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I have not lived there since the 80s either but according to family that still does, it has gotten worse in those areas. Armed gangs roam almost at will and killings and shootings and as common as rain. Back in the 70s we did not have armed gangs with machine guns roaming the streets of Wichita. While there was the ocassional murder- mainly in the Murdock area, it was usually domestic or between folks that knew each other. Not so today.
LOL no offense.. Wichita had 18 murders in 2006. For a city it's size, it's one of the safest in the nation. There is a city East Cleveland, a suburb of Cleveland, OH which had the same amount of murders with a population of 35,000.
I have visited and it looked completely safe. To say there are armed gangs with machine guns roaming the streets is one of the most absurd statements I have ever heard. Another example would be Youngstown, Ohio.. 73,000 people with 40 murders last year. Nearly double the amount of murders with a population almost 1/5th the size.
If you want real crime and poverty, visit rust belt cities... ie: Cleveland, Youngstown, Detroit, Flint, Gary, Cincinnati
I've lived in Wichita all my life, and I can only say that most of the people on this thread have no idea what they are talking about.
According to the FBI, Wichita has a violent crime rate that is about half that of other U.S. cities of its size. The Census Bureau says that the average commute time in Wichita is 18 minutes -- 28% shorter than the national average of 25 minutes. My personal commute is about 15 minutes, but it used to be five minutes. I took a new job all the way across town. The average price of an existing home is $108,000 (mine was $110,000 this spring) while the national average is twice that, according to the National Association of Realtors. New homes are running about $170,000, while nationally they're about $241,000.
I live in an area called Riverside. My house is almost 90 years old. The ghetto is a few blocks away -- the houses are just as old but lack a river and series of public parks twisting through them that attract young and wealthy families to keep re-investing in old houses to keep them in good shape.
Everything just turned brilliant orange last week, and my walk to the neighborhood coffee shop on Sunday might actually have been the highlight of my weekend, though I did partake in both a movie at the Old Town Warren (literally the best movie theater in the world -- filmmakers who attend our film festival attest to it, and most of them have seen most of the world's movie theaters) and some drinking in Old Town. I'll confess that I ate at Old Chicago (a national chain based in, you guessed it, Denver) instead of one of the seven local restaurants in the same plaza, but they were packed and I was going to be late for the movie if I didn't go some place where I could get in and out in 45 minutes. (And, yes, I could have eaten a full meal in my seat at the Warren -- and the beer is about the same price as the pop -- but I was hungry before my movie was going to start and the theater's sports bar was closed for a private function.) And the night before I was too tired from raking leaves to take in the live music I had planned on, but it happened without me, I'm sure.
People who say that there is nothing to do in Wichita are people who haven't turned off their TVs long enough to go outside to see what's out there. They're the kind of people who think violent criminals are roaming the streets to shoot them down if they leave their houses. Simply ridiculous.
I would like to see a link to the crime stats you mentioned. Acoording to City Data, the crime rate in Wichita is almost double the national average:
I just sold a house in Riverside, and I never felt safe there. I lived on a good street right off 13th. My neighbors had their front door kicked in a few years ago - while they were home. I'd bet they'd have a few things to say about crime in Wichita. One year the neighbors directly across the street woke up and found a dead guy in their backyard; a woman right across 13th on the same street was stabbed to death on her front porch a year or two ago. We've chased several would be robbers off the property, most recently this summer, when my neighbor caught a guy red-handed helping himself to the lawn equipment while my neighbor went in for a minute for a cold drink.
And sorry, but there really isn't much to do in Wichita. But the Warren is great.
I just sold a house in Riverside, and I never felt safe there. I lived on a good street right off 13th. My neighbors had their front door kicked in a few years ago - while they were home. I'd bet they'd have a few things to say about crime in Wichita. One year the neighbors directly across the street woke up and found a dead guy in their backyard; a woman right across 13th on the same street was stabbed to death on her front porch a year or two ago. We've chased several would be robbers off the property, most recently this summer, when my neighbor caught a guy red-handed helping himself to the lawn equipment while my neighbor went in for a minute for a cold drink.
And sorry, but there really isn't much to do in Wichita. But the Warren is great.
She said relative to cities the SAME SIZE. That is based off crime in general. 520 is still relatively LOW for a large city. From that data, the violent crime is very low. Just refer to my post above if you disagree. If you want to see violent crime, travel to any city I listed, Wichita is a paradise compared to them. I mean freakin' a, Youngstown, Ohio is 1/5th the size and has more violent crime.
Property crimes happen EVERYWHERE. Larceny, theft, etc will happen in every big city. Get off your delusional couch and visit the real world... Wichita isn't dangerous. I've been jumped, stabbed, shot at, etc.. I have had friends murdered, neighbors murdered, etc. Wichita is a nice city, and I would be proud of it, instead of hyping it to be some Cleveland or Detroit.
