Voice For Liberty

Sedgwick County Commissioners applauded

Bob Weeks

in

This letter also appeared in the Wichita Eagle.

We were pleased to see the Sedgwick County Commission vote this week to stop the proposed TIF district in the Planeview neighborhood. Commissioners correctly determined that approval of the TIF would have adversely affected other businesses in the area.

Several grocery stores are already operating in that neighborhood – without government subsidies. Approving the TIF district would have hurt those businesses by forcing them help subsidize their competition.

This proposed project is another example of letting the government choose winners and losers in the marketplace. We applaud commissioners for listening to the small business owners in the Planeview neighborhood, and for voting in favor of free markets and free enterprise.

Susan Estes
Field Director
Americans for Prosperity-Kansas
Wichita

Comments

5 responses to “Sedgwick County Commissioners applauded”

  1. sue c.

    Finally, common sense in the SCC! This TIF was very ill advised.

    If building a supermarket was a winning idea, the private sector would be doing it, without asking for special taxpayer bonuses to do so.

    It is not fair to give one private company an advantage over another like that. All on the backs of the taxpayer, too! We are fed up with the out of control spending from local to federal levels!

  2. RepealtheBill

    The big spender on the city council who represents southeast Wichita (Skelton) wanted these existing grocery stores to subsidize a new shopping center built by a developer he’s on a first-name basis with. Skelton showed no concern whatsoever about the unethical and unfair nature of this scheme.

    The fact the existing grocery stores are paying well over a million $$$ in property taxes every year, which would be lost by them going out of business, didn’t faze Skelton at all. He didn’t mind re-distributing their customers to one of his developer buddies.

    Welshimer was the one who saw the unfairness in this, and made a courageous vote to oppose it. That vote may well have cost her dearly among the redistributionists.

    Voters who believe in a level playing field need to vote for Welshimer in the County Commission District 5 race.

  3. kimpot54

    I second that! Vote to re-elect Gwen Welsheimer. I just wish I could vote for her.

  4. Anonymous

    I’m calling BS to Repeal! Gwen is that you? No campaigning over here. You’ve been a sorry excuse for an elected official.

  5. RepealtheBill

    Dear Anonymous (3:37 pm):

    Are you Welshimer’s opponent???

    I’m not Gwen. I have however compared the 2 people in the Sedgwick County District 5 race and the candidate who has lowered our taxes and shows fiscal responsibility is Gwen Welshimer. Her opponent is a big spender who loves to throw millions into junk “projects” that waste our money and end up increasing our taxes.

    Do you like Bowllagio (govt subsidies to make it easy for a developer to compete with existing businesses), Waterwalk (flushing $$$ down the toilet), govt subsidies (your tax money) to a developer as an incentive to build a grocery store in a neighborhood that already has 7 other grocery stores, millions to shore up Bill Warren’s theater mistakes, etc. etc. ???
    You can either keep the wasteful spending going by voting for a good ol’ boy, or you can vote for the little old lady & keep the Peterjohn-Welshimer voting team intact.

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