Focus Group

[MODERATOR]: . . . that you have to deal with on an ongoing basis. What problems do people like you and me face in everyday life? I'm going to make a list of all the problems. Common, everyday problems. [Female] Paying bills. [Moderator] Paying bills! [Female] Just making ends meet. [Facilitator writing] 're a single [Facilitator]. Anybody. [Female] Just making ends meet. [inaudible] [MODERATOR]: Making ends meet. [MODERATOR]: What else? What are your problems, raising children? Help me, guys. [Female] Well, especially when you're a single parent, I think it's hard. [Male] [inaudible] [Female] Yeah, it's tough being a parent, period. And then it's really compounded. [Male] I was raised by a single parent, and now that I reflect back on it I see a lot of things that really slap me in the face every tie you turn around today. [Inaudible] [Faciitator] So I'm hearing parenting and single parenting, okay? [Tammy] I worry a lot about my kids' future. [MODERATOR]: Your kids' future. [writing] And what, specifically, Tammy?

[TAMMY]: Like college -- you know -- whether I'm going to have the money for them to go to college. [MODERATOR]: Okay. What are you worried about? What are you worried about, Joan? [JOAN]: I worry about the, I don't know how to word it, but the whole climate of the public. The hatred, that, oh, it's just just so critical, and so hateful, so much of the things that are going on. [Female] I second the motion. [Facilitator] Okay. What are you worried about, Elizabeth? [MODERATOR]: Okay. What are you worried about, Elizabeth? [ELIZABETH]: Actually, with the gray hair, we've reached that point in life where things aren't that tough. I remember not being able to make the bills paid, and for years we said things like, "Boy, when our ship comes in . . .", you know you finally reach a point where you either sink or it comes in. So I don't personally have problems, but I work with people that are so desperate. They're desperate for a job,

they're desperate to find one more rent payment, they're desperate to get electricity back on. And so those are really the concerns I have, are the concerns for the clients that I work with that are just hanging on by their fingernails and looking at what's happening from the federal government today that wants to take away what little they have and provide them with even less. [MODERATOR]: Okay. What problems do you face? [MALE]: Excuse me, more than a problem, I think it's more of a concern. Our last child is a junior in high school; he'll be out of high school next year a junior in high school. He'll be out of high school next year. And I have a grandchild and another one that will be here very soon. And what really concerns me is the quality of education. I know it's been bandied about forever, but I have raised three children ranging from children aging from 29 down to 16. And each one them was a fight all from the

day they walked into school until the day they graduated to get what I felt was a quality education, and it hasn't gotten any better. At least, that's my opinion. [Facilitator] Okay. [Elizabeth] I find that a major problem for my clients looking for work. They may have They may have a high school diploma. Employers say, "If they could just come to us reading, writing, and doing arithmetic at an 8th grade level, we could use them, but they've only got a 5th grade level." [Male] Absolutely. [ELIZABETH]: And that's someone with a 12th grade education. [Male] Because I feel that they do NOT teach the fundamentals. [MODERATOR]: Okay. [Female] I'm a vocational specialist in a facility that works with juvenile offenders, and I'm seeing the school expel these kids at 13, 14, 15. They're too young to work legally. And what are they going to do? besides be out on the street and get more trouble? And the ones that are still in school, when I give achievement tests- or aptitude testing- they're

testing in the second and third stanines. It doesn't matter It doesn't matter whether it's the school's fault or their fault. As a baby boomer, these are going to be the kids that are going to be supporting our base, and they're not prepared to do it. I know that I see that the worst case scenario, but . . . [Male] We're going to have a minority group ruling the majority, because that majority youngsters who aren't able in any way whatsoever to compete above that level. [MODERATOR]: Okay. I think we've addressed that issue satisfactorily. Are there any other problems? Or some other problems? [Male] I think, [Male] I think for it fits with the education, it fits with with some of the others, but just how little people care, You know, all the things we talked about education -- my wife and I, we're right in the battle education right now, and a lot of it falls down to the fact that the parents don't care. [Facilitator] Okay. [Male] There's There's grandparents that don't care. You know, we have a school that's pretty well-to-do, but we have many kids that are from disadvantaged homes as well as from very high

economic homes. All they want is a hug. It doesn't matter if they have one parent or two parents. It's just a real simple thing. [MODERATOR]: Okay. What else? What other problems? [Female] I was going to mention that, [KAREN]: Well I was going to mention that, too, that I think a major with all these things that we've discussed are, like family problems, a breakdown of the family. Because I even have a cousin who works for the School Board and in the educational system and at one of the schools. And the horror stories she tells me, I mean, the way some of these kids come to school, if they make it at all, and and no breakfast and the dad, you know the boyfriend beat the mom up last night, just on and on and on. It It amazes me that they can even learn anything at all at school coming from the background they do. And I just think that even kids very much loved, sometimes I don't know if they even sense they are. And if there are problems, like

in divorces or custody battles and things like that, and the kids are just torn. You know, because they say that's a big reason that kids join gangs and all, it's because they don't feel loved and accepted at home, so they go elsewhere to find that acceptance. And I just, you know, I just think these gangs would have no allure to kids at all if there was a stable home environment. And even if they're loved, you know, sometimes just the custody and the battles with all that, they don't feel loved; they feel torn. You feel helpless to do anything about it. You just have a tough time in court and all that- a terrible time. [Paper tearing] [Female] I think that leads into a related problem; that of the growing, huge, numbers of very early teen pregnancies. I think a lot of those kids are looking, not for someone for them to love, but someone to love them because that's what they've been

