r/wichita

Like the title says, my fiancée and I are looking for a church and I need some help because there are quite a few. This is extremely important to me to choose a church that we can grow and raise our family in. The hardest aspect is that I have quite a few things I look for in a church.

Context: We just left the Wichita Christian Church which was formally the Wichita Church of Christ. Now there were a lot of things we enjoyed about this church, but a couple things that just didn’t sit right. Biblically I think they were excellent, they had a great approach to bringing every teaching back to the bible. With not only biblical context, but historical. We had no issues with what they preached because they would answer any questions or rebuttals we had with patience, scripture, and history. However, the social dynamic was odd, now church of Christ does have some controversial history with cult behavior. Though they did not do anything manipulative or necessarily wrong, there was a weird dynamic. Every person had to do this study when they came in and it was clearly a study that was biblically fine but could easily be manipulative. When we pushed back on the structure wanting to make it more personal and more relational, it would always go back to them pushing this study structure, trying to make us believe we were the issue when there was tension. I won’t list everything that was odd, but it just made us feel uncomfortable and we wanted a community that felt like home not fake.

- One thing that is crucial is the size. We are not fans of very large churches, if the preacher is unable to know everyone that attends their church by name I believe it is too large. The community of church is very important, we are looking for a church that people know each other well enough that if someone new stepped in the door people in the church would know. Of course a loving atmosphere where it feels like one family.

- We are looking for a church that takes communion every week. It is very important that the church is bible focused, what I mean by that is a church that it verifies what it preaches. We can’t stand a church that throws a million verses in its sermon out of context just to fit whatever they are teaching. We do believe that baptism is required for salvation with the examples like the thief on the cross being an example of Gods Grace, not the standard. We are willing to approach new ideas if the church is willing to provide good biblical and historical context to their arguments.

- I have had a tough time connecting here in Wichita and would love a church where the men get together and connect. With us both being 24, having some young couples and families would be great to have.

Of course getting every little thing you want is not possible. We value the church and faith in our lives and ultimately want to find a great community that takes their faith seriously and can hold their own to being questioned. Thank you for taking time out of your day to help us!

Am OK with driving to like Goddard or Colwich, just trying to find the best option that’s a bit better than something generic like Starbucks.

Hello, is there any recommendations for places that hang sheet rock? I called one place and they have me a quote but said supplies would be separate and billed after. Which seems odd. Is that normal? Has anyone bought the stuff and t hen had a company hang it?

CARRIE RENGERS

After buying a downtown block last year, Chase Koch is now ready to transform it.

Chase Koch and Movement Musick have apartments, a concert and event venue and an outdoor community gathering space in the works downtown.

April 21, 2026 5:50 AM

Last year, when Chase Koch confirmed he’d been collecting downtown buildings, he explained that he and his Movement Musick nonprofit planned a significant investment in Wichita, in part to “leverage music to do good.”

It was clear that the hub of his plans centered around his Somewhere Works music studio and Somewhere Works Music School at 235 N. Emporia.

Still, people wondered: What’s he going to do with all those other buildings?

Now, there’s an answer, at least for a block’s worth of them.

Movement Musick is transforming the entire city block around the studio and school in three significant ways, including renovating the dilapidated Shirkmere Apartments at the southeast corner of Second and Topeka; building a new 3,000-person concert hall and event venue at the other end of the block along First Street between Topeka and Emporia; and creating an open community space in the areas in between.

“Music is important, but it doesn’t end there,” said Raffaele Fazio, a former Koch Inc. lawyer who is now leading Movement Music.

“We’re trying to create this vibrant community.”

The apartments

The nine-story, once-grand Shirkmere opened to much fanfare in 1924.

The building’s 105 apartments boasted a Murphy bed in each room, and a dinner dance that was to be held in its ballroom and solarium “promises to be one of the season’s gayest events,” The Eagle reported.

In the 100 years since, the brick building named for owner and builder O.S. Shirk fell into disrepair and became a magnet for homeless encampments on the sidewalks around it.

Currently, there are no occupants, and the first floor’s windows are boarded.

The new plan is for a mix of about 100 market-rate and affordable apartment units.

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The thought behind affordable apartments is to include people such as artists, hospitality workers and graduate students who otherwise might not get to live in the building.

Fazio said this meets market demand and “contributes to a vibrant and diverse downtown.”

About 40 of the units will be on the affordable end, but they won’t be separate from the other units or look different in any way.

“They will be mixed in,” Fazio said. “That’s the idea.”

Apartment sizes will range from studio apartments up to two bedrooms, and there will be two or three penthouses atop the building.

Along with other amenities, which are still in the works, Fazio said, “We hope to have a cafe on the ground floor.”

The apartments should open in the second half of 2027.

There are still a lot of decisions to be made, including whether to give it a new name or not.

The goal is to offer modern living with some historic touches, Fazio said, such as keeping the mosaic tile in the lobby.

