The town of Maize gave us nothing for Christmas

From

Wichita Peace and Freedom Party Examiner:

I am usually sad when they finally take my town’s Christmas decorations down. But that will not be a problem this year. That is because the town of Maize, were I live, never put them up. As the wealthier classes take over the town, they expect more out of us and expect us to put up with less service and benefits that a person expects to get in a town such as Maize.
I move hear almost 20 years ago. Every past year they put up Christmas decorations. For years they were lights. One year they put up flags. This year—NOTHING.
That’s not surprising considering what this town has done in the last few years. There seems to be new management and that management has decided that Maize should look like Eastborough (an upscale wealthy "burb" outside of Wichita). They want fine trimmed lawns and they want no laid back people nor their lawns. They don’t want any nature showing. They have paid this inspection officer (yard NAZI as far as many of us are concerned) to go around the neighbor hood and issue citations. He has issued fists full of citations to homeowners like me.
The city has this paragraph on their web site:
Growth of our City:
When we look back over the past decade we can observe a very positive, progressive and well organized growth pattern that has taken place here in Maize. As reported in our last issue, Maize is listed as the fastest growing community in Kansas. This has required vision, planning, and coordination behind the scenes. It all started with a City Council that was, and continues to be, unified in improving the quality of life for all of us here in Maize. This was coupled with a proficient staff made up of diverse professional individuals. When this combination is joined with our great location and an outstanding school system the result is self-evident.
This policy is called "growth at any cost" and it means there is no concern for any-one.
They did away with any agreements they had with water customers. For many years they had an agreement with me to allow me to pay my water bill a week late, so I could receive my pay check. They surprised me by turning my water off a week early and Ex-Wichita police Chief (not one of our bests) and present City Manager Richard LaMunyon made it clear to me this is his town and all I get to do is live in it. He kept asking me if I had a written agreement. He made it clear he would not honor an oral agreement. I even had to pay a late fee.
Many of the new people moving in here are snobs. I actually got the cops called on me for walking past the sidewalks out and under an overpass. I’m sure they thought I was a transient moving through this town. It doesn’t feel good knowing my neighbors made that decision about me without knowing me.
So I'm not surprised the way things are going. It is all for the business community and they citizens be damned.

A blank street that once had Christmas decorations in Maize, KS.