The new Visioneering Wichita survey about the city’s image is designed to provide a more specific snapshot of local attitudes about Wichita and suggest some courses of action.
Here are a couple of questions from the survey:
What would you tell friends or family members about the greater Wichita region if they were thinking about moving to Wichita to live?
When marketing the community, what three things would you highlight as Wichita’s strengths?
Bloggers: Care to weigh in on either of these, or on the survey itself? Are these self-evaluation exercises worth doing?
Posted by Randy Scholfield
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103 Comments
I still miss the heyday of Subculture night spot on Douglas when it was the only place I could come and listen to 80s music on Wednesdays.
But seriously, I truly despise the urban sprawl and lack of coherent city planning. The intense automobile love affair in Wichitan leaves nothing much for bicycles and pedestrians. Once I saw a child accompanied by her parent was forced to bike on grass next to a busy narrow street because the cul-de-sac planners conveniently “forgot” to put a bike path so she could visit her neighbours.
And on those places where sidewalks exist, their conditions leave much to be desired. My trainer even said I’d be better off risking my neck jogging on the street than ruining my knees on those “variable elevation and inclination” slabs of concrete sidewalks.
To Sue Schlapp: Support Rail-To-Trail, darn it!!!!!!!!!!!!
I just took the above linked survey. I would urge others to do the same. It made me think about my relationship/views on this place.
Too bad I don’t qualify to take the survey since I no longer reside in the quad-county area after spending half of my life there, which is pretty much almost the entire of my adulthood…
Roo-ha, the rail-to-trail is a great idea.It has worked in many cities, yet it never fails to have opponents for various reasons.One recurring theme seems to be that people are AFRAID of this trail access to their neighborhoods.You know, what kind of weirdos may come biking and hiking?
I will have to say that the survey has ALOT to be desired… They only ask about how to “market” Wichita, not on how to improve it…
As I have said since the first Visioneering Meeting, its all a nice and good to put a pretty public face on this but we all know that its run by the Chamber, so nothing will get done.
This city is so intent on recruiting new business to come to town or to keep the big 4 (now 5) here, that they ignore the local, small businesses.
Oh yea, don’t forget the LOCAL consultants!
Lemme guess, some rich yuppies that “rediscovered” outdoor physical exercises as opposed to the malls?
I’ve traveled by car through all the states West of the Mississippi, from Brownsville Texas to the Canadian border.I could live anywhere I choose…and I choose Wichita.It’s big enough to offer the services I want on a daily basis…and small enough to know most folk I run into in those businesses.We’ve got a nice mix of cultures, and not so much of the ugliness between folk that other areas seem to struggle with.Traffic is non-existent, despite what some folk may feel about a bit of a slowdown on Kellog.As a sportsman, I live in the middle of the best cat-fishing bird and white-tail hunting in the world.Having said all this, I hope Wichita doesn’t get a huge influx from the more populous areas. To be blunt, I wouldn’t consider it a good thing if an influx of West Coast residents brought their love of excessive building codes and social legislation to Wichita. Colorado residents near Glenwood Springs learned the hard way how in love transplanted Californians are of their earth-quake proof building codes and school referendums.
Tony is correct – far too much of the ‘effort’ is marketing instead of actually changing things. I think that might be part of the reason they go with out-of-towm consultants – those of us who are here will focus on how to actually improve our city instead of just how to sell it.
I would add to Tony’s comment about ‘local consultants’ that we need to draw upon the experiences of Wichitans who have lived elsewhere. We have seen things done that work and that don’t work. Wichita doesn’t need to re-invent the wheel.
“Wichita doesn’t need to re-invent the wheel.”
Yea, try telling them that…
Oh wait, you have and have proved them wrong more times than i can count…
If someone asked me about Wichita, I would tell them to not even consider moving there.
In general, Wichita is inhabited by close-minded assholes.
I spent my whole life there, but have also lived in many other countries and areas of the US.
I would not wish living in Wichita upon my worst enemy.
The city has enough amenities to make living there bearable, but the lack of culture, and the anti-cosmopolitan atmosphere will suck the life out of anyone who dares to live there.
May Wichita burn in Hell forever.
“We’ve got a nice mix of cultures, and not so much of the ugliness between folk that other areas seem to struggle with.”
You must not be gay and bombarded daily with your local fundie bullshit. In fact, your post leads me to believe you are a white male evangelical. Of course you think everything is hunky dory.
“To be blunt, I wouldn’t consider it a good thing if an influx of West Coast residents brought their love of excessive building codes and social legislation”
Social legislation? Yeah, damn those Californians and their insistance on equal protection under the law. And equal rights for all citizens. And holding developers and builders accountable for meeting standards higher than a tar paper shack.
Thanks for confirming my suspicions.
Now, please return to your life in the 1950’s…..
“What would you tell someone planning to move to Wichita?”
Are you INSANE?
“What three things are Wichita’s strengths?”
I’ll get back to you on 2 and 3 when I come up with 1.
Born and raised here and not nearly as traveled as I would wish. But even with that limited experinece, Wichita sucks.
“What three things are Wichita’s strengths?”
I put the weather… Of course, when I did fill out that question, i was sitting on my deck in the sun on my laptop… ;-)
You know, when folks are looking to relocate to a city, one of the first things they do is pick up or subscribe to the local newspaper to get a sense of the community.