missing out on without realizing that that baby's going to take a lot more love than it's going to be able to give. [MODERATOR]: Okay. What other problems do we need to put up here on our list? [Female] I feel that [TAMMY]: I feel that prayer in school needs to come back. [MODERATOR]: Ok. Ramesh, you started to say something? [RAMESH]: Well, I think most of the problems that have been indicated over here that has been, certainly my view also. I would also add to that is problems that are especially applicable to the small businesses vs. the large business. Essentially, maybe, I guess, progressing right now. despite the fact that we are considering that small businesses are very numbers of the United States. We are walking away from them. [MODERATOR]: Okay. What are some

other problems? [Male] The other concern I have- we always talk about high taxes. I'm not as concerned about high taxes as I am in getting a value for the taxes I pay. [Laughter] There's just so much waste, and it really compounds the higher you go, but there's a feeling, I think, among a lot of folks that that well can just be tapped forever. [Facilitator] Okay. What else? What other problems do you have? [Male] Well, the only other one that really ranks high on my list is, of course, security. That would relate to policing. I know that policing is not totally the answer, but I certainly feel that there is strength in numbers. I also feel that if they're

happy and- you have to want to be a policeman. If they're happy with their pay and their environment and have opportunity for growth and everything, I've always found that people do a much better job. I don't believe that we have a sufficient force to do really deal that problem. [MODERATOR]: Are there any other things that are important to you, whether they be personally- or to maybe look at some of the problems facing our community, and some of these things you've mentioned are community problems. Can you think of any other problems that are important to our community? Problems that need to be addressed? [RAMESH]: I think since you brought up the community at large, Of course, everyone here expressed an opinion in a sense that we do require some wider opportunities as far as employment and economic growth goes. So that means that we need diversification of the employment

So that means that we need diversification employment base in Wichita. That brings the next question: what's our tax base? that brings the next question: what's our tax base that we're hearing in this state? [Male] Itself! [RAMESH]: And how can we manage it? [Male] One kind of suppresses the other or one kind of helps the other. [MODERATOR]: What are some other issues? I want to get all the issues on the table. [Female] Another issue, which can be broken down into that and most other things is how big a role do we want the government to play in our lives? [Facilitator] Okay. The size of government role. [Male] Especially in small business. Other issues? [Male] One of the issues that I see, since I'm in agricultural and I travel all over the All over the Midwest, a lot of small towns- Wichita has a reputation for the last couple of years of being very arrogant- That we can't and won't try to get along with the people that we live around. I think whether it's the legislature, whether it's our neighbors in other communities or

whatnot. [Facilitator] Okay. [Male] We're being important- we're the only ones that should have a say. [Female] I think it's always been that way in the legislature, though, because there are so many legislators from this area. And they tend to ignore the rural problems the rural problems vice versa; they, you know, try and go against Sedgwick County because they know that they have the majority, as a rule, from one county. [Facilitator] Okay. Are there any other problems we face as a community? As a citizen of Wichita, what's on your mind? What are your concerns? [ELIZABETH]: One of the things that sort of gets to me, especially this time of year, is with political campaigns where they try to divide the city and the people, as opposed to trying to find something good to talk about. They're just talking about what's bad, and it just carries forward and it gets so vicious sometimes that it just makes me want to turn it off. [JOAN]: It's more of that hatred. [MODERATOR]: It goes back to the hatred we talked about. [JOAN]: There's too much national hatred being preached from too many

radio programs and TV programs and there's so many people that don't think for themself [sic] that they just pick up on that and join the crowd. And it's scary -- as a nation, I think it's scary. [KAREN]: Well, it almost becomes like a low-balling game or something. Nothing is out of bounds anymore. You can say anything about anybody. [Male] Absolutely. [KAREN]: No matter how malicious it is. A lot of times, sadly, it doesn't even have to be true! [Male] You can make the allegation. [KAREN]: Right, if you can just put a reasonable doubt or whatever and make them withdraw from the race. If you do respond to it, they attempt to be malicious and want to get back or something. Before you know it, it's like- [Female] The reverse of that, though, is that we have- just today or yesterday- we've got another cabinet member, Cisneros, that Janet

Reno is saying an independent counsel should be investigating him, and that's one more. The question is: at what point do you say "No, we're not going to get the information out because that's too personal,", or, "It's none of our business.". At what point do we let it all out? [Female] I guess i was speaking more locally, is what I was speaking of. [MODERATOR]: [inaudible] is more locally, too. [Female] As I [inaudible] in general, I was hearing that in terms of the way people are disagreeing with each other, not so much whether or not there's an individual in government that needs to be removed from government. If that that needs to be done, then it needs to be done. The problem, it seems to me, to have gotten so bad in the past couple of years is that if I disagree with you, I label you with name name and then I make it an invective- almost a curse word- and that way nobody has to pay attention to you; your point of view is nothing because I've called you this name; I've shamed you. And instead of having dialogue that produces like, all you have is dialogue that produces hate.

