Kansas City, KS needs to be a twin city (St. Louis: sales, city hall)

[maxwasson]

Hello, good citizens of the CityData forum that are in the Kansas City section!, My name is Max Jacob Wasson, I grew up on the South Side of Kansas City from birth to 2010, and since 2010 I have resided in St. Louis County, but I am hoping to move back to Kansas City sometime in the next several years, I currently don't have the capital or transportation to do so.

But enough about myself, I want to talk about a little elephant in the room, and that is Kansas City, Kansas, and throughout my entire life, I wondered "Why isn't this like an actual city?", because it feels like for the last 50-60 years; Kansas City, Kansas has been mostly just Independence West which kinda sucks. Recently, this past summer I was back in Kansas City for a Royals-Dodgers game, and before the game I went to Ermine Case Jr. Park and took a few pictures of the Kansas City Kansas "cityscape", and yes, I did put air quotes around the word "cityscape" because despite having roughly the same population as Springfield, MA and being much bigger than Clayton, MO.

Kansas City, Kansas has a "skyline" that's worse than those two places, KCK is a place that is in desperate need of downtown revitalization for some reason all the development on the Kansas side has been allocated to the west side of KCK (Legends District) and Johnson County, Kansas, and don't get me wrong Johnson County has some nice neighborhoods but at the end of the day those are just suburbs. It feels like the Kansas side is lacking identity, especially Kansas City, Kansas which for whatever reason the Kansas state government and businesses have no interest in investing to.

Over the last 10 months, I've been to two notable twin cities; St. Petersburg, FL and Fort Worth, TX and those places were a blast. Now of course, both St. Pete and Fort Worth are way bigger than KCK, but maybe with enough public support there could be a greater effort to improve and revitalize KCK's downtown.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by maxwasson

Hello, good citizens of the CityData forum that are in the Kansas City section!, My name is Max Jacob Wasson, I grew up on the South Side of Kansas City from birth to 2010, and since 2010 I have resided in St. Louis County, but I am hoping to move back to Kansas City sometime in the next several years, I currently don't have the capital or transportation to do so.

But enough about myself, I want to talk about a little elephant in the room, and that is Kansas City, Kansas, and throughout my entire life, I wondered "Why isn't this like an actual city?", because it feels like for the last 50-60 years; Kansas City, Kansas has been mostly just Independence West which kinda sucks. Recently, this past summer I was back in Kansas City for a Royals-Dodgers game, and before the game I went to Ermine Case Jr. Park and took a few pictures of the Kansas City Kansas "cityscape", and yes, I did put air quotes around the word "cityscape" because despite having roughly the same population as Springfield, MA and being much bigger than Clayton, MO.

Kansas City, Kansas has a "skyline" that's worse than those two places, KCK is a place that is in desperate need of downtown revitalization for some reason all the development on the Kansas side has been allocated to the west side of KCK (Legends District) and Johnson County, Kansas, and don't get me wrong Johnson County has some nice neighborhoods but at the end of the day those are just suburbs. It feels like the Kansas side is lacking identity, especially Kansas City, Kansas which for whatever reason the Kansas state government and businesses have no interest in investing to.

Over the last 10 months, I've been to two notable twin cities; St. Petersburg, FL and Fort Worth, TX and those places were a blast. Now of course, both St. Pete and Fort Worth are way bigger than KCK, but maybe with enough public support there could be a greater effort to improve and revitalize KCK's downtown.

LOL, best of luck on those wishes. Kansas generally never invests in actual cities in the state, as they generally prefer massive subsidies for new green field developments as well as huge new retailed TIF districts in any and every suburban location around. I think that is a big reason why Kansas continues to rank in the top 10-12 states for out-migration every single year- because Wichita, Topeka, Kansas City, KS and other cities fare so poorly for their respective sizes compared to other cities across the country.

[maxwasson]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

LOL, best of luck on those wishes. Kansas generally never invests in actual cities in the state, as they generally prefer massive subsidies for new green field developments as well as huge new retailed TIF districts in any and every suburban location around. I think that is a big reason why Kansas continues to rank in the top 10-12 states for out-migration every single year- because Wichita, Topeka, Kansas City, KS and other cities fare so poorly for their respective sizes compared to other cities across the country.

Well then that's just the state of Kansas shooting themselves in the foot, if they don't want to commit to pouring resources into their own cities.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by maxwasson

Well then that's just the state of Kansas shooting themselves in the foot, if they don't want to commit to pouring resources into their own cities.

