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Old 09-23-2019, 12:54 AM
 
34 posts, read 58,405 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kcmo View Post
. KC gets nearly all of its in migration from the surrounding rural states. Very few people move to KC from other large metros, let alone the coasts.
That I can believe. When I moved here from out of state and was telling people where I moved from, people here would say, "youre crazy, why the heck would you move here from THERE".

Granted, these were suburbs of Kansas City, but regardless...I just stopped telling people after awhile where I moved from. Because in reality, I actually didn't move here yet, but I'm here temporarily and have a garaging and mailing address here. All other times, I try to be out of the Kansas City area because it's not productive place for me. I've been living out of 6 suitcases for the past 11 months.

I see you're from Washington, D.C., I spent most August out there and Maryland/NOVA. I felt so much more alive and appreciated out there, than in Kansas City. Only reason I haven't moved there yet is because I don't have the available finances, but I would move to the DMV ASAP if the time presents itself.

Quote:
Originally Posted by lovekcmo View Post
What you say is very true. I travel 4+ times a year to DC for work (govt) and I find this true about east coast people. To me, it show's how unenlightened, uneducated and uncurious people are in these so called more enlightened and progressive parts of the country.
I dont think it's necessarily got to do with that. There's a truth in a matter. As someone who travels from one end of the country to the other several times a year, there's a stark difference in cities, and Kansas City is no exception.

One thing I notice right away, the driving skills here. Not good. I also met a guy from Springfield, and we met in Kansas City. He's drinking and driving all the way there. That's a very southern (and risky) thing to do. Whereas in Denver, Washingon DC, etc. people will Uber or Lyft, and you don't see people driving while drinking a beer like they do in the south.

Also, people in places like DC, San Francisco, etc are more open to meeting new people. Kansas City is a very closed in, "who do you know" type of city. People here don't go out alone, and if they do its "weird". To go out and want to meet new people by yourself is weird? But that's the thing...the mentality. It doesn't just go away because a city builds new restaraunts and buildings. It's a cultural thing takes some major influx of new people to change, like Denver has done.

I also notice people in Kansas City are just really rough around the edges. No home training. And it's sad because you have the sophisticated whites of the plaza and Overland Park, but minorities (and even some other whites) are just like country bumpkin to the max. Cursing in public where it's not needed, bad kids, just no etiquette.

I also don't feel Kansas City IS the Midwest. To me, the Midwest is Chicago, Wisconsin, Omaha, Oklahoma, Saint Louis (Nelly's Midwest swing song for example refers to Illinois part of Saint Louis) I feel the plaza and midtown Westport is the only part of Kansas City that's in the Midwest. The line is very fine. It's like how Washingon DC is "the north". But not actually. It's still in the south.

However, the typical regions map will generally divide each location according to state. But being 1 hour south of Kansas City, I can say it's certainly more of a southern twang down here than the Minnesota to Ohio dialect for sure




Last edited by Destination Succeed; 09-23-2019 at 01:37 AM..
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Old 09-23-2019, 04:08 AM
 
Location: Germantown, Philadelphia
14,004 posts, read 8,876,586 times
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Destination Succeed: The state lines are actually very poor delineators of America's regional cultures, and we've known this more or less ever since former Washington Post editor Joel Garreau wrote The Nine Nations of North America ca. 1981.

None of those nine nations followed state lines, not even the Mississippi River in the case of at least two of them: Missouri was split between two nations, "The Foundry" (which roughly maps onto the "Midwest" on one of the maps you shared and "The Heartland" (which roughly maps onto the region of the same name). Garreau placed the capital of the latter in Kansas City and referred to it as "the nation that works best" of the nine.

More recently, author Colin Woodard produced a map of the nation's cultures that was a good bit more nuanced, less geographically compact, and based on the borders of the nation's 3,200-odd counties; his book American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America describes each of them. The map below is a corrected version of Woodard's original; on his blog post announcing the paperback version of the book, he notes that two counties, one in New Mexico, one in New York State, were misclassed on it as well:



You might note that both "Midwests" contain parts of three nations: Yankeedom, The Midlands and Greater Appalachia, all of which spread across the territory in horizontal bands.

My own migration took me from the Midlands into Yankeedom and back to the Midlands again; both Greater Philadelphia and Greater Kansas City fall into that nation, and that may be why I so often map Philadelphia and Pennsylvania onto Kansas City and Missouri, for you will note that both states fall predominantly into the Midlands and Greater Appalachia. The finger of the Midlands that pokes into Greater Appalachia in eastern Missouri consists of part of the St. Louis metropolitan area, including St. Louis City, St. Louis County and St. Charles County.

And those of you who detect a whiff of the Bible Belt in Kansas City aren't really off base, for you might note that once you cross the southern border of Cass County, you're in Greater Appalachia. Both of Missouri's big cities border that region and are somewhat influenced by it (St. Louis more than Kansas City).

I don't know what part of the country you grew up in, but it sounds like it might have been Yankeedom. Am I right?

