bad neighborhoods in St. Joseph, mo (Kansas City, Independence: environment, relocating, transplants)

[haleybsn]

My family will soon be relocating to St. Joseph, Mo. We are in Louisiana right now, and have no way of looking at neighborhoods in person. The houses there look BEAUTIFUL , affordable, and historic, exactly what we're looking for. But what are the neighborhoods like there? We like the look of the King Hill area (on line, mind you). Is this a bad part of town? Are there any areas to avoid because of crime, etc.? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[christina0001]

My husband and I visited StJo last fall and it was lovely. We are moving to the Kansas City area in August. There were some neighborhoods in St. Joseph that were better than others, but the not so nice neighborhoods had more of a feeling of poverty than a feeling of danger or crime. I hope someone else can give you more specific information.

[StJoeFanatic]

I have been in St. Joe for about 12.5 years. I also work in local government here.
Below, I will post my response to another posters similar question<br>
Originally Posted by RCL
Can any of the people from St. Joseph please elaborate a bit, are there any areas of St. Joseph to avoid?

Very few... and those few are in a state of change at this point, so I would say that in a few years, even those "iffy" neighborhoods will be just fine. (an area called Midtown--however, they are trying to revitalize and have a Weed & Seed program in place as we speak to try to clean it up)

Truthfully, when I moved to St. Joseph 12 years ago, I was single and all alone. I ended up finding a small "inexpensive" apartment in what turned out to be quote "The most crime ridden, worst place in St. Joseph". I never really saw anything other than folks "hanging out" I am sure there was some bad stuff going on (drinking, drugs, etc) but I certainly never saw it. I would have never lived there for 1.5 years before moving on to a different neighborhood if I had.

Truthfully, other than a few blocks in the mid-town area... there really is no "dangerous" area in this town... a few "run-down" areas, with folks that don't have much to spend on housing upkeep, but they are not bad people... just poor.

King Hill is just fine-not a bad part of town at all

QUOTE:I'm wondering if it would be advantageous to live in the south end of town (south of 229 near Hyde Park) so as to be a little closer to KC, or if it's better to live further north, between downtown and Noyes Blvd?

As far as what part of town you want to live in.... it depends...
We live on the north end, not far from Noyes Blvd in a wonderful neighborhood. There are those that live in the "southend" they are called "southenders" and they have some very big PRIDE in their area. There is a slight clash between some in the southend and those in the north.

Some there tend to be hyper critical of government and change of any kind. Seems the northenders are more progressive and are just fine with change. It also seems that those on the north (and east) side of town are professional, career folks with families. They also tend to have a higher percentage of people who are transplants to St Joseph and have thouroughly embraced the beauty of this City and it's history.

Southside folks have lived here forever and will tell you if you want anything new in this town or want to change anything, that you should just go back where you came from, cause everything is fine the way it is!

However, having said all that... you would never be able to tell them apart... I'll give you an example...

A brand new shopping area has opened up north (on the north belt hwy) It has anchors like Sam's Club, Home Depot, Kohl's, Borders Books, etc....
In addition, many new restaurants have opened with several more on the way (famous daves bbq, olive garden, etc)
Now, when this new area was under development, the southsiders complained and loudly. They were "never going to step foot in those places!" "It was going to be the downfall of our community", etc.... those were the sentiments out of that end of town, even though the development was not near their homes, nor would it impede with their way of life.

Come to present day.... those stores are flourishing, and the restaurants are PACKED day and night.....It cannot be all because of people in the north. The folks from the south end are standing in line to get a table, just like everyone else.

So, other than the folks in the southend being very "vocal" about their convictions, they are very nice, very fine folks. They are very proud and take pride in their lifestyle, just like the northenders.

This town is large, but not like a huge metropolitan area (like KC or St Louis).
Like I said, we live on the north side, and it still only takes us 30 minutes to get to the KCI aiport, so I wouldn't worry about location as far as being close to KC...you should really just find a home in this community that you love. In a town this size, location to KC doesn't matter...everywhere is "close" to interstate access!

[LA42]

St. Joseph sounds great but what about the schools -- do they compare to Park Hill district in MO or Shawnee Mission district in KS? What about gifted education? thanks!

[christina0001]

http://dese.mo.gov/schooldata/
From the research I have done on area schools, StJo school district not as good as the 3 other Buchanan County school districts (Buchanan, East Buchanan, and Mid-Buchanan), nor quite as good as Park Hill (going by graduation rate, inclusion rate, and # of kids taking ACT). It doesn't look to be a bad district, but not a great one, either...at least statistically.

[StJoeFanatic]

In stark contrast to the above statement, the following was posted today in the local St. Joseph Newspaper:

4/17/2007 1:50:00 AM
Schools earn awards

Seven of the St. Joseph School District's 18 elementary schools earned a special pat on the back from the Missouri Department of Secondary and Elementary Education this month.

Eugene Field, Bessie Ellison, Coleman, Humboldt, Noyes, Pershing and Skaith elementary schools all earned "Top 10" recognition for their performance during the spring 2006 MAP (Missouri Assessment Program) testing. Bessie Ellison also earned a state Gold Star School designation because its scores are in the state's top 10 percent.

