Topeka economy spawns a lot of its problems
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6/25/2013
The economy here is terrible. My wife and i moved to Kansas from California 20 years ago. We knew California was getting bad with crime, taxes, gas prices, cost of living, etc.. so we moved here where it was more laid back and less expensive. We bought a nice house on a small lake not far from Topeka (about 45 minutes). The commute to work wasnt bad and gas was fairly cheap compared to the rest of the country. Life was pretty good. Recently (1 year ago), we sold the lake house and moved into Topeka and bought a house in a nice neighborhood. We were here for 3 days when someone broke into our truck and stole a TON of stuff. We lived in our lake house for 20 years and rarely locked the doors to the house or the vehicles and never had a problem. After one year of living in this town, we are ready to leave. Gangs, drugs, drunks, lack of work and a poor local government and economy cause a lot of their issues. Wages are not great. Upper class and lower class people are separated with virtually no middle class to speak of. Topeka Police dont care about anything, its common to see them sleeping in their cars in different spots. Domestic violence is on the rise here. Gas prices are now fluctuating by as much as $.25 a day, sometimes more. Profiteering is ridiculous by the wealthy. Strip Clubs are everywhere. Prostitution is going up every week. There are 3 adult book stores within 15 minutes of each other which breeds a seedy type of person. There is no culture here, nothing to do, no real good outdoor activities, hail storms 10 times a year. Weve had to claim hail damage 3 times in one year. Strangely enough we never had any hail damage when we lived 45 minutes from here, weird i know, but its true. It seems like Topeka just has bad "Mo-Jo" for lack of a better word. EVERYTHING has gone wrong since we moved here. Its like we took a step into some kind of "bad luck machine" since the day we got here. We need to pay off more of our mortgage before we can pack up and leave but we cant wait to go. Maybe some people like it here, but we dont and most of our neighbors dont. This seems like a place to move "from" not "to"! If you enjoy being fat and having a thousand restaurants to choose from, this is the place for you. If you like a healthy outdoor lifestyle, go elsewhere.
Somebody | Topeka, KS