I have no idea where you got your stats from, but Wichita had 26 murders in 2006, 39 in 2007 (according to city-data), and so far in 2008, 31 (http://www.kansas.com/news/story/597626.html - broken link).
Quote:
Originally Posted by WeSoHood
There is a city East Cleveland, a suburb of Cleveland, OH which had the same amount of murders with a population of 35,000.
Wichita had a crime index of 560 in 2007, again according to city-data. You compared Wichita to a suburb of Cleveland. I would argue that that isn't fair - you have to look at the MSA population. Cleveland's MSA, with a population between 2,096,471 to 2,945,831 (depending on if you look at Greater Cleveland, the Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor MSA, or the Cleveland-Akron-Elyria CSA), is obviously much larger than Wichita's MSA of nearly 600,000. We could even argue that Youngstown, as part of Northeast Ohio, is influenced by Cleveland.
Quote:
Originally Posted by WeSoHood
If you want real crime and poverty, visit rust belt cities... ie: Cleveland, Youngstown, Detroit, Flint, Gary, Cincinnati
Furthermore, Detroit has an MSA population of 4.4 million (or 5.4 million for its CSA). Cincinnati has an MSA population of 2.1 million. Flint is a suburb of Columbus, a city with an MSA population of around 1.7 million. and so on...
Quote:
Originally Posted by WeSoHood
For a city it's size, it's one of the safest in the nation.
Quote:
Originally Posted by WeSoHood
She said relative to cities the SAME SIZE. That is based off crime in general.
You never compared cities of equal size, specificaly equal or near-equal MSA's. So, let's compare general crime stats for cities of relatively same size.
Colorado Springs, CO MSA population of 609,000. 2007 city-data crime index of 397.
Omaha, NE MSA population of 830,000. 2007 city-data crime index of 428.
Tulsa, OK MSA population of 900,000. 2007 city-data crime index of 683.
Albuquerque, NM MSA population of 835,000. 2007 city-data crime index of 578.
Des Moines, IA MSA population of 550,000. 2007 city-data crime index of 537.
What does this mean? It certainly doesn't mean:
Quote:
Originally Posted by WeSoHood
For a city it's size, it's one of the safest in the nation.
Heck, even Denver, with an MSA population between 2.5 and 3 million, has a 2007 city-data crime index of 409.
In other words, don't say Wichita is safe compared to other cities its size and then turn around and mention suburbs or cities influenced by Cleveland. Granted, there are cities out there that are much smaller yet much more dangerous than Wichita. Fine, I'll give you Youngstown. But on the whole, you can't make this argument.
Finally, this sums up everything:
Quote:
Originally Posted by WeSoHood
I have visited and it looked completely safe.
Only visited?
In Wichita, I do feel safe in more areas than I feel not safe. I would argue, though, that there are quite a few areas/neighborhoods throughout the city I would not feel safe at night by myself.
Location: Jonquil City (aka Smyrna) Georgia- by Atlanta
16,259 posts, read 24,763,471 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by athfo
I have no idea where you got your stats from, but Wichita had 26 murders in 2006, 39 in 2007 (according to city-data), and so far in 2008, 31 (http://www.kansas.com/news/story/597626.html - broken link).
Wichita had a crime index of 560 in 2007, again according to city-data. You compared Wichita to a suburb of Cleveland. I would argue that that isn't fair - you have to look at the MSA population. Cleveland's MSA, with a population between 2,096,471 to 2,945,831 (depending on if you look at Greater Cleveland, the Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor MSA, or the Cleveland-Akron-Elyria CSA), is obviously much larger than Wichita's MSA of nearly 600,000. We could even argue that Youngstown, as part of Northeast Ohio, is influenced by Cleveland.
Furthermore, Detroit has an MSA population of 4.4 million (or 5.4 million for its CSA). Cincinnati has an MSA population of 2.1 million. Flint is a suburb of Columbus, a city with an MSA population of around 1.7 million. and so on...
You never compared cities of equal size, specificaly equal or near-equal MSA's. So, let's compare general crime stats for cities of relatively same size.
Colorado Springs, CO MSA population of 609,000. 2007 city-data crime index of 397.
Omaha, NE MSA population of 830,000. 2007 city-data crime index of 428.
Tulsa, OK MSA population of 900,000. 2007 city-data crime index of 683.
Albuquerque, NM MSA population of 835,000. 2007 city-data crime index of 578.
Des Moines, IA MSA population of 550,000. 2007 city-data crime index of 537.
What does this mean? It certainly doesn't mean: Heck, even Denver, with an MSA population between 2.5 and 3 million, has a 2007 city-data crime index of 409.
