WICHITA FLAG 'City Pride'

[rjl]

I'm personally no huge fan of Wichita, but it has nothing to do with skinny jean wearers driving up RE values via family money, all while drinking a $10 beer with their pinky finger extended (which isn't so much a thing here).

Wichita is a better town now than it was when I moved away nearly 10 years ago. I still come back about once every 3 months--more often during basketball season--and I like a lot of the things I've seen. I love the Wichita flag that I see all over the place. Civic pride is awesome, and it's a neat, progressive thing that's going on.

But let's not pretend that home prices go up because of people with daddy's money and a bit of culture want to buy an old house.

My wife and I bought our house in the Brookside area of Kansas City (south of the Plaza) 5 years ago this month. About 15 years ago, downtown Kansas City was like downtown St. Louis--totally dead on the weekends, and a general ****-hole otherwise. Then, the City dumped a bunch of public money down there and built the Sprint Center and Power and Light. Since then, the Crossroads has bloomed, midtown is hopping, and gentrification, for better or worse, is spreading east past Troost. Just across the river from downtown into Kansas, Strawberry Hill, an area with historically very low real estate values, is seeing its values rise as artists and similar people of low income move in.

Here in Brookside, when my neighbors' houses go on the market, they seldom last a day. Bidding wars break out. It's so bad that if your bank requires a home inspection before they'll approve a loan, tough ****; the next guy's doesn't. My wife and I could sell our house now for over 75% more than we paid for it just 5 years ago.

What's driving all this? There are greater than 100,000 more people living in the KC area now than there were in 2010. Companies like Cerner, DST, Sprint, and Garmin are hiring a ton of young professionals and paying them well. With them, they're bringing a ton of culture that's attracting a bunch of more people to the area. There's a progressive attitude that's contagious.

I still love Wichita. But would I move back? Only maybe. I work with a lot of people who lived in Wichita for a bit after school, then moved to Kansas City. I ask them if they would ever move back, and they say, why they liked it okay, they wouldn't. When I ask why not, they say there's enough stuff to do, but the people drove them away more than anything.

A lot of posters in this thread and elsewhere on this site really pump Intrust Arena. I agree and think it's great. But search this very site and read posts from back in 2005 or 2006, and you'll see how many people were against building any public arena. While cities like KC, Tulsa, OKC, Omaha, and others had built nice public arenas, you had a TON of people in Wichita who were against doing anything of the sort.

Meanwhile, pretend your job was moving you to KC. Close your eyes and think about all the places or areas in KC you'd look forward to going to, and I'm betting that 80% of them were paid for at least in some way with public funds.

[Veritas]

Wichita is a better town now than it was when I moved away nearly 10 years ago. I still come back about once every 3 months--more often during basketball season--and I like a lot of the things I've seen. I love the Wichita flag that I see all over the place. Civic pride is awesome, and it's a neat, progressive thing that's going on.

But let's not pretend that home prices go up because of people with daddy's money and a bit of culture want to buy an old house.

My wife and I bought our house in the Brookside area of Kansas City (south of the Plaza) 5 years ago this month. About 15 years ago, downtown Kansas City was like downtown St. Louis--totally dead on the weekends, and a general ****-hole otherwise. Then, the City dumped a bunch of public money down there and built the Sprint Center and Power and Light. Since then, the Crossroads has bloomed, midtown is hopping, and gentrification, for better or worse, is spreading east past Troost. Just across the river from downtown into Kansas, Strawberry Hill, an area with historically very low real estate values, is seeing its values rise as artists and similar people of low income move in.

Here in Brookside, when my neighbors' houses go on the market, they seldom last a day. Bidding wars break out. It's so bad that if your bank requires a home inspection before they'll approve a loan, tough ****; the next guy's doesn't. My wife and I could sell our house now for over 75% more than we paid for it just 5 years ago.

What's driving all this? There are greater than 100,000 more people living in the KC area now than there were in 2010. Companies like Cerner, DST, Sprint, and Garmin are hiring a ton of young professionals and paying them well. With them, they're bringing a ton of culture that's attracting a bunch of more people to the area. There's a progressive attitude that's contagious.

I still love Wichita. But would I move back? Only maybe. I work with a lot of people who lived in Wichita for a bit after school, then moved to Kansas City. I ask them if they would ever move back, and they say, why they liked it okay, they wouldn't. When I ask why not, they say there's enough stuff to do, but the people drove them away more than anything.

