Californians should be careful that the vote that the "narrowly rejected" wasn't something like one here not too long ago.

The County Commissioners decided they "needed" a new Arena downtown. (The old Arena was about 30 miles out and "too far for people to drive.")

They enlisted some cooperation from members of the City Council.

When it came time to put it to a vote, the County disavowed "any and all interest in the project." The mayor also said he had "no opinion."

The City put a half-baked plan forward, in which "the plan" was a euphemism for "we don't know nothin' about this." (Although they did blow about $80,000 on a "consultant" to tell them what they were supposed to do.)

The City voted and emphatically rejected the non-plan.

Exactly three days before the closure of posting of proposed ballot measures in the next election, the COUNTY demanded a new county-wide vote on building an Arena in downtown Wichita. (Note: first indication much too late for opposition to raise funds and even begin to spread their word, and about three weeks before the vote.)

The County had carefully analyzed where the votes in favor of an arena had been in the city vote, and then carefully recruited as many voters as possible in those areas (mostly at the Universities among students who "like to party" and pay virtually no local taxes). Although a few "meetings" were held in other areas, the local media cooperated by never reporting them in advance, just saying afterward that "nobody seemed interested enough to show up" for the meetings they never heard about.

The vote for this new arena passed (barely), including a 25% increase in sales tax in the County (including the City of course) for about two years.

.......

The California vote may have been just a survey, so that plans can be made to "get the right answer" the next time around.

.......

Meanwhile, all the contractors in my area are really happy. The new arena is reported as "70% done." It will seat about 18,000 people. There are about 11 parking places within three blocks, all reserved for "Limos."

Like the Seattle Kingdome, within 10 years "our" new Arena will be a large hole in the ground, and we'll get to vote (probably twice) on something new.

John