Overland Park concerns (California: movies, to live in, versus)

[CrownVic95]

Originally Posted by TabulaRasa

This is one of my very favorite things about KC (in addition to the low cost of living ration given the amenities available). It's also something that some people (particularly those with an affinity for more compact, and often, coastal, cities) really dislike about KC, as they feel it makes it too quiet, not bustling enough, too spread out, and, essentially, not crowded enough. So it feels sleepy, by comparison. It's all in what you like.

Personally, I like that there is enough of a population to support a really nice arts scene, nationally-known athletics, museums, festivals and events, various cultural civic amenities, WITHOUT that population being crammed into a lot fewer square miles, unlike a variety of other places I've lived.

Yeah, well I once knew a guy who didn't think a broken leg was painful enough.

I didn't ask for his advice very often.

[AK-Cathy]

Like others have said, its all in what you like/need. It's a balancing act between housing, schools, commutes, area culture/amenities, safety concerns. Personally if we weren't looking for acreage we could have been very happy in one of those old historic tudor homes off of Ward Parkway with some lot size to them with room to garden. But we are retirees not overly concerned about schools.

I compare KCKS with an area in Anchorage called Mountain View, one of our "hoods". A lot of crime happened there but it was pretty much confined there both by geography and culture. Another area, the central Tudor Road corridor had far more random crime involving "innocents" because it was a crossroads and there was access and often enough opportunity.

OP you will find plenty of nice and safe places to live within the metro area. After living in AK all those years where ANC would occasionally pop up on the top 5 or 10 most dangerous city lists and living in the core of that city I rarely feel unsafe and I always attend to my "Spidey" senses when they go off no matter where I am.

[luzianne]

Originally Posted by zach_33

I agree with this except for the part about avoiding State Line because of crime. There was a triple homicide at Wornall and 128th last year - I think it may have been more homicide in one event than the zip code had seen in the previous decade. It would be irrational to write off the area for that one unfortunate event. The housing is much cheaper on the MO side of state line because the schools are not as coveted, but there are some beautiful, safe, tree lined neighborhoods over there that I would not hesitate to live in even with kids. Red Bridge, Verhona Hills, around Blue Hills country club - it's all quite nice.

For me, it's more that there tend to be more burglaries on the Kansas side close to the state line. I think with the close proximity, thieves from KCMO think they can cross the state line, steal, and hop right back over the state line and disappear. A couple of years ago the Prairie Village burglary rate skyrocketed for a while. But PV police and residents are vigilant about preventing that, and the numbers are down now.

I didn't really pay attention to the stats for Leawood, but I would guess it would be the same for them, especially since the homes are nicer and the residents more affluent as you go further south.

Still, I prefer to live a further from the state line so it wouldn't be so easy for my home to be burglarized. I definitely think crime is higher nearer the state line and when I get alerts from spotcrime.com, the information/maps from them tend to support that.

[TabulaRasa]

Originally Posted by CrownVic95

Yeah, well I once knew a guy who didn't think a broken leg was painful enough.

I didn't ask for his advice very often.

Some people like more activity. *shrug*

[CrownVic95]

Originally Posted by luzianne

For me, it's more that there tend to be more burglaries on the Kansas side close to the state line. I think with the close proximity, thieves from KCMO think they can cross the state line, steal, and hop right back over the state line and disappear. A couple of years ago the Prairie Village burglary rate skyrocketed for a while. But PV police and residents are vigilant about preventing that, and the numbers are down now.

I didn't really pay attention to the stats for Leawood, but I would guess it would be the same for them, especially since the homes are nicer and the residents more affluent as you go further south.

Still, I prefer to live a further from the state line so it wouldn't be so easy for my home to be burglarized. I definitely think crime is higher nearer the state line and when I get alerts from spotcrime.com, the information/maps from them tend to support that.

I hadn't looked at spotcrime for a good while, so your post prompted me to take a fresh look. From your experience, do all cities report? Or, put another way, does spotcrime have access to stats from all cities? It appears to me that they don't.

I input the zip for my current location and absolutely no incidents appear on the map, nor on the city immediately adjacent. I live in one of the safest areas in the Bay Area, but no incidents whatsoever is not reality. Stuff happens around me, just not nearly as often.

Continuing one city further, still a very safe area, the map is peppered with incidents - in a higher concentration than shown for KCMO. That also makes me scratch my head.

