Conspiracy against JoCo? (Kansas City, Jackson: real estate, taxation, cost of)

[rwiksell]

Lots of people like Kansas as a state, and lots of people like Missouri. Some even like both.

But what I find amusing about many "Kansas Boosters" is that they keep pumping up their state, when there's only one county in that state that they'd actually want to live in. Wichita? Meh. Topeka? Kind of a dump. Lawrence? Pretty, but not suitable for grown-ups. Wyandotte County? Not in a million years. Salina, Manhattan, Pittsburg, Hays, Goodland, Emporia? BO-RING!

Besides, all the best schools are in Johnson County (specifically, Blue Valley) anyway. So why, for the love of your kids, would you want to live in any of those other counties?

I've got nothing against Kansas myself. But if my home county in Missouri were to disappear overnight, I can think of 3 or 4 other counties I could really live in, and dozens more that I would at least find interesting for a year or two.

So let's be honest. Don't say Hooray for Kansas unless you really love it as a state. Maybe you do, but on the other hand maybe you just love Johnson County. And if that's the case, is it a coincidence that the only county you love in Kansas JUST HAPPENS to be inside the boundaries of the Kansas City Missouri Metropolitan Statistical Area? I think not.

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by rwiksell

Lots of people like Kansas as a state, and lots of people like Missouri. Some even like both.

But what I find amusing about many "Kansas Boosters" is that they keep pumping up their state, when there's only one county in that state that they'd actually want to live in. Wichita? Meh. Topeka? Kind of a dump. Lawrence? Pretty, but not suitable for grown-ups. Wyandotte County? Not in a million years. Salina, Manhattan, Pittsburg, Hays, Goodland, Emporia? BO-RING!

Besides, all the best schools are in Johnson County (specifically, Blue Valley) anyway. So why, for the love of your kids, would you want to live in any of those other counties?

I've got nothing against Kansas myself. But if my home county in Missouri were to disappear overnight, I can think of 3 or 4 other counties I could really live in, and dozens more that I would at least find interesting for a year or two.

So let's be honest. Don't say Hooray for Kansas unless you really love it as a state. Maybe you do, but on the other hand maybe you just love Johnson County. And if that's the case, is it a coincidence that the only county you love in Kansas JUST HAPPENS to be inside the boundaries of the Kansas City Missouri Metropolitan Statistical Area? I think not.

This is what has always blown my mind as well. The KC press it he same way. Johnson County is building more homes than any county on the Missouri side! Yea ahh, all the counties on the Missouri side grow at a decent clip and JoCo is building like 90% of the homes in the entire state of Kansas. JoCo = Kansas for the most part. Lots of people don't want to hear that, but it's true. Even the only other part of the KS side that is growing (speedway area) caters more to JoCo than to KCK.

[luzianne]

Lawrence is definitely a place for grown-ups. A lot of people retire there. It's a great college town AND a great town.

There are places I would live in Kansas other than Johnson County. I'd live in western Wyandotte County. I'd live in the counties to the south of Johnson County - Franklin, Miami, maybe Linn. Or somewhere between Lenexa/Olathe and Lawrence. All those places I would live because I could have what I don't have in Johnson County - land.

I would have no problem living elsewhere in Kansas, either, but my husband has to be in the KC area for his job. I can do my job from anywhere. I like the Flint Hills area.

Kansas is a whole lot more than Johnson County.

Other than Kansas City and St. Louis, there's not a whole lot going on in Missouri, either. Springfield has grown a lot the last 10-15 years, but it's no big city. I'm very familiar with a lot of rural Missouri.

[brandthom]

Originally Posted by luzianne

Exactly what is Missouri doing to make sure that doesn't happen? It's not Johnson County's fault if Missouri can't keep businesses. Survival of the fittest, free enterprise and all that. You can't FORCE businesses to stay downtown just for the sake of shoring up downtown and it doesn't make sense to think you can or should do that. Yes, it is asking too much to try to demand that businesses don't move out of downtown. They have a right to move anywhere they want to.

I don't see how businesses moving to Johnson County (or anywhere else) is affecting the health of the entire metro.

Yeah, survival of the fittest, i'm sure none of these business, wag that JoCo just happens to be part of a large metropolitan area to make up for the lack of amenities in JoCo. I wonder how "fit" JoCo would be if it were picked up and dropped on the outskirts of Wichita or even better by itself somewhere in southern Kansas. I'm sure companies like AMC would still be willing to move their and i'm sure its economy would still be doing great if it had to make up for the lack of things KCMO provides.

And if you can't see why Johnson County using money to entice companies a couple miles within in its own metro area, instead of using those resources to attract companies from elsewhere to the area and damaging the core city its using to entice younger talent I don't know what to tell you.

[grs1]

brandthom, if joco was the center of the metro it would look a lot like omaha, you know that metro thats booming right now? its the democratic machine thats your problem, not a bedroom suburb picking up some white collar jobs.

[Truly Missouri]

Would anyone have an estimate or ballpark figure for exactly how many corporations/businesses and even the number of jobs that JoCo has taken? Just curious.

Plus, I see that there is a lot of animosity towards JoCo. And I have to give it to luzianne for holding down her fort. Because if I was from JoCo I would be doing the same thing. But!!!!! Acknowledging that there is still some sort of a moral issue with just (deliberately?) taking companies away from Missouri. Even though I still blame the Missouri side for not doing enough to prevent, or to retaliate.

And oh by the way, I just got off the phone with a very intelligent computer technician/costumer support guy from Texas. And I asked him: What state do you think has the main city of Kansas City in it? He paused, took his time, and said Kansas. It came as a total surprise to him to find out that Missouri was the actual state.

Edit: And didn't KCMO lure a business away from JoCo about a year ago? I thought I saw it on the news.

[grs1]

truly, i would also like a number on the amount of jobs the federal government has on the missouri side vs the ks side. and the state of missouri vs the state of kansas for their respective metros.

and cerner. nobody on this kansas is the bad guy board wants to talk about it. i wonder where the cerner bosses live does anyone know?

[brandthom]

Originally Posted by grs1

brandthom, if joco was the center of the metro it would look a lot like omaha, you know that metro thats booming right now? its the democratic machine thats your problem, not a bedroom suburb picking up some white collar jobs.

Im sorry but how exactly are you figuring that JoCo a conservative leaning suburb of 200,000 people would look anything like a near million person liberal leaning self supporting metro area?

[SPonteKC]

Originally Posted by luzianne

Survival of the fittest, free enterprise and all that

You do not understand what either of those phrases mean.

[luzianne]

Originally Posted by s.davis

You do not understand what either of those phrases mean.

Oh, but I do.