Overland Park concerns (Kansas City, Lee's Summit, Blue Springs: apartment, crime rate, school district)

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by TabulaRasa

Depends on the time of day. My current school schedule has me potentially traveling 435 eastbound from Nall to Wornall alone (which I almost never, ever do, choosing alternate routes to Avila, instead - but I always have a vantage point to see the parking lot that it is between 5 and 6 every weekday). It's 30 minutes if traffic is moving. During the after-work commute, it's not. Ever. I see it daily at this time.

I'm not saying, "Traffic is bad in KC," because overall, it's obviously not; a point I've often acknowledged. But you WILL sit in traffic, specifically, if you commute to Lee's Summit from OP via 435 after work. And you will sit in traffic making the opposite trip in the morning, depending on when your work arrival is timed. Other side of the road, moving freely, both ways. Hit it other times of day, 30 minutes, no problem. But not during the standard "rush hour." A big reason that I find parking lot freeways FAR more unpalatable in KC than, say, when I lived in Chicago, actually, was because it was status quo, there. Not so in KC, so it's even more maddening when it does occur.



Yes, I know the merits of Lee's Summit, I lived there, loved it, commuted from there to the Hickman Mills area for work for years (and ran into parking lot traffic on occasion even then and had to divert to alternate routes, definitely wouldn't have relished the drive had I been going into KS). But the OP didn't ask about Lee's Summit, the OP asked about Overland Park. I'd imagine if they wanted to know about Lee's Summit, they'd have asked about Lee's Summit.



I have no problem living in Johnson County. I find my particular community interesting, a place with a sense of community, and decidedly non-bland, with more of a neighborhood feel than I experienced even in certain neighborhoods I lived in in KCMO. But Johnson County's crown jewel in many ways has been its outstanding school system. And to be honest, decisions at the state legislation level are really pretty poised to rip that rug out right out from under the whole thing, and it appears that nobody really cares.

If I were moving to Johnson County with children, this would be far more of a concern to me than if criminals from KCK make a point to infiltrate Overland Park.

I think we are on the same page. I'm not trying to promote Lee's Summit, I was just saying that it's obviously a very desirable area and people have no problems living there and commuting to KCMO or JoCo. 435 is simply not congested. It will bunch up at rush hour (slinky effect), but the actual delay is typically less than five minutes and max is ten minutes unless there is a major crash. That five minute delay is only during a period of a about 30 minutes, so it's easy to avoid. The rest of the time, the freeways in KC are totally wide open.

I just had to find a new tenant for my home which is on the Blue Springs / Lee's Summit border. I'm not sure what's going on, but I had dozens of people wanting the house and had to take ads down after just two days and had a waiting list. A lot of the people looking were from Kansas (outstate Kansas), the rest were from the eastern suburbs and around the country. Many of them were moving to KC for jobs in Kansas, but did not want KS schools (they told me this). They typically had younger families and were looking to the future. These people were doing their homework and not just listening to JoCo people talk up JoCo. It even surprised me. I'm used to people moving to JoCo blind because everybody tells them that's where you have to live. Maybe forums like this is helping people find other areas of KC besides JoCo .

[eastward_ho]

Yeah, Tabula...been looking at Lawrence too..a good friend of mine will be moving there from Pasedena, CA. in about a year from now. See, I'm from San Diego...I have close friends of ALL political persuasions. At some point...we're all gonna have to pull together in spite of political differences.

[TabulaRasa]

In all honesty, I can't think of a single reason one would be specifically opposed to attending JoCo schools at this point. They, along with districts like LS, Park Hill, Liberty, provide an excellent education (assuming special ed isn't an issue, which is where things can get spotty in even the best-regarded metro districts). I get preferring other communities over JoCo ones (though, contrary to popular belief, all of Johnson County isn't actually blond/beige stucco gated subdivisions). But I don't really see why one would specifically avoid districts like Blue Valley and Shawnee Mission on their own merit. You can not like JoCo all you want. But the schools, at least for the time being, are highly performing.

[CrownVic95]

Originally Posted by TabulaRasa

Actually, I think there's plenty of decent, valid, non-agenda-driven commentary. It shouldn't take too much time lurking and reading to get a pretty clear picture of who the agenda-driven pot-stirrers are and identify where the useful information comes from.

Depends on one's individual life experience. For those just starting out in life and who have never lived in the KC area, the smokescreen of misinformation that proliferates here will be harder to see through.

One thing's for certain. Those who jump right into attacking "Brownback and the Republicans" in a thread just looking for honest info on life in Overland Park are right in the middle of the agenda-driven pot-stirrers.

In politics today, you pick your poison. And Kansans are wise enough to understand that the poison at the opposite end of the political spectrum from Brownback is far more deadly. That's why they keep electing him, warts and all.

