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Wichita Receives High Marks In Livability Rating

Chris Murphy, flickr Creative Commons

The City of Wichita has been recognized for being one of the most livable cities in the country.

A nationwide organization called STAR, which stands for Sustainability Tools for Assessing and Rating Communities, has given Wichita three out of five stars for excelling in various fields.

STAR assesses cities in seven areas: infrastructure and housing; climate and energy; economy and jobs; education, arts and community; equity and empowerment; health and safety; and natural resources.

Cities are graded both on how they’re currently meeting these standards, and what they’re doing to address them.

Wichita is the first city in Kansas to be given the three-star rating, and only the 41st in the country.

Wichita City Council Member Janet Miller gave credit to city employees and local organizations who help to improve the city’s quality of life--specifically the United Way for its charitable work, Bike-Walk Wichita for promoting healthy living, and Workforce Alliance for helping to grow the local economy.

“We are pleased with our three-star rating and plan to continue the collaborative work of fostering a high quality of life for all in our community,” Miller says.

But, she added that the work isn’t over.

“Now that we have this baseline assessment, how do we increase our ratings over the next few years, and who can we work with in the community to do that?" she says.

Wichita joins Des Moines, St. Louis, Cleveland and others in receiving a three-star rating.

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Follow Sean Sandefur on Twitter @SeanSandefur

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