Edited to add; But when it comes to the traditional state-based regional boundaries, I usually speak of two Midwests. The one east of the Mississippi I call the "industrial Midwest," and the one west of it I call the "agricultural Midwest." Of course, one finds both farms and factories in both of them, but it's the factories that seem to distinguish the eastern half while the farms tend to define the western half.
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Old 11-11-2019, 02:40 PM
 
Location: Midwesterner living in California (previously East Coast)
296 posts, read 434,901 times
Reputation: 598
Quote:
Originally Posted by MarketStEl View Post
A dear friend of mine - a Kentucky native who worked for most of the time I've known him as a reporter in Washington, employed by The Kansas City Star's parent company and thus familiar with the city from several visits there on business* - just sent me a very lively video that Kansas City's tourism-promotion people have just produced.

The theme of the campaign is "The New Midwest," and the campaign is a very assertive one. "It's time the center of the country became the center of attention," the promo says. It takes note of the city's lively entertainment districts, its growing culinary sophistication (beyond barbecue), and the character of the city's neighborhoods.

This isn't that bland, whitebread part of the country people fly over, is the implicit message. And when it comes to making this claim that the Midwest isn't what the people on the coasts think it is, it asks, "Who better than us?" Because, it says, "It wasn't a thing until we made it."

This expat agrees with the sentiment while noting that at a deeper level, it continues one trait I remember from my youth in Kansas City: a general feeling that "we don't get no respect" from the coastal folk or the bigger-city denizens. But there is a difference in how it's expressed: Back when I was growing up, the claim took on a defensive tone, an almost Stuart Smalley-ish affirmation: "We're big enough, we're good enough, and doggone it, people like us!"

This time it looks, feels and sounds different: "We made this place into something you never imagined existed in the Heartland. It's time you came out here and discovered for yourself."

Here's the promotional video. What do you think of this approach? "We should be like this more often"? "Wait, that's too East Coast"?

https://youtu.be/gDzJyJgWkHo
Kansas City has a very special place in my heart. I love that city dearly, but it has two very serious challenges it faces.

1.) retaining high-potential young people.
Too many young people (myself included) leave KC in their 20's. I personally know 20 (yes you read that right, TWENTY) young people who left Kansas City since 2015. I know more young people who have left than I know young people who stayed. These people came to KC for their first jobs out of college, hung out for a couple of years, then left. It wasn't even a case of they were forced to move. These are cases of voluntary decisions to leave.

It's interesting to see that on this thread most of the "hate" is directed to the big cities on the coasts, but the real threats to Kansas City are places like Denver, Dallas, Chicago, and even STL to a lesser degree. Those somewhat nearby metro areas have poached KC of so many promising young people. After you figure out a way to stem the bleeding there, you can worry about the NYCs, SFs, DCs, and LAs.

Here were the main driving reasons for leaving:
Lack of interesting professional opportunities for young professionals with big ambitions
Lack of easily accessible natural beauty (big lakes, oceans, mountains)
The overwhelming feeling that KC just wants to settle for being a small town and not embrace that ambitious/forward-thinking mentality synonymous with big cities or fast-growing metros (Charlotte, Pittsburgh, Nashville, etc)

The first point is the biggest problem. The second point cannot be easily solved for, but if you execute well on the first point, it becomes less of an issue.
The third point is directly connected to the first point.

2.) competing with peers
When it comes to attracting new business (whether it is in the form of conventions, corporate office openings, or new venture entrepreneurs), KC has to figure out a way to compete against and consistently beat the likes of Indianapolis, Nashville, Columbus. Right now, we're losing that fight. We lose it for a variety of reasons. An embarrassment of an airport, lack of amenities, a circular firing squad of Johnson County and KCMO more interested fighting each other instead of the metro collaborating together.

Make the city more attractive to businesses/entrepreneurs. Adopt a "go get em/we can win big" mentality. Stop thinking so small. KC is not Nowheresville, USA. This is a city with genuine unrealized potential. I just want to see it soar.
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Old 11-11-2019, 06:04 PM
 
639 posts, read 758,500 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MrIndependent View Post
Kansas City has a very special place in my heart. I love that city dearly, but it has two very serious challenges it faces.

1.) retaining high-potential young people.
Too many young people (myself included) leave KC in their 20's. I personally know 20 (yes you read that right, TWENTY) young people who left Kansas City since 2015. I know more young people who have left than I know young people who stayed. These people came to KC for their first jobs out of college, hung out for a couple of years, then left. It wasn't even a case of they were forced to move. These are cases of voluntary decisions to leave.

It's interesting to see that on this thread most of the "hate" is directed to the big cities on the coasts, but the real threats to Kansas City are places like Denver, Dallas, Chicago, and even STL to a lesser degree. Those somewhat nearby metro areas have poached KC of so many promising young people. After you figure out a way to stem the bleeding there, you can worry about the NYCs, SFs, DCs, and LAs.

