Political Forum 6th District

And you're turned to KMW Wichita, listener-supported radio from the Wichita State University. Funding for fresh air is provided in part by an underwriting grant from the Wichita Business Journal, Wichita's only all-business newspaper, and from the financial contribution of listeners like you. Stay with us. Coming up next, we're going to be going live downtown to the downtown public library to hear another in a series of political debates. This one between the runoff candidates for the 6th District City Council seat that's coming up in just about 20 seconds, so stay tuned for that. You'll quick look at our forecast for tonight, areas of cloud and fog developing sometime after midnight, otherwise should be mostly clear tonight with a low around 40 degrees. Tomorrow, coming sunny, mild with a high around 65 south winds, 5 to 15 miles per hour.

Tomorrow nights low, around 45, currently 47 degrees. It's now 7 o'clock, and now KMW takes you to the downtown public library for a live broadcast of the 4th in a series of election 93 candidates forums. The City Council 6th District candidate forum, the 4th in a series of 6th City Council and School Board candidate forums sponsored by KMW, the Wichita Eagle, the City of Wichita Citizens Participation Office, and the League of Women Voters. I'm Gary Schibers, General Manager of KMW, and the moderator for this evening's event. The sponsors are grateful to KZS and radio for the use of its remote broadcast equipment, which makes this broadcast possible. The series of candidate forums is designed to provide individual citizens an opportunity to question the candidates about the issues.

For those of you listening in on KMW radio, we're coming to you live from the downtown Wichita Public Library, and if you are in the neighborhood, there is room in the hall if you'd like to stop by and join us here at the top of the Wichita Public Library. The District Council candidates, John Cole and Jerry Grider, are ready to answer questions from our audience here at the library, and from the panel which includes journalists and a representative of the League of Women Voters. The members of the panel include Gordon Basham, the Director of KMW, Bud Norman, reporter for the Wichita Eagle, Kai Jackson, reporter for News Channel 3 in Wichita, and Mary Connect of the League of Women Voters. Our celebrity timekeeper tonight is Dan Scott from the Citizens Participation Office, and our guests this evening at the downtown library are many of your neighbors from throughout the Wichita Sedgwick County Metroplex.

The rules for tonight's debate are quite simple. Both candidates will be allowed a two-minute opening statement and a two-minute closing statement. Each candidate will be allowed two minutes to respond to questions, regardless of whether the question is addressed to one or to both candidates. Candidates will have one minute each to respond to follow-up questions. There will be no time allotted for rebuttals. Candidates flipped a coin earlier tonight to determine who will make the first opening statement, and again to determine who will make the final closing statement. They will alternate in being the first to answer questions asked of them by the panel and the audience. Time will be reserved at the end of the hour for candidates to question each other. The candidates are reminded to address questions with specific answers and refrain from making stump speeches. Likewise, the audience is asked to refrain from making speeches when asking questions. Audience members have 30 seconds to put their thoughts in the form of a question, and if

you run beyond that time limit, you fall that you return and go back to square one. Our candidates tonight are alphabetically Joan Cole and Jerry Grider. His Cole holds a Bachelor's Bachelor of Arts degree from Lawrence University and a Master of Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin. His Cole currently has a partner in Cole Consultants and Employee Benefits Consulting firm. Her political experience includes two and a half terms on the 6th District CPO Council. She has also served on the City County Board of Health and the County Mental Health Board and the Metropolitan Area Planning Commission. His Cole's opponent is Mr. Jerry Grider. Mr. Grider is the owner of the Grider Insurance Agency. Mr. Grider's political experience includes service on the Citizens' Participation Organization Council and the CPO Central Committee.

He has served on numerous municipal boards, including the Metropolitan Area Planning Commission, the County Tax Board of Equalization and the South Central Economic Development District. Now to the opening statements. There was a coin toss earlier and as a result, where we hit first from Jerry Grider, Mr. Grider. Thank you. Thank you, folks, for being here. You have a voter. Never before has this city been faced with the compound effects of crime, rape, gang violence, drugs, and the loss of jobs all at once. I believe that these and many other problems can be solved. However, I need your help. I have a comprehensive plan for fighting crime. It calls for a change in current plagues, tactics, falling of some of the highlights of my plan, getting all surveillance walking beats, working with the school board and other social and government bodies to provide educational and organized social and community services, activities for our youth, working with the legislature to eliminate plea bargaining for

crimes committed against the elderly, the disabled, the children, as well as for the crime of rape and gang related violence, improving the neighborhood watch program, more street lights, and bringing up the police staff to what is the FBI's acceptable standards. I was born and raised in the sixth district. I educated my four children in the sixth district, Waco Horseman in the North. My wife of 41 years is a sixth district resident. I've had a business in the sixth district for 31 years. I started with the original being involved in we want to call neighborhood, which is people to people, back with the Urban Renewal and the CPO program. I thank you for your time. The next opening statement comes from Joan Cole, who's Cole. Good evening.

