UlrichWolf Posted January 14, 2010 Report Share Posted January 14, 2010 I figured I would start to get more involved with my community. It's a sign of aging, and it sucks, but the good part is that at least I am of the age that they will at least pretend to listen to me for a moment before they go back to their wicked and wily ways. The City of Wichita has hired some high-falutin' consultants to help them revitalize downtown. They started off by listing off the "core groups" that were likely to live downtown, which I took to mean stereotypes, but I least kept my mouth shut for that one. After listening to this chick's rosy 30 minute presentation about how housing is needing to be built up downtown, and and how rosy the economy looks for just such an endeavor, and how young talented types need to be drawn to the city's core, I was about ready to vomit. But I choked it back. I swallered it down while they pressed on, talking about how we have so much to DO in downtown, like the convention center, and yet only 12% of the hotel space is downtown. Yes, we needed a bunch of empty-headed pricks to charge the city $225,000 to tell us we could use some more hotels. They're sort of right......we could......if we had anything happening downtown. The fun part came when the retail analyst got up there and started techno-babbling about psycho-graphics, going on about his two groups, the hipsters, and the yupsters. This guy spent 20 minutes describing, in nauseating detail, the difference between the two. A bold keynote in his PowerPoint presentation was that hipsters don't have a lot of money to spend, except at places like Apple stores, and for a set of hot shoes. I'd had it. I reached my breaking point. I told him this, is real simple. You want business downtown, you want residence downtown. Stop segregating the world with your perceived market-share insurance salesman babble, and firstly build a supermarket, and some other very BASIC conveniences, and the residence will soon follow. Get rid of the threat of being mugged by making Quik Trip off limits to the cops so they are out doing their jobs too, and then, people will start walking around, and when people feel safe enough to not be relieved of what they have bought in the new shops, you will see business start to flourish, or at least pick up. You want to revitalize? Fine. Some remodeling, and some renovating sure goes far, as opposed to sitting in here, spouting off pie-in-the-sky figures for what-ifs. These stupid people actually were contradicting each other. One consultant says that downtown needs to be the nerve center for the region, and another one says it needs to be a niche market. My parting words...."Forgive the cliche, but you fail. I remain unimpressed. Good day." Conclusion.....don't get involved. Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coke Posted January 14, 2010 Report Share Posted January 14, 2010 Intriguing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goddard Posted January 14, 2010 Report Share Posted January 14, 2010 (edited) ^agreed You may be more needed than you think. Let curiosity guide you to new challenges. Edited January 14, 2010 by Goddard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UlrichWolf Posted January 14, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2010 ^agreed You may be more needed than you think. Let curiosity guide you to new challenges. Judging by the brand of dirty eye I got from the Mayor, something tells me I am not needed. Damn. I knew I shouldn't have called him "Greasy d***" Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ucw458 Posted January 14, 2010 Report Share Posted January 14, 2010 http://dvdforme.com/Jim/92691.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToneyC Posted January 14, 2010 Report Share Posted January 14, 2010 Wolf, It's been quite some time. I see things are going swimmingly in Wichita, LOL. I'm glad to hear you are getting involved with the community. At times, the "smart" people need to hear from the people that possess some common sense. I think you should stay involved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indy_85stariones Posted January 14, 2010 Report Share Posted January 14, 2010 The City of Wichita has hired some high-falutin' consultants to help them revitalize downtown. The City Government of Indianapolis tried for over 2 decades to revitalize downtown Indianapolis. In the early 70's, they built a new pro basketball area (Market Square Arena/Indiana Pacers) on the east and connected it with the State Capital Building by paving Market Street with pretty red bricks. -- That didn't work. In the early 80's, they built a new pro football stadium (Hoosier/RCA Dome) as part of a new convention center.-- That didn't work. In the mid 80's, residential developers renovated historic neighborhoods (Lockerbie, Fountain Square, Woodruff Place, etc). Also, new development along a historic canal.-- That didn't work. Republican Mayor Bill Hudnut originally proposed constructing a large downtown shopping center (Circle Centre Mall), but lost enthusiasm for the project once he encountered obstacles and criticism from opponents. Newly elected Republican Mayor Stephen Goldsmith brought renewed enthusiasm for the Circle Centre Mall project. He stood all alone in favor of the project against much opposition from both Democrats and Republicans. After 15 years of lawsuits and much criticism, the Circle Centre Mall finally opened in September 1995. Guess what, it worked. Values of homes renovated in historic neighborhoods and built along historic canal have tripled. People prefer to entertain themselves in Restaurants and Bars downtown, instead of out in the suburbs. The success of the Circle Centre Mall led to construction of new basketball arena (Conseco Fieldhouse) and new football stadium (Lucas Oil Stadium). The success of Conseco Fieldhouse and Lucas Oil Stadium has led to the sale of nearby rundown warehouse properties with low property tax base and the construction of new commercial and residential property with high property tax base. This was all made possible by the construction of a large downtown mall that nobody wanted (with the exception of Mayor Stephen Goldsmith.) http://www2.indystar.com/library/factfiles/places/indianapolis/circle_centre/mall.htmlhttp://www2.indystar.com/library/factfiles/people/g/goldsmith_stephen/goldsmith.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jszucs Posted January 15, 2010 Report Share Posted January 15, 2010 we have a large downtown mall and it SUCKS. There is a bunch of ghetto trash there, there are no good stores there, the food cort even sucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ucw458 Posted January 15, 2010 Report Share Posted January 15, 2010 we have a large downtown mall and it SUCKS. There is a bunch of ghetto trash there, there are no good stores there, the food cort even sucks. What do you expect man, you live in cleveland. Nothing good there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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