If an out of towner picked up the WE, what would they think? Given the editorial board’s propensity to shill folks like values, er, bias boy, and now syrios, I think they would believe terry, joe and fred are the faces that best represent wichita. Throw in susan “I own bingo parlours but you cant vote on a casino” wagle, brenda “tabor” landwehr, and the ongoing hypocrisy of journey and the other guy who tops the list of lobby paid perks…
…a casual observer might think wichita is RULED by the religious right and republican wingnuts.
Oh wait, that’s true!!!!!
So I guess your future will be MORE wingnuts and tabor loving republicans? I hope the last sane person leaving wichita will turn out the lights before turning over the keys to the city to phred and his merry band of ayatollahs.
Oh, and I hope they can turn a wrench on airplanes too.
I agree that the Chamber influence of the survey was apparent, but I still recommend taking it.
To the question of (paraphrased) “what would you say to someone coming to Wichita for a vacation?”; I responded – “I would wonder why they would want to do that.”
Somebody help me out. How could Wichita be a vacation destination?
I filled out that survey on Sunday. Although those who know me on here know that I’m a huge Wichita cheerleader, but I was honest in that survey.
Wichita does need improvement. There are several things that negatively impact us. Number one is that we don’t have the sense of community involvement and support. That is the biggest obstical that we have.
Basically, the skeptics and naysayers tend to have the loudest voice and dominate the public debate, although they aren’t the majority in Wichita. But what it does is that it keeps people away, because most people don’t want to be involved with negative people or debate, so you looses support badly.
The skeptics have every right to be skeptical. We all know that government projects overpromise the true results and that special interest have sticky fingers on everything, but that is the way it is. It’s been like that forever and it will continue to be like that. We are never going to create utopia societies, the only thing we can do is make things better by supporting projects and programs that help bring new amenities to our community.
We need to think progressive and not confrontational. We are doing better with that, but we need to work more on it.
The DT Arena is a good example. So you say it’s a boondoggle, white elephant, waste of money, not needed, just for rich people or whatever. And it may be true, but it isn’t so much about the cost, benefit cost, economics in all that, than it is that it adds to our community and people behind it have been working long and hard to make it a reality. I consider it progress because somebody envisioned it and had enough support to make it happen.
The Rails to Trails project can happen, so long as their is support by the community. The permanent hanger for “Doc” can happen, so long as their is support by the community.
If Wichitians have a vision for a project, then we should support it. Of course, within the means of affordablity. I’m not talking about multi-billion dollar projects or obscure stuff. The Kellogg Expansion and the DT Arena are the most expensive projects we are supporting right now, but it is within the realm of what everybody in the community can afford.
But we are getting a lot better though. The entire decade of the 1980’s, we stalled big time, the early 90’s were pretty much the same, but now we are rolling along at a good pace and support, but only going half as fast as we should be going.
Another thing we need to do, and that is we need to clean up this city. Get the graffti off the walls, demolish old unused buildings, help the poorer neighborhoods clean up and give them support for home improvement, pave the dirt roads. We need to get more green and plant trees, bushes and other plants to make our area more attractive. This doesn’t cost too much. The east side Kellogg expansion is a perfect example of what we can do with green space. Although it could be filled in a little more with more plants and trees.
We can do alot, but we need to get off our butts and just support our community and go out there and do something, instead of bitching, moaning, complaining, and comparing.
I wouldn’t want to live in a community I didn’t like. And I love it here in Wichita and with that love, I want to make it better for everybody here and my future children.
KFG, JR:
You’re free to leave. Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out. Just don’t send the left-coast wacko’s here in your place, thanks.
I’ll ditto James, in spades.
Hey I thought of 2 things!
Wichita, where I don’t think GMC lives!
Wichita: It aint Grand Junction Colorado
Short of culture? Probably as guilty as some other mid western cities. The earnings to housing/cost of living ratio is probably one of the best in the country,however. The traffic situation isalso very uncongested for a city of this size.
Joe,
I agree with you to a point… (seems that’s becoming a common theme with me today).
BUT, I will have to disagree with you regarding the Arena. if it were a 75%/25% type thing, I would tell the minority to shove it and make it work. but it was a 50/50 thing, with more and more people becoming discontent with it every day. So, I think there is merit on really debating that aspect.
Other than that, I agree with the rest of your comments. If the community really wants something to flourish it will support it. Perfect example is the Zoo and Art Museum. Both are well funded from private donors and are extremely successful.
Other things like the “nothing to do” argument is crap. Take a look at the entertainment section of the WE and compare it to other cities our size… Granted we don’t have a Bass Pro shop or a Worlds of Fun, but there is always something to do. I think the majority of it is boredom of the people, they expect some glitzy event like River Fest every weekend of the year, which is impractical.
I can usually keep my family busy with one event/activity each weekend. We try to do something 3 weekends out of the month and rest on the 4th. Soccer starts soon so we wont even have that 4th.
There is alot to like about Wichita, but there is also some not to… I just wish people woudlnt complaine so much and learn to help fix it.