My name is Joan Cole, and I'm running for City Council to make City Government responsive to the needs of neighborhoods. When neighborhoods thrive, they help provide for our safety and the safety of our children and friends. On neighborhoods where we own homes, raise families, and begin our participation in community as neighbors finding common concerns. The first thing that every neighborhood needs is assurance of protection from criminals. The first duty of government is to protect its citizens. I believe our police department must continue to expand and add more officers to need the growing threats we feel from violent crime. But that's not enough. We need to get involved and be concerned about each other. Look out for one another. As neighbors, families, church members, educators, and the community at large. For almost 20 years, the majority of policy decisions made by the leadership of this community have encouraged development on the fringes of our city. At the same time, existing neighborhoods have been almost totally ignored.

I want to change this trend and treat older neighborhoods fairly. Of course, I am also concerned with new jobs and economic growth. As owner of a small business, I understand the need for partnerships between business and government. Only the private sector can generate jobs, but local government can help create an atmosphere to encourage new jobs and economic growth. The incentives which city government offers to business must, however, be consistent and well thought out. Downtown belongs to all of us. A successful downtown revitalization is linked to all the older residential neighborhoods immediately surrounding the core area. If our downtown tax base continues to erode, this will result in increased taxes for all of us. I don't want this to happen. I will continue to emphasize my commitment to all the neighborhoods of the 6th district and for that matter to all the neighborhoods who make up this great city. Thank you, Ms. Cole.

During the course of the evening, you may occasionally hear a beeping sound that you will recognize from the channel 35 broadcasts of the Wichita City Council meetings. It is the very same timer that is used during the city council meetings. That used to it, candidates, one of you may be hearing it in the future. We are coming to you live from the third floor gallery of the Wichita Public Library downtown. There is evidence that people don't go downtown at night if you are in the neighborhood. There is space available for you to be seated in our auditorium and to question candidates. At this point in our program, it's time for our panel to ask questions that the candidates and we begin with Kai Jackson from News Channel 3. Thank you, hearing. Candidates, my first question is often there have been complaints about Wichita sewer system, complaints of flooding streets, complaints of the sewer system backing up and often people

who come into the council meetings to discuss this with council members are not exactly certain of how taxes are divided among those people in various districts. Do you feel the city sewer system is efficient if not with changes which you make and what problems can you specifically cite that occur in the six district relating to this? Ms. Cole, would you begin? That's a tough one. And I'm not really terribly familiar with the problem throughout the city, but I do know in the area in which I live, which is the six district, there certainly are places where there is substantial and problematic flooding every time we have a rain. My background is that I come from the state of Wisconsin where far greater provision and care I believe is taken and looking to these kinds of problems. I really do not have an answer.

It seems to me that there are spots that need scrutiny and need some problem spots that need to be addressed. It is a matter again of finding the resources for those things and that does not happen to be high on my priority list at this time. Mr. Criter, I am well aware of sewer problems right in front of my office. If we get a two inch rain, I'm flooded. It floods my office yard and I do have to call the city and ask them to come out and work on the sewer. That's been a lot of money. I think one thing we might want to look at is who will design these sewers. Let's start letting people be accountable. As your chair, as your counsel person, I'm going to have to be accountable to you. I think the architects that design these need to be held accountable to if they're not doing the job. I moved out of my house as a child three times from floods in North Wichita. I'm well aware of what floods and how devastating they can be to your family, to your home,

and to your personal, self-fear of flood water. I think that we're going to have to address it, as I mentioned, even with myself. I don't think it's on the highest of my priorities, but it definitely needs to be looked at. I'm about afraid to grade my own office up there, working it because I'm in the mud. Is there a follow-up question for the panel, Gordon Basham? To both of you, one of the things that people listening in the audience who are at home or people who listen to you as you work the sixth district looking for votes might be the concern that you're not going to do enough for them in the sixth district in order to take care of this particular problem, which admittedly is really a problem. But other parts of the city have problems as well, and you're only one of seven people on the council.

What's the priority when it comes to this? Your district or the city's benefit as a whole? I'd like to begin, if I may. I would say to begin with, I've visited about 4,500 households. I began walking door to door, January 7th, and it was really my aim to introduce myself to people, but it was also my aim to find out what was number one, two, and three on the priority list of people in district six. What I learned really was that the problems that they identified as one and two, which happened to be dilapidated in vacant properties and crime, are problems that are problems throughout the city. And I think those two things need to be addressed as a council, with seven people being very concerned about them. Another thing that occurs in district six, of course, is the problem of downtown revitalization. And as that goes, so does the entire city of Wichita go.

So I see that while I'll bow to the beeper. Mr. Griger, you were one minute's response to that follow-up question. Would you repeat that question? I'm curious as to whether or not your primary concerns will be for the sixth district and your constituents in the sixth district, or as one member of seven on the city council, if you're greater concern in terms of drainage and sewage problems, if that's where your priorities will lie for the benefit of the community, rather than the benefit of your district, which comes first, the district of the community. Well, certainly being elected from the sixth district, I'm going to have to answer to the sixth district, and I have an obligation to the sixth district. But I also have an obligation to the citizenry at large. A good example is this water runoff that we've just taxed our citizens with whether they're elderly or whether they're business people. I just would like to see that repeal.

