Downtown sidewalk grant, Art & Wine Walk, and GBRC fireworks approved
Mar. 18—Three Great Bend City Council members were absent from Monday's meeting. Councilman Kevyn Soupiset was also not at the meeting initially but Mayor Cody Schmidt called him on the telephone so there would be a quorum. A roll call was taken for each vote, with all items passing 5-0. One vote required at least 2/3s of the council's approval to pass. Mayor Schmidt cast the required sixth vote in favor of adopting Ordinance 4454, establishing the Great Bend Lodging Community Improvement District.
Here's a brief look at actions taken at the March 17 meeting:
—Payroll ending March 1 was covered in the amount of $454,238.61, and other bills to date were paid.
—A door-to-door license was approved for Shelly Burhenn, doing business as Four Soldiers Mowing LLC, Great Bend.
—A tree trimmer license was approved for Charles Roberts, doing business as Roberts Tree Service, Larned.
—The Mayor signed the concession lease with Jason Ward at the Sports Complex.
GBRC Fireworks
—The Great Bend Rec Commission received approval for a firework show at the Flashlight Easter Egg Hunt on the evening of April 5.
—Two resolutions were approved setting public hearings on May 5 to declare dangerous buildings. The mobile home at 201 Walnut was damaged by fire in June 2024 and the house at 218 Pine was damaged by fire last month.
Art & Wine Walk
—Amanda Gaddis with the Great Bend Convention and Visitors Bureau talked about the 11th annual Art & Wine Walk, set for May 2. An ordinance was adopted to allow unlicensed businesses to serve complimentary alcohol on their premises for this event.
Hotel Development Incentives
—A public hearing was held, with no objections voiced, on creating a Community Improvement District (CID) and sales tax within the district. This is part of the incentive package for Great Bend Lodging LLC, which plans to build a hotel and restaurants on 10th Street next to the Great Bend Events Center. The council then adopted Ordinance 4453, establishing the Great Bend Lodging Community Improvement District.
—A public hearing was held, with no objections voiced, on adopting a redevelopment project plan. This is another step in formalizing an incentive package for Great Bend Lodging LLC. After the hearing, the council voted 6-0 to adopt Ordinance 4454, adopting the plan.
Downtown sidewalk grant
—Assistant City Engineer Hitha Kadiyala reported on a Transportation Alternatives (TA) Grant project and the council approved the Transportation Alternative agreement with the Kansas Department of Transportation. The City applied for this program on March 1, 2024, for downtown sidewalk repair and accessibility improvements on Main Street from 10th to 17th. The project grant was awarded last October.
"Even though our eligibility should be a 20% match if the program is awarded, KDOT awarded the grant project with 100% funding with $0 city match, which includes construction engineering and preliminary engineering," Kadiyala reported. "As the next steps for the process, KDOT requires the City to enter into a City/State agreement. We are currently in the process of selecting a consultant for this project and once the selection is made, we then have to enter into a separate three-party contract developed by the state as well." The TA grant is a reimbursement project and funding will come from the KDOT grants fund and the quarter-cent city sales tax fund.
