tried kansas

[leighland]

I feel a lot safer in Wichita than I do in Philly. Taxes are out of this world in Philly. Wichita is not a good option if your idea of a nice city is Hays. But for a small-mid sized city its ok. Wichita does tend to have more gangbangers proportionally speaking for its size, which is weird, but I assume drugs run up I-35

[briansgi]

Originally Posted by leighland

I feel a lot safer in Wichita than I do in Philly. Taxes are out of this world in Philly. Wichita is not a good option if your idea of a nice city is Hays. But for a small-mid sized city its ok. Wichita does tend to have more gangbangers proportionally speaking for its size, which is weird, but I assume drugs run up I-35

Yep, corridor F:

Drug Transportation Corridors - National Drug Threat Assessment 2006

[TedH71]

Hiss,

I've lived in Austin for close to 20 years before I moved here. The main reason the cost of living is very high in Austin was because Michael Dell built his manufacturing plants there and then people started moving in and willing to pay anything to get a place to rent. Landlords got greedy and started jacking up rent. Used to be 20 years ago you could buy a really decent house for $50k..not so today. Average starting price is $160k and up! Traffic is very bad there. What would take you 15 minutes at night takes 1-2 hours..maybe more since I've moved away from Austin two years ago. Best decision I've ever made. I had to have roommates the last 10 years due to high cost of living plus the governmental jobs pay diddly squat. The pay has not gone up for a long time so lots of people who work for the government qualify for food stamps.

There are some good things about Austin though. There is no such thing as a gang presence unless you live in East Austin but even that is being bought out by yuppies and fixed up...driving out the bangers. They've mostly moved to San Antonio. There are tons of outdoor activities to do.

Torn2Pieces,

As for Wichita, I moved here two years ago. Granted there are some things that this town needs to work on. For one thing, it was very hard for me to get a job because my jobs were mostly contract and temp jobs in Austin (Austin economy runs on lots of contract jobs/temp jobs) and the people who were in charge of hiring looked down upon that kind of thing. They were looking for people who have worked 2-10 years at a job. They ARE behind the times in many ways and do not realize or accept that things are different elsewhere. One thing though, that I liked, was that I would get a letter or email saying I was not selected. You do not get that kind of service in Austin. Incredibly low cost of living. You can afford to get your house in a good area for $300-500 a month. Not kidding. You can also buy fixer uppers and then fix them/sell or rent them out. Austin...minimum rent is $1000 (that was two years ago..was told recently by my sister who still lives there that it has gone up to $1,200-1,500 per mo) per month.

As for Wichita crimes, I feel safe here. I have dogs. I have kids. Only thing that surprised me about Wichita is that we have a large gang banger population. I think it is due to the fact that many employers do not want to hire immigrants (legal or not) or people of color (hate to say this but it's what I've seen) in certain fields. Funny thing is..mainstay of Wichita economy is aircraft manufacturing...I have friends who work in those fields and most people they hire are people of color or immigrants (always legal).. because 50 percent of the white people they interview and then do drug tests on them fail. I'm Anglo and attending school to go to work for those aircraft manufacturing. I know they will hire deaf people (I'm deaf) because I do have deaf friends working for them. Lots of people in Wichita say one thing then do the opposite. They do not want to hire handicapped people.

[athfo]

Originally Posted by TedH71

As for Wichita, I moved here two years ago. Granted there are some things that this town needs to work on. For one thing, it was very hard for me to get a job because my jobs were mostly contract and temp jobs in Austin (Austin economy runs on lots of contract jobs/temp jobs) and the people who were in charge of hiring looked down upon that kind of thing. They were looking for people who have worked 2-10 years at a job. They ARE behind the times in many ways and do not realize or accept that things are different elsewhere. One thing though, that I liked, was that I would get a letter or email saying I was not selected. You do not get that kind of service in Austin. Incredibly low cost of living. You can afford to get your house in a good area for $300-500 a month. Not kidding. You can also buy fixer uppers and then fix them/sell or rent them out. Austin...minimum rent is $1000 (that was two years ago..was told recently by my sister who still lives there that it has gone up to $1,200-1,500 per mo) per month.