I personally would like to see that repeal. I'm amazed that it came through and people in the world. As I've been knocking doors, it crime has been the biggest thing that I've been talking about that people have been asking me about, and the time I spent in the sheriff's office and with Attorney General Vern Miller, I do think I have the answers for that. But I do feel that the citizenry at large, yes, I've got to be responsible citizens because this is my city. This city I was born in, folks. Mr. Grider will be the first to answer the next question and follow up if any, and our next panel is to ask the candidates a question is Mary Connect of the League of Women Voters. Thank you. I'd like to ask the candidates, what is your position on the City County Consolidation? I think we're eventually going to see some consolidation. I can support consolidation, Horde will save, excuse me, Horde will save the taxpayers

some money. I can see consolidation possibly in the computer systems. I'm not a computer person, so therefore I'm going to have to ask for assistance from people that's in the know, and that's different department heads, and such as this. I can see possibly some consolidation in the motor pools, for example. I would like to see some type of consolidation, and we do have a little of it, since I've been the insurance minister, with the party departments. I would like to see when we get some fire rates for the people in the outer areas, just a little bit lower. That's not in the sixth district, we're talking about county now, but with consolidation, there are so many if ands and buts. The bottom line is can we save the city at large money by consolidating? If we can, then let's save some money. Let's save some money for these folks that have put us in here, whether the retired, disabled, and the rest of them.

Joan Cole. I participated in the first, the two day WSU assembly, which began to, it's initiated a second look, or an eighth look, or a tenth look, or whatever it was, and out of that two day session, grew the partnerships task force to develop the report, which I have heard presented on two different occasions. I left that assembly, believing that with will, it would be possible to consolidate. I support public opportunity to hear that report. I support considering consolidation, and I believe that the major reason to consolidate should be to provide more effective government. We would hope that it would also reduce costs, but I think the primary reason is to serve the citizens of Sedgwick County more effectively. I think with the will, it can do so.

It should begin at the top with the policy makers deciding that there is the will, and we can find a better way to provide county government. Businesses are downsizing, reorganizing, to become more effective. With some of them, there is a financial savings, and the task force allows me to believe that at least in some salaries alone, there would be some. I have hope for it, and I would support public hearings on a regular basis throughout the county. I follow a question from American Act, or for anyone else in the panel. Our next panelist to question the candidates then is, but Norman of the Wichita Eagle. I would like to ask both candidates what steps you expect will need to be taken in the next few years to ensure both the quantity and the quality of Wichita's water supply. Joan Cole, what's your turn to answer first?

In an attempt to get a handle on an area that I really have not focused on, and have attended a couple of meetings on the problem, which, in fact, Ameri attended one of those, which really are the beginning of my investigating, that I'm led to believe it's a terrifically serious problem, and that we must make some decisions in the very near future. I'm not prepared to tell you what those decisions are. Only that I'm led to believe we need to seek a resolution to better and a higher quality of water in the next, but now. Well, Sharon. Very great. Thank you. I'm sorry. Well, I was trying to term the Metropolitan Area Planning Commission this day to come up, as far as quality of water, and where we were going to get the water. It was mentioned down south of Wichita a little town that the city had been looking in, and the city fathers seemed to put that on the shelf, and it looks like for our younger generation,

they might want to just pull that off the shelf, because we've all liked myself. I'm going to live here the rest of my natural life. I hope. And I want my grandchildren to be raised here, and I want to be raised with quality water. So I think maybe looking back into some of our old records that they had, might be the answer. I don't know. It's going to, again, and I've said this many times at these forums. I don't have the answers, but I expect you people out there listening to help me get the answers, because I have an open mind, and I am willing to learn. Thank you. I follow the question, by Norman? No. Then the last question from our panelists at this point in the program is from Gordon Basham of KMUW. Thanks, Gary. Both of you addressed the issue of crime in your opening statements, and some of you, whether you talked in some way in specifics in terms of what you would do to fight crime. But I'd like to probe a little bit more if I can.

Gwreffiti, which many people have said, has been a problem in Northeast Wichita for some time, seems to be spreading to other neighborhoods, the south part of town. And I know specifically in Riverside, I live in the Riverside area, and I know many of our listeners do. Many people concerned in part of your district, is enough being done to fight gang violence and graffiti, and all of the problems that go along with that. And if not, what do you think needs to be done more specifically, and what would you find the money to do that? And Jerry Greider, would you go first, please? Finding the money for it would probably be tough, yes, it needs to be answered. I've had to repay my office a couple of times. You know, really, we're sitting here and it kind of reminds me of the proof we're talking to the wrong crowd for the not people being in, for the people not being in church. The parents of these youngsters, little thugs that are out running the street, somewhere

other we've got to hold these parents accountable for these children that are out running the streets and saying, hey, you can have to paint that building when we find out who this is is doing it. I think that's one source that we can use if the law wouldn't let us do that. I don't know the legislation of how the courts would affect something like that, how they wouldn't work on it. But I'm thinking that if I had to get out and paint a building that one of my children had messed up, you could bet I should be wanting to watch my children a little closer. And I think that the key to it is educate these children at a lower age, a caring one not for our own children, grandchildren and such as that to work with them and say, that's just not the proper thing to do. I just didn't sleep that much when I was a youngster and I'm 59 years of age and like say, morning race wear, but it was, I had a mother that cared, my baby died when she was five and my mother raised three of us, but my mother cared.

