Kansas Job Losses (Kansas City: university, to live in, racist)

[CrownVic95]

Originally Posted by Mathguy

The theme of the thread summed up in one line. Well done.

Indeed.

Kansas is bad....I'll think of a reason later.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by CrownVic95

Indeed.

Kansas is bad....I'll think of a reason later.

It has deteriorated due to the governor, yes. He isn't liked by over 80% of Kansas residents for good reason.

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

It has deteriorated due to the governor, yes. He isn't liked by over 80% of Kansas residents for good reason.

Two separate issues.

Issue #1: Brownback hasn't done a good job and his policies haven't worked.

Issue #2: Political opponents have decided to portray things as badly as possible even to the point of unfair and shifting measures.

Same treatment that Rahm Emanuel is getting from Republicans over Chicago.

I mean sheesh, just admit your bias, even Hillary says we all have them.

[CrownVic95]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

It has deteriorated due to the governor, yes. He isn't liked by over 80% of Kansas residents for good reason.

Neither of us has lived in Kansas for many years. So neither of us knows first hand what is going on there. All we know is what we read about.

Personally, I will not buy into the gloom and doom and will not hop onto the lets beat the drum to string up Brownback bandwagon. Why? Because the only people I hear beating that drum are those who I disagree with politically across the board. And that includes most of the media that holds the baton conducting that beating drum.

People are gathered with torches outside the Governor's mansion because of tax cuts? Doesn't even make any sense on the surface. There's much more going on here and I continue to smell a perverse, alternative agenda in the allegedly angry crowd that I don't believe for a moment is near the size being reported.

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by CrownVic95

Neither of us has lived in Kansas for many years. So neither of us knows first hand what is going on there. All we know is what we read about.

Personally, I will not buy into the gloom and doom and will not hop onto the lets beat the drum to string up Brownback bandwagon. Why? Because the only people I hear beating that drum are those who I disagree with politically across the board. And that includes most of the media that holds the baton conducting that beating drum.

People are gathered with torches outside the Governor's mansion because of tax cuts? Doesn't even make any sense on the surface. There's much more going on here and I continue to smell a perverse, alternative agenda in the allegedly angry crowd that I don't believe for a moment is near the size being reported.

It's not completely gloom and doom but it's also not good and yes, much of the state is unhappy with Brownback.

The big problem is that even if you believe his tax cuts would work to attract businesses and grow the pie, it doesn't happen fast.

So what happens next is a logical shortfall in revenue EVEN IF THE PLAN IS WORKING (just for arguments sake) sooooo what you have is immediate shortfall in a state that by law can't just run huge deficits like some other states.

That meant cutting spending and turning back around and INCREASING TAXES (in other areas) both of which he's now done.

In short, he's largely just accomplished a taxation shift along with spending cuts and the growth has yet to substantially materialize.

Hope this helps you understand why he's so unpopular.

A more intelligent plan would have been phased in tax cuts and incentives so as not to disrupt things but he and his backers wanted to move fast and it's blown up in his face.

There you go, a simple non-partisan view of things. While the democrats hyperbole and vitriol are annoying in general they're not wrong about Brownback and us moderates agree with them in this instance.

[Mattks]

Originally Posted by empires228

It's definitely different from it's peers. There's no major tourist attractions for one. The mall is tanking fast and Simon dumped it into a spinoff company for their failing properties, the zoo is small, underfunded, and has had accreditation issues in the past, the racetrack isn't viable, there are large sections of nothing but blight, especially around Washburn and White Lakes. I mean there's also the horrible police department that would probably be decent if they weren't understaffed with the amount of crime there. My sister boyfriend used to live across from washburn in a newer complex with retail and dining on the lower level and his car was broken into several times during broad daylight and no one ever reported it. The second to last time they smashed all of his windows and the last time they just ripped the whole door off. The police didn't care as they were swamped trying to deal with a murder/arson case a few blocks north and didn't have time for such a small case in comparison. I'm in Topeka enough to know that the mall at times isn't some place you want to be alone. There are times where the methheads, high school dropouts/kids ditching from Topeka West, and the hoodrats are the majority of the people walking around, and they sure aren't shopping! The only thing we can't blame on the mall not being desirable and being perceived as not safe by a lot of people is the loss of Macy's, who inherited a store that they didn't want and closed the minute the lease came up because unlike the Omaha store they didn't have an immediately interested tenant to take over for them. I mean Towne West in Wichita and Aurora Town Center in Aurora, Colorado were both spun off by Simon too and despite by being plagued by similar issues (Aurora despite having all of its anchors really isn't safe and they prove that time and time again) still have a better tenant mix. Some other chains in Topeka also have fairly rundown or dated stores compared to other towns in the state like Orscheln's, JCPenney, Target, Sutherlands, and Gordman's.

You're right, there really isn't any tourist attractions outside the capitol building. I don't know the specifics you are talking about on the mall, but it's nearly full right now. I ate at Chic-fil-a for the first time in years a few days ago and the food court was packed. Simon properties also own the strip mall at 21st and Wanamaker which is 100% leased.

