I can't believe this is still such a problem in KC... (Kansas City: 2015, hotel)

[luzianne]

Originally Posted by kcmo

Right. I didn't mean that "every" resident of the county is like this. But enough of them are that it's a nuisance and most people in the good districts on the MO side will agree. Ask anybody that has relocated to KC and I'll bet you anything that if they were in contact with JoCo people, that they were being sold JoCo hard often by devaluing anything on the MO side. That's why people that move to KC have to go out of their way to not be persuaded to move to Kansas.

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And on the flip side, people like you devalue anything on the Kansas side. Case in point: This thread.

[DallastoChicagotoKC]

This whole debate kind of goes to something that I posted in another thread, and started a small debate about KS v. MO areas of the metro. Of course there are good schools in Missouri. And of course there are commercialized areas, and attractions (big stuff is almost all in Missouri) and there is definitely more history and cultural venues. But if you want to combine the largest concentration and diversity of good schools, shopping, daily types of entertainment, and safe neighborhoods, Johnson County is the easiest place to look. And the BV school district is probably the easiest place in JoCo. It's not that it's the only place. It's just that you have more choice and convenience of having all those things close by. If I lived in Missouri, I'd want to live in the Brookside area. And that's where we would have moved if the schools had been better. There's great areas north of the river, but not as many, and things feel more spread out and there's just not as much "stuff." Like the Reddit poster said about Blue Springs, it just feels more small town up there. And that's not what I prefer. There wasn't even a Costco up there until recently. Now, Costco is not by any means an important thing to have in the grand scheme of things. But not having one is symptomatic of a relative lack of shopping options.

I love some things about the Missouri side of the Metro. And if we had more money and could have afforded private schools, we'd be living in Brookside. But if you like a more established, convenient and developed suburban atmosphere with good schools, affordable housing and safe neighborhoods, Johnson County is probably the easiest place to set up shop in the KC area. By no means is it the only one. It's just the easiest place to put all those qualities together. (This of course means nothing to people who want a small town feel or an urban feel -- you'd have to go elsewhere in the metro for those things).

Edit: BTW, the KS v. MO part of this debate is kind of silly in a way. Even if KC Metro was all in one state, there would still have likely been an area where most of the suburban growth was from the 50s through the 90s that would have looked like JoCo does today, and that area would still be the area people would suggest the Reddit poster should look at. People in Des Moines would suggest looking on the west side, people in Indianapolis would suggest Carmel or its environs, people in Dallas would suggest the North Dallas suburbs like Plano, Allen and McKinney. Particularly in mid-sized cities, there's always going to be areas that see the heaviest concentration of suburban growth, and people are always going to be quick to recommend those areas to new residents.

Last edit: The fact that KS residents think their schools are better is just choice-supportive bias at work. Of course if they chose to live there, they're going to think they made the right choice, and that will include their view of the quality of schools. I work with a woman who lives north of the river who constantly makes derogatory quips about JoCo and its schools. She thinks her schools are far better. Maybe she's right. I don't know. But it's still choice-supportive bias at work. BTW, read up on some examples of studies of choice-supportive bias. It's fascinating.

[SPonteKC]

This "problem" is not unique to the KC metro. Neither in form nor scale. It is quite normal for people to spout off half informed opinions on the quality of schools or specific districts and disparage all others.

[Ztonyg]

Originally Posted by SPonteKC

This "problem" is not unique to the KC metro. Neither in form nor scale. It is quite normal for people to spout off half informed opinions on the quality of schools or specific districts and disparage all others.

Agreed. If you go to the Phoenix area forums, there are always a few select places that everyone always suggests as well. They're generally the same places even though there are several other places with as good if not better schools.

[adebord]

I don't notice anyone in Joco talking trash on anywhere else in the metro. I do see people from the MO side label people with the 'joco' stigma though. It seems like intense jealously.

[GraniteStater]

Kansas is bankrupt until they completely revert back to the old moderate tax policy. This favors KC, MO for awhile.

[rwiksell]

Originally Posted by luzianne

And on the flip side, people like you devalue anything on the Kansas side. Case in point: This thread.

Here's the difference: kcmo didn't say the Kansas side is a bad place to live, or a bad place to send your kids to school. He just said that the Missouri side is "ALSO" good.

[luzianne]

Originally Posted by rwiksell

Here's the difference: kcmo didn't say the Kansas side is a bad place to live, or a bad place to send your kids to school. He just said that the Missouri side is "ALSO" good.

He does trash talk Kansas in general and Johnson County constantly.

[PA650]

Originally Posted by DallastoChicagotoKC

Edit: BTW, the KS v. MO part of this debate is kind of silly in a way. Even if KC Metro was all in one state, there would still have likely been an area where most of the suburban growth was from the 50s through the 90s that would have looked like JoCo does today, and that area would still be the area people would suggest the Reddit poster should look at. People in Des Moines would suggest looking on the west side, people in Indianapolis would suggest Carmel or its environs, people in Dallas would suggest the North Dallas suburbs like Plano, Allen and McKinney. Particularly in mid-sized cities, there's always going to be areas that see the heaviest concentration of suburban growth, and people are always going to be quick to recommend those areas to new residents.

That's an important point people typically forget. Johnson County was the path of least resistance regarding greenfield development. Moreover, JC Nichols got the ball rolling with his Country Club District that spans both sides of the state line.

I don't notice anyone in Joco talking trash on anywhere else in the metro. I do see people from the MO side label people with the 'joco' stigma though. It seems like intense jealously.

As someone that worked in Missouri (I reverse commute to a job in Johnson County now), I never encountered people trash the Kansas side. I will say this though, I can imagine people labeling Joco as a snobbish enclave of well off white people if they're quite ignorant. In reality, Johnson County is a diverse area of rich and poor, people of all color and positions in life.

[rwiksell]

Originally Posted by luzianne

He does trash talk Kansas in general and Johnson County constantly.

I know the guy can defend himself, but I feel like kcmo has hundreds of examples of saying that if people like generic suburbia, JoCo is perfectly fine. He just doesn't like the attitude that it's the greatest place on earth, or the way they steal businesses from Missouri.

And I'm talking about myself here, too. Yes, JoCo is a good place to live. I would never trash it on that level. It's just that (many) people who live there could do a better job recognizing that there are other good places in the metro to live as well.