The Wichita City Council met on Tuesday, July 15, 2025, at 9:00 AM in City Council Chambers. The 6-member council (Mayor Lily Wu absent, joined virtually later) approved a controversial resolution to comply with new federal grant requirements, adopted a 2026 budget with a half-mill levy reduction, and deadlocked 3-3 on listing the Crown Uptown Theatre on the historic register. Public speakers raised accessibility concerns, opposed a planned traffic circle on West Maple Street, and criticized the city’s ethics process.
Such as out of school time programming and youth sports are critical to childhood childhood development. And whereas parks and recreation increases a community's economic prosperity through increased property values, expansion of the local tax base, increased tourism, the attraction and retention of business and crime reduction, and whereas our parks and recreation areas ensure the ecological beauty of our community and provide a place for all to connect with nature and recreation and outdoors. And now, therefore, be it resolved that the city, Wichita City Council, does hereby proclaim July twenty twenty-five as park and recreation month in the City of Wichita, encourage all citizens to recognize the benefits derived from parks and recreation resources as an integral part of the Wichita community. So just wanted to say that uh how important uh recreation is to our community, and just uh recreation is essential. Uh all of the hard work that this team does behind us to make sure that we create safe spaces for our young people to be able to have opportunity to be in areas where they can enjoy the nature, enjoy sports, and not have to worry about there being uh other barriers that contribute to them not being safe. Uh the hard work that they do from uh our forestry team to our park maintenance team with supporting of our special events that we have, our golf division that puts on quality programs for our community and quality services, that their hard work doesn't go unnoticed, and this is an opportunity to kind of spotlight what they do, and our mantra for our department is that teamwork win, and we always work together to make sure that we deliver a good quality product to the community. So want to give these guys uh a hand of applause here for all the hard work that they do. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Um if I could have all the the members of um Aza Wow, Azas Wow, I'm sorry. Uh you're not going to get any singing out of me today, but um if I can go ahead and just speak real quick. If I could just speak real quick about uh the great work that this group is doing in our community. Um they've been out at a number of park cleanups here recently, including Clapp Park, where we had catastrophic floods. Uh they took time out of work days to come up and actually help clean the park up. So uh my appreciation just goes out to them. And um I have the privilege of being able to read uh the proclamation here. Whereas Ozas Wow, an international young adult worker volunteer group that practices love and volunteer service in workplaces and communities around the world, whose members actively participate in pertinent global issues with a sense of ownership and is affiliated with and sponsored by the World Mission Society Church of God. Whereas Ozus Wow, Wichita has been carrying out various park cleanups across underserved and at-risk Wichita communities as part of the As Us Wow Green Earth Campaign and to fulfill UN sustainable development growth goals. Whereas today is the first day of the month of July in 2025, as us Wow, sponsored by the World Mission Society Church of God in partnership with the City of Wichita and with the full support of parks and recreation will kick off the as us well Wichita month of service to raise community awareness about climate change, inspire volunteer participation and community support and promote their advocacy and various activities in July. Whereas as Wow has been globally recognized and awarded over 300 times across 22 countries, including being awarded the U.S. President's Volunteer Service Award three times. Now therefore, be it resolved that the Wichita City Council does hereby proclaim July twenty twenty-five as us well Wichita month of service in the city of Wichita and encourage all to get involved with and support as us wow Wichita during the month of July as they continue to serve communities and clean parks all over the city. Firstly, we would like to give thanks and praise to God Elohim for allowing us to do good work in Wichita to spread God's love through our deeds. We also like to thank Mayor Wu, Council members co hohezel and Glasscock, and the other city council members, Wichita Parks and Recreation, our community partners, our volunteers, and the entire city for supporting As Wow. SS Wow stands for Save the Earth from E to Z. We are one family, and it is an international young adult worker volunteer group for the World Mission Society Church of God members. And we are we started doing park cleanups in Wichita in 2017. And we are grateful to be recognized by the city council, and we are eager to spread our mission to all of Wichita, our state, and the world. And we look forward to our continued partnership with all our volunteer community leaders, parking recreation, and with the citizens of Wichita. And we also want to invite um you guys to our multicultural experience event. We are hosting on July twentieth at noon. Thank you. And we have one final message for you. Okay, ready? We love you. We love you. We love you. Thank you. Anybody anybody for the next proclamation anniversary of Americans with disabilities to come forward. Good. Good to see you. Whereas on July twenty sixth, nineteen ninety, President George H. W. Bush signed into law the Americans with Disabilities Act, ADA, to ensure the civil rights. Whereas this legislation established a comprehensive national mandate for the elimination of discrimination against individuals with disabilities, and the legislation has expanded opportunities for disabled communities. Whereas the full promise of the ADA will only be reached if we continue our efforts to ensure comparable housing, transportation, communication, education, and employment opportunities for all disabled people. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Wichita City Council does hereby proclaim July twenty-sixth, twenty twenty five as the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act in the City of Wichita and encourage all citizens to celebrate this day. Thank you, Vice Mayor and Council members. My colleagues and I are here as members of the Wichita Sedgwick County Access Advisory Board. As a board, we thoughtfully make accessibility recommendations based on our diverse experiences and areas of expertise. It is our sincere hope that disabled people may fully participate in the great opportunities that Wichita offers, and that the city may also benefit from the contributions of people with disabilities.