We shall see if it succeeds.

I enjoy a good walk, no matter what the weather. But not everyone does, and that’s all I was pointing out. :)

We need a much better transit system in Wichita, arena or no arena. We need to build up the downtown area between WaterWalk and Old Town. But we’ve been spoiled by malls.

BTW, when did they stop lighting the Christmas tree on the river in Riverside? It was a tradition to drive the 25 miles into Wichita to see it and enjoy hot cocoa and carols.

JWink, you hate the arena, so its not likely your walking along Maple heading east. You have to meander through WaterWalk, an area you hate.

It’s too dangerous walking downtown? I plan to park near Century II right now, for most Arena events days or nights.

Do you think that area from Century II to the Arena site will be dangerous in the future? Don’t imagine the area will change what the City wants to do?

It’s possible to walk but are people willing. I am.

People who ride with me could be dropped off on the Arena site.

I also think this…if you have a motorized wheelchair, the only thing you really need is two parking stalls….to get the lift down. Be nice and park in the back and leave the real handicapped spots for those who can’t walk so good and DON”T have a motor.

My point is that if people have a pleasant walking environment they WILL walk – both recreationally and to get places. Here in Wichita it is fairly infrequent that temperatures are sub-freezing during the day. At the other temperature extreme if we have shade the heat is not that bad. Also, trees actually can reduce local temperatures significantly.

So, IF the city/county provide decent walking environments downtown they can help improve access.

I will also ’second’ kansas in regards to transit etc. However I probably differ on the need for underground – while that makes sense in Montreal our weather is mild enough for outside as long as we have some wind-breaks and shelter from rain.

While there I did see a few attempts at a getting a new arena go down in flames, so it’s interesting reading about it now. And I didn’t mean to promote any position on parking, I was just relating our experience here.

You know, the troll thing…

Do you know Max?

Here in Des Moines a lot of people park on the street for free and walk a few blocks to the arena.

The arena is also connected to our skywalk system so a lot of people come in that way, which makes walking a distance more tolerable.

There is a surface lot that’s nearby (no ramp), but even though it’s only $6, the reason we don’t like parking there is that it takes forever to get out after an event.

A very simple thing would be to contract with the Wichita bus system to run shuttle service to the place from remote parking lots in the winter. They could use Lawrence Stadium since it is not occupied in the winter. You park there, wait in your warm car and get on the shuttle to the arena and back after the show.

IS true in Chicago too. I lived in a highrise in Chicago for 12 years (Sheridan and Hollywood of you know the city) and rode the subway or express Lakeshore to work. I had a car but it only came out on the weekends. I could have lived without the car but when you are in your 20s and want a social life, dating on public transit just don’t cut it. Wichita will never be Chicago or Boston nor should it be. But it can be more like KC. People in KC have as much green space as Wichita does yet they have a better transit system and a better airport (before Airtran you had to drive to KCI to fly unless you wanted to pay $1000 each way). Wichita has always had an inferiority complex about it that is something like “we cannot possible compete so why bother”. And it still shows up. Frankly downtown Wichita should be getting the new casino and not Mulvane. There is no reason for Wichitans not to enjoy the same things other places have. KC has casinos all over the place and they have not “went to hell” because people can gamble there.

Chicago is so beautiful at Christmas time. The walk from the Water Tower to the Wrigley Building is one of the best miles you can walk during the holidays- cold or not. Downtown Wichita used to look nice during the holidays when there were stores there like Henry’s, Macy’s and others. Wichita needs lots of work on the downtown. I am however impressed with what they have done. It is a far cry from the bad old days when Old Town was empty warehouses and the out of luck winos populated the area around Hotel Eaton. That and the drunks laying on the sidewalk outside of Okies Bar on Douglas. All that is gone now and the area looks alot better. Same with the Riverfront which is no longer occupied by the dirty factory warehouses of Southwest Grease and Oil. The arena is going to do even greater things and hopefully retail and residential will follow.

I think if the show/game/whatever is worth it, the price doesn’t really matter.

Then again, they live in Liberal and go to Arrowhead maybe once every 10 years or so.

I also saw many people walking outside in BOSTON when I lived there. Again, the difference was a combination of culture and pleasant walking environment.

Just in time for ALL those extra people parking to attend ?(something)? in the new albatross. Guess it could have been all part of the plan to increase city revenues. If our city leaders seemed more capable of planning I might believe this was true.

http://kansas.com/news/story/231153.html