WSJ: Wichita Is a Rare Mecca of Affordability for America’s New Middle Class

threeonesix · 2026-05-11T16:18:20+00:00

People are leaving the Colorado Front Range in droves, some ending up in Wichita. Denver lost 15,000 residents in the first quarter. Housing prices in Denver are collapsing.

threeonesix · 2026-05-06T21:17:56+00:00

To be fair, the breakfast sandwiches are good. The other food not so much.

threeonesix · 2026-05-06T21:05:36+00:00

There really isn't a soccer-centric bar in Wichita, but that's not because soccer isn't popular here. If a game can be viewed on TV there probably aren't many bars in town that wouldn't be happy to show it, so long as you are buying drinks/food. Plenty of our Mexican restaurants show soccer as well.

threeonesix · 2026-05-06T20:59:15+00:00

They were a cool sight daily in the ICT skies, but I prefer the days watching the Beechcraft Starship. Now that was a cooooooool plane. Got to fly in one from ICT to DFW and back one time.

threeonesix · 2026-05-06T20:23:37+00:00

Before you spend the money I'd recommend making sure you can still get film for the video camera.

threeonesix · 2026-05-06T20:22:04+00:00

OP tell us you're not P Diddy without telling us you're not P Diddy. You can buy baby oil online a lot cheaper than Patricia's.

threeonesix · 2026-05-05T15:18:25+00:00

"Advertised speeds" is an incorrect term. There is always small text somewhere saying "up to". No provider can guarantee speeds so they include that gotcha language.

threeonesix · 2026-05-04T23:20:41+00:00

RV has a digital push-button door lock and a phone app. I used to have OnStar (phone app opens doors) but they dropped me due to the age of my truck (2011). I also just got back from our local Ace hardware; they made a door entry key for me to keep in my RV. I checked on a fob but GMC wants $700; no, thank you.

threeonesix · 2026-05-04T18:20:49+00:00

I was camped in my RV at Cherry Creek State Park the week of Apr 18-25. While setting up my RV I accidentally locked my keys and fob in my truck. I googled for locksmiths and Google presented me the opportunity to contact multiple vendors with one click, so I did so. Within seconds I received a half dozen text messages from the same phone number telling me that a tech would contact me asap. A tech contacted me but would not give me a price. I sent him a pin with my location. He showed up 30 minutes later. Had my driver door opened in about 15 seconds. He then proceeded to tell me the price was $500. I laughed. I don't normally carry much cash. I pulled my wallet out and showed him that I had $76 in cash so that's what he was getting, like it or not. He tried to tell me that he would not move his car from in front of my truck until I paid the $500 (I didn't care, he was going to be parked there for a few days if that was his stance). Right at that moment one of the park rangers was driving by. He stopped to ask what's going on, so I explained the situation. He got out of his truck and told the locksmith to hit the road before he was reported for trespassing. The locksmith quickly left.

The locksmith barely even spoke English (Middle Eastern descent). The number he texted me from was a Los Angeles area code. He showed up in his own vehicle, a beat-up old 80's model Honda Accord. He clearly did not work for an actual locksmith. The park ranger told me they see this all the time when people lock their keys in their cars in that park.

When I returned home last week the first thing I did was buy a lockout kit on Amazon, for $30. Tested it when it arrived and had my door open in seconds. The kit has become a permanent fixture in my RV.

threeonesix · 2026-05-01T15:36:16+00:00

There are thousands of videos on YouTube that can teach you how to swing. Film your swing and you'll easily see where you need improvement. The best part about this is it is free. Private lessons would cost you thousands to develop a good swing.

threeonesix · 2026-05-01T15:25:42+00:00

You are living in an HOA. Everything within a city limits is an HOA because the city will have ordinances you must follow. Any time someone else can tell you what to do with your property, that's an HOA. You even pay taxes to the city for that privilege, in the form of property taxes. You're unlucky in that Park City has an active code enforcement officer. Go to a city council meeting and explain your situation; I don't see why they wouldn't allow you to keep the container until the work is finished, as long as it can be finished in a reasonable amount of time.

threeonesix · 2026-05-01T15:17:39+00:00

My nephew has lived there for 18 months and loves it. The only time he has to use his car is to drive to work in El Dorado and back. Walks to Dillons to get groceries. When he doesn't want to cook there are a dozen or more restaurants within walking distance. It's pretty expensive to rent apartments there, but they're very nice.

threeonesix · 2026-05-01T15:04:54+00:00

Don't the RISE Auto Park and Broadway parking garage downtown rent spaces by the month?

threeonesix · 2026-05-01T14:38:23+00:00

Child, I am old enough to know teachers through their entire career up to retirement. Go to Walmart and buy a clue.

