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Vol 44 No. 2
'She's a force'
www.theactiveage.com Kansas’ Largest Newspaper
January 2023
Save Century II founder expands watchdog role
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By Joe Stumpe The city of Wichita has a new auditor. Celeste Racette isn’t actually on the city payroll, but the selfappointed watchdog is adept at getting things done — and undone. Take the hidden 8 percent “ballpark development fee” imposed by owners of the Wichita Wind Surge baseball team on popcorn, T-shirts and other purchases at city-owned Riverfront Stadium last year. Racette filed a complaint with the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s office. That office had already opened its own investigation into the fee, but Jason Roach, head of its consumer protection division, said Racette’s “well-documented” complaint helped lead to the issuing of a cease-anddesist order against the Wind Surge. Last month, the Wind Surge settled the matter by splitting $63,000 among six local charities. Of bigger impact was Racette’s
Celeste Racette rallied public support to keep Century II from being demolished. She says the battle isn't over. opposition to an ambitious proposal to headed for approval with the backing of civic leaders. Save Century II, a redevelop the riverfront. group led by Racette, gathered more In 2019, a billion-dollar plan to than 17,000 signatures on a petition replace Century II Convention and drive demanding that voters be Performing Arts Center appeared
allowed to decide Century II’s future. The riverfront plan “has been paused due to the impacts of COVID-19,” according to a website maintained by its supporters, and the city this year budgeted $18 million for improvement to Century II over the next decade. “I wouldn’t say I won that battle because I know they’re still eyeing that land,” Racette said last month, shortly after addressing the City Council about another issue affecting the riverfront. “We still watch the developers carefully because in my mind, it still seems like developers make the decisions over public land.” However, Racette’s influence can’t be ignored. “I think that there’s nobody in Wichita who’s had a greater impact on city policy over the last few years than Celeste,” said Chase Billingham, an associate professor of sociology at
See Racette, page 6
Ping pong pals 'take turns winning'
The Active Age If you’re visiting the East YMCA on a weekday between 9:30 and 11:30 a.m., chances are good that you’re going to see three ping pong players —– Debi Takamoto, Quang Ly and Bao Chen — intensely battling just off the lobby where a recreational table is located. They’ll tell you they’re not that good and that they simply play for fun and exercise. However, retired automobile dealer Dawson Grimsley, who plays after them, says the three are impressive. Grimsley notes that they often play from several feet behind the table like Olympic-level athletes, enabling them to hit and return balls with great velocity and spin. “It’s unbelievable,” Grimsley said. “I’m like, what the heck?”
Ly played on a team while in school in his native Vietnam but didn’t have anyone to play with after moving to Wichita in 1980. He eventually began playing at the Andover YMCA, which had two ping pong tables before it was struck by a tornado in April. “Do you know how to play ping pong?” Ly would ask Quang Ly, left, Debi Takamoto and Bao Chen everyone who stopped are friendly ping pong rivals at the East YMCA. to watch him play. younger as well. Chen, who moved from China to Takamoto didn’t. She started the United States in 1992 and then playing in 2014 when she saw people to Wichita a decade later, was one of those people. He played when he was See Ping Pong, page 7
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