And I would just like to be able to instill some kind of caring of this day and age. Cool. I'll speak in specifics about a neighborhood association that I'm very familiar with shortly after a young man was shot, a block away from my home. My neighborhood became very, very concerned because it took place next to a park that had been identified as a place where things were beginning to hang out. There was graffiti, the equipment was broken, the fence was broken. And so people were saying, good grief, this is a terrible place to live, I need to lie on my living room floor and in fear and to make a long story short, we collected 35 people of all shaped sizes, colors and ages to spend the Saturday cleaning up that park. A lot of them were young people and we told them this is your park, the minute graffiti is put in the door again, you must call us, we will be here, definitely because that's

what needs to happen, the city also provided additional lighting, some improved equipment. We spent a lot of time in energy, the minute the graffiti appeared again, we were there and while I don't pretend to say that one neighborhood association can save a city, that's the sort of thing that empowers people and makes them believe that they can make a difference. There are other exciting things happening, I think pictures are beginning to talk about how they can involve young people, can they have football teams and they have living clubs. There's going to be a lot of money coming to the city to sum up for jobs, for young people. And we all know one of the problems is people need, young people, all ages need to be kept busy and also would like to make the money while doing so. And I think the grease of that money this summer must be carefully planted so that we can accomplish some of these things that I'm talking about and involve young people who need help,

who need a productive goal. We hear all about self-esteem, the best way we acquire self-esteem is to be given a goal and accomplish it. A follow-up question, Mr. Basham? Yes, please. And thank you very much for your answers, but I would like to get some specifics. For example, Mr. Grider, you mentioned in your opening statement adding foot patrols, adding street lights. Just like that cost money, Ms. Cole, the same question goes to you. The Wichita City budget is not infinite in its resources. In order to fight crime at a higher level, we have to assume that that's going to cost more money. Please specifically, would please, where would you shame, where would you turn net programs which you cut or cut back in order to provide more money to fight crime, which I'm assuming, which I'm hearing is both for both of you, is a high priority for you. Mr. Grider. I think it would have to look at the different departments of the city to see where we could cut.

I certainly wouldn't want to cut from the elderly of some type of feeding program. I think that I heard one of the American that's the other night speak on that the city has some funding that they get from these builders I understand and it's really in tail of how the city gets that and they don't really put it in the bank and they always come up with this money. I would look into that real close. Now when it comes to getting right down to, as you say, the nuts and bolts have been pacific, I would look at possibly seeing some of these, it's going to step on some toes now. Somebody's going to get hurt when you take the dollar from here and put it there. But I'm going to be bold enough to tell you that I would look at maybe the different art museums and that that furnish money and maybe work off of something like that because I think crime is number one. Ms. Cole. It's my understanding that the job that I am running to be elected to is primarily a policy setting responsibility.

And I believe there are enough people on the city council who will wind up on the city council that that can be made a priority and the assignment can be given to the city manager and to the department heads to look for ways to make that happen. Money is going to have to be taken from other persons. Also I am a business person and I would very seriously consider privatizing some of things that currently the city provides. Other cities are doing it. I've been reading a lot about that, about specific ways that city services have been contracted out. And I think that is certainly something to look at. I am not prepared to tell you that I have gone through the budget line item by line item and I'm going to be the one to make those specific decisions before I'm elected. There be no further follow-ups from our panel. At this point in the program we will receive questions from the audience. Now with so many tens of wichitons here in the room we may not be able to accommodate

all your questions but if you would first step to the mic please keep your question and in that form and identify yourself and ask your question. Both candidates will have an opportunity to respond. My name is Carl Peter John. On April 6th question 2 will be the proposed downtown arena. I'd like both candidates to state how they plan to vote and the reasons why they plan to either vote yes in favor of the arena or no in opposition to the arena. Is Carl? I would be happy to. I plan to vote for the arena, have done a lot of soul searching and I believe that the times are such that as businesses do this community must look to invest, must look to take risk and to find ways to open a new market, move in another direction. I see the arena as an opportunity to do just that.

I believe it will provide family oriented entertainment. I believe it moves us into a whole new market. I believe it is crucial to the revitalization of downtown and to the revitalization of the neighborhood surrounding. I did not choose it as a project to be on the ballot. It is something that is offered to us as a way to go, as a way to move downtown revitalization ahead and therefore I am going to support it. Mr. Greater. I've stated many times I cannot support it for several reasons. It just seems to me that I was taking some notes today that in 19, I believe it was 92 in Phoenix, they had a projected proposal of an arena and a $40 or $50 million market ended up being about $84 million.

