We need the sales tax

Union at Tower District is their first Topeka community (and third in Kansas, after projects in Lawrence and Wichita). It is a ~$59–70 million, 250-unit development of one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments for households earning 30–60% of area median income.

• Location: 1104 SE Quincy Street (southeast corner of SE Quincy and 11th Street), near downtown Topeka.
• Buildings: Two four-story and one three-story buildings on about four acres.
• Amenities: Community center, fitness center, playground, dog park/courtyard, on-site management.
• Timeline: Groundbreaking June 3, 2025. Construction is underway; the first building was expected to open spring/early summer 2026, with full completion targeted for January–March 2027. Applications have been accepted.

Financing and public partners include:

• City of Topeka RHID tax incentives (approved ~$12 million cap with a 20-year term and sale clawback).
• Shawnee County revenue bonds (Stifel underwrote $35 million; not-to-exceed $65 million).
• Kansas Housing Resources Corp. 4% LIHTC and tax-exempt bonds.
• Citi Community Capital (construction and permanent lender).
• WNC (federal credit investor) and Advantage Capital (state credits).
• Impact Housing Indiana Corp. (a nonprofit founded by Kyle Bach that provides resident services).

Other partners include BVH Architecture, REGA Engineering, and SBB Engineering.

Kyle Bach launched the company (originally Mecca Companies) in 2006. It is an Indianapolis/Fishers, Indiana-based vertically integrated firm focused on affordable, workforce, student, and market-rate multifamily housing. They develop, build, own, and manage properties. Union at Tower District is listed on their portfolio as under construction.

This is a public-private deal that went through Topeka City Council (RHID/development agreement) and Shawnee County Commission (bonds) approvals in spring 2025. No other Topeka projects by the company turned up in current reporting.

Sales tax exempt?

Yes. The Shawnee County multi-housing revenue bonds (also described as industrial revenue bonds or IRBs) for Union at Tower District included a sales tax exemption on construction materials and supplies.

County bond counsel Bob Perry told commissioners the bonds would allow an exemption “for material supplies that would otherwise be subject to sales tax.” City staff and the developer’s representatives likewise described the county IRB as the mechanism for the sales-tax exemption on materials. One estimate given during city discussions put the value of that exemption at roughly $1.5 million.

This is a standard Kansas tool for qualifying housing projects: the county issues the bonds (here, intent approved at up to $65 million), which lets the project claim the exemption on qualifying building materials without creating repayment liability for the county. The city separately approved the RHID tax abatement; the county bonds handled the materials sales-tax piece. 

"Kevin Cook" Buy the the man a [hot Dog] some therapy time

Title: A Hot Dog, a Witness, and a County Commissioner

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I pulled up to talk to my county commissioner. That is supposed to be an ordinary thing in Shawnee County. You have a question. You see the man who holds the office. You roll the window down, or you step out, and you talk.

What I did not expect was to be accused of electioneering.

I might have bought somebody a hot dog.

That sentence still makes me pause, not because a hot dog is a scandal, but because of how quickly a simple conversation was turned into a crime scene. Kansas is not vague about electioneering. The statute is about polling places and advance voting sites. Two hundred and fifty feet. Campaign materials. An attempt to persuade voters where they vote. A class C misdemeanor if you do it there.

A hot dog, purchased somewhere that is not a polling place, is a hot dog. If mustard has become a campaign contribution, someone should send a memo to the Governmental Ethics Commission before the next county fair.

I was running at the time — for county commissioner against Kevin Cook in 2024, and later for mayor. The office on the yard sign is not the point. The point is what happened when a constituent showed up.

I was not alone. I had a passenger. He is the sort of man who does not let people get under his skin. Even-keeled. Unimpressed by theater. He sat in that car and watched a public official come at me with a tone so sharp, and a posture so aggressive, that the veins stood out in his neck.

It was not anything I said. It was my presence.

That is the part the press conference never covers. The public version of Kevin Cook is the man on the morning show talking about parks, mental health, and momentum. Fair enough. Those are the talking points. What my friend saw was something else: how fast the temperature rises when the wrong person appears in the wrong parking lot.

I have thought about that day more than I wanted to. Not because I need a grudge. Grudges are expensive and they do not pave a road. I have thought about it because temperament is part of the job description, whether anyone prints it on the ballot or not. Constituents will show up. Opponents will show up. People you do not care for will show up. The work is to keep the voice even and the veins down.

If mere arrival is enough to produce that kind of anger, the public is entitled to a fuller picture than the one that fits in a thirty-second clip.