Here were the main driving reasons for leaving:
Lack of interesting professional opportunities for young professionals with big ambitions
Lack of easily accessible natural beauty (big lakes, oceans, mountains)
The overwhelming feeling that KC just wants to settle for being a small town and not embrace that ambitious/forward-thinking mentality synonymous with big cities or fast-growing metros (Charlotte, Pittsburgh, Nashville, etc)

The first point is the biggest problem. The second point cannot be easily solved for, but if you execute well on the first point, it becomes less of an issue.
The third point is directly connected to the first point.

2.) competing with peers
When it comes to attracting new business (whether it is in the form of conventions, corporate office openings, or new venture entrepreneurs), KC has to figure out a way to compete against and consistently beat the likes of Indianapolis, Nashville, Columbus. Right now, we're losing that fight. We lose it for a variety of reasons. An embarrassment of an airport, lack of amenities, a circular firing squad of Johnson County and KCMO more interested fighting each other instead of the metro collaborating together.

Make the city more attractive to businesses/entrepreneurs. Adopt a "go get em/we can win big" mentality. Stop thinking so small. KC is not Nowheresville, USA. This is a city with genuine unrealized potential. I just want to see it soar.

Very true, part of KC problem's is the mayor and city council. The mayor and council seem to only view KC as it's only entity and not part of a major metro area. Until KC MO can look at itself as a major metro with all of it's suburbs and two states KC will retain a small minded mentality
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Old 11-11-2019, 10:07 PM
 
Location: Germantown, Philadelphia
14,004 posts, read 8,876,586 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lovekcmo View Post
Very true, part of KC problem's is the mayor and city council. The mayor and council seem to only view KC as it's only entity and not part of a major metro area. Until KC MO can look at itself as a major metro with all of it's suburbs and two states KC will retain a small minded mentality
It's not just the city government of Kansas City, Mo.

The folks in JoCo have historically did their part to advance non-cooperation as well, and (to hear my cousins, but not only them, tell it) the locals there act as though they live in a bubble too.

But I do find MrIndependent's remarks about young people leaving after a short while interesting, given that I left the city to attend college in 1976 and never returned.
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Old 11-17-2019, 04:08 PM
 
Location: ......SC
2,033 posts, read 1,670,864 times
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The video....just made we want to go get me some of that BBQ.
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Old 11-18-2019, 06:04 AM
 
Location: Boilermaker Territory
26,398 posts, read 46,311,070 times
Reputation: 19499
Quote:
Originally Posted by MarketStEl View Post
It's not just the city government of Kansas City, Mo.

The folks in JoCo have historically did their part to advance non-cooperation as well, and (to hear my cousins, but not only them, tell it) the locals there act as though they live in a bubble too.

But I do find MrIndependent's remarks about young people leaving after a short while interesting, given that I left the city to attend college in 1976 and never returned.
The major trend I've noticed in my network, family, and friend group over time is that nearly all of the educated career-focused professionals left the KC metro area after college or graduate school and did not return. Those with stronger familial ties to the local area, more focused on having a family at a younger age, less career focused, and more socially conservative never left..
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Old 11-18-2019, 07:07 AM
 
Location: Kansas City North
264 posts, read 246,149 times
Reputation: 384
I think it's a mixed bag. KC is attractive to both people who want to build families as well as young professionals that want to live comfortably and build their careers early. Later they might want to move out to more risky and bigger cities but as time goes on, cities like KC are gradually becoming more attractive as the costs skyrocket in coastal cities.
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Old 11-18-2019, 10:29 AM
 
Location: Germantown, Philadelphia
14,004 posts, read 8,876,586 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GraniteStater View Post
The major trend I've noticed in my network, family, and friend group over time is that nearly all of the educated career-focused professionals left the KC metro area after college or graduate school and did not return. Those with stronger familial ties to the local area, more focused on having a family at a younger age, less career focused, and more socially conservative never left..
"After corn and wheat, the Midwest's third-biggest export is Midwesterners." --me
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Old 11-19-2019, 02:49 AM
 
Location: Middle America
37,409 posts, read 53,347,178 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MarketStEl View Post
But I do find MrIndependent's remarks about young people leaving after a short while interesting, given that I left the city to attend college in 1976 and never returned.
I was the reverse...I came as a thirty-year old college-educated professional from elsewhere. Eventually did grad school here.

Quote:
Originally Posted by VietInKC
KC is attractive to both people who want to build families as well as young professionals that want to live comfortably and build their careers early.
Definitely, on all counts.


Quote:
Later they might want to move out to more risky and bigger cities but as time goes on, cities like KC are gradually becoming more attractive as the costs skyrocket in coastal cities.
Personally, as it happens, I flipped the script on that. I started out in the larger cities when I graduated from college and started working. I'm glad I did it when I did it, but this is the far preferable place, cost-wise, family-wise, career-wise.

I don't fit the "grew up here, spouse and kids young, social conservative" narrative, either. I'm a transplant from 600 miles away, married at 37, had kids hovering around 40, lifelong progressive.
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