U know, I drive every day 20 miles, too and from work. According to Google it should take me about 24 min to travel that distance. I usually achieve it in 20 every day, during “rush hour”. Granted, i dont sit in the bottlenecks known as 135/235/254/k96 north junction and stay mostly on highway but still. like S. West said earlier, this city is very good about its traffic, for the most part. (Main street in downtown needs to be reverted back to one way south).
I’m still taking in Tucson, so I’m not even going to compare the two. But I recently saw something here I never saw in Wichita.
Homeless folks exist in Wichita, of course, and in disturbing numbers.
They’re seemingly all over the place here, though.
What I saw: I walked past a bus bench late at night and saw a wheelchair. And someone sleeping on the bench next to it.
That kinda got to me.
A few comments. Traffic is amazingly easy. I drive pretty much clear across town and get to work in about a half-hour – and that includes stopping at Spangles to pick up breakfast. Compare that to the hour-plus I had in Illinois …
The Arena. You are correct Joe that a group worked to make it a reality. However, scratch beneath the surface and find that a lot of that was the contractors etc who would receive the tax money to be spent. With the cost over-runs I have real concerns about its overall effect. You take as a given that “it adds to our community”. I am not sute that is true. When we have to subsidize its operations what will be the impact on other venues such as Century II? I fear the Arena will suck up an inordinate share of public money available.
As for getting off our butts – this spring, before River Festival, there will be a River cleanup. I think the current plan is for Sierra Club to focus on downtown (confluence to kellogg); the Ark River Coalition north on the Big River; and the Couth central Revitalization group on the east side of the River south of Kellogg. Do what I did, get your tetanus shot beforehand so you don’t have to worry about it.
I don’t know which segment I will be in – I am involved in all three groups. If you don’t want to seem affiliated with a bunch of “tree-huggers” head south. That is strictly a community revitalization group.
Wichita is a great place to live. It has a variety of smaller communities close by if you don’t like living in the “Big City.”
Having seen Wichita grow in the past sixty years, the change in my eyes is for the better and I feel comfortable here like a pair of my favorite slippers.
I wouldn’t say Wichita is a tourist destination is the same way other areas of the country are, but it has its local attractions that satisfy.
A lot of Wichitans are Conservative but in a modern way. They hold the values of their ancestry, but they are progressive enough to recognize that certain environmental issues, moderate political beliefs and respect for different cultures is what makes the community viable.
We have our share of nuts and kooks here, but there is by far a majority of level-headed people who are willing to give people a chance and recognize there is room for a wide variety of ideas and ideologies.
For those not native to Kansas, I say welcome and give the Wichita shoe a chance to break-in before you make a decision.
As the Johnny Cash song goes, “I’ve been everywhere” holds true for me. A phrase tied to Kansas and still rings true, “There’s no place like home’ and that place is Wichita.
Hey Ben,
can i bring the kids to float them down the river without a paddle?
Only if you give each one an anchor!
Steven Davis: “Somebody help me out. How could Wichita be a vacation destination?”—————–Steven, I won’t be much help. I answered that question with: “Tell them to go someplace else.”
When we have out-of-town company we have taken them to the following:
Karg Art Glass — in Kechi at the corner of 61st St. N. & Oliver. Beautiful stuff and the glass blowers are interesting people. Ask questions and interact with them — they are informative. Did you know there is a degree in glass blowing?
Hutchinson to the Kansas Cosmosphere. Stop in Yoder on the way.
One day golfing. You can’t find courses like ours at the local prices many places.
The Waterfront is a must stop.Old Town doesn’t take long but if you start at the Museum of World Treasures it takes you to time for dinner so eat there one evening and walk around. The exception is Friday Night Crawls which are GREAT!
The zoo is absolutely wonderful!
You can see Cowtown, Botanica and the Indian Center in one afternoon and have spent ALL the time needed to really see everything.
Exploration Place is overpriced for what it offers. (IMHO)
A walk down Douglas to see the great sculptures and visit antique shops is good when the weather allows.
And of course, what Wichita is really good at — restaurants. If eating is your idea of great entertainment you are in luck in Wichita. :(
“You’re free to leave. Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.”
I see how well that attitude is working with Wichita’s young people and with kansas in general.
I guess that is why we stand to lose another congressional seat in the next reapportionment.
So many people are leaving. Again, how’s that strategy working gmc and james?
Heh. . .on the lighter side, I made a joke about the FSM here and. . .got blank stares.
Eeeevilution® is not even an issue in my burg.
. . . and AZ defeated its own Hate Amendment (mostly, if you checked the counties, by strong opposition in the Old Pueblo).
How’d Sedgwick County look?(sigh. . .).
P.P.S. Oh God. . .they’re coming here. .
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1222/p03s03-ussc.html
There are some themes here that I agreed with and reflected in my survey. Wichita is great in terms of commuting. A woman I met not long ago in Atlanta told me about how she has taken a job she did not like so much because of the one hour (one way) commute she could make; her other alternatives were not that “good”.
Second, housing prices here are affordable.
Also, I think the medical services are generally good.
Thank you, Linda for reminding me of the good visitor resources we have here. But, come June and August when my spouse and I have some vacation time available – if our choices are 1) go to the mountains in Colorado, or 2) stay home in DooDah – it won’t be a hard decision for us to make. Another positive about ICT, we are reasonably close to the Rockies and Ozarks.
