Renee Duxler: Pandemic is showing Wichita the price we’ll pay for overconfidence

By the end of 2019, Sedgwick County had experienced its fourth consecutive year of increased violent crime rates, increased domestic violence reports, increased drug activity, and increased rates of suicide. This trajectory was coupled with stagnant economic activity, further limited by a shrinking workforce. Lack of public transportation, widespread food deserts, little investment in poorer areas of the community, and a substantial decrease in affordable childcare compounded these issues. To add insult to injury, we found ourselves behind our sister cities across the Midwest in development, investment, talent, and innovation.

Despite this lackluster progress report, local elected officials continued to hammer on similar talking points: The baseball stadium! A new airport! Cargill! Spirit! This willful dismissal of the very real issues facing every day residents was at best tone deaf, and at worst a clear indication of just how disconnected many of our public officials are to the poor and working class of our community.

Now here in 2020, after years of dismissing and ignoring major cracks in our economic and social landscape, the COVID-19 pandemic has created a crisis that is showing our community, with cruel and unusual speed and devastation, the price that we will pay for our arrogance and overconfidence.

Schools have closed, thousands have been laid off, small businesses are suffering, and social isolation is holding many captive in their own homes for the time being. Four people have been murdered in Wichita this last week alone, including an 8-year-old girl and her mother. Our public school systems are struggling to feed children, let alone teach them right now. The economic stress, violence, mental health issues, and substance abuse that has been bubbling at the surface for years now are coming to a dangerous and ugly head.

Now is the time where we desperately need to come together as a community, and for leadership to help us get there. Now is the time where public officials — in both words and actions — have the ability to set the tone for how our county copes, responds, and ultimately survives this hit. Now is the time for many leaders to redeem themselves from being tone-deaf and disconnected by proving they are willing to roll up their sleeves and selflessly fight for the residents they were sworn to serve.

This is not something we can just wave the Wichita flag to make go away. I am imploring our local leaders, both elected and non-elected, to pull together with bold action and unprecedented strength, in order to get us through this. I am asking for each of them to put their own differences, political aspirations, petty infighting, and partisanship aside for the greater good of this community. And I am begging that they not remain silent or abdicate responsibility, but instead have the courage to make difficult decisions, and provide reassurance that we’re all in this together. The alternative for Wichita is unsustainable for not only the most vulnerable, but the majority of us.