Topeka’s Economic Development Hypocrisy: We Pay Millions to Attract Business — Then Slam the Door in Its Face
By Henry McClure
Topeka, we have a problem.
Every year, Shawnee County taxpayers hand over roughly $5 million from our half-cent sales tax to the Joint Economic Development Organization (JEDO) and Go Topeka. That money pays for incentives, marketing campaigns, workforce programs, and glossy pitches telling the world we’re “open for business.” Officials celebrate every deal that brings a handful of jobs or a few million in private investment, bragging about return on investment and economic multipliers.
Then a real, private-sector company walks in the door — no taxpayer handouts required — and we send it packing.
That’s exactly what happened last August with Maverik, the fast-growing, trucker-friendly convenience and fuel chain. Maverik wanted to redevelop the long-vacant former Ramada West/Holidome property at 605 SW Fairlawn — prime real estate right off I-70. Their plan: a modern ~6,000-square-foot store with fresh food, 10 car fueling islands, dedicated truck lanes, and a scale. It was exactly the kind of high-volume travel center that fits perfectly on a major interstate corridor.
The Topeka Planning Commission reviewed it thoroughly. They approved it — twice. First the full truck-friendly version, then a scaled-back proposal with just the convenience store and car pumps after neighbors raised concerns. Traffic studies were done. Mitigations were offered.
On August 12, 2025, the City Council voted 9-1 to reject the entire project. Only Councilman David Banks had the courage to vote yes. The rest cited traffic on Fairlawn and safety fears for students at nearby Landon Middle School. One more eyesore stays empty. One more private investment that required zero city dollars is gone.
Think about that for a second.
We spend $5 million a year of your sales tax money to chase economic development. We offer tax breaks and grants to companies that want public assistance. Yet when a business shows up with its own money, sees market demand on I-70, and is ready to turn a blighted, tax-producing-nothing vacant lot into jobs, property taxes, sales taxes, and fuel taxes, we kill it over neighborhood complaints that could have been addressed.
This isn’t just bad policy. It’s hypocrisy on a grand scale.
Maverik wasn’t asking for millions in incentives. They weren’t demanding special treatment. They simply wanted to operate where travelers and truckers already stop — the backbone of America’s economy. Trucking moves over 70% of domestic freight. A quality fuel-and-food stop like Maverik strengthens logistics, supports local jobs (20–50 positions per site with benefits), clears blight, and generates ongoing tax revenue from a site that has contributed exactly zero for years.
Instead, we get to keep looking at weeds and cracked pavement while Go Topeka keeps spending your money on the next PowerPoint presentation.
The average voter gets this. You work hard, pay your taxes, and watch your city struggle with vacant properties, stagnant growth, and budget pressures. Then you hear officials talk endlessly about “attracting investment” while the same officials — responding to organized neighborhood pressure and emotional testimony — block the investment that actually showed up.
This isn’t about being anti-neighbor or anti-safety. Traffic and school zones matter. But so does the bigger picture: a stronger tax base that funds better roads, schools, and services for everyone — including the families on Fairlawn. Rejecting shovel-ready private development on a blighted site doesn’t make the corridor safer or quieter. It just guarantees the problems of vacancy and lost opportunity continue.
Topeka deserves better. We deserve leaders who understand that economic development isn’t just about the deals we chase with taxpayer dollars. It’s also about not killing the ones that arrive on their own.
The next time Go Topeka or JEDO asks for another round of your half-cent sales tax money, remember the Maverik site. Remember the 9-1 vote. Remember that while they’re busy “creating” development with your cash, real development got shown the door.
Voters, it’s time to hold them accountable. Demand that economic development means saying yes to private investment that actually builds Topeka — not just funding another bureaucracy that talks a good game.
The vacant lot at Fairlawn and 6th is still waiting. So are the jobs, the taxes, and the progress that could have been there today.
It’s not too late to change course. But it starts with calling out the hypocrisy.