I would like to give you an outsider’s view of Wichita and since I’ve lived here less than a year, I feel that I am qualified to do that. Just a little bit of background on me, I’m a military brat so I’ve lived in multiple locations, my most recent location – a city of approximately 60,000, and I moved here because of a job opportunity.
All of that being said, I think Wichita is great for the most part (especially if you don’t need mountains or trees – those would be the things that I miss the most!). The metro area is large enough that there is a multitude of things to do (many of them have already been listed so I won’t bore you with my list), places to shop, and of course places to eat. The cost of housing/living in general is extremely cheap compared to other places that I have lived. Traffic is not bad (just stay away from Rock at certain times of the day) other than a lot of idiot drivers (or is it just me? I seem to attract them…). And as for those that are worried about the “younguns” leaving, I suggest you support groups like the Young Professionals of Wichita (yes, I’m a member)who are trying to keep them here and involved in the community. The fact that there are groups such as Visioneering Wichita that are working to help the local area whether you like their survey or not is a good sign that things are progressing and improving so take the survey! And my last note is something that I have learned from my many military moves, if you have a bad attitude about it, it WILL suck!
With all its faults and shortcomings, real or perceived, Wichita is better than a hell of a lot of other places!
P.S. Except for the 73% of the drivers that can’t operate a turn signal lever, or the Kamikazi drivers using cell phones.
Even Kellogg/Rock isn’t bad compared to ones like Golf/Algonquin (Northwest Suburbs of Chicago)
I completely agree gster, I swear that I must attract the idiots who shouldn’t be allowed to drive – it’s like I have a sign on my car or something…
Ben, never been to Chicago but I can imagine the traffic is much worse. But as far as Wichita goes, those seem to be the worst and also seem to attract those idiot drivers.
AFN
I have to disagree about Young Professionals of Wichita… I have a serious problem with them.
Its run by the Chamber…
The chamber has made it its stated policy to only assist large companies with what ever they want. They dont want to help small businesses.
I asked many times for assistance from them, simple things, get me a contact here or put my name in over there… Nothing…
They fired the only guy there who gave a rats but about small business. He organized 5 leads groups, all of which died after he left.
I support this with what actually happens at YPW events? Allot of sitting around, talking and drinking. I have yet to hear anyone say they made a business deal out of it. I have yet to hear anything business related out of it. Most people I know who are members are because “its a social group” which is NOT going to keep young people here.
What will keep younger people here is business opportunities.
I have lived and traveled in other parts of the country as well. I stayed in Sacramento, CA for a year. When I CHOSE to come back to Wichita from CA (voluntarily; my experience was the general attitude of the people in Sacramento was apathetic and cold) I was driving on Kellogg in morning “rush hour” traffic and laughing about it. Wichita does not have the 20-30 minute wait at the ON RAMP to a highway. In every job I have worked at I heard from out-of-towners that Wichita is a city filled with compassionate, hard working decent people. No one in this world is perfect. Our city is what we make it. I think of Wichita as my home and feel confident that my children will get a decent education, they will be generally safe and happy. I don’t look to outside sources all the time to provide me and my children with entertainment. Even as cliche as it might sound, we read together, we play games together, we go for walks together, we visit family and friends together, we occassionally go out to eat together as a special treat. Wichita is not New York, Atlanta, Dallas or L.A., but it is a city that provides a decent environment that give your children a good headstart, and fosters a family centered mindset and lifestyle. I have taken my children out of state for vacation. When we go on vacation again, I’ll take them out of state again. Going out of state, or even just out of Wichita, takes them out of their normal everyday setting and puts them in a new setting where they can rest and have fun and not worry about “the daily grind”. No city is perfect. I don’t like the fact that we are known as the Abortion capital of the world. I think it’s a horrible stain and reputation for our city, but Wichita has “a good heart” and we have to cultivate that. With the same measure we extend grace and mercy to others, that is how it will be measured and extended to us. Wichita will reflect the heart and attitude of its people. For those who are not satisfied with what Wichita offers, there is a huge beautiful world that God created and your are welcome to explore it that you may find someplace that WILL offer an environment where you will be happy. No hard feelings.
I was born and raised in Wichita and attended WSU. I have lived in Dallas for the last 14 years. Trust me Wichita, you have much to be thankful for. In Dallas traffic dictates where one lives, our housing construction is the worst on the planet, and illegal immigration is tearing some of our communities apart. I don’t hate Dallas–I love all the professional sports, the warmer weather and the energy of the big city. But as a homeowner, father and family man, the big city is not all it is cracked up to be. So be thankful Wichita, you have a liveable, affordable city and that means alot to many of us.
Tony – 100% correct. In the survey to the question “what would you tell someone thinking of moving here?” I said “proceed with caution. Consider what happens if the job you come for evaporates. Are their professional opportunities in your field? Especially with the tight-knit system here it can be hard to find a new position.”
I think the GOBN is a serious detriment to ‘outsiders’ here.
Tony, first of all, I’ll admit that I haven’t made it to too many of the functions (they seem to always get scheduled when I have something else going on) so I can’t be a true testiment to exactly what happens at the events. I do know, however, that some of the events are more social and others are more business/community related. I also know that many of the members do seem to stick strictly to those social events. If nothing else, this group is a way for young professionals to get out and meet others and make contacts that could help them in business, sooner or later. The main thing that I like about this group, and the reason that I suggested supporting it, would be because this is a group of young people who care about Wichita, its businesses, and its community. These people are or will be the community leaders, so support them in that personal/career growth so that they can do the right thing by Wichita and its citizens later.