A lot of posters in this thread and elsewhere on this site really pump Intrust Arena. I agree and think it's great. But search this very site and read posts from back in 2005 or 2006, and you'll see how many people were against building any public arena. While cities like KC, Tulsa, OKC, Omaha, and others had built nice public arenas, you had a TON of people in Wichita who were against doing anything of the sort.

Meanwhile, pretend your job was moving you to KC. Close your eyes and think about all the places or areas in KC you'd look forward to going to, and I'm betting that 80% of them were paid for at least in some way with public funds.

Difficult to compare KC metro with Wichita. Different size metro areas. Frankly speaking I'd rather live in Columbus Ohio than KC, or Denver, Charlotte, Phoenix (though those metro areas have far outpaced KC's growth in the past 20 years.) Airport is too far out there and underserved and outdated, Sport Complex is too far north. The arena is downtown, but for a "major league" city, it is not used for a major league team. So where exactly do you look forward to going to in KC when you close your eyes? Seriously... what excites you about KC?

[wufan]

Wichita is a better town now than it was when I moved away nearly 10 years ago. I still come back about once every 3 months--more often during basketball season--and I like a lot of the things I've seen. I love the Wichita flag that I see all over the place. Civic pride is awesome, and it's a neat, progressive thing that's going on.

But let's not pretend that home prices go up because of people with daddy's money and a bit of culture want to buy an old house.

My wife and I bought our house in the Brookside area of Kansas City (south of the Plaza) 5 years ago this month. About 15 years ago, downtown Kansas City was like downtown St. Louis--totally dead on the weekends, and a general ****-hole otherwise. Then, the City dumped a bunch of public money down there and built the Sprint Center and Power and Light. Since then, the Crossroads has bloomed, midtown is hopping, and gentrification, for better or worse, is spreading east past Troost. Just across the river from downtown into Kansas, Strawberry Hill, an area with historically very low real estate values, is seeing its values rise as artists and similar people of low income move in.

Here in Brookside, when my neighbors' houses go on the market, they seldom last a day. Bidding wars break out. It's so bad that if your bank requires a home inspection before they'll approve a loan, tough ****; the next guy's doesn't. My wife and I could sell our house now for over 75% more than we paid for it just 5 years ago.

What's driving all this? There are greater than 100,000 more people living in the KC area now than there were in 2010. Companies like Cerner, DST, Sprint, and Garmin are hiring a ton of young professionals and paying them well. With them, they're bringing a ton of culture that's attracting a bunch of more people to the area. There's a progressive attitude that's contagious.

I still love Wichita. But would I move back? Only maybe. I work with a lot of people who lived in Wichita for a bit after school, then moved to Kansas City. I ask them if they would ever move back, and they say, why they liked it okay, they wouldn't. When I ask why not, they say there's enough stuff to do, but the people drove them away more than anything.

A lot of posters in this thread and elsewhere on this site really pump Intrust Arena. I agree and think it's great. But search this very site and read posts from back in 2005 or 2006, and you'll see how many people were against building any public arena. While cities like KC, Tulsa, OKC, Omaha, and others had built nice public arenas, you had a TON of people in Wichita who were against doing anything of the sort.

Meanwhile, pretend your job was moving you to KC. Close your eyes and think about all the places or areas in KC you'd look forward to going to, and I'm betting that 80% of them were paid for at least in some way with public funds.

Not that anything you said was untrue, but the problem with this argument is the size of the city. People raised in KC and St Louis want to move to Chicago. Bigger cities are bigger, and they offer all the things that smaller cities do not.

[another shocker]

'looks like mini-shock got the boot.

[Shocker-maniac]

Wichita is a better town now than it was when I moved away nearly 10 years ago. I still come back about once every 3 months--more often during basketball season--and I like a lot of the things I've seen. I love the Wichita flag that I see all over the place. Civic pride is awesome, and it's a neat, progressive thing that's going on.

But let's not pretend that home prices go up because of people with daddy's money and a bit of culture want to buy an old house.