San Jose, California had one in the neighborhood of something like $46 million and it ended up being about $82.7, these were construction costs and when I think of my mother and many retired people out there that are living on fixed incomes and when I want to charge them another anywhere can $1,670 a year in taxes to could be maybe as high as $3,300 in taxes which would be approximately $18.33 for a couple that would be living on social security that just could take them out of a couple of meals every other week or so. I just can't believe that that's the answer. I think the answer is getting small businesses which would be outlets and such as that in downtown because of small businesses employ about 80% of the people in the United States. I also talk, I think here that I hear Ms. Cole mention neighborhoods, well goodness gracious,

this is tearing some neighborhoods out. This is tearing neighborhoods out folks and I just can't support it that way because it hasn't been opened up to us exactly what the cost is going to be and I know the neighborhood which totally goes going to jump on it again but you're not picking a poke Ms. Regal. Do you have any further questions sir? A broken bastion from KMUW on our panel does have, forgive me for dominating, I apologize but I would like Mr. Grider if I can depress you a little bit on your figures of $1,600 to $3,300 in terms of additional taxes. Can you give us some ideas to how you come up with those figures? Again both our candidates will respond to your question so Ms. Cole will go first. I'm asking Mr. Grider, you all got these figures? I got them all for them.

I'll report to you that part of the fellow wrote Mr. Myers wrote on the WISE plan and how wise are we after all, had done some research on it, a professor that's done some research on it. So these figures come from wise, is that what you're saying or- No it's right, I don't think they come from wise because I don't think they work. I'll just hold up one on one side there. Ms. Cole has a further remark on the subject. Yes it really doesn't answer that question since we're not my figures but I guess one of the things that convinced me that this is the way to look at a tax increase is we're looking at a half cent for three years by law. I see that we're not looking at a half cent for three years by law to end in or no tax but we're looking at this possibility or increased property taxes and other taxes. As downtown dies that contribution to our tax base is going to have to be made up by all of us and we all know that once the taxes increase, most of us have not decreased.

So I look at this as an alternative and for people who believe that it is this or nothing, they simply I believe are putting their heads in the sand and not looking at what the repercussions will be of downtown dying. The area that is discussed is also not residential. It's essentially nothing that the president has done. We have a follow-up question from Kai Jackson, his channel three. All right. Last thing I want to do is believe it was a point but I do want to bring up something interesting here. I understand both your points. I'm going to shift gears slightly but it's related to this arena. One thing I do when I travel is try and take an opportunity to see how well other cities promote themselves. Here in Wichita we often see commercials for Oklahoma, for Dallas and for other cities. What can you tell me?

What kind of priorities should Wichita have for promoting itself? Whether or not this arena comes here, this city can't survive by itself. The city has to be promoted. Tourism has to be a factor obviously as well as business coming into the city. How would you propose that Wichita promote itself to get venues in, proposing it like an NCAA regional tournament or something of that nature? Because whether or not the arena comes here certainly, the city has to support itself and has to put itself out there on notice that we're here. We have a lot to offer. How would you propose to do that? I think we have currently the vehicle for doing that. A couple of vehicles for doing that. That is one of the responsibilities of wise. That is also one of the responsibilities of the tourism and fuel. I do not believe that we have done that nearly as effectively as we can. One of the things I find intriguing about this proposal is an authority that would mark at several of the facilities that we have as a package.

Right now we do these things. It makes a lot of sense to me that you go out and say here is what we have which would suit your event or suit your convention or whatever that happens to be better than others. I believe we have the potential for tourism industry that is incredible. And we simply are doing nothing about it. Our museums are wonderful. We have Sentry 2. We have a beautiful river. And we know, okay, you're very obedient. We know that tourism is one of the fastest-going industries in the country in the nation. Thank you. Thank you. Please feel free to finish your sentence, Mr. Grider. Well, I think that would probably call on Joe Boyd with two in the middle. And I would walk across the street, take things with him, gentlemen, in that other building, and say let's work together, let's quit our fight, let's work together, and try to work

something out to get some tourism in the Wichita area. The river, I can learn to water steam a little river here, and I'm an avid water skier. I think that we're missing something big, but we're not having enough water for even that. That's a minority of the people. You know, that's not the biggest bunch of people, but the spectators come to it. Cyclists, we've got a lot of cyclists in Wichita. I would like to see a tournament for a cyclist come to Wichita for my cyclist. And I think maybe these things, I don't know what they've been looked at, but as your council person, Mr. Jackson, it is a tough question, but I certainly would look at every avenue that I could, or I was even told about to see if it wouldn't help us. And we have another question there from the audience, if you would identify yourself and state your question in that form. Thank you.

My name is Larry Ross, and I have a question I'd like to pose to Mr. Grider, and also ask that Ms. Cole give a response. It's in regards to an article that appeared in the Wichita Eagle this morning relating to the Wichita Sedgway County Comprehensive Plan. And in that article, there was a quote, I'll have to look at that real close, which I understand was made, but it was identified that it was made on primary election night. And since the election is coming up in 12 days, at least the article suggested that perhaps Mr. Grider hadn't yet looked at the Comprehensive Plan, and I frankly find that rather incredible that this document being so important hasn't been looked at. And I'd like to ask both candidates their views on two portions, two segments of the Comprehensive