Ben, to which I would add, “be cautious not only for yourself, but also for your spouse, in determining the number of potential openings in your or your spouse’s profession” for the reason you gave. It was my understanding that the lack of professional opportunities for spouses (primarily wives) was a detriment to Pizza Hut recruiting management talent, and contributed to its decision to move the HQ.
AFN – you say “support groups like the Young Professionals of Wichita” – exactly who should be supporting them and how?
Perhaps the ‘old guard’ could support them by providing the opportunities?
VT – YES!
Ben, I didn’t specifically have anyone or anything in mind when I said that, but there are a few things that I can think of off the top of my head: If you would fit in that group (i.e. young & a professional) then join. If you own a business invite them to use your facility for a monthly mingle (this would be most appropriate for a restaurant, bar, or some kind of entertainment center). If you work in a nonprofit, contact them about working with you to volunteer or raise money. If you own a business with young/professional employees, become a corporate member and/or suggest your employees join. If you own a business, offer discounts to members of YPW (this could go for rental properties, shopping, entertainment, professional services). I’m not in the leadership for this group so I can’t say whether they would be willing/able to follow through with these ideas, but it’s worth a try.
AFN, how about … if you are a corporate/government executive give them access to opportunities to provide professional services to your corporation/agency. I think that will have more impact than buying someone a drink.
That works too!
Questions I’d like to see them add:
If you moved to Wichita. If you knew then what you know now, would you still relocate here?
To young professionals: Are you seeking opportunities elsewhere? If so why? If not why not?
To students: Do you plan to remain here after graduation? Why or why not?
To Wichita kids going to school elsewhere: Do you plan to return to Wichita upon graduation? Why/why not?
Good supplemental questions, Ben, and I humbly suggest that the Visioneering folks consider asking such in the future.
Another comment. I think we try too hard to keep kids here going to WSU instead of elsewhere. I believe that if a kid goes to school elsewhere – KU, MIT, whatever – and RETURNS he brings a lot back that can benefit the community. The key is to give him a reason to return.
I took the survey and when it asked about someone taking a vacation to Wichita, my internal response was, “are you insane?’ I answered that I would tell them “pick another place to vacation”. Wichita is my hometown, but I don’t see it as a tourist attraction in any way.
Drama queens say
>Wichita sucks
>inhabited by close-minded
>abortion capital of the world
They want attention, instead of helping to fix what hurts this community. They want to do harm.
I didn’t choose to be born here, so its home. First of my California relocated family. I grew up with no relatives in this state.
Still none today, 40 years later ever came to live here. Half of my family left and haven’t returned either.
It’s possible to identify what we should have, because it doesn’t exist. That is a positive. Keeps our options open as a community for the future.
Our government can better represent th4 collective goals than in the past. Some very bad decisions kept small groups profitable at the expense of everyone else.
It’s amazing to see some parts of Wichita has grown from no streets, to two lanes, then four lanes with turns.
Neighborhoods from nothing to full of homes.
We lack certain “city this size” amenities causing the depressing thoughts.
Some things have stayed the same bad way for 30 years and don’t seem to be getting better.
But they are, because some people have clearly identified parts of town that can be redeveloped.
It took time for that knowledge to be gained, but steps are being taken to make development happen fast as possible.
I say to outsiders,come to Wichita because it can be an affordable place.
But have patience because making Wichita a truly entertaining city is going to take 10 more years.
It takes that long because doubters exist among THOSE WHO CAN MAKE THE DECISIONS, in other words RED TAPE is thick here.
Politicians have been infected by the NO bug from some constituents and it harms the community.Legislators who caught that NO bug recently were thrown out of office.
Real change only seems to happen at election cycles and that is too slow.
Anyone who over identifies with crimes happening here, see it the wrong way.
I see more reasons to not carry a gun. I will protect my home, have no doubt. But I don’t fear my neighbors and I’m not afraid of any neighborhood to be in. Crimes happen anywhere, all the time and some day I could be in the wrong place.
But that can happen anywhere no matter where I travel.
I’m pro-choice too. Abortion at the earliest time is preferable and it should stay a legal choice nationwide. Reasons exists why some aren’t ready to have a child and there can be medical reasons.
My thing is not to create a child that could be aborted. I wish other guys had those same thoughts.
Don’t come to Wichita, just to get an abortion! Abortion protesters don’t come here to protest and block my traffic. Your likely to get run over.
Having fun somewhere else is always the idea of people who like to travel or experience different things. I don’t see making Wichita into a mini Las Vegas or future Disney World as there are already places like that.
Young people thinking about moving somewhere else after they graduate high school or college I think is more natural than we think. First thing on my mind after college was to go conquer and explore the world.
What makes me proud of Wichita are the many fine projects going on to improve quality of life. The various River projects, Park City Amusement Park, Art District upgrades and etc. For sure, there is more we can do and we should.
Just look at todays Mayor’s race; both people of color and not one peep about how that influences their politics. That makes me very proud of Wichita where people are judged on the content of their character and works and not their ethnicity.