My wife and I bought our house in the Brookside area of Kansas City (south of the Plaza) 5 years ago this month. About 15 years ago, downtown Kansas City was like downtown St. Louis--totally dead on the weekends, and a general ****-hole otherwise. Then, the City dumped a bunch of public money down there and built the Sprint Center and Power and Light. Since then, the Crossroads has bloomed, midtown is hopping, and gentrification, for better or worse, is spreading east past Troost. Just across the river from downtown into Kansas, Strawberry Hill, an area with historically very low real estate values, is seeing its values rise as artists and similar people of low income move in.

Here in Brookside, when my neighbors' houses go on the market, they seldom last a day. Bidding wars break out. It's so bad that if your bank requires a home inspection before they'll approve a loan, tough ****; the next guy's doesn't. My wife and I could sell our house now for over 75% more than we paid for it just 5 years ago.

What's driving all this? There are greater than 100,000 more people living in the KC area now than there were in 2010. Companies like Cerner, DST, Sprint, and Garmin are hiring a ton of young professionals and paying them well. With them, they're bringing a ton of culture that's attracting a bunch of more people to the area. There's a progressive attitude that's contagious.

I still love Wichita. But would I move back? Only maybe. I work with a lot of people who lived in Wichita for a bit after school, then moved to Kansas City. I ask them if they would ever move back, and they say, why they liked it okay, they wouldn't. When I ask why not, they say there's enough stuff to do, but the people drove them away more than anything.

A lot of posters in this thread and elsewhere on this site really pump Intrust Arena. I agree and think it's great. But search this very site and read posts from back in 2005 or 2006, and you'll see how many people were against building any public arena. While cities like KC, Tulsa, OKC, Omaha, and others had built nice public arenas, you had a TON of people in Wichita who were against doing anything of the sort.

Meanwhile, pretend your job was moving you to KC. Close your eyes and think about all the places or areas in KC you'd look forward to going to, and I'm betting that 80% of them were paid for at least in some way with public funds.

KC is ok, but there are a hell of a lot of other places that I would rather live than KC. Dallas, Nashville, Portland, Denver, Charlotte, Austin . . . Just to name a few.

[Wuchalk]

I used to like KC, but then our daughter moved to Chicago, which has better museums, shopping, world-class restaurants of every kind, and great theater. Not to mention an impressive skyline and a beautiful setting on Lake Michigan.Granted, the weather there can be worse than ours (and that's saying something), and everything costs more. But I see lots fewer Jayhawks than I see in KC!

[vbird53]

My wife and I bought our house in the Brookside area of Kansas City (south of the Plaza) 5 years ago this month. About 15 years ago, downtown Kansas City was like downtown St. Louis--totally dead on the weekends, and a general ****-hole otherwise. Then, the City dumped a bunch of public money down there and built the Sprint Center and Power and Light. Since then, the Crossroads has bloomed, midtown is hopping, and gentrification, for better or worse, is spreading east past Troost. Just across the river from downtown into Kansas, Strawberry Hill, an area with historically very low real estate values, is seeing its values rise as artists and similar people of low income move in.

Here in Brookside, when my neighbors' houses go on the market, they seldom last a day. Bidding wars break out. It's so bad that if your bank requires a home inspection before they'll approve a loan, tough ****; the next guy's doesn't. My wife and I could sell our house now for over 75% more than we paid for it just 5 years ago.

Sounds like you're talking about College Hill in Wichita. We bought our house in 2009, made some minor improvements, and then sold it this past spring within 24 hours of listing. Bidding war upped the price over asking. The return on investment was best case scenario. I guess it's all relative, depending upon location, timing, beating others to market, etc. The real estate market in Wichita seems to be doing really well right now. Strong sellers market.

We lived south of Brookside in KC (Waldo) from 2005-2009, and loved the area. But I'll tell you the cost of living is even less expensive back in Wichita vs. KC than normally attributed.

Not saying I wouldn't consider another location down the road (back to KC or another larger city), but the pull would have to be an extremely strong offer.

[Rocky Mountain Shock]

It has been almost 10 years since I moved from Wichita to Denver, and I have never once regretted the move. The saying is true, Wichita is a great place to be from, and I speak with a lot of pride when I tell people here about my hometown. My obnoxiously visible WSU fandom usually results in a conversation about the city, and most people here know next to nothing about it and have the perception is that it is a dramatically smaller city than it actually is.

I do believe things are changing in Wichita, but for a generation or two the city was stale and stagnant because a vast majority of the population was against progress of any kind. My after college prospects were few, and the quality of life was noticeably lacking, because the city largely refused to invest in itself.

