Month: November 2013

Copper dome’s fleeting shine changes city skyscape

Dome to gradually turn brown over next 10 years, may be green again in 40

andy.marso@cjonline.com

Attorney and newly minted state legislator John Carmichael was arguing a case Wednesday morning in Topeka and afterward asked one of the other lawyers if she would like to visit the Statehouse.

She said she hadn’t been there since high school.

“I told her you’ve got to go over there and take a look,” Carmichael said while admiring the dome outside the Statehouse. “It’s just fantastic.”

The new copper roof and dome are in place as 12 years of Capitol renovations grind to a close, the interior touches all expected to be done in time for the 2014 session that starts Jan. 13.

But the shine will be fleeting. Kansans should expect the dome to become progressively brown each day until the familiar green hue returns.

“It will start out as a bright shiny copper and really because the scaffolding was all up, by the time we took the scaffolding down it had moved to the dull copper phase,” said Barry Greis, Statehouse architect.”It will stay in the dull copper until it is a rich brown color. It could stay that color for 40 years. We don’t know how long it will take for the green patinazation, which is the final phase.”

Greis said after the initial construction in the early 1900s, the dome turned green in just 15 years. But back then the city’s homes and businesses were burning far more coal for heat, he said, including at the Statehouse, where horses pulled loads of coal to the building to keep it habitable. Now, with less sulfur in the air, Greis said the dome’s copper coloration should last longer.

Replacing the copper roof and dome cost $24.5 million, part of an estimated $332 million in Capitol renovations that include an underground parking garage, a soon-to-be-completed visitor center and a raft of interior fixes. Greis said the project should come in “several million under” the overall price tag.

Carmichael, a Wichita Democrat recently picked to succeed retired House member Nile Dillmore, called it a worthy investment in a landmark that will “be around long after we’re all gone.”

“This building, it’s been here for 140 years, plus or minus,” Carmichael said. “We invested a lot in it, but it should last us another 140 years.”

Brian Brown, a Leavenworth resident walking past the Capitol on Wednesday with his wife after a trip to the Docking State Office Building, said he found the coppery shine pleasant, but wasn’t surprised that it won’t last.

“I would have put something else up there instead of copper,” Brown said. “That’s because I’m a painter. But, yeah, it’s nice.”

“It’s pretty,” said his wife, Ashley Brown.

The shiny penny look is already giving way to a less-burnished brown, but Carmichael said that is all the more reason for Kansans to come and admire the dome as it changes.

“We ought to consider this a unique opportunity,” Carmichael said. “Because it won’t stay copper forever.”

Andy Marso can be reached at Capital: (785) 233-7470; Office: (785) 295-5619 or andy.marso@cjonline.com.
Follow Andy on Twitter @andymarso.

KWCH: School funding lawsuit could cut higher ed dollars

Lauren Seabrook, lseabrook@kwch.com

POSTED: 11:09 PM CST Nov 06, 2013
UPDATED: 11:15 PM CST Nov 06, 2013

WICHITA, Kan. –

The last thing students at Wichita State want to hear about is the University losing money, which could lead to higher tuition. But some republicans say it is a definite possibility.

“With this new lawsuit, we really are kind of playing what if right now. What might they say,” said Rep. Steve Brunk, (R) Wichita.

A decision from the Kansas Supreme Court could come by the end of the year and some lawmakers say if the state loses the lawsuit, and the court requires it to increase K-12 dollars, higher education could pay. “If it comes out of existing resources than it’s going to have to come from human services, higher education, public safety, transportation or it’ll have to come from some other entity,” said Brunk.

General Fund Budget 11-6-2013
General Fund Budget 11-6-2013

Education makes up about 62% of the state’s general fund budget. That represents elementary, secondary, and higher education. “To suggest that we have to adequately fund elementary education in Kansas at the expense of higher education in Kansas is absurd,” said Rep. John Carmichael, (D) Wichita.

That is what Rep. Jerry Lunn, (R) Overland Park, told Kansas higher education leaders to expect. “I think the representative was just trying to give the colleges and universities just a good heads up that’s certainly a possibility and they should be preparing for that,” said Brunk.

“This is a dilemma that has been created by the Governor’s state income taxes for doctors, lawyers and the wealthiest Kansans,” said Carmichael.

Some democrats say the state needs to reverse income tax cuts and rearrange dollars. “If we don’t balance the overall revenue approach, what we are going to see is dramatic increases in property taxes in Kansas,” said Carmichael.

But many republicans say people are taxed out and any additional K-12 funding needs to come from another piece of the pie. “The only other entity left after that then would be to come from the tax payers and that would mean a tax increase on a population of people that are already struggling,” said Brunk.

Brunk says the last time the Legislature increased funding to K-12, the money was supposed to go into the classroom. He says it went into administration instead. If the state increases funding again, Brunk says he wants to see better accounting of where the money goes.

Eyewitness News reached out to Wichita State President John Bardo on the issue. Bardo says he does not want to comment until after the Kansas Supreme Court makes a decision.