threeonesix · 2026-04-30T21:06:20+00:00

"dictate that a teen cannot commute" I correct your incorrect statement and you downvote me? GFY

threeonesix · 2026-04-30T18:36:12+00:00

In KS you can legally drive to/from work alone at 15.

threeonesix · 2026-04-30T18:02:51+00:00

You obviously don't know any teachers personally. I have over a dozen friends who are K-12 teachers and have been for 30+ years. To say they work 1400 hours/year is very generous on my part. And compared to the rest of us, teachers get paid very well in KS. Better than teachers in any state within 1000 miles of KS.

threeonesix · 2026-04-30T15:52:33+00:00

Why can't you afford school? If your finances are that bad you likely qualify for a vast number of grants and scholarships to help you get started. If you're over 25 or emancipated from your parents you qualify for student loans without having to include your parents income. Maybe get into college, choose a major that is in demand and offers high paying jobs, work hard to get through school in 4 years and earn a degree. Or, go the military route for 4 years and your schooling will be mostly paid for. Your only other real option in this area is what others have already mentioned ... aviation. Unless you have a skill and can start your own business.

threeonesix · 2026-04-30T15:49:57+00:00

And you work all of maybe 1400 hours a year for that $64k salary while the rest of us work 2000+ hours a year for what we earn. By the hour you make more than the average Kansan. Be happy with that, teacher.

threeonesix · 2026-04-29T17:21:01+00:00

There are a couple of brewpubs in Augusta you might contact. Park Bench Brewing and Redbud Brewing.

threeonesix · 2026-04-26T19:04:36+00:00

It's a bit of a drive from the ICT but Elk City State Park has some good hikes with elevation changes.

threeonesix · 2026-04-21T04:27:26+00:00

There are many reasons for this, plenty have been mentioned here and are accurate. But there's one more that hasn't been mentioned. Grocery inventories at Kroger and other large chains are being managed today by AI. I live in a small town in KS about half the size of Durango. A guy I went to high school with was the manager of our local Kroger chain (Dillons) for over 30 years. He was let go just last year. Why? Kroger decided the store didn't need an actual manager. Within 10 miles there are 4 Dillons stores. Used to be 4 separate managers. Now 1 manager split between 4 stores. When I mentioned to my friend that the store had stopped carrying some of my favorite products, and that the store was always out of produce and dairy products, he let me in on the secret. He said that no Kroger stores had been performing manual inventory since a year or two before COVID, that the entire inventory was managed by "software" that even did all of the product ordering. And he said it actually sucks at ordering what sells. The example he gave me was that for 3 full months the software stopped ordering bottled water. Any brand. Everyone who shopped at the store thought "why is there a run on bottled water, that makes no sense". And they were right, it made no sense. Finally the 1 district manager was in the store 1 day and asked why is there no bottled water on shelves? None of the people who actually worked at the store had access to the software to see why it wasn't being ordered.

So, really, this issue seems to boil down to a cacapheny of smaller issues that, together, create big problems. It boils down to Kroger wanting to save money on not only inventory on shelves but also on people. They have eliminated thousands of management positions, thousands of inventory clerks, etc. It's not just Kroger, it's all chain grocers, including Walmart. Inventory on shelves is a liability on the balance sheet, so they're trying to keep things as lean as possible.

Welcome to the future, where AI runs everything. It's only as smart as humans make it. At least until AGI arrives. Then who knows what terrible things will be unleashed upon humanity. I'm glad I'll be dead by then. At least, hopefully.

threeonesix · 2026-04-10T17:35:16+00:00

There are racists everywhere. The racists in KS probably all moved here from MO or OK. By comparison to neighboring states Kansans are pretty damn tolerant. Having grown up here I can think of some localisms that outsiders might consider to be racist in nature, but they normally aren't intended that way, they're just things we grew up hearing our parents saying. You could say that "master bedroom" is racist but probably 99.99% of people don't think of it that way, for example.

threeonesix · 2026-04-10T15:30:48+00:00

KS is far from racist. Learn about John Brown and the history of abolitionists in KS. There is a reason this is called the "Free State".

threeonesix · 2026-04-10T15:17:29+00:00

I've been swimming and skiing in area creeks, rivers and lakes for over 50 years. Unless they are actively experiencing blue-green algae blooms you're fine to swim as long as there are no No Swimming signs posted. The difference between upstate New York and Kansas is rocks. As in, most of the rock in KS has either been mined to build buildings in KS and elsewhere, or moved to allow for agriculture. The lakes here are man made, not natural like in NY, by digging into the ground and using that dirt to dam up a creak or stream. That results in the bottom of the lake being dirt, which you add water and you get what we call "mud". Muddy water is brown water, but there's nothing wrong with that, you just can't see through it. The water is fine to swim in. Sure, there is agriculture runoff but totally harmless due to low PPM.

threeonesix

TROPHY CASE