Parkville (Kansas City, Madison: sales, house, safe area)

[masl]

Contemplating a move to KS from Madison, WI. We have two tweens. What will Parkville be like for them? What about neighborhoods--easy to meet adult/younger people?

[RjRobb2]

Parkville is not Kansas, it is in Missouri. It is very close to the border, but on the Missouri side.

Parkville is a clean, quiet area. It has lots of young families with children of all ages. It is a safe area so kids are active outside in most neighborhoods. They will be attending Park Hill schools which is a good school district of decent size.

Overall, Parkville or anywhere in the Northland is a great place to raise a family.

[bls5555]

The Parkville area is the nicest in Kansas City in my opinion. You will find that MOST of the area that is considered the "Parkville Area" is actually Kansas City, MO. Don't take that as a Negative. Parkville is just a small little area with the surrounding areas being Kansas City. Very very nice area. You would be happy. Close to EVERYTHING but there is no cookie cutter suburbia feel. I live about 1 1/2 Mile from the Parkville City Limits on and I am about a 10 minute drive to the heart of downtown Kansas City, yet it doesn't feel like you are that close to the city. It's great.

Also, as stated above, Parkville is on the Missouri side (the Northland).

[masl]

yes, thanks for catching my typo...i intended to write KC, not KS!
how is the middle school?
what about "the feel" of the different subdivisions...any suggestions of one over the other?

[JackieB23]

I loved Parkville when I lived there - I would move back there again in a heartbeat. It's awesome and one of my favorite places in the world.

The schools are all excellent - as good as you'll get in public school in KC.

What kind of feel are you looking for?

[masl]

We have one daughter that will be going into 5th grade --which of the Parkville elementary schools would you recommend? Another daughter will be in middle school--recommendations of one over another?

I have heard many wonderful things about the Parkville area. I'm curious to know what the negatives are that we should be aware of?

How far is Parkville from the airport?

[bls5555]

8-10 miles or so. If you want to be close to the Airport, the Parkville area is where you should move to.

[JackieB23]

Originally Posted by masl

We have one daughter that will be going into 5th grade --which of the Parkville elementary schools would you recommend? Another daughter will be in middle school--recommendations of one over another?

I have heard many wonderful things about the Parkville area. I'm curious to know what the negatives are that we should be aware of?

How far is Parkville from the airport?

I don't think you can possibly go wrong with schools in Parkville - I don't know the current zoning for the individual schools but it's the Park Hill School District. There is also a private Catholic school up north of town on 9 Highway.

Airport takes about 10-15 minutes-ish, sometimes longer depending on where you live in town and traffic.

Negatives :
- Well, it's a small town, with small town issues, very NIMBY, if you care about such things (I find that charming, personally).
-There's a city sticker that they are SERIOUS about you buying each year (I moved out in 2001 - not sure if they still have this).
-Parkville is in the center of things but the roads aren't the most convenient - it's one thing I liked about it, though (even if I had to drive to NKC or Barry Road for Taco Bell at 2 in the morning!).
-It's gotten a lot pricier over time - not a lot of affordable housing there compared to other parts of the metro (that's why I moved out into Kansas City, North... couldn't afford to buy a house in Parkville). What is affordable tends to be very run down.
-Taxes are a little higher than in other parts of Platte County, especially sales taxes.
-Traffic can be an issue at some times of day in some parts of the city.

I lived there on and off for four years and I loved every minute I lived there - what negatives there are, are more than compensated by all the of the wonderful events that go on in the park over the year, the park itself, the lovely Main Street downtown, the nature sanctuary (there's a waterfall back there that's kinda neat, and also some beaver dams)... the list goes on and on.

I can't recall a single interaction with the City that was negative in any way - even when the issue was "negative". I got to know several police officers, city employees, and elected officials by name. There are several community groups and lots of volunteer opportunities if you like that sort of thing (and I did).

Man, this is making me homesick... gotta stop now.

[RjRobb2]

The one thing I dont like about Parkville is the police are not very nice and they are nitpicky. They have nothing to do and will pull you over for the most ridiculous reasons. I got pulled over once for over accelerration. I wasnt going over the speed limit but I was going up a hill and the officer said that I "over accelerrated" car.

I wasnt given a ticket and I looked it up and there isnt even a law concerning it. I think the cop just saw a guy in his low 20s in a red sports car and decided to pull me over. Apparently, they do this kind of stuff a lot.

[JackieB23]

Originally Posted by RjRobb2

The one thing I dont like about Parkville is the police are not very nice and they are nitpicky. They have nothing to do and will pull you over for the most ridiculous reasons. I got pulled over once for over accelerration. I wasnt going over the speed limit but I was going up a hill and the officer said that I "over accelerrated" car.

I wasnt given a ticket and I looked it up and there isnt even a law concerning it. I think the cop just saw a guy in his low 20s in a red sports car and decided to pull me over. Apparently, they do this kind of stuff a lot.

See, my personal experience with the Parkville Police is different - but I wasn't a young man in his 20's in red sports car, either.

Once, these not-nice and nitpicky officers came to my house and helped capture an injured racoon off my front porch (a frightened and injured racoon is a scary beast, lemme tell ya), and took it to the nature sanctuary to release it (we went with 'em because we were interested in what would happen).

So, yeah, probably in most cities the police wouldn't bother with such a thing, because they're too busy - but IMHO, it's another good thing about Parkville, not a detraction.