Dear Rev. WhackO,
As far as Wichita goes……it is what you make it.
Four walls,two windows.
Prison or castle?Only you can decide.
Yes, I have taken the survey and on most of the questions, I drew a blank.I could not add to it or subtract to it, it was all a blank.I have lived here my entire life, bound by obligations or the lack of funding, thanks to working for someone else’s manufacturing ideologies of running a business.The only thing that I could comment on was how developments are concentrated in certain areas of the city and not widely distributed in other districts, the poorer districts can certainly need improvements, lack of improvements in these areas is a true reflection of a city concerns and treatments of its people, also I have notice that in all areas of Wichita, I can see empty buildings.This is a concern to me because it tells me that there is something that is going on with our economy that is really hidden and not quite out in the open to see.Kind of hard to make improvements on or make suggestion for something that is not there.In making a comparison to other places, I am not blessed enough to be able to do that, so it is moot for me to try, but the best that I can do is think what is reasonable for my community as a whole.
Depending on the area you choose to compare to, the low cost of housing many times is nothing but a myth. When I moved back to the Wichita area from Nevada, I was able to buy a house for 40% less than the one I sold but the substantially higher property taxes resulted in an increase in my monthly mortgage payment. I ended up with a cheaper house that costs more money.
Some additioanl comments – things that effected my answers and my comments above. There are 168 hours in a week. Figure awake 112 hours per week. If I am at work 50 hours/week then that represents 45% of my waking hours. Since at least part of the remaining 55% is ‘generic’ (watchint TV, eating, etc) then my work life represents over half of my ‘variable’ waking time. So, professional development would seem to be the biggest single factor effecting ones quality of life.
Add to that the fact that a person will likely travel away from home anyway on vacations (visit relatives etc) then job/career/profession becomes the biggest thing that is either good or bad about Wichita. So, in order to improve Wichita, improve professional life.
We have to continue improving recreational life for all ages.
Story last night, very old people 80’s and 90’s sledding on tubes down a small snowy hill.
Never too old…
Physical effort, walking, jogging, sprinting, riding a bike, those are things if we have time, must do. The community must support recreation at schools and in parks. Are play fields constructed well enough for all ages.
I think we have enough golf courses, but still one or two could be built in the future.
Then night life, what is there to do and experience. More than enough restaurants. Malls keep sprouting.
We don’t use the river enough, just to walk down length of it on the sidewalk.
We need college football at WSU. We need more community centers in neighborhoods that don’t have them. Gym, workout area, some fields or courts to organize a neighborhood game. We need a functioning baseball stadium by the river.
Fix Lawrence-Dumont in every way, have more community recreational softball or baseball events on that field.
As many YMCA’s being built is okay but they can’t be everywhere or affordable to some families.
I hope we never have “wards”. Little neighborhood governments are huge problem in other cities.
Just keep Wichita together as a one city idea.
“KFG, JR:
“You’re free to leave. Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out. Just don’t send the left-coast wacko’s here in your place, thanks.”Posted by: GMC70 | February 27, 2007 at 09:47 AM
Anybody else remember the GMC we used to know. The one who was above it all. I had him pictued as the prosecutor from the planet Vulcan – no emotion expressed while putting criminals away.
I guess he could still be a Vulcan, but this must be the 7th year when he “gets lucky” – and he is on edge about it.
“Main street in downtown needs to be reverted back to one way south”
I’ll second that!!
“Physical effort, walking, jogging, sprinting, riding a bike, those are things if we have time, must do.”
I was trying to find a map of jogging trails in the city, but found very little. We live in an area where there are no sidewalks, and the streets are narrow. Unless we want to dodge speeding cars or twist an ankle in a neighbor’s yard, walking just isn’t happening. That’s something I miss about not living outside of the city. If it means having to drive somewhere to walk, I’ll do it.
Any suggestions where the best walking areas/paths are?
Mgmt,I enjoy walking Sedgwick County Park on the west side or Chisholm Creek Park on the east side. Both have decent access and are close to I235 and k96 respectively.
The best walking paths are in the new developments.
Wichita seems to have this thing about parks–it hates them.
Hell, they tried to put a school in one of the parks not too long ago.
Rails-to-trails, stalled by the usual trogdelytes that hope that extra twenty feet of former railway will translate into unearned income for them.
Why do something that will benefit the entire city when you can do something that a few greedy bastards think will benefit them, even though it won’t.
BTW, I basically like Wichita okay.
The unfettered growth and hollowing out of the center are insane. The tax give aways to business at the expense of the property owners, ditto. The crony capitalism exemplified by property valuations for arena, ditto ditto.
But overall, people are friendly, housing is cheap, the economy is decent, and it could be worse . . . it could be Oklahoma.
Ben, I like your 3:05 pm comment but that should include anybody, not just professionals.A good improvement to Wichita would also be better transportation avenues such as a train station.
Also, I like the way all the religious wack jobs and conservative clowns have self-segregated to the western part of town.
It leaves a calm oasis of reason in thriving East Wichita where I live.
On the other hand – isn’t the rails to trails very costly (1 million per mile) and will serve an even smaller community than golfers and tennis players? As I understand it the RTT would cross several major arteries requiring costly tunnels or bridges.
ken – I don’t think it is anywhere near that expensive. And street crossongs are lights, not bridges/tunnels.