Nothing has changed in over 50 years. The large amount of subsidies, (corporate subsidies and tax breaks, massive retailed TIF districts with sales taxes of 10-11%)- that have been given to most areas of Johnson County over long periods of time is the main reason for the lack of investment in much of the rest of the state in my opinion.
Yeah, this is mostly a Kansas issue, not pertaining directly to Missouri, but still impacting it significantly due to the Kansas City metro area effect.

[KC_Retiree]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

LOL, best of luck on those wishes. Kansas generally never invests in actual cities in the state, as they generally prefer massive subsidies for new green field developments as well as huge new retailed TIF districts in any and every suburban location around. I think that is a big reason why Kansas continues to rank in the top 10-12 states for out-migration every single year- because Wichita, Topeka, Kansas City, KS and other cities fare so poorly for their respective sizes compared to other cities across the country.

Kansas' outmigration is largely in its rural population areas. Rural outmigration is a nationwide phenomena.

But you are right about greenfield investment. And Kansas City Kansas is case in point. A huge investment was made in Village West in KCK but the city center has largely been ignored. The infrastructure in intercity KCK is atrocious. Both the Kansas Avenue and the Central Avenue bridges near downtown KCK are closed indefinitely. The infrastructure associated with I70 via the Lewis and Clark Viaduct is jut a total mess. The city should team with KCMO and just remove that part of I70 and perhaps then let Strawberry Hill, the only real bright spot in downtown KCK, flourish.

But KCK has traditionally been an industrial working class town and it still is and probably always will be. The demographic change towards a large Hispanic population has brought some new life to the Central Avenue area and with it some interesting cultural attractions like the "Taco Trail".

[maxwasson]

Originally Posted by KC_Retiree

Kansas' outmigration is largely in its rural population areas. Rural outmigration is a nationwide phenomena.

But you are right about greenfield investment. And Kansas City Kansas is case in point. A huge investment was made in Village West in KCK but the city center has largely been ignored. The infrastructure in intercity KCK is atrocious. Both the Kansas Avenue and the Central Avenue bridges near downtown KCK are closed indefinitely. The infrastructure associated with I70 via the Lewis and Clark Viaduct is jut a total mess. The city should team with KCMO and just remove that part of I70 and perhaps then let Strawberry Hill, the only real bright spot in downtown KCK, flourish.

But KCK has traditionally been an industrial working class town and it still is and probably always will be. The demographic change towards a large Hispanic population has brought some new life to the Central Avenue area and with it some interesting cultural attractions like the "Taco Trail".

Yeah I've heard about the Taco Trail, and that's cool and all, but it would hurt KCK if it were remodeled to look like Clayton, MO or Springfield, MA?

If your idea implies that they make Strawberry Hill a more conventional urban downtown and they start adding high-rise buildings to it, then we'd be golden.

[MarketStEl]

I wouldn't turn Strawberry Hill, a historically Central/Eastern European residential district, into a clone of the south bank of Brush Creek.

But if we were to build up around the intersection of 7th Street and Minnesota Avenue, that would be really great.

[maxwasson]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

I wouldn't turn Strawberry Hill, a historically Central/Eastern European residential district, into a clone of the south bank of Brush Creek.

But if we were to build up around the intersection of 7th Street and Minnesota Avenue, that would be really great.

Still relatively in what is considered "Downtown KCK", the new high-rise buildings should be visible from Ermine Case Jr. Park on the Missouri side

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by maxwasson

Still relatively in what is considered "Downtown KCK", the new high-rise buildings should be visible from Ermine Case Jr. Park on the Missouri side

That should be no problem. Strawberry Hill doesn't block the view of KCK City Hall from the park as it is. That, the Security Bank and the Town House are currently the three tallest buildings in downtown KCK, and I think City Hall is the tallest of the three.

[empires228]

Originally Posted by KC_Retiree

Kansas' outmigration is largely in its rural population areas. Rural outmigration is a nationwide phenomena.

But you are right about greenfield investment. And Kansas City Kansas is case in point. A huge investment was made in Village West in KCK but the city center has largely been ignored. The infrastructure in intercity KCK is atrocious. Both the Kansas Avenue and the Central Avenue bridges near downtown KCK are closed indefinitely. The infrastructure associated with I70 via the Lewis and Clark Viaduct is jut a total mess. The city should team with KCMO and just remove that part of I70 and perhaps then let Strawberry Hill, the only real bright spot in downtown KCK, flourish.

But KCK has traditionally been an industrial working class town and it still is and probably always will be. The demographic change towards a large Hispanic population has brought some new life to the Central Avenue area and with it some interesting cultural attractions like the "Taco Trail".

You’re awaiting your breath voicing this to someone who has a strong distaste for several of the states they moderate for. This has been going on for over a decade.