[Male] One other part that disturbs me, too, and I am a great watcher of television and a great reader of various publications besides The Wichita Eagle-Beacon. I'm also from the School of Journalism. As far as I'm concerned, the reporting aspect of it is no longer reporting; its commentary from whoever's [sic] point of view that might be. It might be the reporter on the radio or television station or the reporter on the newspaper. It may be not always the Wichita Eagle-Beacon but other publication is running around through town. It's not reporting the facts. To me, it's a commentary and that's not right. [Male] Well, all the future articles- something will be listed wrong once and it will be repeated over and over and over. [Male] Or someone will say, "That's the gospel because that was reported here. [Male] But the problem with that that is, it gets down to the hatred. One of the things is that we create these expectations for people that I'm going to be blah, blah, blah,

blah, blah, blah, you know, above board, blah blah blah, and then you know they end up being no worse; maybe that's kind of a challenge for us to find out, where to find the dirt on this person, but one of the reasons people to it on the radio, and I don't at all, but they're frustrated. It seems like in a lot of the media one side gets covered. Period. You know, one point of view and people are wanting more information. But at the same time, we're reading less. We're watching sound bites. We're listening to these idiotic shows on TV and, you know, I know that's what sells, too. Part of it's back to the caring- there's [sic] fewer and fewer people that really are concerned about the people next to them. [Moderator] Community issues. What are some other issues that are important to us as a community? As a group of citizens here in Wichita. What's important to our community? What are some of the issues- what are some of the problems. I believe Mary "?Dial?" mentioned the fact we're in the middle of an election campaign right now.

What are the issues that are important? What issues should they be discussing for the local candidates here? What should they be talking about? [Male] They ought to be talking about economic development. [MODERATOR]: What should they be talking about? [Female] Community policing. [MODERATOR]: Community policing. What should they be talking about? [Female] Neighborhood initiatives. [Moderator] Neighborhood initiatives. [Female] The streets. [Moderator] What do you mean? The streets themselves? [Female] The streets themselves. Or what's on the streets [Female] When you hit the pothole that almost swallows your car- [MODERATOR]: I didn't know if you were talking potholes or kids on the street. "?Ranavesh?" you started to say something? [RAMESH]: Well, I absolutely agree with the gentleman here that economic should be foremost, and then the social strength, the family unite. And there's a love, an inspiration- [MODERATOR]: How can the government help the family unite? [RAMESH]: It's a personal thing. It's, I think, the home environment, but I believe media, in a lot of ways, will help a lot of things. [MODERATOR]: So, there's nothing the government can do to help that problem?

[RAMESH]: They can ease the pain in a lot of ways. [MODERATOR]: Okay. How? [Male] I guess [RAMESH]: I guess, let's just talk about that if the help is needed, for example Head Start, for example, where any education aide requires, for example, where safety and security is required. These are the different areas where we all require some kind of surety so we are at peace. peace. [MODERATOR]: What are some other issues that are community? What should they be talking about in this campaign? campaign? Local issues. [Female]: I think they need to be more aware of [Female] I think they need to be aware of social services and things because there are so

many people that are underprivileged, especially children. I don't know how they would go about it, but it just needs to be- even though you belong to a church and maybe your church is active in a lot of social services, you still need to be more aware of the community as a whole and deal with those things, see where you can help. And there's so much need for volunteer workers and things like that. [MODERATOR]: Social services. [Male] But then again, I really don't don't wanna see the government involved in that, because when they are, then you create a bureaucracy and then the dollars that should go to help and to be of assistance are eaten up in salaries and rules and regulations and so forth- [Female] But I have in mind things like Operation Clothesline and things that the city has budged for and then they cut down on that- but things like that really do do a service for people; I mean I think it's hard for us to imagine how desperate so many of these people are. They don't have the proper clothing can't clothe their children and

I think these things are still necessary to help contribute, too. [MODERATOR]: What are other things that need to be addressed in this campaign? [Female] Lower your property taxes. We're from Oklahoma and we paid less for my car tags than I am here. [MODERATOR]: Decrease property taxes. What are other issues that should be covered in the local campaigns? [RAMESH]: Well, I think a lot of times, you hear talk about if you are paying too much taxes. The question here is really how much sacrifice you are willing to make. Wichita is- let's just take Kansas and the state and the population and then we consider Wichita. Wichita, as I see it, is physically located in the middle of the United States and let look at what we can do to our community. We have talked about economic growth, economic development. In doing it, we need some kind of diversification of the businesses. How we can do it? [sic]

I feel that since it is located strategically, we can make Wichita as a hub Wichita as a hub for greater distribution centers for all of the United States- shortest distance. We need diversification in our industries. The only thing we have is airplane manufacturing and, of course, we have a couple of others. But if we increase diversification and we increase employment maybe, I guess, 2,000 to 3,000 people, what that would do is it would create a tremendous growth in many many ways. Then, ultimately, it is going to come down to taxes. Everybody is complaining about the taxes. the taxes. We have gone through paying such tremendous high taxes. Especially- [MODERATOR]: Ok, I think we've hit that- [RAMESH]: Especially for the commercial properties. Where they all went unders on East Kellogg, all the hotels on East Kellogg [inaudible]. [MODERATOR]: I think we've addressed

the tax issue adequately. I want to see what are some other issues that we need to make sure that we report on in the election campaigns; that we get answers from the candidates. What are things we need to be covering in the news media? What's important in the local campaign? [JOAN]: If you ask the candidates and they don't answer, you still don't know anything. [MODERATOR]: How do you want that they answer, Joan? them to answer, Joan? [JOAN]: Well, as an example, the other day in The Wichita Eagle, they always have the Ask the Candidate, almost all of Bob Knight's were like, "I'm not qualified- you know, I won't take a stand. I just don't think i should-". You know, all his questions were like that. [MODERATOR]: Okay. [ELIZABETH]: It's like he doesn't want to say anything that's gonna- [JOAN]: Be controversial- [ELIZABETH]: until after the election. After he's elected, then he'll come out and tell us what he believes, but until then, he's not going to say anything that might make somebody not vote for him. And

