Relocating to KC? (Kansas City, Lee's Summit, Blue Springs: appointed, crime, lawyers)

[Thrillcekr]

Now, in regards to politics. Missouri has always been a swing state and is regarded as a very important one to win amongst presidential candidates for that reason. Whichever candidate that has won the presidential election also won the state of Missouri. It's been that way since like 1900 or something. It's very moderate with the urban areas tending to lean more towards democrats while the rural areas more republican. The current governor is a Republican that narrowly won the last election and before that Missouri governors have been mostly democrats. I'd describe Missouri as middle of the road. Neither side has been guaranteed a victory in the Show Me State.

Kansas on the other hand is viewed pretty much as a lost cause among democratic presidential hopefuls. In fact, I don't think one has ever won in the Sunflower State. Historically they are a solid red state. However, they did elect a democrat during the last two gubernatorial races and followed the recent national trend of tossing some republicans out of office. My personal belief is that they are changing into a more moderate state but doing so very slowly.

[Thrillcekr]

I thought I'd add one more thing since the topic of crime has come up a few times. The most dangerous parts of the metro are in KCK and KCMO. However, in both cases what the numbers don't tell you is that almost all of this crime is isolated to a specific few neighborhoods within those cities. Stay out of those neighborhoods and it's extremely unlikely that you'll ever experience any sort of problem. The average Kansas Citian living outside of those neighborhoods will live a lifetime without ever seeing a violent crime or attack anywhere but on the local news.

[midwest456]

I always thought it was interesting how close the superwealthy areas south of the plaza and in Mission Hills are to the higher crime areas north and east of the Plaza. i do agree that the serious crime seems to be concentrated in a few neighborhoods that skew the overall crime stats upward. that is probably the pattern in a lot of large cities of course.

[yogabuff]

I moved to KCMO in May, 2005 from Louisiana (yes, pre-Katrina). I was terrified mentally of the winter because of the "ice" and "snow" that I had never driven in. And yes, I freaked a little with the 12" snow of 12/05 and the ice but honestly, I have had no problem driving. I have a front-wheel drive vehicle (some say a rear-wheel drive is NOT recommended around here) and have had no problems except for the 4WD/AWD vehicles on the road who still drive like the roads are clear and because they have 4WD/AWD, they think they can drive through anything (WRONG!!!). The road crews are out as soon as (or sometimes before) the precip starts falling.

I live in the "Northland" area (I-29 & BarryRoad) and it is growing much to fast for me because I love seeing fields of corn. I moved from a very "necky" part of Louisiana and can say this place is not "necky" compared to there. I find KC being a very country-city kind of place - LOTS of things to do and easy to get around in the city. Traffic doesn't appear to ever just "stop" even during rush hour unless an accident.

My children no longer attend school but I have heard the general KCMO schools are terrible. I live in the Park Hill School district and everyone I know that has children there is pleased with that district (parents seem to be actively involved in the schools from what I've seen). There is a lot of community education programs through that district. I pay a lot of taxes to live in this district (but I don't know how it compares tax-wise to other areas).

Real Estate taxes were 3x higher here than what I paid in Louisiana and we have to pay personal property tax (car, boat, etc) here which irritates me GREATLY.

Hope this helps!

[Thrillcekr]

Originally Posted by yogabuff

"Traffic doesn't appear to ever just "stop" even during rush hour unless an accident."

"I pay a lot of taxes to live in this district (but I don't know how it compares tax-wise to other areas)."

Traffic doesn't come to a stand still in that area yet which makes it attractive to a lot of people. The same can't be said of a lot of areas of Jackson and Johnson County.

Taxes in the area you live in probably seem high since youre not used to paying any but they are low in both a metro-wide and country-wide comparison.

[christina0001]

Can anyone comment on Blue Springs, MO? Housing seems very affordable, but it has 13 - 14 elementary schools so I am wondering just how built up it is. My husband and I drove through it but it was the last day of our week out there, and I don't really remember it now.

[christina0001]

Also can anyone comment on Riverside? I found a very affordable apartment complex that would allow us to do a short-term lease, which is just what we want, but it's a little more in the city than we would like. Is it safe or is it ghetto?