The state bases the honors on test scores in communication arts and math for grades 3 through 8, plus grades 10 and 11. Every school was eligible for 12 Top 10 listings, based on two subject areas and six grade levels.

The District's 19 Top 10 rankings were among the tops in the state. Of the 524 school districts in Missouri, only three others had more Top 10 listings, according to district officials.

School district officials are especially proud of the fact that more than 50 percent of the district's students are eligible for free-and-reduced lunches based on federal poverty guidelines. Of the seven district schools on the top scores lists, four have a free-and-reduced lunch population near or above the state average of more than 41 percent.

"Those socioeconomic struggles are not an excuse for us," Cheri Patterson, the district's associate superintendent of curriculum and instruction, told our reporter. "All kids can learn, and we have proven it."

We certainly join in the celebration of the success of these seven schools. We also applaud the philosophy of a district that refuses to accept poverty as an excuse for failing.

[northbayeric]

That is terrific news about these schools in St. Joseph! Like Christina, the research I had done previously suggested to me that the St. Joseph School District ran about mid-pack compared to other school districts in Missouri.

I've just finished grad school, and will soon be looking for employment opportunities in the greater St. Joseph area and closer to KC. My wife and I are eyeing St. Joseph (except maybe Midtown area), and the town of Lexington; and we've been enjoying reading the Sunday edition of the News Press that we've recently subscribed to. I've really appreciated the info you've provided me in this and your other posts, St. Joe Fanatic! Hopefully the few violent incidents in Midtown will prove to be exceptions and not indicative of any deeper problems in that region. But we're very eager to relocate to St. Joe or possibly Lexington as a backup choice.

[StJoeFanatic]

Hey, how ironic that you are also looking at Lexington! I lived there for a few years prior to moving to St. Joseph! (I worked at the local Military Academy there!)

While I did enjoy my time in Lexington (mostly due to my job) I did not enjoy the lack of amenties that town has to offer.

The quaint, cozy atmosphere is nice, no doubt. But I did not like having to drive to KC as often as I found myself having to do for simple things I could not find locally. There were many times, prior to a dinner party, that I would drive to KC just for food, as the selection there locally was not adequate. (certainly, no specialty items).

I also had to drive to at least Higginsville or Richmond just for basic items.
Personally, I need to have in-town amenities...

If I was to be truly honest with you....I felt like the sidewalk litterally rolled up about 5:15 daily! And trust me, I grew up in a small town and Lexington FELT WAY smaller than where I came from!

While there is something "special" about that place... a feeling of sorts, I could never live there again. I was just BORED all the time.

And while St. Joseph does have all the amenities (and then some) that I need on a daily/weekly basis, I still feel that sense of community here. It still has that "small town feel" without the "small town" lack of opportunities.

However, you must do what is best for your family and I do wish you well in your selection.

If I can be of any assistance to you about St. Joseph or Lexington, just let me know!

[northbayeric]

Thanks again! And I've mainly grown up in either a suburban environment or most recently, a city that has grown over 50 percent in size during the 20 years I've lived here. Santa Rosa has grown from 98,000 in 1986 to nearly 160,000 today, but its growth is tapering off quite a bit.

I've never lived in a small town, and figured I'd just need to try to spend a full day in Lexington to try to get a feel for what it might be like to live there. I think the one real ace in the hole that's going to bring us to St. Joseph is its proximity to the interstate highways and its city bus system. My wife, who currently doesn't drive, would have to learn to drive right away if we lived in Lexington and if I had to commute to Independence or KC. In St. Joe, her learning to drive wouldn't be quite that crucial.

It also seems like St. Joe has the same square mileage as Santa Rosa, but less than half the population. I'll tell you, the traffic here is not fun. Huge numbers of cars wait at many traffic intersections and in some places, the traffic lights are so close together that the traffic can back up into the previous intersection, especially if you're trying to get onto Highway 101. Lots of red light runners, partially because our infrastructure was never designed to handle this amount of traffic. Anyway, it seems like in St. Joe you've got a great combination of streets, highways, bus routes and urban trails that used to be railroad tracks. I've looked at the pedestrian and bike trails on the city website and they look like a lot of fun to go strolling along.

I think I'll close by just asking you your candid opinion of the Midtown area--if crime is a problem there and if we should look at other places in St. Joe to live eventually. It seems like the rest of the city is just fine and does have that small town feel and sense of community that my wife and I feel is sorely lacking here. As for Lexington, my wife and I aren't really "night life" kind of people (I'm 38 and she's 40), but if the town essentially shuts down by dinnertime and you have to do a lot of traveling to KC and Richmond just to get certain fairly basic things, then it definitely seems like we're on track to count ourselves as St. Joe's newest residents in about another year, God willing. I'm really looking forward to flying back there in September to visit the area! Have a good weekend and I'll check back here soon!

[jeb2113]

let me know if you have any questions about st joseph