Plan, one dealing with the environment as a whole, and preserving the environment, the other, the practicality and application of greenways and open space. And I would like to have a follow-up question if I may, Mr. Grider. Would you begin? Mr. Ross, I jumped in this race at the last minute because many, many citizens came to me and asked me to run. And I thought another person would be running, sorry that she didn't, but I read as much as that as I could, and I did digest, I digested a lot of it since then. And I still can't support the plan as it is right now. I've met with many builders. Matter of fact, I, at one time, was a president of a building company, where we built homes,

sold them, laid out the land and everything. And the builders today are still not, and these are the people that's laying some hard cash out on the line. When they go down, there's a lot of people hurt. So that's one reason I can't support that plan as far as environment. I don't know whether, I've heard talk about Tulsa's way to handle trash and maybe burn it. I'd like to look at something like that and to keep our environment in greenways. Yes, I think that's great what we've got over in SimSpark. I would like to see that in possibly every park. That's what you was addressing and that's what the question was. I'd like to speak generally about the plan, which I have read, and I've heard several presentations and general presentations. I'm excited about it because I, to my knowledge, it is the first time there has been a plan

drawn up that addresses everything that a city and a county should be concerned about. My position, my greatest interest, I must admit, has been that it identifies the value of the center of the city of existing neighborhoods. It identifies at risk areas. It brings, I believe, a balance to a community that I haven't seen in the 18 years I've been here. That is to say, wait a minute in our policy setting, which has encouraged development on the fringes of the city, we have really neglected very badly the whole essence of the city of Wichita, the center of the city, and I'm sitting here trying to think specifically what

suggestions, what recommendations have been made in your specific interest. I guess I just will wind up saying I see it as a beginning of something really exciting as a plan that's going to change and grow as we determine needs change and grow. And I think people throughout the community were well represented. I don't think that was a plan drawn up by one group. Each segment of our community had an opportunity to participate in that. That's probably too general for you, but that's my overall feeling. If you have a follow-up question, so you can. Yes. I'd like to ask each candidate to comment on two books or perhaps magazine articles that they've read recently dealing with government, particularly city government, that had to improve

city government. Any two books that you have read? Well, my favorite has been a reinventing government. I think that's a book that anyone running for a position such as this should lead to three times. The crisis of the American city, am I saying that name right? Was another? You ask for two? I'm a planner by nature, and I have also been reading plans from all over the United States that I have written for, which are an attempt to put dollar costs to development whether it be infill or the fringes of the city. I'm looking at one right now from Glen Hill, which is in Illinois, but I couldn't give you the name.

Mr. Crater, your response? No, I'm commender on doing so much reading. I am probably more of a doer than I am a reader. I would rather jump into it and get something moving. I can't recall right off the hand, and I just don't come forward to you. I haven't read any, right lately. In terms of technical reading, I'm kind of partially Calvin and Hobbes myself. We have another question from the audience, sir. Yes, sir. I have the opportunity to serve with Joan Cole's husband, Jerry, on the Wichita Chamber, and Jerry's been very eloquent in support of the need for a earnings tax. I was wanted to know from both candidates if they support an earnings tax to help fund local government. I'm not sure I know why you think that is all pertinent to ask someone who's running for city government since that is not anything that is determined by a city council. It is handled as I understand it through enabling legislation at the state level. The only thing that I would say about that is if such a tax would be introduced, it certainly

I would believe would be palatable only if we are talking then about a reduction in the reliance upon property tax. I certainly think it's very, very intriguing that people be taxed upon the place, people be taxed at the place that they earn their money. I see a really positive step there for the inner city and that it will no longer be as attractive to earn your money in large cities and then run out to bedroom communities. My hope is that if it were done equitably and it has been in places that it would be an encouragement to the infill in the salvation of cities such as ours where you have 11,000 empty houses. Mr. Grader?

To answer your question, no, I can't support this. Here we go again. I'm not the liberal spender of my candidate as folks and I hope you're out there listening. I'm not the liberal spender that my candidate is. Here's to me, I'm not going to support this arena. You know, we always talk about lucky, lucky, lucky if we can get this arena going and these are spending. I just can't do it. If I was lucky, my rooster would be land eggs, but I'm not that lucky. Getting back to your question right there as earning tax that, as you mentioned, the coal family, I guess, are supporting in this earning tax that come out of the committee my understanding of the Chamber of Commerce, which I understand that she might clarify this that she serves on a governmental committee or something with there and I think the Chamber themselves kicked it down that they did, but what I understand was supporting this. No, I can't support an income tax on the citizens of Wichita. You know, here we go again, Texas, and I can't support it. For all of the questions, are there other questions from the audience?

Yes, sir. My name is Daniel Clark. Straight out my question to both candidates is the city getting the most forts many in terms of the staff and everything like that. Every time I go to a meeting like the Metropolitan Area Planning Commission or some other meeting, there's always members and staff, which I know they're referring to in respect of, but do we, with your past experience in the city government, on up to now, is the citizen in this city getting their money's worth in terms of that, in terms of the staff of the city. Mr. Griter, I believe it's your turn to go first. Well, sir, you know, it seems like meetings are indispensable when we don't want to do

anything. Again, I am probably more of an action person than anything. I would want to look before I would tell anybody that the city is setting on their duffs, I think we've got some hard workers working for the city. And to answer you just quite honestly, I, for what I've seen the way maybe we've spent some, we're a little off base, but as far as the workers themselves with the city, I, I think the workers themselves are probably really bust in their sales. There are some departments that I would like to look at. I would like to see some a little bit better behavior towards citizens in. I would probably want to look at aerial clothes, which I will. John Cole. I intend to find out. I don't know. I do know that over the last 13 years, I have worked with staff of the planning department and the CPO very closely. And I think we have better than we deserve in those staff people.