As for Wichita crimes, I feel safe here. I have dogs. I have kids. Only thing that surprised me about Wichita is that we have a large gang banger population. I think it is due to the fact that many employers do not want to hire immigrants (legal or not) or people of color (hate to say this but it's what I've seen) in certain fields. Funny thing is..mainstay of Wichita economy is aircraft manufacturing...I have friends who work in those fields and most people they hire are people of color or immigrants (always legal).. because 50 percent of the white people they interview and then do drug tests on them fail. I'm Anglo and attending school to go to work for those aircraft manufacturing. I know they will hire deaf people (I'm deaf) because I do have deaf friends working for them. Lots of people in Wichita say one thing then do the opposite. They do not want to hire handicapped people.

You seem to throw a lot of "facts" around without backing them up.

[TedH71]

Originally Posted by athfo

You seem to throw a lot of "facts" around without backing them up.

Meaning what? What I said is fact. I was actually told this upfront by several different human resource people who work for different companies that my temp/contract jobs were a big negative about me because it made them think I wouldn't want to work for long for them. Not true. You wouldn't get that kind of feed back in Austin. Too many people competing for the same jobs.

As for housing, it's true. You can get online and check out both median housing prices in both cities and Wichita is gonna win hands down. You CANNOT find a decent house for less than $1k a month (to own not rent) in Austin. Here you can for $300-500. My fiancee's house is $500 a month including taxes and insurance. I lived in Austin for 20 years and 2 years here so I feel I'm more than qualified to speak on that subject.

As for hiring immigrants and such that I mentioned...again it's true. My friend WHO works there has told me that and he has a girlfriend who works in the human resources office at a certain aircraft manufacturer who could tell you stories. I also went to an aircraft manufacturer hiring job fair. Was told quite a few times that they check your work history quite closely and WILL drug test because they have had lots of people fail the drug test or fudge their work histories..and those people tended to be Anglo for some reason.

As it is, I'm back in school..in 1 year, I will be working for either an aircraft manufacturing company OR a company that supplies stuff to those aircraft manufacturing companies at a good starting salary between $15-18 an hour. The school that I am attending...all of their students have gotten jobs working in that industry at those wages.

[Jim West]

Living in Wichita is hardly representative of "Living in Kansas". Wichita is is a melting pot of minorities and the attitudes and problems that they bring with them. Kansas is over 82,000 square miles and Wichita is only 140 square miles of that.

The rest of the people of this state do not care much for it either. Sedgwick county is a net tax user.

Look at the rest of the state before you brand it on account of Wichita.

[TedH71]

What's a net tax user?

As for me, I've been to KC, Council Grove, Goodland, Liberal, and quite a lot of small towns. Personally I like Council Grove due to the Flint Hills. I've long been interested in renovating an old limestone house or log cabin in the Flint Hills and have seen quite a few families still using those! I already took 6 months worth of carpentry but the college that I attend has decided to quit offering carpentry along with two other majors so I'm having to change majors to cnc machining.

[prairiski]

I have lived all over. An Aerospace Brat. Spawn of Rocket Man & Mom. Born & raised back East from Massachusetts to Florida 'til '69, than we moved to Kansas. Lived and worked on the West Coast once with a return to the Air Capital. Now back in L.A. (Ventura County) again. All I can say is that living in Wichita, Kansas was always great for me. It was a place that had called to me when I was down and out in L.A... In Kansas, I always had a job. I worked in aerospace. Saw many great rock concerts and festivals. Camped and jetskied the many Midwest lakes. I ate fish, sushi, thai, chinese, brats and steaks. I went to college to study graphic design when I got tired of the pressure of the factory. I then transferred and graduated in LaLaLand when my SoCal girlfriend emailed me to say come live with me. My point is L.A. is OZ. Filled with witches, wizards, flying monkeys, lions and tigers and bears. Literally.

The housing is cheaper in Kansas without a doubt. We pay $1100 for a barely 1000sqft 2bed1bath apartment in Ventura County and that is actually cheap. We could buy a nice, newer 3000sqft+ 4bed2bath house in Kansas for that a month. I've seen the want ads and we both could get paid pretty as much there as here. You just have to have an education or the experience. Don't expect to be able to do anything with just high school.

Kansas was always home to me. Someday, I hope my Dorothy will click her heels and this ScarecrowLionTinman will get to go home again.

We're just saving for the ruby slippers.