“We’re going to try to preserve as much as possible. It has a wonderful history.”

The venue

Though it may seem like Wichita has its fair share of venues these days, Fazio said there is a gap in the city and region for a mid-tier venue, and this new 3,000-capacity concert hall and event space will fill it.

The indoor venue, which may have a few patios around it, is not a performing arts center, Fazio said.

Acoustically, he said it’s more of a concert hall, and it will have a flat floor instead of raised seating so it can transform for a lot of uses.

The space will be able to be configured to hold as a few as 500 people as well.

“We’re trying to make it as versatile as possible for the community,” Fazio said.

In addition to national and local music and other kinds of performances, there can be events such as weddings and corporate functions, too.

The plan is to “program this as much as possible,” Fazio said.

He said the idea is to appeal not only to people attending shows and events at the venue but also to make it “a place where artists want to come back.”

That means adding features such as showers and laundry facilities for artists and crews to use.

Fazio said a lot of musicians travel with their families.

“This has to account for those things.”

Construction likely will start next year, and the venue should open in 2029.

Fazio said it will stretch from Topeka to Emporia.

“It will take up a large portion . . . of that block.”

A community asset

The final piece of this block is going to be an outdoor community gathering space.

There will be a variety of programming at it, such as food trucks, yoga and places to simply sit and enjoy nature.

Before finishing designs on it, Fazio said the plan is to seek public input through a series of meetings that Movement Musick will announce.

“Our hope is to make that an asset of the community.”

Also, there’s a chance there may be a small office space next to the venue for businesses or entrepreneurs looking to be part of what’s happening downtown.

This isn’t all that Koch and Movement Musick are planning downtown, as they own other buildings and may be looking at acquiring more.

Though as Fazio said, for now, “This will keep us busy.”

In an e-mailed statement, Koch said he believes “in the power of music and community spaces to bring people together,” and he thinks the city is ready for a new kind of downtown.

“Through shared experiences, we can build more inclusive and united communities that empower people to contribute to their community and make positive social change.”

Excerpt From

“After buying a downtown block last year, Chase Koch is now ready to transform it”

Wichita Eagle

https://apple.news/AvUHKKPlCRMSCa5QfhOb-2A

This material may be protected by copyright.

My mother has nothing to eat not even canned food. She is disabled, I don't have anything either but I would prefer to go without so I can have more for her. I am aware of the food pantry scheduled for the 27th at Bethany United Methodist but was wondering if there was anything before then available.

Thank you. Sorry if not allowed.

My eyes are the absolute worst! I have one prosthetic eye and whenever my eyes start itching like crazy in public, I always have the urge to pop out my prosthetic and go to town on that bitch LOL. I mean you'd think with no eyeball in that one socket, it would itch less but no.

And drops are so expensive!

The City of Wichita, the Wichita Public Library, the Kansas Leadership Center, and LEAD Wichita created its own Civic Action Passport to encourage citizens experienced and inexperienced to engage with the community in a new light!

I cover the main parts of the new Civic Action Passport, its purpose, and where you can get your own copy. I Hope you guys join in on the civics and engage with the community in a new way!

What’s up with the cables laid in the road around central and meridian? The are on every other block.

My friend is on life support i found out but idk how to find out what hospital. I was told not Weasley

So I’m moving to Wichita and literally don’t have a place to stay. A place I had fell out and now things are in motion and I might have to sleep in my car for a while.

I’ll be making 2k a month, which with my car payment and insurance, will be hard to make work in the beginning if I try to get a place.

I don’t know how to find anyone looking for a roommate or what or if I can trust it. I’d rather room with women as I’ve heard one too many horror stories about rooming with men. (Plus I have a boyfriend, who I can’t stay with due to his parents being strict.)

I’m also possibly getting a necessary surgery done and staying in my car while I heal sounds like a recipe for infection in my face/nasal cavities

I’m not sure what to do since you need an address to register your car and get an ID. I just need help or advice.

Does anyone have any good trails or parks where a group can walk and pick "flowers " They can be more weeds but just pretty things we are taking all our nieces and nephews out to make a craft for mother's Day that requires flower just a variety of pretty looks anything is there any good parks/trails for this?

A few weeks ago I spoke at the Wichita City Council about the city's Flock ALPR program and the unresolved questions around its funding and oversight. Here's what's happened since.

My friend Echo spoke at the April 14 City Council meeting. You can find his comments here. Wichita Flock legend and candidate for Kansas House District 99 Mark Barlow will be addressing the council Tuesday, April 21. I have a possible speaker lined up for April 28, then I will return to the podium May 5. If you or anyone you know is interested in speaking, please let me know.

Sedgwick County responded to my KORA Request stating I should have a response back from them this week. The City of Wichita responded to my most recent KORA Request stating they would need until at least April 30.