CapnAmerica, the west side is absolutely stock full of very nice people — like ME, no religious whack job or conservative clown — although I can be a clown, never a very conservative one (well, except financially).
Julie has it absolutely right about the places to walk. Sedgwick County Park is great and you meet the nicest people also walking or skating, biking, playing. It’s one of my favorite places to take my dog.
I don’t live in Wichita. I grew up there (East HS, 1977). This is what I think about Wichita:THE GOOD1. Cheap living. You can still buy a decent house in Wichita for $100,000 that cost 3 to 5 times that much elsewhere.2. Easy commute. 30 minutes tops for anywhere to anywhere at anytime. In many places including where I live now (Atlanta), you are lucky if you can get out of your sub division in 30 minutes.3. Fairly safe streets. Wichita is not immune from crime but except for a very small area in NE Wichita, there is no place I would not venture into after dark. And if you leave items visible in your car downtown, chances are they will still be there when you return to it.4. Good public schools. If you live in Wichita proper you do not have to fork out $$$ to send your kids to private schools. In most cities, you either live in the suburbs (we do) or you send your kids to private schools.THE BAD1. Jobs, jobs, jobs. That is why I don’t live there anymore. Unless you want to spend your life working in a blue collar factory job, your prospects are rather limited. High tech is almost unheard of.2. Culture. If you want culture, plan to drive to Kansas City. Same goes for sports and most big concerts. Drove there many times as a teen to see concerts that didn’t stop in Wichita. Most of Wichita used to literally die at 5PM although Old Town has improved the scene a bit since I left. All you could do in the 70s was hang around Sandy’s (Hardees) on Douglas at night or play pinball at the Fairland Cafe.3. The weather. Nuff said and nobody can change that!
Okay, you’re the exception that proves the rule, Linda.
capn – I live out west too …
Would someone please explain the rails to trails thing?
Or provide a link if there is one?
(Thank you, Julie! ~~TM *grin*)
I would suggest that a cookie cutter white christian family with 2.5 children would be happy living in the burbs.The downtown is lacking. We need to promote more and more downtown lifestyle.My advice:If you are gay. Come out.If you are white and christian, please move to North Carolina and leave us the hell alone.It would be really cool if this city would become the liberal enclace of this state. Lawrence should not stand alone as a great liberal lifestyle place to live.Conservatism is so misguided.
RD – basically the idea is to maintain the rail right-of-way as a trail if the tracks are abandoned. There is also a “rail-banking” aspect to this – if the rail line needs to be re-established it is still there.
Thanks, Ben. Now I remember the discussion on that some time ago.
I have to admit when I moved here 19 years ago, I called it an “exile”. After growing up in Manhattan, where intelligent people discussed their differences over a cup of coffee at the Chef Cafe, the illogical emotionalism of this place really got to me at first.Then, about 2000, I got it–there are a lot of people who want to put a shoulder to the wheel and make this community a better place…but if you’re not a card-carrying member of the GOBN, forget it.If we can get all this frustration bottled up and aimed in the right direction…get rid of the Gang of Four on the 13th Floor, and elect a majority on the City Council who want to represent the people (what a concept!), this city could be as progressive as Albuquerque or Lawrence.But looking at tonight’s election results, it appears we’re about to take a tumble in the wrong direction :(
Jim: I also think Lawrence is one of the greatest towns in America. Downtown Lawrence is a walker’s paradise. Lots of restaurants in which to while away an evening. Having attended graduate school there and later spending a lot of time there, I know the town very well.
I had hoped we could give downtown Wichita some of the pizzaz of Lawrence.
But in my opinion, the super expensive downtown arena will eliminate that goal.
And I believe it could have been done in a way that encourages the moderate political feelings of a majority of Wichitans.
Wasn’t Lawrence considered the the second meanest city to it’s homeless population in America?
I have nothing against Lawrence. It’s ok, but there are many places much better than it.
Albuquerque is pretty filthy, crime ridden and has no downtown to speak of, but it is a lot better than it was back in the 80’s. Sante Fe is a lot better IMHO.
Mr. Controversy — I enjoyed you and James Barfield’s commentary on the election results this evening on your TV Channel 5 talk show. I’m not sure what these election results predict for Wichita. Guess we won’t know until the general election.
But I do agree with one thing you or Mr. Barfield said — between now and the general election, all candidates should buy into the message that WICHITA’S CITY HALL MUST BE OPENED UP TO THE CITIZENS AND NOT SERVE AS A FORTRESS FROM THE CITIZENS.
I found Albuquerque to have a great Pueble, many fine restaurants, and a great major University. I first visited there back in the 70s when I presented a paper at a meeting at UNM. Have been back many times; always have a great time.
JWink – MrC has a great insight into Wichita politics. He is especially aware of the GOBN situation. I agree with you and him – Brewer in particular needs to buy into that message.
This election is Brewer’s to lose.
Since we don’t have a thread on the election tonight, I’ll have to post this here.I think a lot of people who voted for Brewer today were deluded into thinking he was the candidate for change…when the hard, cold truth is, he is the biggest defender of the GOBN running.I fear we’ve taken a step backward tonight.
