I just received an e-mail announcing a public meeting this Saturday. After reading the announcement, I wondered what other young professionals think about the inclusion of government office space in downtown. You maybe asking why this is a question any YP would be interested in, but I spend a decent amount of time talking with my peers about downtown Hutchinson. Most of us seem to have an opinion. So what do you think about Hutchinson’s City Hall moving into the Wiley Building? Then I challenge any of us to attend this public meeting. I’m just glad that one of these meetings is being held when I’m not a work. Below is the announcement I received: The Wiley Building Task Force has scheduled a public meeting in Hutchinson City Chambers from 9:00 am to 11:00 am on Saturday April 19. The purpose of the meeting is to give members of the public an opportunity to inform the Task Force of questions they may have regarding the possibility of using the Wiley Building as Hutchinson’s City Hall. The Task Force is charged with the mission of looking at the use of the Wiley Building and reporting back to the City Council on July 1, 2008. Members of the Task Force want to try to find answers to any questions the public might have about this issue. Attendees will be a given a brief overview of the issues and then be invited to prepare written questions for the Task Force.

Comments 

Kate, you are always timely, my morning Allie's coffee turned into a chat with Ron Kelley who is spearheading the Wiley Building initiative. I'm out of town on Saturday, but wanted to share some thoughts with Ron about saving the Wiley Building. I truly believe this building has the potential to be the heart and soul of downtown. The streetscape looks great and storefronts are starting to fill up (yeah to coffee after 2:00 pm starting Monday, Brooks on Main) but the empty storefronts in the Wiley Building stand out like a sore thumb. I love Frase Drug and believe any plans to move City Hall must include Frase in some way. Can you imagine the critical mass downtown if the Wiley Building included not only City staff, but how about the County, the Chamber, Quest, the Growth Coalition? How about a K-State Hutch or an annex of Sterling College? Loft living anyone? Surely more people working and living downtown will spur additional retail and dining options. How about a new bookstore? Some of the questions I have about the project are whether or not it's economically feasible, if the City takes the building as imminent domain, can it house only government entities, how would the purchase price be determined? Please take time to share your thoughts with Ron Kelley and the Wiley Building task force on Saturday if you can attend or email Ron at rkell4301@sbcglobal.net. If the City decides to move forward on this project it will probably be because a very vocal group of people support it.

I am glad someone reponded to the post. My family will be there with me on Saturday morning. I think this is very important. The Wiley Building project could be done in a very positive way for downtown or done very poorly. I am all for the first floor of the Wiley building remaining as retail space. Maintaining retail space on the street level of downtown is crucial for a successful downtown; it would also be an additional revenue stream for City Hall. I also have questions about parking, traffic flow, etc. I agree that more people working in the heart of downtown is a big plus for the city. I urge other YP's to be at this meeting even if you don't know all the details. The Task Force will be sharing background information on the proposal at this meeting.

So what happened at the meeting?

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