Regarding the denial received by the previous requestor, the following is language directly from Flock's Master Services Agreement with the City of Dunwoody:

>4.2(g)(iii): To protect active investigations, law-enforcement operations, and sensitive data, Flock shall mask, redact, or otherwise shield sensitive fields within network audit reports, including but not limited to case numbers, investigative notes, and other sensitive metadata, to the extent reasonably necessary to respond to any public records requests and comply with Applicable Law without compromising investigative integrity.

While this language isn't explicitly included in Wichita's contract, it's my understanding that redacting, masking, or otherwise shielding sensitive fields within network audit reports is standard practice.

In addition to administrative burden, the city cited K.S.A. 45-221(a)(10)(B) and 45-221(a)(10)(D) claiming the records may be tied to an active or prospective investigation. They also cited K.S.A. 45-221(a)(55), which allows them to deny "records of a public agency that contain captured license plate data or that pertain to the location of an automated license plate recognition system." I'm no lawyer, but if Flock is already going to great lengths to redact sensitive information and allow agencies to respond to public records requests "without compromising investigative integrity," the basis for the previous denial would seem to be complete and utter bullshit. For my sake and theirs, I hope they have a better answer for me on April 30. I've already reached out to a number of KU professors and a local retired attorney on 1st/4th amendment questions. I may try to reach out to a few professors at Washburn as well.

Echo and I both met separately with Council Member Mike Hoheisel. He's a really good guy, and it's abundantly clear he truly cares about the people he represents. While he ultimately supports Flock ALPRs (citing at least two examples where they've been used to recover missing children), he agrees there needs to be more transparency — particularly surrounding the audit logs. If WPD has previously stated they don't have the resources to review the audit logs and the city is allowed to withhold these from public records requests, it makes one wonder how exactly we can have any faith at all in the transparency of the system.

In their previous denial, the city stated, "The Network Audit from Jan 1 to Jan 31 produced 442,000 entries in the Audit log for that time period alone." That's the network audit log — which is external agencies and wholly separate from the organization (or internal) audit log. The city's own transparency portal shows a mere 2,874 searches in the last 30 days. That means external agencies of the type referenced in my previous post are querying Flock at a rate approximately 154 times higher than WPD itself is using it. Or, framed differently, 99.4% of all queries against Wichita's Flock network came from outside the city.

Council Member Hoheisel wrote down these numbers and agreed this ratio is absurd — especially when I mentioned MOCIC and their culpability in allowing backdoor access to ICE. He recommended I meet with Council Member Dalton Glasscock regarding accountability and transparency. I haven't done so yet but definitely plan to do so.

To the City Manager's credit, his office did respond to my request. I was wrong on two counts:

• First, I stated the COPS TEP grant had expired. This grant has apparently been extended until March 31, 2027, and the remaining funds have been obligated to a camera project approved by Council and sent to Board of Bids on February 3, 2026
• Second, I misstated that the City had failed to act. The response made clear that WPD has been actively managing the program and that steps were taken to address the expiration of the original two-year grant coverage for the initial cameras.

In essence, WPD has "reallocated" existing software funds to cover the cost of the cameras. Council Member Hoheisel confirmed this is "standard operating procedure" for most departments and that their budgets typically aren't micromanaged at the line item level. That said, the original grant was for 50 cameras, and 31 additional cameras were approved by the Council in October 2024. According to the city's transparency portal, there are currently 191 cameras, and deflock.org shows considerably more than that when you factor in all the private cameras. My question to him and the City Manager's office was: is WPD able to simply add as many cameras as they like wherever they want so long as they can find room in their budget?

DeFlock is organizing a National Week of Action Against ALPRs. More details will be forthcoming, but you can register at NOALPRS.com to stay in the loop.

Locally, the founding meeting of the Sunflower Privacy Alliance will be this Thursday, April 23. Due to the public nature of Reddit, I ask that you PM me for further details and an RSVP link. Thanks for reading this far and for your continued support. I'll post another update this weekend following our meeting Thursday.

https://preview.redd.it/1zwwq5znygwg1.png?width=1078&format=png&auto=webp&s=28149d26a3211f8faf6dc4e16f1c4852303aa0f3

I drove past a house just North of Maple on 167th and there were a bunch of Goddard police and Sedgwick County Sheriffs as well as some firetrucks. I didn't see any smoke. Does anyone know what the call was for?

Thanks for reading this. Like the title says I'm here in Augusta. I'm needing someone, every other week, in the morning, to drive my children to the Andover Y for summer camp. This would be for the entirety of the summer. I started a new job and have no vacation, no PTO, and no leverage to make an accommodation to my schedule. If you are interested in this opportunity, I would loved to sit down and meet in person. I'm not asking for charity, I would be paying the right candidate. Please let me know if you are interested. Thank you.

My doctor of 25 years is leaving and I need to find a new one. I go to West Wichita Family Physicians at Central and Tyler and prefer to stay with the practice. Mark Hilger is my doctor and he’s leaving to work with the local VA. Any recommendations within WWFP would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!