Just a “Modest Proposal”
No, I wouldn’t advocate that, (Swift wasn’t really serious anyway) but there is an interesting discussion going around the city right now. Discussions about developers asking the city for IRB’s (Industrial Revenue Bonds, or simply property tax breaks subsidized by the issuance of a bond product) or redevelopment of an area by the creation of TIF districts. (Tax Increment Funding, or an incremental increase in taxation over a number of years to pay off debt used for improving an area)
Certain people out there have a lot to say about the nuts and bolts politics surrounding the issue. Well good for them, they can discuss it elsewhere. All I’ll say about it is that right or wrong, it is not as simple as some groups are making it out to be. What I’m interested in is this, “what’s being done to improve Wichita?” I don’t want to get in to whether or not Wichita should help a local developer build an IMAX theater. What I’m interested in is “when is Wichita getting an IMAX theater?” All politics aside, last year I spent money in other cities and counties visiting them to see a movie in IMAX. That’s money that local merchants will never see and local governments will never benefit from.
Yes it’s a small thing, but I’m not the only one and it’s not the only thing people have to travel elsewhere to do. Trust me, it doesn’t take much to make a difference. I had a nice little 4 day vacation a while back. I went to Lee’s Summit, MO. (Kansas City metro area) It wasn’t a “big event” at a huge convention center or arena. I went to a book signing at a bookstore. Somewhere between 300 and 350 people were in attendance. That’s it, not a big deal. But that store, and those around it benefited from the event. I had fun, and once again spent money that will never benefit anyone here in Wichita. Lunch in Emporia, snacks and drinks in Kansas City, gassed up in Lebo. And all for an event that would have been child’s play to line up for Wichita.
Yes we have book signings and the like here already, my point was that it only took a small effort to attract me and my dollars. Larger efforts tend to produce correspondingly larger results. Well, we’re getting closer to bringing up “who pays for it?” arguments again. So let’s do something more productive than re-hashing boring tax debates. Let’s come up with some IDEAS. How do we get people to come to Wichita, enhance the quality of life for those who live here, and attract new businesses to build and expand in Wichita?
First off, we need to exploit our LOCATION. We are near the very center of the continental United States. Are you telling me we can’t bank on being a stopping point between East and West, North and South? How about embracing our historical heritage? Colossal failure that it was, Wild West World had one thing right. After all “Western” is its own GENRE of movies, music, novels, etc. We do need to capitalize on that.
Aside from that, here’s my “big time” idea. Feel free to comment. E3 (that’s Electronic Entertainment Expo) is considered to be the biggest convention for the video game industry in the world. It’s held annually at the Los Angeles convention center. It’s the biggest and most talked about event of the year in the world of video games, and it’s not even open to the public. Developers, Retailers, and the Media are the only ones who can attend. So, there is a market for a large, open to the public, videogame and tech expo. And the video game industry is a huge, multi-billion dollar industry. Plenty of money out there to be had. And what would it take from us? Well, we have a convention center and a brand new arena. Wichita wants to replace the downtown Library, there’s room for something there, conveniently close to Century 2. How about a big tech entertainment center? High speed wireless, stations for LAN meetings or gaming, (membership and by-the-hour) and vendors. (snacks, industry merchants, tie in entertainment, ect.)
I’m too much of a realist to say “We can be bigger than E3.” Then again, we never can be if we are too afraid to try… who’s with me? Or… who has a better idea?