Wichitans Love for Wichita Wanes (good schools, quality of life, living)

[Kansasfornow]

Wondering what everyone thinks about the article today in the Wichita Eagle - Wichitans Love for Wichita Wanes....

Wichita residents are feeling less positive about the community than a year ago, according to new study results.
The second year of the three-year Gallup/Knight Foundation "Soul Of the Community" survey shows our sense of passion and loyalty to the community has slumped.




Wichitans' love for Wichita wanes | Wichita News - Kansas News | Wichita Eagle (http://www.kansas.com/news/story/990670.html - broken link)

[KevK]

People expect too much out of Wichita I think. True I have not lived there for decades although I do have property and family there. But from my observations the place is much more "social" than it was when lived there. Back then the only "social" activity was driving up and down Douglas on Saturday night. Now they have Old Town and other places to hang out.
You cannot expect Wichita to have everything a major metro area has. It is not going to have much in the way of culture or major league sports. There is simply not the population to support such things. And of course Wichita has lousy weather year round.
But the city does offer a quality of life that you don't get in major metros like short commutes, safety and good schools for the kids. And a cost of living that people in big metros would die for.

[vb_guy]

I really think that the fact that the Wichita area is so aircraft-driven is a problem. When the aircraft industry is doing well, the economy follows suit, and people love it here. When it's down (like now), the economy tanks, jobs are lost, and people hate it. It's also difficult to find jobs in industries not related to aircraft. If you lose your job at Cessna, for example, you can't get another job in that industry. You have to wait until the economy comes back before you can get a similar job again, or you have to change careers completely.

I think that we'll have another article in the news about Wichitans not liking Wichita next year, but people will love it again in 2011 (when aircraft rebounds).