East Vs. West: Summary

We asked, you answered. Everyone thinks their side of town is the best, and in some ways maybe they are. Here’s a summary of what what we found for each category in our in our east or west survey.

Food

According to the data we collected the east side gets to lay claim to being the “better” side for food because they had the most “Top Resteraunts” as deemed by the Wichita Eagle, Tripadvisor, KRHA, and Yelp. Wichita as a whole is the real winner though, with more than 1200 eateries. A Wichitan can eat at a different establishment for three and a half years and not eat at the same place twice. Both sides of town have most of the same restaurants or if one side of town has something the other side is bound to get it in a year or two. Each side is still home to its staples and that’s okay, people need to get away from “their side” anyway.

Traffic

Our survey deemed the west side as the “better” side to drive on. This was because the East side has the highest traffic volume by far, and is perceived to have the most construction happening as well. When it came down to actual driving habits a conclusive “learn to use your blinkers people” has been established. One thing to keep in mind though is that all of this traffic and all of this construction as infuriating as it may be at times means one thing and that is that our city is alive and well, growing and prospering. As city councilman Pete Meitzner put it "Cones and cranes are a good thing in a community." - This was during the groundbreaking for the East Kellogg Improvements.

Shopping & Entertainment

Our shopping and entertainment comparison deemed the west side as the “better” side. It’s home to some of the larger entertainment venues and a bit wider variety of shopping. The east mall still obliterates the west one though. As a whole Wichita is home to some great shopping all around. Each major shopping center is no more than 10-15 minutes apart from each other so if you’re dieing to shop till you drop than its easily doable in this city. As for entertainment the real fun is downtown, with the Arena District, Old town, Delano, and the museums on the River, which all of Wichita gets to enjoy.

Attitudes

Our Survey concluded that everyone feels fairly passionately about “their” side of town. The east siders are apparently snobby and the west siders are apparently mean. At the end of the day your attitude isn’t a good or bad thing inherently, as long as you're accepting of others and willing to look out for your fellow Wichitan.

In reality this is all a wash. At the end of the day we’re all Wichitans. It’s up to us to make this city what we want it to be. If you have an idea to improve your community email your city councilman. If you want to keep seeing the city flourish and grow eat local, shop local, experience local. People will complain that there’s “nothing to do here” or that “we have no culture” if you go and get out and experience the city (yes, this means leaving your side of town) you’ll find live music every night of the week, artists displaying their work every month at Final Friday, a new bar that you love, a store with just your style, or a new favorite museum.