In other words, don't say Wichita is safe compared to other cities its size and then turn around and mention suburbs or cities influenced by Cleveland. Granted, there are cities out there that are much smaller yet much more dangerous than Wichita. Fine, I'll give you Youngstown. But on the whole, you can't make this argument.
Finally, this sums up everything:Only visited?
In Wichita, I do feel safe in more areas than I feel not safe. I would argue, though, that there are quite a few areas/neighborhoods throughout the city I would not feel safe at night by myself.
I agree. When people "visit" Wichita, usually places like Planeview and 13th and Grove are not on the list of attractions to see. But people that live in Wichita know about such places and avoid them like them like a disease!
I have no idea where you got your stats from, but Wichita had 26 murders in 2006, 39 in 2007 (according to city-data), and so far in 2008, 31 (http://www.kansas.com/news/story/597626.html - broken link).
Wichita had a crime index of 560 in 2007, again according to city-data. You compared Wichita to a suburb of Cleveland. I would argue that that isn't fair - you have to look at the MSA population. Cleveland's MSA, with a population between 2,096,471 to 2,945,831 (depending on if you look at Greater Cleveland, the Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor MSA, or the Cleveland-Akron-Elyria CSA), is obviously much larger than Wichita's MSA of nearly 600,000. We could even argue that Youngstown, as part of Northeast Ohio, is influenced by Cleveland.
Furthermore, Detroit has an MSA population of 4.4 million (or 5.4 million for its CSA). Cincinnati has an MSA population of 2.1 million. Flint is a suburb of Columbus, a city with an MSA population of around 1.7 million. and so on...
You never compared cities of equal size, specificaly equal or near-equal MSA's. So, let's compare general crime stats for cities of relatively same size.
Colorado Springs, CO MSA population of 609,000. 2007 city-data crime index of 397.
Omaha, NE MSA population of 830,000. 2007 city-data crime index of 428.
Tulsa, OK MSA population of 900,000. 2007 city-data crime index of 683.
Albuquerque, NM MSA population of 835,000. 2007 city-data crime index of 578.
Des Moines, IA MSA population of 550,000. 2007 city-data crime index of 537.
What does this mean? It certainly doesn't mean: Heck, even Denver, with an MSA population between 2.5 and 3 million, has a 2007 city-data crime index of 409.
In other words, don't say Wichita is safe compared to other cities its size and then turn around and mention suburbs or cities influenced by Cleveland. Granted, there are cities out there that are much smaller yet much more dangerous than Wichita. Fine, I'll give you Youngstown. But on the whole, you can't make this argument.
Finally, this sums up everything:Only visited?
In Wichita, I do feel safe in more areas than I feel not safe. I would argue, though, that there are quite a few areas/neighborhoods throughout the city I would not feel safe at night by myself.
I disagree with a lot of what you said. I am not talking about Metro areas. Heck, northeast Ohio has 4 million people.
But no where did I speak about metro areas. Why? Because right next to East Cleveland are some of the safest suburbs imaginable. I don't think it really effects cities that much.
I mean are you totally disregarding crime figures and using the MSA excuse? It doesn't make sense.
Like I said, one example is Cleveland.. 435,000 people with 140 murders last year. Do you know how absurd that is? That is dangerous... 30 some murders for a city the size of Wichita is generally "safe" in the US, sadly enough. Granted, when I visited I did just visit old friends and really didn't travel around much.
All I'm saying is the fact that Cleveland has a large MSA, doesn't mean it effects other suburbs. Clevelands MSA is one of the safest in the nation. Despite the fact that Cleveland as a whole is horrible, and besides downtown (before 2am) I wouldn't walk anywhere in the city at night.
Another good indication of crime is poverty. It almost always directly correlates. Cleveland has a poverty rate above 27%, was the most impoverished city in the US, and still is in the top 5. Wichita has around a 12% (correct me if I'm wrong).
I'm not saying there aren't areas in Wichita that are dangerous, because obviously there are bad parts... but it's relatively safe. And some of the City Datas stats for Cleveland are off, I just noticed!
I disagree with a lot of what you said. I am not talking about Metro areas. Heck, northeast Ohio has 4 million people.
But no where did I speak about metro areas. Why? Because right next to East Cleveland are some of the safest suburbs imaginable. I don't think it really effects cities that much.
I mean are you totally disregarding crime figures and using the MSA excuse? It doesn't make sense.
Like I said, one example is Cleveland.. 435,000 people with 140 murders last year. Do you know how absurd that is? That is dangerous... 30 some murders for a city the size of Wichita is generally "safe" in the US, sadly enough. Granted, when I visited I did just visit old friends and really didn't travel around much.