I come back to Wichita at least once a year, I regularly read the Eagle online, and I follow most of the major Wichita institutions and organizations on Facebook and Twitter. So I know there is momentum now, and I'm excited for the future of the city. But because of the mistakes of past generations and a severe lack of local political leadership, Wichita is miles behind its peer cities in the region. You have A LOT of catching up to do. Wichita can become a great city, but you will have to continue to shed the negativity, close mindedness, and short-sightedness that plagued you for so long. It's going to take decades, and a great deal of effort, but for the first time in my life I'm starting to believe you can do it.

[WstateU]

[Veritas]

It has been almost 10 years since I moved from Wichita to Denver, and I have never once regretted the move. The saying is true, Wichita is a great place to be from, and I speak with a lot of pride when I tell people here about my hometown. My obnoxiously visible WSU fandom usually results in a conversation about the city, and most people here know next to nothing about it and have the perception is that it is a dramatically smaller city than it actually is.

I do believe things are changing in Wichita, but for a generation or two the city was stale and stagnant because a vast majority of the population was against progress of any kind. My after college prospects were few, and the quality of life was noticeably lacking, because the city largely refused to invest in itself.

I come back to Wichita at least once a year, I regularly read the Eagle online, and I follow most of the major Wichita institutions and organizations on Facebook and Twitter. So I know there is momentum now, and I'm excited for the future of the city. But because of the mistakes of past generations and a severe lack of local political leadership, Wichita is miles behind its peer cities in the region. You have A LOT of catching up to do. Wichita can become a great city, but you will have to continue to shed the negativity, close mindedness, and short-sightedness that plagued you for so long. It's going to take decades, and a great deal of effort, but for the first time in my life I'm starting to believe you can do it.

I loved living in Denver and especially Colorado. Favorite state. Again though, definitely not apples to apples.
Omaha, Tulsa, Des Moines, Grand Rapids, Albuquerque I can understand.
Denver is at a different level. KC not at that level either.

[ShockTalk]

I loved living in Denver and especially Colorado. Favorite state. Again though, definitely not apples to apples.
Omaha, Tulsa, Des Moines, Grand Rapids, Albuquerque I can understand.
Denver is at a different level. KC not at that level either.

For those that live/lived in Denver, are you speaking of the Denver area proper or regionally? Been to Denver area many times, stayed in Denver, but mostly north of Denver. If I had a choice (that's important for several reasons), I'd choose Boulder, Ft. Collins, or Loveland over actually living in Denver.

[Eric]

I have lived in Wichita. Loved it. My personal list has three other places I would choose over Wichita. In no particular order, San Francisco, Astoria, Oregon, and Assisi Italy.

[SHOCKvalue]

I used to dream of moving to Denver too, then half of the west coast moved there, and brought their traffic, attitudes and real estate market with them. It's a bit ruined in some senses now, due to the mass of humanity it has become.

[WuShock16]

I used to dream of moving to Denver too, then half of the west coast moved there, and brought their traffic, attitudes and real estate market with them. It's a bit ruined in some senses now, due to the mass of humanity it has become.

That's basically what I feel, particularly for the cost of living part. With the difference in housing costs between Wichita and Denver, I could take the difference, make half a dozen trips out there each year, and get my sufficient fill of Denver...probably with plenty of money to spare.

[Rocky Mountain Shock]

For those that live/lived in Denver, are you speaking of the Denver area proper or regionally? Been to Denver area many times, stayed in Denver, but mostly north of Denver. If I had a choice (that's important for several reasons), I'd choose Boulder, Ft. Collins, or Loveland over actually living in Denver.

I live in the southwest part of the Denver metro in an unincorporated area called Roxborough. The City of Denver itself is such a small part of the Denver metro area and most people consider pretty much the entire Front Range area from Castle Rock to Longmont "Denver." Individual suburbs like Centennial, Lakewood, or Aurora feel more like neighborhoods than actual distinct cities. I think Ft. Collins is distinct enough, and separated enough from the urban sprawl, to be considered its own town in the minds of most people. So to answer your question, when most of us say Denver, we mean the entire Denver-Aurora-Boulder Combined Statistical Area.

Of course, like any other city, there are areas within the CSA that are more desirable than others. Just like Wichita--I have rather different opinions on living in Planeview vs College Hill.