[TabulaRasa]

Regardless of one's political leanings, it's fairly easy to see that stripping public schools of massive amounts of funding will not serve to improve them.

The potential for a public school budgetary crisis and what that will mean at the local level is something that anyone with school-age children considering moving to the state ought to inform him or herself regarding...no matter how one votes.

[TabulaRasa]

Also, the OP appears to not be just starting out in life.

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by TabulaRasa

In all honesty, I can't think of a single reason one would be specifically opposed to attending JoCo schools at this point. They, along with districts like LS, Park Hill, Liberty, provide an excellent education (assuming special ed isn't an issue, which is where things can get spotty in even the best-regarded metro districts). I get preferring other communities over JoCo ones (though, contrary to popular belief, all of Johnson County isn't actually blond/beige stucco gated subdivisions). But I don't really see why one would specifically avoid districts like Blue Valley and Shawnee Mission on their own merit. You can not like JoCo all you want. But the schools, at least for the time being, are highly performing.

I'm just passing along what I have heard from real people moving to the KC area. One of them specifically told me that they wanted Blue Springs or Lee's Summit and not JoCo because the JoCo schools were cutting out some special programs or something. Another specifically wanted Blue Springs for their gymnastics programs or something and they were going to commute to Overland Park. I really didn't care, I just wanted a good renter, but I found it interesting and refreshing that areas like Blue Springs were still highly desirable places to live even though there is still a local arrogance that nothing is as good as JoCo.

[GraniteStater]

Since this were mentioned previously in the thread, here are some of the latest facts regarding the situation of education as it pertains to the metro area:

TOPEKA
"Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback on Thursday announced $44.5 million in education cuts to help patch a budget hole blamed on deep income tax reductions he signed into law.

Brownback’s plan takes $28 million, or 1.5 percent, out of elementary and secondary education, including $5 million from Johnson County schools. The districts taking the biggest hits will be Olathe, Shawnee Mission and Blue Valley.

The Republican governor also sliced more than $16 million, or 2 percent, from higher education, something he traveled the state campaigning for in 2013 when it was lawmakers who wanted to cut funds for colleges and universities.

Brownback announced the education cuts as lawmakers passed a bill mending a $344 million budget deficit for the current fiscal year ending June 30. The state is facing a nearly $600 million deficit for the next fiscal year."

Source: Gov. Sam Brownback is cutting aid to Kansas schools by $44.5 million | The Kansas City Star The Kansas City Star

Released February 5th, 2015, updated February 6th, 2015.

Hopefully residents, all concerned citizens, advocates of schools will band together and prevent the downward spiral of future cuts to education. As mentioned, this will likely result in the downshifting of the tax burden (property taxes) to the local cities and towns to make up any differences as they see fit via local amendments.

[pacificwhim]

Originally Posted by CrownVic95

Depends on one's individual life experience. For those just starting out in life and who have never lived in the KC area, the smokescreen of misinformation that proliferates here will be harder to see through.

One thing's for certain. Those who jump right into attacking "Brownback and the Republicans" in a thread just looking for honest info on life in Overland Park are right in the middle of the agenda-driven pot-stirrers.

In politics today, you pick your poison. And Kansans are wise enough to understand that the poison at the opposite end of the political spectrum from Brownback is far more deadly. That's why they keep electing him, warts and all.

Horse manure. I started the Brownback comments, and anyone who's seen me post on this forum for years knows that I'm anything but an agenda-driven pot stirrer. I am, however, honest. If someone with school-age children is considering moving to Kansas, it would be irresponsible NOT to make him or her aware of the trajectory the state's schools are taking due solely to the state's ideology-driven tax cuts and subsequent budget cuts, as they will affect both the schools and the overall quality of life in Kansas.

If you can't cop to the carnage that's only beginning to manifest at Brownback's hands, then you're not being honest.

OP, it would help everyone here trying to post useful advise if you told us where your job is going to be located and what type of living you prefer—urban, suburban, rural, small town, gated community, etc. If you've already posted that, my apologies.

[TabulaRasa]

Originally Posted by kcmo

I'm just passing along what I have heard from real people moving to the KC area. One of them specifically told me that they wanted Blue Springs or Lee's Summit and not JoCo because the JoCo schools were cutting out some special programs or something. Another specifically wanted Blue Springs for their gymnastics programs or something and they were going to commute to Overland Park. I really didn't care, I just wanted a good renter, but I found it interesting and refreshing that areas like Blue Springs were still highly desirable places to live even though there is still a local arrogance that nothing is as good as JoCo.

I believe you.

I also feel that anybody dogging the quality of JoCo schools is not especially informed. I've worked closely with all of those districts, and I agree that LS programming is excellent as well (I'll take the fifth on Blue Springs).