I would rather have a person speak out and say what- [many voices compete] [Moderator] One at a time now. [Male] Oh, I'm sorry. [MODERATOR]: So how do you want candidates to answer questions like that? [LEN]: One thing I'm concerned about, because I have gone to a candidate forum, the -- I come back to the word again -- the word "arrogance" comes back. "I am the only right answer." That's the one thing I didn't appreciate about even Bob Knight was, you know, of them he didn't have a decision on- and probably shouldn't have- the issue about the city manager- that's not something for a campaign. [Other male] No. [Male] You know, some of those questions were irresponsible. I guess, as a citizen of Wichita, I want to be able to live a peaceful life. I want to be able to get along with my neighbors. I want to be able to help my kids in their school. And I guess I didn't really realize that, you

know, the generation is passing. I'm not that old, my kids aren't that old, but the emphasis now needs to be on them versus on me. And so I want to make sure that the city that I live in is one that will grow and that offers some benefits. I've lived in both extremes. I grew up on a farm in Nebraska; I lived in Chicago. [Moderator] Um hm. [Male] It You know, it took an awful long time to get used to coming to Wichita, to live in Wichita. I had to take my watch for six months because it was so much slower than the pace in Chicago. But we have really, you know, put down our roots now at this point. And in the last two or three years, our crime has gone up. There's been more crime on our street than we've ever had. You know, vandals -- windows got broken in one night less than three weeks ago. And the response was, "Well, we can't do anything about it.". We have neighbors that are doing things that aren't necessarily probably the best.

We really try to be involved with them, try to know what's going on, help 'em out. And I don't necessarily expect the government to come in and rush in to help everybody on everything, but I don't want them necessarily to put up roadblocks where, with what I see in terms of regulations, what I see with attitudes that we can only do it one way. [MODERATOR]: You brought up an interesting point, Len. You said- you made a comment about the candidate forum you went to and said that they were asking about the city manager's performance. And you said you didn't think that should be an election issue. Those are the kind of things I want to know about. Are there things that we've been reporting on that you really don't think are relevant to the campaign other than that particular issue? [Female] That does seem like a personnel issue that should be- [MODERATOR]: Okay, so you don't think that's really a campaign issue. Are other- [Female] He hadn't worked with him, either; he's been in Topeka, so he hasn't worked with him- [Other female] Cherches has been here a long time. [Male] Yeah, he has. [MODERATOR]: Are there other issues? [Female] One thing the paper used to do that I thought was a nice feature is when

a commercial would come out, they would analyze it. [Male] That's why I disagree. [Female] Why? [Male] Well, because I want to make up my own mind. I don't want someone to tell me how, as a commentary, they broke this down and this is what it means. Well, I'm intelligent enough to make up my own mind. [Female] That's like [inaudible] the news with the eight-year-old mind where we'd prefer it with the twelve-year-old mind. [Male] You're right! You've got it! Absolutely! [laughter] I don't want them to tell me how to think either I resent that. [Other male] I resent it, too. [Female] I don't think you're understanding what I'm saying. I'm not talking about whether or not- what I'm saying is when a candidate says, "Candidate A slept with someone else.". If that's true or not true, to some extent needs to be addressed. The reality of it is not everybody has time to check out every candidate. We very much depend on the media to let us know

what the issues are and where people stand on those issues. [Competing voices] [Female] It's not a matter of trying to tell us which way [inaudible] putting the facts out as fairly [inaudible]. [MODERATOR]: But our purpose tonight is we don't want to be telling you what the issues are anymore. We want to hear what you think the issues are. Are we covering everything? everything? If you don't think the city manager's an issue, what do you think the issues are? What about city and county consolidation? Is that an issue? [Male] I think it's a good idea. [Moderator] Should it be a part of- okay. [Male] The gun issue. [Moderator] The gun issue. What else? Are those things important to you as citizens? [Female] What's important to me right now is the fact that everybody seems to want to walk around with their own and I wonder how the police feel about that, knowing that anybody they stop, any house they have to go to for domestic violence, they may be met by a couple of pistol-toting mamas and papas at the door, making their lives even more dangerous than they are now. [MODERATOR]: So, what about community policing? Is that an issue? [Male] What I'm really disappointed in in the newspaper and the media in this town is

is they take a certain line and- I'm not saying it's one candidate or the other. They say, "Okay, that's it." and that's the depth of it. [Moderator] Okay. [Male] If the candidates don't answer the questions or answer them, then that's the end of it. They don't go in and say, "Okay now, are these consistent? Are they truthful answers? What are they saying elsewhere? What are their positions elsewhere? What are they doing? What's both sides of the fence?". One of the things that burns me to a crisp- and I've had discussions with news reporters in this place- whether you agree or disagree or on what side of the issue you're on on abortion, the point is that there is a certain party line of what people say, whether you're talking to the, you know, the Republicans or Democrats, whether they're in the representatives or with the city. But they don't stop and say, "Okay, now are those answers consistent?". Are they- do they fit back? Of all the

Of all the years that we've been here, we know Tiller performs abortions, but is there any detail about it? I mean, how much does he make? How many abortions come through? How does it affect our taxes both ways- not just with how much it costs to take care of Operation Rescue, but how much does it cost to provide the security that we provide there? What does it cost just even as a local issue how much is it costing us to appeal this issue about the clinic- the location next door? They're saying this is a zoning issue. Why don't we ask the question. I talked to my city councilwoman; her her answer is, "Well, we're listening to the local people in that area, and those local citizens don't want another abortion protest there.", or something. I said, "Okay, that's consistent," but then I asked her about what about the Star Lumber lot out west and the neighbors don't want that and she voted for Star Lumber to build it. Well that's different. What about Boeing and local neighbors? Well that's different? You can't be on both sides of the fence.