All I'm saying is the fact that Cleveland has a large MSA, doesn't mean it effects other suburbs. Clevelands MSA is one of the safest in the nation. Despite the fact that Cleveland as a whole is horrible, and besides downtown (before 2am) I wouldn't walk anywhere in the city at night.
Another good indication of crime is poverty. It almost always directly correlates. Cleveland has a poverty rate above 27%, was the most impoverished city in the US, and still is in the top 5. Wichita has around a 12% (correct me if I'm wrong).
I'm not saying there aren't areas in Wichita that are dangerous, because obviously there are bad parts... but it's relatively safe. And some of the City Datas stats for Cleveland are off, I just noticed!
I'm not disregarding crime figures, I'm simply stating that larger metro areas = more crime, so comparing Wichita to Cleveland or other much larger metro areas does not make sense.
I never said Cleveland doesn't have a high poverty rate, leading to a crime rate. For that matter, I never said Cleveland doesn't have a high crime rate. What I did say is that you can't compare Wichita to Cleveland, and then say Wichita is generally safe.
I'm not disregarding crime figures, I'm simply stating that larger metro areas = more crime, so comparing Wichita to Cleveland or other much larger metro areas does not make sense.
I never said Cleveland doesn't have a high poverty rate, leading to a crime rate. For that matter, I never said Cleveland doesn't have a high crime rate. What I did say is that you can't compare Wichita to Cleveland, and then say Wichita is generally safe.
Haha what are you talking about? I never brought up any discussion about comparing Cleveland's Metro to Wichita's metro, YOU DID.
Are you saying the larger the metro area the more dangerous the major cities located within it are? I don't understand your arguments, frankly. NYC is nearly 20 times the size of Cleveland, and is much safer. Same with LA or Chicago.
Regardless, I never talked about metro areas. I'm speaking solely about individual cities. I mean San Diego has one of the larger Metro areas and it's one of the safest big cities in the USA.
And I can say Wichita is generally safe, based on the crime figures I've read. Do some more thorough research about crime in big cities and you will find that Wichita, for it's size, is considered "safe" in comparison to most big cities.
Oh and by the way when I state Cleveland had 140 murders last year, I'm speaking about the CITY... with 435,000 people NOT the homicides in the whole metro area.
Haha what are you talking about? I never brought up any discussion about comparing Cleveland's Metro to Wichita's metro, YOU DID.
No, you compared Cleveland crime to Wichita crime. You can't make the comparison. This is the third time I've said this. You can't say that Wichita is safe in comparison to much larger cities, such as the Cleveland metro area (including its suburbs), because they don't relate population-wise. Compare Wichita to cities its size, like Omaha, Des Moines, Tulsa, Colorado Springs, and then you'll have a better argument.
Furthermore, where are your links to the crime rates and facts you provide? You haven't provided any proof that Wichita is safe in respect to cities its size (equal size meaning equal metro population).
This argument is really going no where. I guess we're not getting across to each other. Feel free to respond, but I'll go ahead and stop here.
No, you compared Cleveland crime to Wichita crime. You can't make the comparison. This is the third time I've said this. You can't say that Wichita is safe in comparison to much larger cities, such as the Cleveland metro area (including its suburbs), because they don't relate population-wise. Compare Wichita to cities its size, like Omaha, Des Moines, Tulsa, Colorado Springs, and then you'll have a better argument.
Furthermore, where are your links to the crime rates and facts you provide? You haven't provided any proof that Wichita is safe in respect to cities its size (equal size meaning equal metro population).
This argument is really going no where. I guess we're not getting across to each other. Feel free to respond, but I'll go ahead and stop here.
What are you talking about? If you can comprehend what I am saying, you should understand.
CLEVELAND HAS A SAFE METRO. The city itself is dangerous NOT the metro. Cleveland the CITY had 140 murders, NOT the metro. The size of the metro is NO indication to how dangerous the actual main city is.
Cleveland itself only has 435,000 people, only a 100,000 more than Wichita. Regardless of how big the metro area is, that was not the discussion. I was comparing individual cities. Heck, San Diego has a MUCH larger metro than Cleveland.. so by your logic it should be more dangerous, which is the farthest thing from the truth.
The bottom line is, Metro areas have absolutely nothing to do with the crime in the big city. Heck, Cleveland has a HUGE metro, yet it's almost all completely safe - and in fact one of the safest in the nations. That alone should be an indication that your theory is wrong.
And I don't need to post stat figures, considering they are all over the internet. Wichita is relatively safe, I don't care what you say. Just quit with the idiotic "metro" debate... that has nothing to do with the crime in the big cities itself. (Mistake me if I'm wrong, Wichita IS a big city?)
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