Relocation to Urban KC (Kansas City, Lee's Summit: crime, taxi driver, quality of life)

[min1kc]

I think there is a huge difference in Minneapolis then in KC. I live in Minneapolis all my life then moved to kansas city and find it rather slower then up north. Also, there are not to many safe places in KC and Minneapolis downtown area is more urban then kc, Kansas City is country.

[skrazzle]

The only reason you would find Minneapolis more safe then KC is cuz Minneapolis has hardly any black people.

Honestly thats the major difference.... i'm not trying to make it a racial thing, i'm saying its assumptions people make based on what they see. There are no real black areas of Minneapolis, where as there are in KC. And thats cool if thats your thing, I wouldn't move to a black suburb personally, but thats cuz I wouldn't want to be the minority. I WOULD live in Westport/Downtown/Waldo/Hyde Park/ etc... The urban area is 50/50 in some areas and still 80/20 70/30 majority white in many.

In my honest opinion I never felt unsafe in areas many people considered ghetto, but i knew the people I knew the places and I knew what not to do.

Minneapolis is an awesome city, I have nothing bad to say about it... i'd live there, I don't mind the cold.... and it def has some advantages over KC... when me and my gf have considered where we want to locate when we move out of KC after college, we thought of Minneapolis and decided.. no, because while we love the city, we just don't think its different ENOUGH from KC. It's nice, but not a REAL change.

If you think KC is more country, its cuz you are avoiding the city...

[aragx6]

It's true that Minneapolis is relatively safe now, but were you not there in the 90s when it was not-so-lovingly referred to as Muderopolis?

[skrazzle]

Originally Posted by aragx6

It's true that Minneapolis is relatively safe now, but were you not there in the 90s when it was not-so-lovingly referred to as Muderopolis?

I've been there several times but the first was in 2000, so I have no clue how it was in the 90s...

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by min1kc

I think there is a huge difference in Minneapolis then in KC. I live in Minneapolis all my life then moved to kansas city and find it rather slower then up north. Also, there are not to many safe places in KC and Minneapolis downtown area is more urban then kc, Kansas City is country.

KC is and can be a VERY urban and cosmopolitan city. I honestly believe that the urban core of KCMO can compete with cities two and three times its size when it comes to urban housing, arts, culture, museums, urban neighborhoods, alternative lifestyles etc.

But KC can also be very “country” and the country side of KC is probably the most visible to outsiders.

KC’s “county” mentality is really my biggest complaint about the city.

Most of the following complaints are geared toward the areas (or residents) of metro KC outside the River to Waldo Corridor:

People can’t drive in KC and most KC drivers would be run off the road in other major cities. There is no reason to drive 50mph in the left lanes of major urban interstates or try to merge onto a freeway at half the speed of traffic.

People can’t parallel park. There is nothing more hilarious than watching a JoCo car try to parallel park on the plaza or downtown.

People in KC are just obsessed with having a massive surface parking lot in front of where ever they go. If they don’t see a massive surface parking lot and their destination is not visible from it, then there is NO PARKING AVAILABLE. This has to be the easiest and cheapest big city in the nation to park a car in and people in KC can’t figure it out.

This city has THREE giant hunting/fishing stores (two bass pros and a cabella’s,) yet few know what an IKEA is.

This city can’t fund and build a decent transit system, yet can build highways in the middle of nowhere.

This city should have moved the baseball stadium downtown and built a new football stadium at the sports complex with a retractable roof. We basically said no thanks to really taking our downtown to the next level and no thanks to hosting a super bowl and future final fours. Why? Because we like the parking at the Sports Complex, even though it’s typically a farther walk than most downtown stadiums and there is a monopoly on parking so you have to pay what are outrageous fees, especially for Chiefs games. In downtown stadiums you have options, streets parking, competing garages and transit, etc.

People in KC love the strip malls in the middle of nowhere like the Legends. I can not for the life of me see what people see in the Legends.

Most of the higher end retail and restaurants in KC have bolted for Johnson County. Crate & Barrel for example should be on the plaza. In any other city, they tend locate in a more urban upscale area, not a suburban upscale area.

Way too many of our local companies are in suburban office parks rather than urban towers. We have suburban office parks that rival Chicago and a Downtown workforce that should be 3 times its size for a city our size. There is just very little civic pride here.

But most of all, even though the urban core of KCMO IS very nice and offers a lot, most people in suburban KC have nothing good to say about KCMO. That is proven over and over right here on this forum and many others all over the internet. KC has to be the only city where such a high percentage of metro residents are intimidated, scared and freaked out about ANYTHING URBAN. Again, very little civic pride.

I honestly think most people in JoCo hate the MO side (or at least have no respect for it), even though most know nothing , absolutely nothing about it, other than the areas around the stadiums, plaza and worlds of fun. I find that ironic since for the most part, they get a free ride the MO side provides the KS side with nearly all their entertainment, culture and identity.