If we're going to be consistent, then let's ask questions on both sides. If they're saying, "This is the issue," then, okay, Is that consistent with how they're doing it in the rest of their life? [ELIZABETH]: I think one thing that would be helpful for the paper to do in these cases- it is helpful when you print those blocks- there's a question; there's a brief answer. Once we get down to where there's just two or three candidates for a job rather than twelve, then it seems like the paper to give more space to doing some follow-up and getting a little more in-depth. I don't want to just hear what the candidate's promising; I would like to hear an actual authentic plan for how he hopes to implement what he tells us that he wants. Rather than just the statement, "I'm in favor of mom and apple pie." I want to know how he's going to make the pie. [Moderator] Okay. And what, Joan? [JOAN]: And get the recipe. [MODERATOR]: And get the recipe for that pie? Okay, you bring up an interesting point. What kinds of information -- Elizabeth made a good point there -- what kinds of information do you want to hear from those candidates, once we've defined all our

issues- and if you think of any more issues, please, we want to fill out as many as we can of things that are important to you. But once we once we know what those issues are, how do you want them to respond? What do you expect from them? [Male] Honestly. [Moderator] Okay. [Male] I may not agree with them, but that doesn't make any difference; at least I know that they had the ability to stand up and and honestly say, "Well now this is the way I believe this is the way I think it can be done, and this is how I stand on it". [Moderator] Okay. And I may not agree with them, but if they were honest with me, then I feel better about them as a candidate. I might even change my vote even though I disagree only because I know that I need a degree of honesty somewhere in government, and it's not there. [MODERATOR]: Okay, what do you expect from those candidates in addressing issues? [Female] [inaudible] consequences of what they're offering or planning or promising to do for us. And that's another place the paper could follow up on. [Male] I liked your idea of telling us how to bake the pie. There is an awful lot of people who tell us all these little things- what we ought to do- but nobody tells you how. The truth of the matter is, they don't know how. I'll bet you they don't know how at all. [Female] Everybody's for more jobs; what can a city commissioner or

the city councilman actually do that brings more jobs or that creates more jobs. That's would be something I would want to hear. [MODERATOR]: What else do you want to hear? Are you getting the information that you want out of the candidates to this point? [Male] I don't think we get the right information out of our newspaper. I'm very disappointed in our newspaper and has been for many years. I think it's very slanted to one side. I won't say what side. I'm almost to the point of not even reading it. I get so irritated at it. It just- [Female] I'm really puzzled when I hear people say that they feel like it's very slanted. My liberal friends tell me it's slanted conservative; my conservative friends tell me it's slanted liberal [laughter]. Therefore, I believe that probably the truth is getting getting through occasionally. [laughter] [Male] You sound like an editorial writer here [inaudible] [laughter] [Female] I'm not. An occasional letter writer but not an editorial writer. Secondly, on the op-ed page,

side by side, there will be columns by people with opposite points of view. If you cannot find a discussion of the issues reading those opposite-pointed columns, I don't know what else the paper can do to provide it. [Lynn] I've got an issue. Again, I come back to the abortion issue. This paper calls all abortion protesters- "anti abortion", it's It's "pro-choice" on the others. [Female] Oh, I've seen the word "pro-life." [Male] No, you haven't. I took a survey for six months and I never saw "pro-life" once. [Female] I'm a pro-life person and I see the word in there occasionally. [LEN] You- [MODERATOR]: Time out. I don't want to get too far off; we're running out of time. [LEN]: We can run out of time anytime. But the point is that there are reporters that- [Female] Have their own agenda. [LEN]: That have their own agenda. I don't even have an objection with the reporters because I've talked with a lot of them. It gets into the editors, and they're the ones that cut it out. You know, and I can name a number of issues and- [Moderator] Lynn, [MODERATOR]: Len, question to you is are the candidates addressing that issue adequately? [LEN]: No, they're playing right into it. [MODERATOR]: That's where I want our focus to be. Are we getting the information we need? If not,

what information do want? How do you want your How do you want your information needs met by the candidates? [Male] It's hard to tell, I think, because the newspaper doesn't print is put out. I think that the newspaper's very much anti-religion. And anti-family. And that's one of the big problems our country has is the de-moralization of our country. The family is trashed, and the newspaper is so much multi-culturalism and all those little things and they're totally against what the family is for and they trash it in the paper. [Female] I just want the editorial page to be the editorial page and the news section to be the news section. [Male] So do I. [Female] And you don't want to read editorial comment on the front page. [Female] [inaudible] About a candidate calling him an empty suit with a pretty

face in a section of the newspaper. That is not news, that is an editorial. [Male] And that's insulting to everybody that reads [inaudible]. And I have the same opinion: why do I read this? [MODERATOR]: So, think about the campaign information you have gotten so far. Has it met your needs? What else do you want to know? We've addressed the bias issue, I feel, adequately. Let's move on to something else. [LEN]: One issue I think that's real important, and again it was at this forum I went to, where I live in town, I voted for the at-large member of the school board. That was the only That was the only one I voted for in the primary. And then the people got up at this forum and said everybody in the city votes for all three of the final ones. For District 3 and District 4. I would have to say of that group of 50-75 people, 4 people knew that. Most of the people in the neighborhood that I Iive in only voted for the at-large. They had no idea that we voted for District 3 and District 4, Which is on the south side of town. And these were our city

