Comments on: Two chambers of two minds on tourism

By: Nano

Nano — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 17:02:25 +0000

Now that they took the giant rat down that used to stand beside I-70 out in Western Kansas, there’s no reason to even slow down. (sarcasm)
Kansas has some beautiful country along I-70 and US 400 out east. We need to develop it and promote it.
Promoting Kansas shouldn’t start with the Phelps name or mention of the state BOE. It would be great if we could project a positive image. I hear Kansans say they don’t care what everybody else thinks of us. That runs counter to self-promotion.

By: ksagnostic

ksagnostic — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 16:30:07 +0000

Many states have tried to shift their tax burden to visitors, with some success. The source of that success was tourism. Now, Kansas is never, ever going to have the kind of tourism that even states like Missouri and Colorado (or for that matter Oklahoma) have. But, Kansas does have natural resources and some real spots of beauty (and natural beauty is the hook that gets visitors to visit, or more likely in the the case of Kansas, linger in, a state). But, everyone from the Kansas State Farm Bureau to the legislature to the Governor’s office to the (truly extreme) state chamber of commerce don’t have a clue. Ksfarmgrrl has touched on how the water resources, including lakes, have been mismanaged. This is definitely true of state parks. However, it hasn’t necessarily been the management (we’ve had some very good people in natural resources and Wildlife and Parks, but they can only do so much when their departments are neglected) but the state government has rarely made conserving or utilizing natural resources a priority. In fact, they don’t even seem to know how. So, you get absolutely clueless crap like “Kansas, as Big as you Think” (there was actually a good slogan that was rejected in favor of this pathetic piece of pablum), state parks that have little to now funding for maintenance, much less upgrading, etc..

By: ksfarmgrrl

ksfarmgrrl — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 14:58:00 +0000

Kansas… as wingnutty as you think…

By: Ken

Ken — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:44:45 +0000

Add another state agency? Thought the republicans running the state were against growing the bureaucracy ….