How shady is 49th and prospect? (Lincoln, Rea: apartments, renting, houses)

[luzianne]

Originally Posted by lifelongMOgal

Women have been raped, kidnapped and killed from the parking lots at and near Oak Park Mall over in the holier-than-thou Johnson County, KS. It happens in N. KC too. For some to pretend that South KC outside of the inner city is any more dangerous then the rest of the greater metro area just shows their ignorance, IMO.

And the guy who raped and killed her had just recently moved from Grandview, Missouri to Olathe. And he kidnapped her from holier-than-thou Johnson County and took her to an area he knew well, Grandview, Missouri, and raped and murdered her.

[GhettoKC]

The Cross state rapist is on the loose!

[Googleguy32]

What would you guys say are the main problem drugs in kansas? In my experience living in the Suburbs, it seems like the drugs people abuse here are prescription pain medicines and Marijuana. And from what people tell me It's alot of Crack and Crystal meth in the "ghetto" areas like prospect. IDK about heroin never heard about it here, maybe it is here though.

I've always enjoyed my drink, so I've never had any need to use recreational drugs. A lot of my friends are 420ers though, and that's where I hear most of this stuff. Don't know if it's entirely accurate.

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by Googleguy32

What would you guys say are the main problem drugs in kansas? In my experience living in the Suburbs, it seems like the drugs people abuse here are prescription pain medicines and Marijuana. And from what people tell me It's alot of Crack and Crystal meth in the "ghetto" areas like prospect. IDK about heroin never heard about it here, maybe it is here though.

I've always enjoyed my drink, so I've never had any need to use recreational drugs. A lot of my friends are 420ers though, and that's where I hear most of this stuff. Don't know if it's entirely accurate.

Isn't alcohol the biggest problem in rural and suburban areas? That and experimental drugs (inhaling fumes etc).

I remember my first year in college. All the suburban and rural kids seemed to be able to out drink anybody and had more interest in doing so.

[Googleguy32]

I guess I meant out of the illegal drugs. Alcohol is a drug, but, It's legal if you're 21. I meant the kind of stuff that you buy off some street thug.

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by lifelongMOgal

To answer kcmo's question about the MAX on Troost, it may help commuters but it isn't going to spur re-development, IMO. Not until the KCMO school district can turn itself around and keep it that way will redevelopment stand a chance at any real and long term success.

You can't fix the schools till you improve the demographics of the area. You can't improve the demographics of the area till you fix the schools.

Every urban area deals with this.

From what I have seen across the country, you get further by making the city more attractive to attractive a higher quality demographic and with that comes better schools. Call it gentrification or whatever, but it works a lot better than throwing money at a school district with terrible demos.

There is nothing you can do to fix a school district when so much of the student population comes from broken homes with parents that do drugs or are thugs. Or no parents at all etc. When welfare and crime is a way of life. You just can't fix it with teachers and nice school buildings.

I'm not saying the troost max will do anything, but "fixing the schools" will naturally when people decide to move back to the city. You can't just fix the schools.

Chicken before the egg? And in a sprawling town like kc where this is little demand to live closer to the city to avoid long commutes etc, it's nearly impossible to fix.

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by Googleguy32

I guess I meant out of the illegal drugs. Alcohol is a drug, but, It's legal if you're 21. I meant the kind of stuff that you buy off some street thug.

Meth would be my guess, sort of the suburban/rural drug vs the crack and heroine you find in urban ghettos. But meth has become more popular in urban areas, especially in the midwest.

[ykamom]

"You can't fix the schools till you improve the demographics of the area. You can't improve the demographics of the area till you fix the schools.

Every urban area deals with this."


Yes, I agree these problems are everywhere, and I agree with much of what you say here. As a teacher myself, I know it is hard to teach students who don't have the outside support they need. But it seems extreme in KC. From our point of view, we simply cannot use the KCMO public schools. They are too unreliable. Even the charters, from what we have been able to find out, are suffering due to the problems in the system as a whole. And that seems to be partially lack of leadership and political stuff. I don't pretend to understand it all and I would love more info, if anyone has it to pass on.

If we were moving to Minneapolis, or New York or Boston even.... those cities have urban public schools that we could send our kids to. There are still problems in the cities and the schools, but there are also some high quality high schools where students can get prepared for college. That does not seem to be the case in KC.

If by the time our 4th grader is ready for high school there has been some improvement and movement to stabilize the high schools or charters, then we would happily send her to a public school. But we can't take that chance with our son, who is already entering high school next year. So I think it is partially demographics and partially the leadership and investment in public schools. I for one would be happy to pay an extra percentage in taxes if I felt it would improve the schools. It isn't good for anyone to have a city's young people uneducated.

[kcmo]

Didn't Boston used to have terrible schools before the central city became gentrified and popular again? It's difficult to compare KC to places like Minneapolis, Denver, Seattle etc where they didn't go through the white flight, racial tensions, riots etc that KC went through.

I think you have to compare KC to places like Detroit, St Louis, Memphis, Cincinnati, Baltimore etc.

And when you compare kcmo's public schools to those places, things don't look so out of wack.

Center city Baltimore schools make KC's look like Raytown or something. It's all relative.

But I do agree, more could be done from the school district side of things. Racial tensions still play a huge role in why the KCMO district is so screwed up, only now it's not just white flight, it's coming from the top. Those that run the district.

[brewcrew1000]

If KC schools are so bad, why is Lincoln prep so highly regarded in the nation and is nationally accredited? Couldn't the KC school district just use the Lincoln Prep model in all of there schools?

Lincoln Prep Academy