For these reasons, I would move to Minneapolis or Denver if I have a chance. It’s not that KC doesn’t offer similar quality of life for those looking for something non-suburban. It’s just that too many people in KC are just way too suburban/rural minded and have little, if any civic pride and that drives me nuts.

Read the comments at the bottom of this article:

http://www.kansascity.com/105/story/1061859.html

You can read similar comments on KCStar every day of the week. Every day. Nearly all are started by JoCo morons that have nothing better to do than rip on KCMO/Jackson County/Missouri. And people wonder why so many people on the MO side can't stand JoCo.

This Missourian would have never said:

"every time you go to the Plaza or a museum or downtown or the zoo etc you are going to a landfill? Typical arrogant undignified FREELOADING UNAPPRECIATIVE kansan...you people SUCK

If this Kansan would have never said:
"Quit crying Jackson County, w/o the Royals or Chiefs, Jackson County would be a landfill."

Pretty much sums up the biggest reason I don't like KC.

[skrazzle]

People can’t parallel park. There is nothing more hilarious than watching a JoCo car try to parallel park on the plaza or downtown.

My gf and her sister ALWAYS want me to parallel park for them LOL. Them and their friends also hate driving downtown though they love going there, even though driving downtown is SO easy. For some reason people are scared of one way streets.

People in KC are just obsessed with having a massive surface parking lot in front of where ever they go. If they don’t see a massive surface parking lot and their destination is not visible from it, then there is NO PARKING AVAILABLE. This has to be the easiest and cheapest big city in the nation to park a car in and people in KC can’t figure it out.

I was talking with my gf about this not long ago. We hate that in KC. I wish things were developed with the parking being behind the buildings or parking garges or some how different. I can't stand that everywhere you go in the burbs its just giant parking lots everywhere. I prefer a style similiar to Miami or LA where store fronts are right at the street.

This city has THREE giant hunting/fishing stores (two bass pros and a cabella’s,) yet few know what an IKEA is.

I've actually never been to any of these.... tho I do like fishing occasionally. I've heard those stores are kinda cool on the inside too, as far as the one having the aquarium, etc...

This city can’t fund and built a decent transit system, yet can build highways in the middle of nowhere.

I'm still convinced this fell through on the last vote because it didn't serve the northland enough. The one that did passed that the city refused to build went all the way up North Oak down by Zona Rosa and to the airport.

/Agree with everything else too... KC is nice, and has an even bigger potential... I think it's own suburban residents are the main thing holding it back. The city could do more of course too...

Speaking as someone who lived in the burbs growing up, it wasn't until I was 16 and could start driving wherever I wanted that I learned what KC really had to offer. If you asked me when I first turned 16 about KC I would have said it sucks and is boring.... by the time I was 17 I couldn't believe how much more I had learned about KC and what there was to do here.

A friend of mine from overseas in Helsinki was an exchange student here, and when she went downtown, westport, plaza.... she said she felt like she was in a real american city... she said she came to the US thinking things would be like the movies... foreigners assume the US is either like what LA/Chicago/NYC or is old west and cowboys LOL... she stayed in Liberty and while she liked it she said it was nothing like what she expected... then she finally saw the other areas and said she felt like she was in the areas from the movies...

it's unfortunate so many people from KC do not realize what the city has to offer and the potential it could reach....

That said, i thnk we are slowly moving in a better direction... but a bit too slowley for me. I will be moving out of KC once i've completed my bachelors. I love it, but it's times to move on and I can't wait on KC forever.

[skrazzle]

And.. YES I came to add, which I see you added.. our DOWNTOWN. It is awesome, why are there not more business there? It's getting better... but there needs to be more corporations working out of downtown KC.

Most of the people who live in the burbs work for large companies that are in the burbs.

If you work for Sprint, Embarq, Ferrellgas, etc.. you are in the burbs. I worked at all of them. I've worked downtown 2 but it's harder to find companies to work for there if you are in IT. All the IT jobs are in the burbs... downtown has.. lets see if you work for a Bank in the IT section, Birch Telecom, Ernst and Young, and not sure what else..... but just not much.

Part of that is because KS side offers better incentives for businesses. It is EASIER to open a business on the KS side then the MO side, that is something that needs to be changed, and I don't understand why our current and previous mayor has ignored this issue.

At least in the Northland people are getting a better feel for things being slightly different with places like Zona Rosa or the main strip in NKC which is quaint as well.

I think it's sad Metro North Mall is just a dump.... they had plans to change it to The Streets at Barrytown:

Alberta Development Partners : The Places : The Streets at Barrytowne

However our recession I believe is what led to that idea disappearing.

I wouldn't mind strip malls as much, if they weren't mostly parking lots as said before... but it's def not what I prefer.

[kcmo]

What more can KCMO do? There is very little than KCMO can do to bring development costs to an even playing field.

It simply costs more to build in an urban area than in a field in JoCo. Land cost more, whatever was there before has to be removed and cleaned up, parking generally has to be structured etc.

In JoCo, they just take a piece of farm land, plop down a steel framed box wrapped in glass and surround it with surface parking.