My friend has no interest in politics as sport. He does not perform outrage. He does not need a headline. He simply watched a man snap. I do not think most people in this county have seen that version. He and I have.

I am trying, these days, to say hard things without raising my own voice. So I will leave it here: public office is not a private club. If a conversation with a constituent — and possibly a hot dog — can do that to a man, the hot dog is not the story.

The story is the snap.

Henry McClure
Time kills deals
785-383-9994 · www.henrymcclure.live

ghrelin

That “hole in the stomach” is real physiology, not just willpower failing.

When you eat early and stay up late, several things stack:

The stomach empties. A normal mixed dinner leaves the stomach in roughly 2–4 hours. After that the organ is empty. Empty-stomach cells start pumping out ghrelin, the main hunger hormone. Ghrelin tells the brain “find food.” It also makes the stomach contract.

Hunger contractions (the actual “hole” feeling). Once the stomach is empty it runs a housekeeping cycle called the migrating motor complex. Every 80–120 minutes it produces strong, rhythmic contractions (phase III). Those are the gnawing, hollow, rumbling pangs people describe. They are not an emergency; they are the gut clearing itself and signaling that the last meal is gone.

Your body clock is already biased toward evening hunger. Even when calories and meal timing are controlled, hunger has a built-in circadian peak in the biological evening (around 8 p.m. for most people) and a trough in the morning. Staying awake late puts you right in that high-hunger window while the stomach is also empty. Sleep itself blunts some of the overnight ghrelin rebound; staying up does not.

Blood sugar can dip. After the early meal is digested, glucose can drift down. The brain treats that as a reason to seek quick energy, which is why late-night hunger often feels like “I need something now.”

So the combination is: empty stomach + rising ghrelin + evening circadian hunger peak + being awake instead of asleep. That is the hole.

What actually helps if the goal is to stop eating late

• Time dinner so the gap to bedtime is closer to 2–3 hours rather than 5–7. An early dinner plus a late bedtime is the exact setup that recreates the hole.
• If the gap has to stay long, a small, protein-forward snack (not a second dinner) 2–3 hours before bed usually prevents the full empty-stomach + ghrelin surge without wrecking sleep or digestion.
• Protein and fiber at dinner slow emptying and blunt the later ghrelin rise better than a carb-heavy early meal.
• Ghrelin comes in waves. Water, tea, or just waiting 15–20 minutes often lets a wave pass.
• Going to bed earlier is the cleanest fix if the late-night hours are the problem.

Late eating is generally worse for sleep, reflux, and next-day hunger hormones than finishing earlier and going to bed at a matching time. The hole appears when those two clocks get out of sync.

Exposing corruption

If anyone missed Mayor Spencer Duncan’s 11-minute AI-generated speech explaining why he’s taking the first step toward raising property taxes on Topekans, you didn’t miss much. Most of it made no sense, and many of his words have already been contradicted by his own actions.

His excuse? Cutting the budget could hurt public safety.

Guess what? Our city already doesn’t feel safe.

Police are taking longer than ever to respond to calls, if they even do. State Troopers and Sheriff’s deputies are often getting to emergency calls before our own police officers. Houses are burning, along with people and family pets, because of low water pressure or inoperable fire hydrants. Streets aren’t getting plowed in the winter. Homeless people walk around carrying knives, swords, bats and whatever other weapons they can get their hands on. Junkies are everywhere!

This city is out of control, and the problem isn’t simply a lack of money. It’s how the money is being spent. Budget the city like you’d budget your own household. When you’re broke, you cut unnecessary spending. You don’t make big purchases. You don’t hand out donations. You pay for the necessities FIRST.

Before asking Topekans for another dime, get control of the money you already have and let us know where the money is really going. FORENSIC AUDIT is long overdue.

Fw: Dornwood

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From: Angela Lake <lakeangela98@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, August 28, 2026 1:29 PM
To: mcre13@gmail.com <mcre13@gmail.com>
Subject: Dornwood

 

Dear Mr McClure

Hi! You came out to Dornwood a few years ago and talked with us about the problems and the improvements that were needed. We are still fighting to get those improvements done, and we really need your help.

I’m trying to bring more attention to Dornwood and put this issue in the public eye. Our kids and our community deserve better, and we need the community to come together and support this effort.

Would you be willing to meet with me and talk about how you could help us bring attention to Dornwood and finally get the improvements we’ve been asking for?

Thanks so much 

Angela Lake

President TBSA