Relocating to KC? (Kansas City, Lee's Summit, Liberty: best cities, homes, job market)

[trackcoach]

My husband and I are looking to relocate. We currently live in Tampa, and are looking for a change in pace. We have a couple of questions about Kansas City...
1. We are teachers...How are the schools and what is the job market like?
2. What is the climate like?
3. Is it a conservative? We are looking for a liberal/moderate area.
4. When reading other "threads", some say the area is "necky". Is this true?
5. Is this an up and coming area?

Any other insight and information would be appreciated. Thank you!!

[MTFRED]

KC schools bite the big one. They have a problem with the school board. Too many chiefs and not enough indians. They are considered the poorest school district in the area, educational and financial. Yes it is up and coming. Coming from where no one knows, but it is definitely going, down the tubes. The school board keeps firing and buying out contracts and won't leave anyone alone to run the system. I moved so my kids wouldn't have to go there. I'm not even sure if they got their accredidation back fully.

[kansascityinfo]

population- 488,757- Black-51% White-40% Lationo-16% Other-8%
metro area popilation- 2.8 million

NFL TEAM-Kansas City Chiefs
MLB Team-Kansas City Royals
MLS Team-Kansas City Wizords
AFL Team-Kansas City Brgade
Minor Leage Baseball-Kansas City T-Bones
Kansas Speedway-2 Major NASCAR Races and many outher races like the inddy cars
Theme Park-2 of the fastest tallest roller coasters in the world
2 water theme parks
Climite Summer- Humid Hot Pop-up afternoon storms
Fall- nice warm wet
Winter- nice cool dry some snow not much
Spring-Warm Humid Stormy

[Joshua Allan]

Kansas City is a great place to relocate. I don't know about the schools, but the area in general is nice. They have nice springs & autumns. The summers are hot & humid & sometimes dry. The winters are cooler & wet. It just depends on where you want to relocate. Do you want to live in the city or suburbs? I hope you have fun finding a place to move to!

Joshua

[MTFRED]

KC IS A GREAT PLACE TO LIVE ALRIGHT IT WAS NAMED AS ONE OF THE BEST CITIES IN THE US WHOEVER NAMED IT THAT MUST HAVE HAD ONE TOO MANY. MURDER RATES WENT UP 42% LAST YEAR. THE SCHOOL DISTRICT IS ONE OF THE WORST IN THE NATION. PEOPLE TRY TO BUY HOMES IN KC IN AREAS WHERE THEIR KIDS DON'T HAVE TO ATTEND THE KC SCHOOLS. LIVE AROUND KC AND VISIT, JUST DON'T WANT TO CALL IT HOME.

[chupiechow]

1. How are the schools and what is the job market like? Schools are horrible, job market is good. Stay on the Kansas side, good schools, MO schools are the worst, nothing but a bunch of undesirables. Job market here is good
2. What is the climate like? I think the weather here is great, not too humid
3. Is it a conservative? We are looking for a liberal/moderate area. I don't think it's too liberal has a very large gay population in the Brookside Plaza area of town
4. When reading other "threads", some say the area is "necky". Is this true? It is if you get outside the city limits. I lived in Indiana NOW THAT"S NECKY and hot and humid, don't get me started
5. Is this an up and coming area? I wouldn't call it an up and coming area, but housing is still priced decently and continues to go up.

[Thrillcekr]

Depends on where you look as far as schools. Kansas City, Mo has several school districts. The one dubbed KCMO school district are bad ones but the Park Hill District is tops in the area out of all the districts in the metro. The North Kansas City district has schools like Oak Park and is also a great school. If you live in Kansas City somewhere near highway 152 your kids would likely end up going to school Liberty which is also a very desirable.

The northland portion of KC is growing very rapidly and new schools are being built left and right so I can't really tell you about all of the elementary schools since many of them haven't been in existence for long. Most likely they are good since newer schools tend to be. Another new high school (Staley) is due to open in 2008 and Liberty will also be building a new high school soon.

[MissouriLady]

Hi there Trackcoach,
I'm not much of a city person for day to day living but the K.C.MO area is a very good place to live and raise a family. You do have to pick your spot, just like any other major city. One of the things I find great is the rural areas within a comfortable commuting distance. If you have children or plan to work for a school distict, I personally would suggest you look around the suburbs as well as KC. I think the Mayor of KC has been Sometimes I would like to cry when I think of all the money and time wasted, and worst of all, all the promising young minds that have been provided starvation rations because the people elected to the KC school board never figured out the job was not about making them important.----okay, sorry, I should really try to stay away from that subjec. I have a friend who's son grew up in Lee's Summit and has been coaching there for a while and he loves it. There are also many other FINE school districts all around the KC area that you would probably find an enjoyable place. Just about every child around here is in some kind of sports year around.

Hope you find a home in our area
MissouriLady

[kansaslady]

I hear that that the school system on the KS side is much better than on the MO side....I don't have children in school so can't agree or disagree.

The climate? Compared to Tampa? Be prepared to drive on ice every winter...KC area always get ice in the winter, and it can last for several days. The "Alberta Express" will chill you to the bone. Snowfall average is low, however, we still get the ice, which is the worst thing about living here.

On the KS side, you'll have much better road conditions (too many potholes on the MO side)...however, the cost of living in Johnson County, KS (the most populas area) is very high compared to MO. Jobs are plentiful in JOCO and pay very well.

The biggiest problem will be the Jan/Feb freezing conditions..if you can tolerate the cold and don't mind having to drive on ice, then it should not be a problem at all.

[HollyMaria]

I live in Kansas City, Missouri. Midtown, to be precise. Kansas City, MO is suffering in its school districts. Your help would be appreciated though. The pay is pretty average I think... not too high, not too low.

The climate: haha. Well, here in Missouri there is a saying. If you don't like the weather, stick around a few minutes and it'll change. But seriously, we feel the full effect of all four seasons. Last week it was 100 degrees and above for many days. During winter it can get down to 20 below. Those are the extremes though. You can see the averages on www.weather.com.

Political climate depends on where you live. KCMO (Kansas City, MO) is more liberal (and more diverse by far) than KCK (Kansas City, KS). To be honest, there are things about KCK that irritate me in that regard. Now don't anyone get all crazy... my boyfriend is from there. I don't hate people from Kansas. LOL. I just don't like the high-siddity attitudes some people get about the Missouri side.

I don't know what "necky" means, so I won't answer that part.

KCMO is up and coming in some ways. Like a lot of cities, there is downtown revitalization. There is also a large four-year state university here, as well as a couple of very notable private ones.

Someone mentioned the murder rate. There was a surge in the murder rate last year, but this year the rate is less than half of what it was. Also, it should be noted that almost all of those murders (and murders in general in urban areas) were between people who already knew each other and had a problem with each other. They weren't just random people who got shot.

KCMO has "good" and "bad" parts just like anywhere else. I only get irritated when people draw those lines racially though. Like I said, I live in Midtown. It's not "bad" by any means as far as I'm concerned. But some people say it is because half the people are black. I'm not black, but that still really annoys me.

Sorry to go off subject there, but hope maybe that was at least somewhat helpful...