There are many, many departments that I don't know, but one of the jobs, I believe, of the policy center is to assure the citizenry to whom I am accountable that I'm attempting to make a city government as efficient as we possibly can do. However, we do have a city manager that we work through again. I am not going to spend day after day after day monitoring departments, but I think that is certainly part of my responsibility. Did you have a follow-up question? Yes, I do. This leads to the, I think it was the article Sunday regarding the police department. There's been a lot of talk recently about maybe bad morale concerning everything from the chief, not enough notepads and stuff like that, and that leads me as a citizen to wonder who is in charge regarding the police department, and I would think that a detective

or whoever needs a notepad ought to be able to have, that should be one of his least worries, and if he's got worries like that, then it might lead me to pretty much understand why a lot of things aren't being done in the way of crime prevention within this city. If your moderator may be allowed a rare personal observation, I found the officer who stopped me for speeding in central Riverside Park earlier this evening. It's extraordinarily cheerful in issuing me a ticket. He was in an extremely good mood, and I think his morale was quite high at that moment. But with regard to morale and the operation of the police department, John Cole, would you answer first?

I'm truly concerned about that, and I among others have said that a crime and an efficient police department are high on my list. I spent two and a half hours with a number of other candidates listening to members, representatives of the police department, discuss these kinds of things. And I am led to believe that that is one of the very first things that we need to take a look at, because I believe to begin with, I know to begin with, that we do not have the police persons per citizenry that many other cities our size have. So we need to take a look at doing something about that, I think, immediately. But I think there are problems much deeper than that. I don't believe everything I hear, and I find out for myself the answers to certain questions. But that is one of the very first things that I want to look at. If the department needs changes, if it's morale is low, we must do all we can to resolve those problems.

Jerry Greider. Thank you. I might say that makes me think back, we talk about morale in the, in a police department, when I served with Vernon, the attorney general's office and sheriff's office, I was never in a higher morale group of men ever. I would like to see that carry over into the city officers. I also have met with many officers on several occasions in meetings and one-on-one, because I just wanted to confide in me. That appears to be possibly some, some disgruntled individuals. I also have been asked about binding arbitration. And I think binding arbitration is something that's come up with these officers, and I think it ought to be about out in the open and talked about. And that's probably one of their big concerns, and I do intend to address that as a counsel person.

Mary Connect from the League of Women voters had a follow-up question, or an additional one. Yes, this would be a new question. Our communities have come to depend a lot on what is known as the community development block grants. Could you please give us your criteria for what types of funding should go in our community from this kind of money? Mr. Greider. I think you talk about block grants to small businesses such as this. The money can be used in a number of different ways, and citizen groups make application for this money. You know, we need to really work on helping our small business people. Like I mentioned, I started in business from scratch. I started in an agency 26 years ago and built it into a very successful agency. But when we give these big companies tax abatements and such as this, it's great. But the small business man, and that's, like I said, as I said earlier, the fellow that

employs 80% of people in the United States has got people less than 50 working for him. We've got to look at this program to help these small businesses. Especially with this layoffs coming now like that, to help maybe retrain some of these people out of these offices and aircraft industries that are getting laid off. I think that we need to really grade these companies when we do give a grant, if we give us some type of even a grant, even with a tax abatement. When they start laying off, there's got to be some way to bring that money back into the, part of that money back into the community, and that maybe would be bringing their tax base up, not their tax base, but their taxes up a little bit more in the line when they start laying off. But I think that's a tool that can be used to help strengthen and build what you're doing. John Cole. Community block development, CDBG, sorry, think about that.

Money is, to my knowledge, not available to for-profit businesses, and really has nothing to do with tax abatements, or it is money that, at least as I recall it, on the CPO is available to assist agencies, to assist groups, to make the communities better. And you are asking for standards, I guess as I recall reviewing all the many groups of people and organizations that come forward to ask for that money, the general standard is to make the community better, and work with the most efficient providers of the services that you're wanting to provide, and there's a whole range of things.

There's a midnight housing, improving housing for older people. There is some training. There are a whole range of things, and I guess I would have to list a whole range of standards that I hope to accomplish. That's a tough question. Mary, did you have a follow-up question to that? Okay. Oh, Dan Taylor at KMUW, the advance warning, we're going on three minutes before 8 o'clock, and we're going to have another question from the audience, and we'll still have a sequence of questions between the candidates and their closing statements, so we will be running a little bit past 8 o'clock, just wanted to alert you to our schedule. Another question. Thank you. One of the crown jewels in my estimation of the City Government is the CPO councils, and they are a co-sponsor of this forum. I'd like to ask each candidate how they feel that the CPO process can be improved.