RJ – a question. Over on the Sunflower thread I speculated that if the neighborhood up at 10th/Volutsia gets screwed it could blow up in Brewer’s face. My reasoning, that is a big piece of his constituency. He needs those votes.
Remember, Al Gore lost because he failed to hold his flank – Nader’s 3% sank him. What happens if a big chunk of that constituensy stays home?
If Mayor Mayans is right…that most of his supporters stayed home thinking this was going to be a breeze, then, yes.Otherwise, I’m not sure. The Old Guard in the African-American community seems to be strongly behind Brewer, and they’re the ones who vote.On the other hand, if the community were strongly behind Brewer, he’d be State Senator Brewer today.
If Brewer was to win. What is the process in filling his council seat?
Applicants are interviewed by the council, then a vote is taken. City Attorney breaks a tie.Rumor has it, Brewer already has a replacement selected; the scuttlebutt has Bonita Gooch, publisher of the Community Voice, taking the seat her father once held.
Ok!
Brewer and Mayans will make a very interesting race. Let’s just see if the rest of the voting public will think so too.
I’m suspecting that Mayans will slip through narrowly in the general.
Tobia will win the 5th, and no contest for Gray and Schlapp may have a tough race against Beth King, but I suspect that Schlapp will win out.
Beth Bishop rather. Sorry! Was thinking of somebody else when I said that.
LOL
Cindy Duckett got 0 votes!
0!
Sheesh didn’t she even vote for herself?
KAKE screwed up and put her in with the Position 3 candidates. She is actually running for Position 4.
Wichita: Corrupt legal system. Place where you go to kill your baby, or protect your child’s rapist. Hateful newspaper.
Gentle,In the immortal words of Meat Loaf, “Two out of three ain’t bad”.
Man, even Dorothy and Toto left the place! Why would anyone else want to live here?
On the serious side, though, there are a lot of good things about Wichita. I prefer Springfield, Mo. but the job and the money is here, at least for me. I like the balance that Springfield has struck to make it seem like the biggest “small town” I have ever lived in. I wish Wichita would quit trying to promote itself as a “metropolitan city” and focus more on the “small town” atmosphere that takes care of it’s people. We are large enough that the events and culture will take care of itself as long as people feel comfortable and happy, and have extra money to spend without feeling like the city is robbing them everytime they go downtown for an event.
I remember back when downtown Wichita was an exciting place to go. You had all kinds of businesses open- Macy’s, Kresque, Henry’s and some places to eat like the old Fairland Cafe. The place was also loaded with theaters like the Miller, Orpheum and later the Fox. People used to go there and things were happening until the malls were built and all the action moved there. But at least the malls are in Wichita and not some far flung suburb like Mulvane which is the case in most other cities.
As far as Kansas goes, I would agree that Lawrence is probably one of the best places to live. It is really a great town and close enough to Kansas City for anything you can’t get there. But it is also expensive- much more so than WIchita is.
I saw some comment above about how good the Public schools are in Wichita. Please get informed.The graduation rate for 4 year seniors in USD259 is less than 60%. Is that considered a good school system?
RR. Many parts of Wichita are also in the Andover, Derby, Maize, Goodard and even the Haysville school district.
I really like some things about the area, it’s really easy to get away from people around here. You’re 15 minutes away from the middle of nowhere.
The number one problem with living in this area is that the local taxes are completely out of proportion to the amenities and services the government provides.
Some of the things I like about Wichita, I was born there and it is nice to see Wichita trying to expand. Contrary to some, I think the Arena is a good idea, but parking certainly needs to be addressed.
I think Exploration Place would be better if it attracts more travelling exhibits, and as a result could attract some tourism dollars, but it needs to attract more than just one big name, get something like Body Works also.
However, currently I do not live in Wichita, but could relocate there again, and part of my reason for wanting to is family. However, a reason against I wouldn’t relocate is a perceived lack of technology related jobs and accommodations(such as city wide wireless internet, though this is new so I wouldn’t expect it right now). Since my goal is to start my own videogame company, I’m not exactly certain Wichita would have the resources available to meet my needs, so I may not relocate.
I do think Wichita needs more trails and bike paths need to be updated badly. I don’t see why Wichita doesn’t do that. It isn’t going to cause any more crime than a street already would. So, yeah.
My two cents.
I think the Wichita schools are among the best for a city system. I learned in them and I was not exactly a “willing student”. In fact I was really unwilling. As for the drop out rate, that is not an important measurement of a school districts performance to me. What is important is how prepared the graduates are to go to college, the military or find employment and the Wichita schools do seem to put out a decent quality of graduates.
If you are looking for wireless metro enet in Wichita, you will probably be looking a long time. Wichita has always been “technically retarded”. It took them 10 years after everybody else to get a basic cable TV system. It was not until after I left that they even got a UHF TV station- technology that had been in other cities since the 1960s! They didn’t even have a good rock and roll FM station there until I was 18!
You know , you are not for the best of Wichita if you live some where else.
“If Brewer was to win. What is the process in filling his council seat?”
“Applicants are interviewed by the council, then a vote is taken. City Attorney breaks a tie.Rumor has it, Brewer already has a replacement selected; the scuttlebutt has Bonita Gooch, publisher of the Community Voice, taking the seat her father once held.”
Also look for LaVonta Williams, James Arbertha, Treatha Foster-Brown to be in the mix.