Yes, Topeka! promotes sales-tax vote
Posted: Tuesday, October 24, 2000
An organization that campaigned for construction of the Signature Building in downtown Topeka has launched a campaign to pass another economic development proposal.
The Yes, Topeka! Committee has $120,000 in private donations and 100 volunteers campaigning for passage Nov. 7 of the quarter-cent sales tax, which will raise $5 million annually for economic development.
"When it passes, I think that the city and county elected officials are going to see this as a mandate, that the revenue from this quarter-cent sales tax will go to economic development and countywide infrastructure, not may go, but will go," said Sen. Alicia Salisbury, R-Topeka.
Salisbury and Dale Cushinberry, co-chairmen of The Yes, Topeka! Committee, discussed the campaign Monday during Mayor Joan Wagnon's news conference at city hall.
Yes, Topeka! is a separate organization from Go Topeka, which also has been pushing for passage of the quarter-cent sales tax.
Volunteers for Yes, Topeka! are expected to make 50 presentations to community organizations, churches and groups, Salisbury said.
Members of Yes, Topeka! have sent brochures and are going to call people on the phone and solicit support, she said.
John Pinegar, a member of Yes, Topeka!, said the group previously worked to support passage of a bond issue in 1998 for construction of the Signature Building and parking garage at S.W. 10th and Jackson. The $52 million building will house state government offices after it is finished in the spring.
Salisbury acknowledged that some voters are uncomfortable about the ballot issue because it isn't specific in its language.
The ballot simply states that the revenue will go toward "countywide infrastructure development and economic development."
George Bales, 58, a Shawnee County resident, said he previously voted for the passage of the quarter-cent sales tax for the Oakland Expressway but has doubts about the latest proposal.
"I am leaning toward voting no unless I see the city and the county show us how the funds are accounted for and that there are some stringent rules on how the money is spent," Bales said Monday.
Salisbury emphasized that a yes vote on Nov. 7 will mean that the community has a can-do attitude, a spirit of cooperation and a willingness to see growth.
"We want business here," she said. "We want business to be successful here."
After their presentation during the mayor's news conference at city hall, Salisbury and Cushinberry showed a seven-minute video being shown to local groups that explains the need for the tax.
The city's public affairs office will show the mayor's news conference, including the video, several times this week on cable Channel 4.
Joe Ledbetter, a Topekan who is urging a no vote on the sales tax question, said Monday he has asked for equal time on Channel 4 to present the opposing viewpoint.
Wagnon was asked at her news conference if she intended to give Ledbetter equal time.
"He was welcome to come to this press conference," she said. "He didn't show up."
Michael Hooper can be reached at (785) 295-1293 or mhooper@cjonline.com.
Mike Hall can be reached at (785) 295-1193 or mhall@cjonline.com.
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