There is no amount of incentives that can come close to evening the playing field. That’s why I’m amazed that KCMO has really turned its back on giving out incentives and elected Funkhouser to stop them. KCMO has to just to keep above water. KCMO doesn’t compete with Denver or StLouis or Dallas, it competes with Overland Park and Lenexa and Olathe. KCMO needs to use every incentive it has just to keep the companies it has from jumping the state line. Most of the time those incentives are still not enough and they want to quit using them?

Then to make things worse. Most of the companies in JoCo came from KCMO. When you move from KCMO, not only does it cost far less to build, you get incentives for bringing jobs to into the state of Kansas, even if they moved from Ward Parkway. KCMO can’t use incentives to keep those jobs, but Kansas can use them to lure them.

Now after three decades of doing this, most of their employee pool is out there, making things more difficult as people don’t want to drive all the way into the city and pay for parking etc.

Basically, KC needs a few more companies that have a vested interest in the city as well as their own company. Hallmark, DST, American Century, HNTB, H&R Block etc.

Those are all companies that have a lot of civic pride and it shows in everything they do. They take some of their profits and plow it back into being in a more urban and civic minded location, local charities etc.

For example, Hallmark and American Century do far more for the city via urban core redevelopment, charitable donations etc, than much larger Sprint ever has or will.

KC is not a big enough city to have so many large companies doing all their business in suburban office parks. Downtown has no big towers with private names on them like every other city in America does. Charlotte, Denver, Minneapolis, even Omaha, have many of their major corporate companies in big high profile towers downtown. Why? Not because it’s cheaper, because it’s not. Because of “civic pride” and wanting to give back to the community.

[skrazzle]

I wish I could find the article I read in Pitch, it went into details on starting a new business, and how much more difficult it was in MO, more restrictions and guidelines to meet, etc.... this was a few years back.

In this era of corporate greed good luck on getting corporations to open up downtown and take pride in things.. i just don't see it happening. I say give them more tax breaks... if the cost of land is more fine, make it so their operating cost are less... the city still stands to gain when more employees work in the urban area and spend their money in the urban area because of it...

[smellykat]

People can’t parallel park. There is nothing more hilarious than watching a JoCo car try to parallel park on the plaza or downtown.

Living in the suburbs, be it Overland Park or Lee's Summit, leaves one with little ability to parallel park. That type of parking just doesn't exist in the 'burbs. How sad to laugh at someone's attempt to park their car! Hopefully, your children were not with you!

This city has THREE giant hunting/fishing stores (two bass pros and a cabella’s,) yet few know what an IKEA is.

Don't flatter yourself, KCMO, many of us are as well traveled as you, and we are well versed in online shopping!

But most of all, even though the urban core of KCMO IS very nice and offers a lot, most people in suburban KC have nothing good to say about KCMO. That is proven over and over right here on this forum and many others all over the internet. KC has to be the only city where such a high percentage of metro residents are intimidated, scared and freaked out about ANYTHING URBAN. Again, very little civic pride.

The only thing that is proven over and over again on this forum is the ANGER and HATRED you have for all things Johnson County!
Many residents of suburban communities, on both sides of the state line, prefer to focus on their own communities and contribute a great deal to them. You certainly owe these folks an apology for stating that they have "very little civic pride" because they are not interested in urban Kansas City, Missouri.

I honestly think most people in JoCo hate the MO side (or at least have no respect for it), even though most know nothing , absolutely nothing about it, other than the areas around the stadiums, plaza and worlds of fun. I find that ironic since for the most part, they get a free ride the MO side provides the KS side with nearly all their entertainment, culture and identity.

For these reasons, I would move to Minneapolis or Denver if I have a chance.

Please take this in the spirit that it is intended. Perhaps you should move to Minneapolis or Denver. Johnson County and its residents, the state of Kansas and its residents are not going to go away! If you cannot deal with the bi-state situation and the perceived hostility that you experience, by all means, consider a move for your mental and physical health.


It’s not that KC doesn’t offer similar quality of life for those looking for something non-suburban. It’s just that too many people in KC are just way too suburban/rural minded and have little, if any civic pride and that drives me nuts.

Read the comments at the bottom of this article:

A $250 million renovation makes Kauffman Stadium look like new - Kansas City Star

You can read similar comments on KCStar every day of the week. Every day. Nearly all are started by JoCo morons that have nothing better to do than rip on KCMO/Jackson County/Missouri. And people wonder why so many people on the MO side can't stand JoCo.

And you can read comments like these in EVERY newspaper in the country. Online bashing is the new American pastime! Sad!

This Missourian would have never said:

"every time you go to the Plaza or a museum or downtown or the zoo etc you are going to a landfill? Typical arrogant undignified FREELOADING UNAPPRECIATIVE kansan...you people SUCK

If this Kansan would have never said:
"Quit crying Jackson County, w/o the Royals or Chiefs, Jackson County would be a landfill."

The days of courtesy and respect for others are gone.