leaders. I mean they were they were very important people in the city. [MODERATOR]: Misinformed on procedure. [Male] The other thing I'd like to know is that there are some programs and some issues that we're talking about, the Neighborhood Initiative and so forth, I'd to know how are these things funded? If it's funded, how long is it funded for? In other words, if it's funded for a year and a half, and then the funding stops, who pickups up the bill for it? It may be right in the middle the program and by that time if it comes back on me as a taxpayer, I'm going, "Wait a minute." You know? I want to know how some of these things are funded. And is it by the taxpayer, or is it by some grant or something like that, and when does it run out? [MODERATOR]: So, what else do you want to know? What else do you want to know? Are their positions clear? Do you understand candidates' positions on the different issues that are important to you? [Joan] No. [Moderator] You don't? Why not, Joan? What

What do you need to help you understand better? [JOAN]: I just don't think they explain. I think there's too much just kinda like that. [MODERATOR]: Kinda like what? [JOAN]: You know, just like we said before, that they aren't going to take a strong stand sometimes, because they don't want it to work against them in the election. After they're elected, they can do whatever they want to, but they don't want to explain all the details that we've talked about here before. They don't say how they're gonna do this or how they're gonna do that. how they're going to do that. Why they're in favor of a certain thing or why they're against it. There needs to be more dialogue on some of these things. [MODERATOR]: What else? Are they confusing? [KAREN]: I think they need some, you know, some accountability when she saying, like you were saying you want them to be honest, and that's really true, you do, but rather than politically correct, but at the same time she said they can do whatever they

want to after they're elected and I just, don't think that that should be tolerated. If somebody made an honest mistake and misspoke or just voiced something and then when they got into it, based on further information or knowledge or whatever, they change their opinion, to me it should be stated as such and the rationale. Everybody understands that sometimes things like that happen, but I think there needs to be accountability for, you know, just not being elected is not acceptable. [Male] [inaudible] The only accountability that they have is when they come up for re-election. re-election. [ELIZABETH]: Ultimately, accountability is in our hands. And over and over again, we, as voters, vote for the familiar name. We may not like the guy, we may complain about him, we vote for him over and over again. [Moderator] Why do we do it, Elizabeth? [Elizabeth] Because [ELIZABETH]: Well, because I think most people don't-

how many people did you have call in to be part of this tonight? I don't think large numbers of people get that involved. They say, "Well, it doesn't matter much to my life who's in the White House or who's in the Statehouse or who's in City Hall." [Male] What difference is it going to make in 100 years? [ELIZABETH]: Right. I think most people don't care enough to get involved and to want to ferret out the answers even from those who make it hard to do that, so that we can form an opinion based on critical thinking not just on some advertisements and promises. [LEN]: We're looking for perfect people. [ELIZABETH] Sure. [LEN]: The perfect candidate. [MODERATOR]: So describe the perfect candidate to me, Len. [LEN]: Well, there isn't one. [MODERATOR]: What would he or she be like if we had one? [LEN]: The way I vote, is, I stop and think, "Who am I going to regret being in there the most the next day?". the next day?" And I never put a lot of emphasis into that until awhile back there was a candidate in the primary and I really regretted not voting for him. That sounds really strange, but we're never going to have a perfect candidate and a

lot of times we're going to get the lesser of two evils. We don't necessarily- but i think part of this is because we have such high expectations, you know? We want the world and, I don't mean to be rude, but we want the recipe, but the point is is that that one person, whether he or she is the mayor or he or she is on the School Board is part of a team, and that team includes us and most of is aren't willing to get off our butts and do anything about it. And the problem with it is, too, is what we talked about, is that then it's an either-or. I had one city council person that told me because I didn't vote for them that she wasn't gonna listen to me and didn't care what I had to say. This was after they got in. I don't care who gets in- I mean I do- I shouldn't say that- I care very much. But afterwards, they are my city council person. [Female] That's right. [LEN]: They owe me the opportunity to listen. [Male] They've got that arrogance attitude. [LEN]: They can tell me they don't agree. [Male] I'm above it. [LEN]: But the point is if they want me

to support them on other things, then they better be support- I mean, we've got to start building teamwork back into our government [inaudible]. [Moderator] How do we do that, Len? [LEN]: I think one thing is we cut the arrogance. the arrogance. If we don't know, we say we don't know. Let's work it out. And I think we sometimes have brutally honest with people. We have to say, "We only got,", like in the last race, "15-20 percent of the people vote out of only 15-20 of people that register that live in the community. You know, we need to realize that there are going to be fewer people fewer people and- I guess I've always believed- I've voted in every election since I turned 18. I've never missed one; I've travelled long distances distances to do that. But the big thing is I then have retained my right to complaint as much as I want. [Moderator] Okay. Is there [MODERATOR]: Is there anything else the candidates could do to address your concerns? The things that are important to you and this community? What else can they do? [RAMESH]: As Len pointed out, I guess they [inaudible]

