hugo Wall School of Urban and Public Affairs, Wichita State University. His topic will be “The Political Roots of City Managers in Kansas.” The public is welcome and encouraged to attend Wichita Pachyderm meetings. For more information click on Wichita Pachyderm Club.

    Wednesdays in Wiedemann this week. Wednesday (February 2) Wichita State University’s Lynne Davis presents an organ recital as part of the “Wednesdays in Wiedemann” series. These recitals, which have no admission charge, start at 5:30 pm and last about 30 minutes. The location is Wiedemann Recital Hall (map) on the campus of Wichita State University. For more about Davis and WSU’s Great Marcussen Organ, see my story from earlier this year.

    Government bird chirping. American Majority’s Beka Romm wonders about the wisdom of a mayor’s plan to broadcast bird songs on the city’s streets, and how we can decide whether government should be doing things like this.

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