[Will]

Originally Posted by christina0001

Can anyone comment on Blue Springs, MO? Housing seems very affordable, but it has 13 - 14 elementary schools so I am wondering just how built up it is. My husband and I drove through it but it was the last day of our week out there, and I don't really remember it now.

I'm not by any stretch an experienced resident, but I have been looking at places to live in the Southeast area of KC for the last two months. For us it came down to choosing between a place in Blue Springs and Lee's Summit. I met several people in Blue Springs who love living there and rave about their schools. One man told my wife how he moved back to Blue Springs specifically so his kids could go back to the schools there after finding out that schools weren't as good elsewhere (I can't remember where he moved to).

For us schools were critical, but I was also impressed by how happy people were with living in both of these communities. Liberty, and the community west of Liberty (that is also in the Liberty school district, but not in Liberty proper) were also highly regarded by the people who lived there. The property taxes are an eye opener in all of these areas though.

We finally picked a home in Lee's Summit, but this was more because of the particular house and its backyard, and proximity to work. It seemed to me that the available real estate was, on average, slightly more affordable in Blue Springs. It did seem that there were more vacant business lots in Blue Springs than in Lee's Summit, so I'm not sure what that says about the economic health of the area.

But what do I know, I've only been here two months!

[Lolls]

Lee's Summit and Blue Springs are both great areas for schools.

[Thrillcekr]

Originally Posted by christina0001

Also can anyone comment on Riverside? I found a very affordable apartment complex that would allow us to do a short-term lease, which is just what we want, but it's a little more in the city than we would like. Is it safe or is it ghetto?

Riverside is an interesting story. Riverside was a community that was on a rapid downhill slide about 12 years ago. Now it's done a complete 180 and is quickly becoming a very exclusive place to live. The newer homes slated to built in the area are unaffordable to most and some very upscale shopping just opened in nearby Briarcliff Village. It also has a great view of downtown Kansas City since it's almost close enough that you could hit it with a stone.

Riverside is also in one of the top 3 areas as far as high schools in the city. Park Hill South is outstanding. I wish I'd bought a bunch of property there about 10 years ago. I'd make a mint if I had.

I could write an essay on all that has happened in Riverside recently and will be happening in the near future. However, you wanna know about the apartments in Riverside. Well, they aren't dangerous by any means. Riverside is a very safe community. They aren't the prettiest things though. One of the remaining bits of the old Riverside that probably will disappear in the not so distant future. I'd say they would do in a pinch since it sounds like you're only gonna be staying there briefly.

If you want something nice but very affordable at the same time I'd check out The Lakes near I-29 and Barry Road. There's a small lake there, a few pools and a little weight room. It's also right around the corner from dozens of restaurants and more shopping than you can shake a stick at. You'd really never have to leave the neighborhood if you didn't want to.

As for Blue Springs, it's a nice area. Typical suburban America. The schools are decent and it's safe. The community itself has about 50,000 people and it's located very close to the main retail areas of Independence around Independence Center and such. They are supposed to be building another large retail center right in Blue Springs sometime soon. They may already be building it for all I know since I haven't been there in a year or so. Taxes there aren't as high as those of their neighbors in Lee's Summit or Johnson County in Kansas but they're higher than the northland. I'll warn you that traffic on I-70 going towards Blue Springs can get pretty darn thick in the afternoons though.

What is it exactly that you're looking for? The reason I'm asking is that you mentioned the number of schools in Blue Springs as if you found it a bit frightening. It sounded as if you were looking for someplace smaller and quieter. If that's the case then I'd recommend you look around Platte City and Smithville. Both are very nice smaller communities (less than 10,000) that have affordable housing with excellent schools. Neither place is crowded but they're located close to main arteries and have major shopping centers within about a ten minute drive.

Old town Parkville is also a very charming little town in a pocket that's surrounded by city but still seems kind of isolated. You really wouldn't know you're in the city.

Christina, feel free to send me an instant message via yahoo (user name o0thrillcekr0o) if you have any other questions you'd like answered right away since I don't check this board often.