I have read every review of Topeka on this website. In general the bulk of people's negative issues with Topeka seem to stem from personal problems of their own rather than specific issues that make Topeka unique to any other city in the U.S., which I have lived in coast to coast over my lifetime. There appears to be nothing especially unique about Topeka to other cities of its size & location in the country. In addition, most people that make negative comments about Topeka appear to be those having a bout of bad luck, those who may not have been prepared for the slower pace of life in the Midwest & the climate in that part of the country, which can be challenging for those accustomed to more temperate or more outdoor oriented lifestyles. Living in any Midwestern state in America can take major compromise & adjustment for those moving there from some of our Western or Eastern coastal states where outdoor living is easy. Topeka is in Kansas, after all. A place where there are 4 seasons & it rains a lot of the time, is cold & snows in winter & hot & humid in summer. The lifestyles of people living in Topeka propabaly tend to reflect the climatic conditions in which they live to a degree in addition to the slower pace of life of cities in the Midwest in general. Based on the most recent information about Topeka the city has & is making a huge financial investment in improvements addressing precisely the issues expressed in some negative reviews. Also, if the Spiraling website is accurate, those investments should go a long way to changing the dynamic of the city at large. There will always be people who won't be satisfied no matter where they live but a careful review & visits to a city educating oneself as thoroughly as possible about every aspect of an area can alleviate much of the dissatisfaction if a person is compelled to relocate to a specific city or state. Compromises will usually have to be made, as almost no place is perfect for everyone. Topeka statically doesn't rate more especially high on any barometer for any specific issue than most other diversely populated cities in the middle of the country. It has the usual issues any city faces that should be dealt with over time & it appears Topeka is making serious efforts to deal with its particular problems. Again, the majority of the negative comments I have read in the reviews of Topeka appear to be based on one bad personal experience, a person having bad luck that could happen anywhere, dissatisfaction with the slower pace of living & nonspecific, unsubstantiated & somewhat incoherent complaints about corrupt government, which are typical issues applicable to living in any urban setting that's behind in addressing specific & important problems surrounding urban living. There is crime, there are gangs, drugs, strip clubs & general bad areas in every city. Some cities are slower than others to find the governmental motivation & funding to address their issues but based on current info Topeka appears to be working hard to solve it's problems. To be fair it would seem some people could step up to help rather than publish complaints & advise others to avoid & even leave a place. If your city isn't what you think it should or could be perhaps becoming involved in a way that promotes change is a more productive approach, which can result in your own personal growth & satisfaction. One never knows how much they can accomplish or simply motivate positive change, until they step up to give it a try. Citizens of an environment can organize & gain control of that environment. It requires being a more positive thinking person to begin with & a person who can get along with & influence others. Topeka is likely no different than most cities of its size & population located in the middle of the country. The people who live in a city make a city. If Topeka is so awful perhaps the people of the city need to improve themselves & increase their efforts & participate in the improvement of their city rather than invest their energy publishing complaints &/or abandon their city. I live in a city in CO. I visit friends in several cities in KS quite often. I see the many issues faced by cities in KS. In the city where I live it used to be very different but people joined forces & voted very carefully when it came time to choose city officials. They also became a force for good in the changes that needed to occur in the city for it was a dying city in which not many families except those of Colorado natives found an appealing place to live. Now it's totally the opposite to the point of people wanting to leave because of the improvements implemented by citizens not so many years ago creating huge growth, lower crime rates, massive world class venues & improvements Now there's an extremely high population growth problem driving everything from outrageous home prices & cost of living in general to massive traffic jams on freeways unable to handle the major influx of people migrating to the city & adjacent cities every month (10K a month in 2018). The very high cost of living, constant influx of more people to the tune of thousands per month began with the citizens banning together to clean up & improve the city making it a destination for more corporate investment & constant growth which must be managed by carefully elected democratic city & state officials, as large cities require very democratic management for anything positive to be accomplished & maintained. So, rather than complaining maybe Topekans can take a lesson from the citizens of some other cities & how those citizens changed their city's conditions & futures. Denver is a prime example of what citizens can accomplish when they join together in positive ways to negotiate major changes for the improvement of their town. Twenty years ago Denver was a dying city in major ways but citizens joined together to address the issues expressed by people from inside & outside of the city. Today Denver has far surpassed what those citizens wanted, which was a clean, safe, crime free, family friendly city where there were venues & areas with opportunities for cultural growth in addition to the traditional events that had always been enjoyed by residents of the city. It may not happen as quickly as some would like for your city but the sooner it's begun the sooner positive change can occur in Topeka. Good ideas always succeed, when positive people join together to create positive change.
Julia | Strasburg, CO | Report Abuse