A Wichita school board member on Tuesday took on the head of a committee that wants to replace Century II, asking if developers are the ones who stand to gain the most if the city goes forward with building a new performing arts center.
“There’s a lot of emotion in the city right now of distrust,” said school board member Ernestine Krehbiel. “Who is this for? Is there some developer that’s going to make a big buck on this?”
She said the prospect of replacing the iconic blue-roofed building “almost feels like a double-cross” because the city hasn’t kept up its maintenance, which in turn has led to high cost estimates to renovate it instead of building new. “It’s the city’s problem that it hasn’t been maintained and that’s another one of those frustrations,” Krehbiel said.
Mary Beth Jarvis, president of Wichita Festivals and chair of the Century II Advisory Committee, said she couldn’t fault City Hall for the shape the center is in.
She said investing in it would be like making major improvements to a house you’re not sure you want to live in — and it’s been that way for the past eight to 10 years.
“If you don’t know whether you’re going to move next year, I mean you throw a coat of paint on it, as they’ve done,” she said
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