more open-minded. [Moderator] Open minded? [Male] They should listen to both sides of the issues [inaudible] of the issues are. For example, there was a recent write-up in the Eagle on a problem area on prostitutes. It It was only a one sided issue and we believe that there were some crimes that had a had occurred over the years some social economic pattern change that brought some changes in that neighborhood. I believe it would probably be about 20-30 years. And suddenly we woke up. I mean it just happened. And now, we are, I guess in a [inaudible] gun tried to do something about it. Hey, that's great; we need to have a good neighborhood, a clean neighborhood, a neighborhood without a crime. But has anybody addressed

the issues about the businesses involved in that area? What are the consequences that are going on, I guess, suffered from because when it gets down to it, these crimes are occurring, I think, on East Kellogg, West Kellogg, North End, South End. Have we paid any attention properly? So we So we have not devoted Colaboration as to what happened, where it has happened, why it has happened. has happened. What can be done? Is it happening only locally at the place? See, that was a sense I had- worst publicity in the whole State of Kansas- that the people, especially certain neighborhood council members as well as the council council members. They were really thinking that that's the greater issue there was. [Male]: It's an issue, but not [inaudible]. [RAMESH]: It's an issue. [MODERATOR]: Right, we have

exhausted our first hour. I want to kind of wrap our thoughts together here and I want you to think of basically- my two major concerns are: number 1: What are your concerns, personally and as a citizen of this community? Is there anything we have not covered problem-wise, issue-wise, whatever you want to call it. Is there anything we have not discussed yet that you feel are issues that are important to this community? [GORDON BASHAM]: If you can read my handwriting, you're really great. [Male] It's a minor thing, but I don't think that the city council- well, it goes back to his arrogance bit. I don't think they really care what the people say. They go to these meetings and they'll overflow the building, and yet they don't listen to what the people say. They vote their own way whether or not, it appears, the majority was against what they vote. I think they need to listen. [Moderator] Okay, are there other issues? issues? [Female] I was, again I guess, in the open-mindedness because what comes to mind was one of the state

legislators. He said, "80% of the state may be for the lottery, but if they knew what I new, they wouldn't be for it." What is 80% or what is the public vote on the gun issue? When the public comes out and they say it and they state it and the lawmakers still- [DON]: They'll ignore it. What happened to majority rule? [MODERATOR]: Just a second, Don. [Female] Yeah, it's the same type of thing. They say the people need to speak, but when we speak and it doesn't fit your view, then they just ignore it. [DON]: It's because they know better than you and me. [TAMMY]: Another issue would be education. [MODERATOR]: Okay. Anything specific? [TAMMY]: Like, just how they're going to educate our children better. Maybe less field trips. [MODERATOR]: Less field trips? Okay. [DON]: Absolutely! [MODERATOR]: Just a second, Don, let Tammy speak. [TAMMY]: I have a daughter that in the 11th- in the 5th grade. She

is going on five field trips between now and the end of school. Five. [MODERATOR]: Hmm. Interesting [TAMMY]: That's a lot of fun. I looked at her and said, "You don't go on these field trips if your grades don't come up," because her grades are low. To me, I don't think they ought to even suggest suggest that the kids' that grades are low. [MODERATOR]: Good point. Other issues we have not addressed already? [Male] I think education is one. I don't think the average citizen knows what's goin' on in our schools. That we have 28 kids, at an average, per classroom. We have teachers that- we feel very fortunate. We have a very, very good school. We are a big promoter for our school. We do a lot of work for our school. But again, we pick sides. If parents do get involved, then they're busybodies. They shouldn't be. When people question what's being put out by the education elite, there's problems. We're talking about a bond issue for our city schools this fall. What do you know about it? I know of at least 6 schools that should be condemned today that don't even meet fire codes.

They don't anything We don't say anything about it because we don't want to cause a problem, but we send our kids there every day. You know, who's going to find that out. [Male] Well I think at times I guess we are issuing addressing the issue the deficit as much as I would like to say- essentially, it's going to boil down to- if the financially stronger communities there and if there is a family where- despite of the hard work- if there's a proper love and care is given to the kids, education will be there because you are the best teacher than any other teacher that I know. Furthermore, I say is this that if the community is financially strong, then and then that community will be able to address the community's problem

despite the fact that we are saying that, hey, there is a crime problem there is a safety problem, there is an education problem, we have this problem. Funding is going to be a major issue, ultimately. If we don't want to pay the taxes, we will reduce, the question is there's a big problem of a deficit and when it comes down to it, what is is your principal sacrifice? [inaudible] address to that. When the citizens began to say, hey, look, I'm the citizen of this community and as part as, in order to solve this problem I'm willing to pay, based on my income, say half a percent, and then we'll begin to solve the problem. Not necessarily by giving the half a percent. Then, we are making the people who are going to manage those funds responsible for accountability and then we will begin to I guess see the

changes. [MODERATOR]: Are any other last issues we have not covered? That we need to put on the table? [LEN]: The one question I have is, it's about our Main Street. Why did it cost $2 million to lay new bricks there? And then two weeks later, we dug up the bricks because someone wanted to put another new line down. [Male] It happens all the time. [MODERATOR]: What other questions do we have? [KAREN]: What about McLean? [MODERATOR]: Is that important to you, Karen? [KAREN]: No, but I'm sure it is to some people. [MODERATOR]: Okay. So that's an issue. What other issues have we not addressed yet? [Male] But it is an issue, though in the fact that it just shows how arrogant they are, it's wasteful they don't need that at this time. [MODERATOR]: Oh, I agree. What else? Any other issues we have not addressed? [Male] What's going on with that new hotel we are going to get? [Moderator] Is that [MODERATOR]: Is that important? [RAMESH]: Is it important? Yes. The question is, is it important. We have two or three hotels downtown; they have never been able to survive properly. I'm guessing that we're going to bring a big hotel with a lot of activities and whatnot, by doing so, I guess we're going to bring in a lot of other, let's say