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CNN
a day ago
- CNN
Japan-based company is poised for its moon-landing attempt
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Update: Date: Title: Reslience is carrying science — and art Content: Tucked alongside a molecule-splitting science experiment and radiation monitor, Resilience is carrying a couple lighthearted pieces of commemorative art. One includes commemorative coin-sized plates designed by UNESCO and US-based Barrelhand that will 'transport and safeguard 275 distinct languages and cultural treasures on the lunar surface.' Another is from Swedish artist Mikael Genberg, who contributed a miniature red house dubbed the 'Moonhouse.' Genberg has been aiming to put a red house on the lunar surface for more than two decades. 'They wanted to send something to the moon, so there was a good coincidence,' Ispace chief financial officer Jumpei Nozaki told CNN in January, noting that Ispace's European branch in Luxembourg found out about the art piece and worked to put it on the Resilience lander. The pieces may join a slew of other novelties, art pieces and curiosities that have been part of past lunar missions. A Jeff Koons sculpture series called 'Moon Phases,' for example, flew on the Odysseus lunar lander from Houston-based Intuitive Machines last year, becoming the first 'authorized' work of art on the moon. The Moonhouse on board Resilience aims to be an 'expression of humanity's ability to achieve the seemingly unattainable through boundary-crossing thoughts and collaborations and maybe a symbol of humanity's eternal and collective striving; a perspective on existence and (an) eye towards Earth,' according to a web page about the art project. Update: Date: Title: Here's how (another) failed landing attempt could affect Ispace Content: Ispace's roots began in the Google Lunar XPrize, which in the 2010s challenged the private-sector to put robotic landers on the moon for a $20 million grand prize. The compeititon ended in 2018, however, with no winner. 'That was very good program for me to start things here,' Ispace CEO and founder Takeshi Hakamada told CNN in May. 'We survived the Lunar XPrize and and then that created credibility for the next fundraising (effort).' After the competition folded, Ispace kept going, bringing on new investors. And just before its first lunar landing attempt in 2023, the company went public, listing on Tokyo's stock exchange. When Ispace's first landing attempt failed in 2023, crashing to the moon due to a software issue, the company's stock price shed more than half its value. And Ispace could face some significant financial struggles if today's landing attempt is unsuccessful, Ispace chief financial officer Jumpei Nozaki told CNN in January. 'If we do not successfully land on the moon, maybe there are going to be some very strong headwinds against us. It will be reflected to our share price immediately,' Nozaki said. Still, Nozaki added, the company raised money last year around the world, including from one US investor, that should keep the company funded through a third lunar landing attempt. Update: Date: Title: Resilience is aiming to land farther north than other recent missions Content: We're in the midst of renewed space race, with both the public and private sector eager to send robots to further explore the lunar surface. The modern moon dash was largely kicked off by China, which safely landed its first Chang'e spacecraft in 2013 — roughly 40 years after any vehicle, crewed or uncrewed, had soft-landed on the lunar surface. Much of the lunar exploration focus has been on the south pole, as the region is expected to be home to vast stores of water ice that can be converted to drinking water or fuel for rockets. But the vehicles that have made soft landings so far have explored a variety of regions. Update: Date: Title: Soft landing on the moon is still really hard. 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When the estimated landing time came and went, and mission controllers had spent about 10 minutes troubleshooting why the lander hadn't sent a signal, it was safe to assume the golf-cart-size vehicle had not made a gentle touchdown, Ispace CEO Takeshi Hakamada, told CNN. A NASA satellite later photographed the crash site. Ispace then spent weeks poring over the data, trying to pinpoint what went wrong. 'Almost everything performed perfectly — propulsion system, communication system, and also structure,' Ispace chief financial officer Jumpei Nozaki told CNN in January about the first Hakuto-R mission. 'The issue was the software and the altitude measurement has some issue.' Essentially, Hakuto-R had miscalculated its altitude, and the vehicle ended up running out of fuel before touching down on the surface. This time around, executives are far more confident. A software patch is in place. And mission controllers are hoping to get confirmation of a smooth touchdown within a minute or so after the 3:17 p.m. ET expected landing time. Update: Date: Title: Here's what to expect during today's moon-landing attempt Content: Resilience, a spacecraft built by Tokyo-based Ispace that could redeem the company after a failed moon-landing attempt in 2023, is ready to make its final descent to the lunar surface. Ispace has broken down its mission in to series of 10 goals or anticipated 'successes.' Resilience has already notched through the first eight of those steps. All that's left is the landing sequence and the harrowing moment of touchdown. 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The lander is aiming for a spot within Mare Frigoris — or the 'Sea of Cold' — which lies in the moon's far northern reaches. • If all goes according to plan, Ispace should confirm the vehicle is safely on the surface within a minute or so after touchdown, the company's CEO, Takeshi Hakamada, told CNN. • Ground controllers will then conduct a series of health checks to make sure the lander, its science instruments and all other components are functioning as intended. • The first image from the lander is expected within the first 12 hours after the spacecraft reaches the surface, perhaps sooner. (Take note: Every lunar landing mission has to deal with limited bandwidth to beam data back to Earth. Sometimes, visuals are not the highest priority.)
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Curating Genuine Creativity: In Conversation With Ellen Sheidlin
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