The Downtown Arena is supposed to be the catalyst for development in the downtown area? Why, then, are so many people now vehemenently opposed to it? Apparently those people complaining at this point weren't aware that for the stadium to actually stand in the downtown area...other buildings were going to have to be demolished. No no...don't tear down the trashy, homeless area south of Downtown.

According to the Wichita.gov website, the "redevelopment area" includes: S. Main Street on the west; the central rail corridor on the east; the Kellogg freeway on the south and E. Douglas Street on the north (See Picture).

What the nay-sayers aren't realizing is that Wichita is on the precipice of change...we either roll with it or we are going to be rolled over. According to Visioneering Wichita, we're losing jobs in the manufacturing industry....a staple for Wichita since at LEAST the second World War. (http://www.visioneeringwichita.com/case-for-change.cfm). In fact, we're losing manpower just as heavily with a projected defecit of 50,000+ skilled laborers in the next 20 years.

Change and innovation are the solutions to that potential problem. If we make Wichita more attractive, the more enticing it will be for people from other cities to make this their home. The people not wanting to spend the money today are not going to have to be living here in 20 or 30 years when job loss and Corporate attrition has reduced Wichita to rubble...

"Build it and they will come"...or so the saying goes.

Arena Plans - http://www.wichita.gov/CityOffices/Planning/AP/Comprehensive/ArenaPlan.htm

~Dubya