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Citizens group begins petition drive to save Century II

Citizens group begins petition drive to save Century II

Citizens group begins petition drive to save Century II

Several dozen people turned out for a rally outside Wichita’s city hall building Monday to begin a petition drive to keep the city from tearing down the Century II convention center.

The group will be looking for 12,000 signatures to put a question on the election ballot next November.   Spokesperson Celeste Racette said the group has opened an office at 435 North Broadway where petitions will be gathered before they are taken to the county election office.   She said they have six months to gather the signatures but she believes it won’t take that long.    Racette said the group has also submitted Century II for the National Historic Register.

The petition reads in part:

No prominent city owned buildings of historical importance or architectural significance (regardless of historic register status), including Century II and the adjoining former Public Library, shall be demolished, replaced or otherwise adversely affected without a public vote of approval by the qualified voters in the City of Wichita, and further, no interest in such city owned buildings, including Century II and the adjoining former Public Library, shall be leased, sold, bartered, traded, conveyed or assigned and thereafter demolished, replaced or otherwise adversely affected without a public vote of approval by the qualified voters in the City of Wichita.

Racette said citizens voted in 1961 to build Century II and the downtown library, so the group is calling for another vote of the people to determine the future of the two buildings.   The downtown library building has been vacant since materials and operations were moved into the new Advanced Learning Library in June, 2018.

Another group has been working on a Riverfront Legacy Master Plan for the east bank of the Arkansas River downtown, and it has some options that would include demolition of the Century II building.  That group is expected to announce its final recommendation at a meeting Tuesday.

 

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