And June Cole. I was one of the charter members of CPO, happened to live on the east side of town at that time, was reelected, and then I have served also as an appointed CPO person in District 6. My hope for a way to use CPO's better would be number one, that City Council people would use them as a way to learn at least what the person's on that body felt. And I think when I am elected that it will be my duty to go out there twice a month and sit at those meetings and watch what's going on, last night I saw a group that came in to discuss their concern about traffic on the street. But I think it's also incumbent upon CPO's to try to connect with their constituency. It is not sufficient that those folks meet in isolation, but I think there needs to be

a greater effort for each CPO person to develop his or her own constituency. Now it's easier if you have a neighborhood association that you plug into. And existing older neighborhoods already have that mechanism, so they go back to their neighborhood associations and say, okay, here's the problem, give me your consensus on it. Some folks have a more difficult time, but I think it needs to be used in the way that it was created to be used, and that is as assistance to the City Council. Not as something that just happens to meet out there and is never paid attention to, and believe me, that does happen. Now I don't think there should be any guarantee that a City Council person is always going to say, yes, CPO, whatever you say, I will do. But that certainly should be one of the inputs that is given on a very regular basis to the City Council person.

And I think the City Council person needs to go out there. And Jerry Griter, your response on improving CPO's? Well, we made some CPO, and a take off from the CPO is Model City's base clean, and a take off from that was basically the original renewal, which I was heavily involved in, and I might say that we got the average green park in, we were instrumental in the cloud school, the average green center, and I'm just real happy with that up there, moving to the model cities. And back to block grants, there was some of them, in fact, in that program, I would, you can call them block grants, there's probably different technical word for it. But the CPO definitely is an important tool that City Council should use. They're the eyes of the residents in that area. And we want to talk about neighborhoods, but people, you and I are the neighborhoods. You and I are the neighborhoods, the neighbors looking after each other. We want to remember, too, the CPO is an advisory board. I know sometimes I probably got awfully anxious, being a charter member of CPO, and I was

the charter member of the Central Committee at that time, where we all, 15 of us met at one time, all CPO councils together met and shared. So it's something that we do want to keep in mind that it's certainly an advisory board, and a good advisory board. Do you have a follow-up to that? In that case, the first I need to identify in UW-Wichita, listener-supported public radio from the Wichita State University, and note that the listener-supported part indicates that the station does accept contributions from the public, and that its next campaign will be April 21 through the 27th. I didn't know I was going to say that, but it just, it was on my mind. Now it's time for our candidates to question each other. Each candidate may ask the other one question and one follow-up question. You may take up to two minutes to answer the original question and one minute to answer the follow-up. We'll do this alphabetically, and Ms. Cole will ask the first question. Many of the people in District 6 have been very concerned about a national landmark which

I referred to as Campbell Castle, and we know that the owner of Campbell Castle has indicated her desire to demolish that and sell artifacts off piece by piece. We know she has also asked for forgiveness of back taxes. I see that your signs currently sit on her property, and I wonder how you as a City Council person intend to resolve that problem. Joan, it's a good question, and my signs are on that property, and I have visited with a little may, and my heart goes out to that lady as if it was each and every one of you people in here, and I realize there's probably only four people in here that are really not candidate with candidates. I see about 8-10 people in here, Joan. But to answer your question, I believe that that person owns that house, has that right.

I don't believe that anybody in this room can tell me that I can't tear down my house that I paid for, and you people living out there and listening into the audience, I still feel that way about each and every one of you. I know that we like to use a lot of muscle as city manager and different historic mobs and such as this, but there's a point. There's certainly a point that where that individual's right has to come before mine because it's their property. Now, maybe the John McBridge is another story, and I probably would go along with the city on something like that. But if that lady desires to tear that building down, I think that's her right as American citizen, and I think that's why my grandfather's went to service, that's why I went to Korea to support the people's wishes. There's a time that it's got to stop running over people with city government. Did you wish to ask a follow-up question, Ms. Cole?

No, I think that gave me the answer I needed, and it certainly should. Then it's time for Jerry Grider to question Joan Cole, Mr. Grider. Ms. Cole, I would just be curious to let the audience out there listening, of course, they can look it up a little later on, but how much you've taken in from quote, your spatial interest, that being a member of the Chamber of Commerce, and that sort of thing, I wonder if you would share with the listening audience or just how much money do you have taken in? Because I know I got, I think, three mailouts from you, and I know some of your paper is quite, it's pretty, it's pretty, but it looks to me like there's going to be a lot of obligations there, and I've worked with people that remember that. Obviously, my literature hasn't convinced you to vote for him, no matter. I'd speak to that.

I am supported by a whole range of people, by neighborhoods, by business, I am a small business owner, owner of a small business, neighborhood groups, preservation groups, mental health groups. I've been working in community activities for 18 years, and it has been very exciting to me that I have a really wide variety of supporters. The money that I've taken in is public record, will be public record. We have initiated our original report, which was listed in the paper. There will be another one I think do next week that anyone and everyone can take a look at. My treasure happens to be here, and, or my assistant treasure, I would really have to have a signal from him.

I think probably at this point, it is close to $20,000.