Wichita Documenters

After more than two years, Wichita Documenters will come to an end Sept. 1.

We're proud of what this community built together. Documenters showed up, took notes, and helped more of Wichita community understand what was happening in local government.

Read more about the program’s impact on the Kansas Leadership Center's website.

We’d also love to hear from you. What did you value about Wichita Documenters, and what could strengthen civic information in Wichita going forward?

Don't know what a "man cave" is? They've cropped up at several MAPC meetings as well as DAB 2, linked below.

Read August 27 notes here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1y89JMPf4PeUc_NExef7oY4l_T20xdcK409ajXU6weP4/preview?tab=t.0

Read other "man cave" related notes here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lOA63qLzkGayEWcrFkghQhXNfQGpcO6ucvLK-VBstIY/preview?tab=t.0

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1X4nNRqclzLxs1_y-c18W6OSPt3848hxO-ESZ_Zo0r1Q/preview?tab=t.0

https://docs.google.com/document/d/10FZBBMBRl3Op8v17WWgRAUnAjJ9HRtNL3DKtB86QBqI/preview?tab=t.0

There have been more than 115 zone change requests in the city so far. (This includes vacations, annexations, conditional uses, subdivisions, conditional uses, etc.)

These were some of the most controversial pertaining to multi-family housing, either because planning staff recommended denial and DABs/MAPC recommended approval, or vice versa. In all but one instance was an "upzoning" request approved, and that was on 2nd and Yale. Interestingly (and legally not necessarily allowed), most of the DAB abstained from that particular vote.

By approving Neighborhood Office as opposed to General Office, the mixed-use development at 37th and Ridge was approved to be less dense. Dalton Glasscock was the one no vote there.

In several instances, council, at the behest of either MAPC, DAB, or planning staff, approved multi-family housing with conditions. This means either some sort of protective overlay for future use or, often thanks to one fervent member of DAB 6, usage of specific roofing types.

Franchising has been a persistent topic at these meetings, so I'm including some other notes that address the subject.

Read notes here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TN8BvJgcLhdNTi9uxRY15Vh3nsHt3vzk4c45o0Ye5_M/preview?tab=t.0

More about franchising here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1L-sw9R-izBTfvnEjfrITFLAFqYBwI5JregcC8eINJHc/preview?tab=t.0

Revenue neutral explanation written by a renter. Notes written by somebody who has covered more than 80 meetings.

Notes here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GWpoxWn1gbxOKcXvDp0HzK3k3-3tmcoVKveJhTfIx9c/preview?tab=t.0

Been meaning to do a "city council voting profile" study for a while. Several caveats. These graphics just analyze votes when there is at least one no vote. City council voted unanimously, for instance, to issue an IRB to Boeing earlier this summer. That is not reflected here. However, the Margaritas and Mammouth Clubhouse CID/IRB, because they had at least one no vote (JV Johnston and Dalton Glasscock, respectively), are here. So it's best to understand this as comparative (how much more or less compared to their peers) and not some sort of grand representation of total votes over the course of the year.

The other caveat is the grouping name. What is called here as "urban design upgrades" might be called by Mayor Lily Wu as "frivolous infrastructure spending." City council members rightfully should take issue with some of the characterization. But this tries to be as fair as possible. Surely, lessons will be learned for the next batch of these.

Third caveat is that Instagram only allows for 10 uploads, so I've excluded several "voting profiles," among them how city council has voted regarding golf carts on sidewalks. I apologize in advance.

Source: https://www.wichita.gov/DocumentCenter/View/34442/2026-City-Council-Votes-PDF?bidId=

Some context and data analysis given all the attention surrounding the Douglas road diet. Road diet years and projects provided courtesy of City of Wichita engineers. Accident data listed below.

Source: https://ict-opendata-cityofwichita.hub.arcgis.com/search?q=TRAFFIC%20ACCIDENTS

Methodology takes how many months have passed to date since the road diet has been in effect. It then looks at crashes during those months and labels them "post road diet." It then subtracts the same amount of months from January of the road diet project year, looks at crashes during that same time period, and labels those "pre road diet."

Quick follow up to yesterday's post about Somewhere Fest and Mid-Autumn Fest. Parks and Recreation Staff were kind enough to send me the permit applications while making clear that no permit has yet been issued in either case.

Attached are two screenshots, the first with the date of submission by the Mid-Autumn Fest organizers; the second with the date of submission by Somewhere Fest organizers. Unsure if these are "official submission dates" for the purposes of city staff.

Also unsure why the screenshots uploaded in such poor quality. Sorry!

Read notes here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zcxUekvEuCz0xiRriU__z0Jfj3Axyw2sUt6K-VhPPIc/preview?tab=t.0

Read last week's notes here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1I2rAKK1g3hLY16ITgfKR9Bgm9Q7jFhCaTbPAyktdg48/preview?tab=t.0

Everybody give it up for Sharon Ailslieger who covered this eleven (!) hour meeting by herself.

Read notes here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1I2rAKK1g3hLY16ITgfKR9Bgm9Q7jFhCaTbPAyktdg48/preview?tab=t.0