The zoo went through some mismanagement a few years back, but they have really improved it. It lost it's accreditation for less then 6 months, during which time they brought in new management. They are now affiliated with the KC zoos as well and a lot of money and time has been spent on renovating not only the Zoo, but Gage Park and the water park. Gage Park is really quite nice now.

I'm not sure what you mean by the racetrack isn't viable. But yes, it has had mismanagement problems in the past, but it's also doing a lot better now. Everyone thought after the SCCA moved to Topeka it would make Topeka a Motorsport mecca, that hasn't really been the case, but it has improved.

You are speaking of College Hill developments NE of Washburn University. When the developments were built, it was quite controversial and it took a few years before any of the business spaces were leased. Now the area is doing very well, in fact there are 5 new, very popular local restaurants within just a couple blocks in College Hill. There is certainty a lot of blight east of the university, but the neighborhoods North, South, and West are all decent. In fact not far west are $500,000+ homes in Westboro.

The mall is not dangerous at all, I don't know where you are getting that from. My in-laws walk there everyday. In fact half the people in the mall are probably over 60+. The problem is they don't have enough you people there. Again, the mall is nearly full, I saw 3 empty store when I was there last. All the main department stores are full in the mall. The only empty department store on Wanamaker is the Office Depot building, which they are currently renovating into smaller units.

Orcheln's and JCPenny are outdated, but Target just remodeled and the Sutherlands store is only a few years old. In fact Sutherlands did so well, they refused to renew the franchised Sutherlands and brought in a corporate owned store. I know little about Gordman's, but I thought the store just opened in the last 2 years.

The city is building a new multi-million dollar water park on the west side, Kansas Children's Discovery Center was recently finished, renovating streets and utilities all over, renovating downtown streets, utilities, sidewalks, Washburn University is currently building 3 additional buildings for dorms and classrooms, and Topeka currently has a budget surplus of $8 million. The city has started bunches of annual events downtown and in Gage Park. They have a run, which proceeds going to the Rescue Mission downtown, the Jazz and Food Truck Festival downtown, and a festival in Gage Park, forgot the name, but lots to do and dozens of food trucks last year. NOTO, (arts district in North Topeka) has also seen a resurgence in the last couple years, and the weekly Friday Art Walks have become very popular. The Farmers Market downtown is one of the best farmers markets in the midwest.

Go back 20 years and Topeka was embarrassing and it still has a lot of issues from mismanagement over the years, but I think it's a misconception that it is still that way. It's a great city to live in and close to a lot of great places.

[phxone]

Originally Posted by CrownVic95

Neither of us has lived in Kansas for many years. So neither of us knows first hand what is going on there. All we know is what we read about.

Personally, I will not buy into the gloom and doom and will not hop onto the lets beat the drum to string up Brownback bandwagon. Why? Because the only people I hear beating that drum are those who I disagree with politically across the board. And that includes most of the media that holds the baton conducting that beating drum.

People are gathered with torches outside the Governor's mansion because of tax cuts? Doesn't even make any sense on the surface. There's much more going on here and I continue to smell a perverse, alternative agenda in the allegedly angry crowd that I don't believe for a moment is near the size being reported.

The state raised the sales tax rate to one of the highest rates in the country to deal with last year's budget hole. The state also eliminated itemized deductions for individual taxpayers so you can no longer deduct your mortgage interest, property taxes, etc. The only taxes that have been cut are for owners of pass through entities, the result has been a huge shift of the tax burden from the wealthy to the middle class.


The state budget is a disaster, the governor has proposed an across the board cut of 3-5% for both the current and next fiscal years, is diverting cash from highway funds to general funds, delaying pension payments and selling the receivable from the tobacco settlement in order to balance the budget for one year only. It is also no coincidence that the budget hole is almost exactly the same amount as the lost revenue from the business tax cuts.


The budget cuts will drain more than $10 million dollars each fiscal year from higher education, K-12 schools have announced that they may have to end the school year early and go to a 4 day week in the future, and more than $1 billion has been diverted from highway maintenance.

[dfwuno]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

It has deteriorated due to the governor, yes. He isn't liked by over 80% of Kansas residents for good reason.

It has deteriorated due to the people of KS who re-elected him after the writing was on the wall well before his first term was over. Almost every county in the state voted him back in. Moderate Republicans need to make sure Teabagistan never rules again. Yet the state turns to Cruz for POTUS. Pull your head out folks. Its not Brownbacks fault.

[Mattks]

Just as I was saying some good things about Topeka, there was a huge shootout tonight between police/swat and a gunman at the Country Club Hotel in Topeka. Multiple police officers shot, hotel is on fire and burning, and subject is at large. Supposedly he has remote detonators on the hotel building and is threatening to blow it up. We'll see more of what happened tomorrow, but I was watching a live news feed about an hour ago.

Gunshots fired at officers late Saturday night in Topeka | Cjonline.com Mobile

[SyraBrian]

Kansas lost 3,700 jobs during April.