Backdoor deals, crooked politicians and a general disdain for the taxpayers have coalesced in the desecration of a beloved local meadow in Riverside, one of Wichita's oldest neighborhoods. Developers have been allowed to cram FORTY crackerbox palaces into six and a half acres — only seven feet apart from one another — in a spot that had never been developed for residential use, in an area that was finished being developed by the 1950s. As a bonus, one of the most successful builders in town was given THREE QUARTERS OF A MILLION DOLLARS in tax money just because he asked for it!

Now there's a new street turning our cul-de-sac into a throughway, too, and even though nobody has moved in yet, the endless stream of heavy work trucks and garden variety looky-loos has substantially increased traffic on the block. And on a personal note, the city and two different gas companies took turns ripping out my lawn and damaging my decades-old tree all through 2021 and I am still waiting for any sort of relief on either.

And don't @ me about Botanica. If you cannot grasp the irony of ripping out acres of trees at a botanical garden in order to pour asphalt for hundreds more individual cars visiting said garden, that's your deal.