let's say programs by which we might be able to rewire the downtown. [MODERATOR]: Okay. Any other last issues we need to get out on the table? Just a last question: I want to think, if you were in a position of one of the political candidates, okay, put yourselves in their shoes. How would you address these issues? How would you address the informational needs of the public? [Male] One at a time. [MODERATOR]: One at a time, issue-wise? [Male] Yes, in ten words or less. [MODERATOR]: Ten words or less! Okay, that's interesting. How would you address these issues? Now, I don't want specific answers on specific issues. I want to know how you would handle that. How would you do it? [Male] I don't think I understand the question. [Moderator] I'm kind of [MODERATOR]: I'm kind of trying to come in a back

to find out what your informational needs are. You know, we've talked about them and how they address your questions and concerns and that kind of thing. Several have mentioned finding out the how-to's. How would address the public's informational needs if you were a candidate? [Male] I think there ought to be a questionnaire made up and the same questionnaire given both the candidates, and say, "Answer this in ten words or less." and then publish it in the paper and on the media and have it read on the radio and- [Female] I feel that's what we did and I feel that's the point at which we need some follow-up and some in-depth questioning. [Male] Follow up! There you go. [MODERATOR]: So what would you ask the candidates? Let's pretend: if the candidates were here tonight, what would you ask them? [Male] I'll ask the candidate to [RAMESH]: I'll ask the candidate to I guess stop so-called campaign advertising that cuts each other. Hate campaigns. [MODERATOR]: Okay. Stop campaign advertising that cuts each other. [Male] No hate campaigns. [Moderator] No hate campaigns, okay. If they were here tonight, what would you ask them? [Male] The

one I brought up earlier. Especially on this Neighborhood Initiative program: how is it funded? [MODERATOR]: Okay, and you've already mentioned that. What other questions would you ask? [LEN]: I think one issue of what worked and maybe it was just to get elected or not, Karen's boss, Congressman Tiahrt. You look at that issue, nobody knew he was gunna win until about the Sunday before. And you know I could tell when I saw Dan Glickman's picture on the front of the paper, you how, how shocked he was, I knew there was something going on. He did that a lot by you door to door and small coffees and the whole bit. I guess the thing is is that the bigger we get, the more impersonal we become. [MODERATOR]: So, if you were sitting down with a cup of coffee with the candidates for mayor, what would you ask them, Lynn? [LEN]: Well, I don't know if it's even so much me asking them: what is their vision for the city? And I don't mean just, you know, a quick couple of blurbs of this, this and this, but,

you know, how are they going to see, you know my neighbors. I look at my block, the 900 block. I know everybody on that street and I know them well enough so if something happens, I can help them or they can help me. And we've done that. The point is, is that most people don't read of paper. Circulation is down drastically. People are listening to more radio and TV, but they get less and less information there. So we have a public that doesn't care, which is why we get the negative campaigns- we get a lot of those kinds of things, but we don't have any personal ties to any of these people. We're not saying, "Okay, let's let's find out what's going on- what makes me tick as a citizen; what makes them tick as a politician or as a person?". They're a citizen, too. [MODERATOR]: What would you ask them? You're sitting down to have a cup of coffee, trying to have a conversation with some of the candidates, whether it's school board, mayor candidates, city councilmen- what would you ask them?

[Male] How about why they want the job? I mean like Bob Knight, that seems to be his job is just bein' a politician. He's never had but one other job, I think. [MODERATOR]: What else would you ask him? [Female] What he costed the VA, with the Kellogg expansion, the cost to the VA is much higher than they originally budgeted for, so I know how how that's gonna get paid for. [Moderator] Okay. What would you ask them? [LEN]: I want to know why or how we can get the the state and the city to work closer together. Again, on the expressway, the state put it all the trees which didn't fit any of the landscaping needs of the city, and they put in wells that we can't even water with. Those are the kinds of things that we need to find out. Who's talkin' to who? [Female] I would ask them what specific steps they're going to take to try to save us some money through some county and city consolidation. [MODERATOR]: What would you ask them? [Female] What's going to be consolidated and what isn't? Do they want to consolidate everything or just parts of it? [Female] The consolidation issue is hard for the city to say when the county says, "We won't do it.". So if the county won't do it, the city can say, "This is what we're gonna

do, but it takes two to make the consolidation. [Female] Again, it comes back on us. The people within the city are by far the majority of people voting for those county people. We can put some pressure- [MODERATOR]: Give me questions, not explanations. What questions would you ask if you could sit down with them? You are a captive audience. [Female] What their plans are, like, tomorrow, but on down the line. [Moderator] Okay, what else would you ask them? Have we hit it all? [LEN]: I think part of it if you're asking what questions even a newspaper person or media person should ask, they need to have the homework of that explanation before, because I do believe a lot of these people can pull the wool over your reporters' eyes. I don't think they maybe have a big picture of what's going on in the city. You know, if they're gonna ask one of these questions of the city government, a follow-up question to me is is why doesn't the county want to consolidate? What have we, as citizens of Wichita,

done? What can we do to reach those? Explanations are important and the reporter has to know enough of what's going on in the community to follow up.