So moving to your area, I input 66212 - my old zip forever etched in memory - and absolutely nothing appears until you head out to Lenexa and Shawnee. Eastward (ooops, no pun intended - just remembered whose thread this was ), a number of incidents in KCMO, but not as many as in the Bay Area city mentioned above which is statistically much safer.

So I guess I'm not convinced that this site has a whole lot of useful information and I think that's also why I hadn't looked at it for some time. But maybe I'm missing something?

[luzianne]

Originally Posted by CrownVic95

I hadn't looked at spotcrime for a good while, so your post prompted me to take a fresh look. From your experience, do all cities report? Or, put another way, does spotcrime have access to stats from all cities? It appears to me that they don't.

I input the zip for my current location and absolutely no incidents appear on the map, nor on the city immediately adjacent. I live in one of the safest areas in the Bay Area, but no incidents whatsoever is not reality. Stuff happens around me, just not nearly as often.

Continuing one city further, still a very safe area, the map is peppered with incidents - in a higher concentration than shown for KCMO. That also makes me scratch my head.

So moving to your area, I input 66212 - my old zip forever etched in memory - and absolutely nothing appears until you head out to Lenexa and Shawnee. Eastward (ooops, no pun intended - just remembered whose thread this was ), a number of incidents in KCMO, but not as many as in the Bay Area city mentioned above which is statistically much safer.

So I guess I'm not convinced that this site has a whole lot of useful information and I think that's also why I hadn't looked at it for some time. But maybe I'm missing something?

I don't know who reports and who doesn't. I just know that the Prairie Village Police Department at least at one point suggested the site to residents wanting to see a crime map for Prairie Village. I don't remember if I saw that on their website, on Facebook, in a newsletter or what, and I tried to find the source I saw initially but couldn't find it. I see on the Prairie Village website now, though, that they link to raidsonline.com.

I think on spotcrime.com you have to sign up to see anything. I don't actually go to the site anymore, I just get emails showing a map and list of all incidents within 5 miles of my address.

[CrownVic95]

Originally Posted by luzianne

I don't know who reports and who doesn't. I just know that the Prairie Village Police Department at least at one point suggested the site to residents wanting to see a crime map for Prairie Village. I don't remember if I saw that on their website, on Facebook, in a newsletter or what, and I tried to find the source I saw initially but couldn't find it. I see on the Prairie Village website now, though, that they link to raidsonline.com.

I think on spotcrime.com you have to sign up to see anything. I don't actually go to the site anymore, I just get emails showing a map and list of all incidents within 5 miles of my address.

Ok, well I didn't sign up so maybe I'm just seeing a sample. Thanks.

[eastward_ho]

Originally Posted by CrownVic95

I hadn't looked at spotcrime for a good while, so your post prompted me to take a fresh look. From your experience, do all cities report? Or, put another way, does spotcrime have access to stats from all cities? It appears to me that they don't.

I input the zip for my current location and absolutely no incidents appear on the map, nor on the city immediately adjacent. I live in one of the safest areas in the Bay Area, but no incidents whatsoever is not reality. Stuff happens around me, just not nearly as often.

Continuing one city further, still a very safe area, the map is peppered with incidents - in a higher concentration than shown for KCMO. That also makes me scratch my head.

So moving to your area, I input 66212 - my old zip forever etched in memory - and absolutely nothing appears until you head out to Lenexa and Shawnee. Eastward (ooops, no pun intended - just remembered whose thread this was ), a number of incidents in KCMO, but not as many as in the Bay Area city mentioned above which is statistically much safer.

So I guess I'm not convinced that this site has a whole lot of useful information and I think that's also why I hadn't looked at it for some time. But maybe I'm missing something?

Hmmm...yeah Vic, I noticed when I input Olathe on spotcrime almost nothing came up. I thought I'd heard somewhere on this forum that Olathe has a higher crime rate because it's closer to I35? Maybe I'm wrong.

We have a similar crime-reporting site here in San Diego...haven't looked at it for a while, but I remember when they e-mailed you the map of incidents, you almost couldn't see the map anymore because it was layered over with too may incident icons...

[TabulaRasa]

I-35 runs through a bunch of suburbs...I don't know that I buy that proximity to it drives up crime.

[eastward_ho]

Originally Posted by TabulaRasa

I-35 runs through a bunch of suburbs...I don't know that I buy that proximity to it drives up crime.

Glad to hear that, since my wife keeps looking at Olathe..while I keep looking at Spring Hill...