People have no clue about KC (Kansas City, Saginaw: sales, how much, houses)

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by kcmo

Yea, I like GraniteStater, but I wish he wouldn't try to rep KCMO. He should stick to JoCo.
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You have to remember that my upbringing was JOCO. All of my relatives have never left JOCO. They have such jaded opinions of the rest of the metro that it boggles my mind. Sometimes, it makes no sense to try to educate them.
Have some parts of KC, MO come a long way in the past 10 years? Absolutely. (Sprint Center Arena, P&L District, Lofts/Condos & Infill etc) Is their room for improvement in terms of job creation? Yes. Everyone wishes for more employment opportunities in this day and age.

[GraniteStater]

I just don't think the Plains cities are on the national radar screen at all. I don't think many people think much at all about cities like Wichita, Kansas City, Omaha, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Sioux Falls, Fargo, etc. I think many become "acquainted" with these cities through direct business transfers. I still remember the flurry of "corporate transfers" to JOCO back in the boom era days of the 1990s. Out of state license plates were as common as Mustangs roaring by. I'm sure the RE agents had a complete field day sucking in all those people into JOCO while the Northland didn't have that much growth at all by comparison. Now, the percentage increases in population within the KC metro are much more evenly dispersed in an Indianapolis-esque sprawly fashion.

[TabulaRasa]

Originally Posted by skrizzle

Out of curiosity, before coming would you say you didn't really think much of KC?

KC simply wasn't on my radar at all. I had no preconceived notions, other than some vague ideas about jazz and bebop music, and certainly no negative preconceptions. I'm from the Midwest, but have really lived nearly exclusively in the upper Midwest. My only experience with Missouri earlier in life were childhood day trips to St. Louis and to Hannibal. I was never further west in the state.

I did have the good sense to know that it wasn't part of Kansas, though, Geography-loving kid that I was.

I do remember that the first time I rolled into KC (came in on Amtrak's Southwest Chief, which arrives in the neighborhood of 11 p.m.), I was stunned by the beauty of the skyline all lit up at night and visible from Union Station. I don't know why, but it didn't occur to me that Kansas City's skyline would be so lovely.

And also out of curiosity, as i've always wondered, does your name refer to Tabula Rasa in the philosophical sense, or the video game? LOL

Just the blank slate concept. I'm definitely not a gamer. I chose it because I'd previously had a forum username that was disabled through a glitch (my SO and I were logging on and posting from a shared computer after I moved in with him, and TPTB on the site apparently took that to mean we were one person posting under various alter egos, evidently a no-no), so I had to start over with a new one. Hence, the blank slate.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by skrizzle

You know, what took you so long to post in here anyways? I thought you would be the FIRST reply!

You really can stop the "GraniteStater" is completely negative on KC. I'm not. So many cities in the Midwest are worse than KC by comparison.
I guess I do place a higher value on aesthetics and natural ammenities. I like the Great Lakes and the Northwoods ammenities very much. The reservoirs of the lower Midwest are not in the same league. I also dislike hot weather very much. I escaped up to the Northwoods and North Shore of MN every chance I got when I lived in KC.

[northbayeric]

GraniteStater, I really appreciate your replies here, and a lot of these philippics, um, I mean, er, this discussion has to do with matters of personal taste. In fairness, I've never been to Johnson County or much of the Kansas City area except for Parkville, Liberty and the area around the airport. Apparently Johnson County has a lot of newer cookie-cutter homes that have a kind of pseudo-Spanish look to them, and that would look more appropriate in maybe New Mexico, Arizona or southern Nevada. I don't think I would like the look of them at all in Johnson County.

If and when my wife and I ever move to Oklahoma or Missouri, we think we could do OK with the summer heat and humidity--she grew up in California's Central Valley and hates the baking bone-dry heat and actually would welcome more humidity (hopefully that would never change!). And I grew up near St. Louis, and need say no more about that as far as weather is concerned. The cooler New Hampshire summers would sound pretty darn appealing when the heat index approaches 110 degrees though!

There's been quite a bit of talk about a rail system in Kansas City. I'm concerned that the area lacks the population density to make such a system financially viable, and would need to be heavily subsidized by those who would never be able to, or want to take advantage of this transportation alternative. We in the San Francisco Bay Area just barely dodged a strike threat by BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) employees, so there's that problem as well. What does everyone think?

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by TabulaRasa

I know we have a good friend who's becoming a transplant from western NY in the next month on our recommendation of KC being a great city. It happens.

Everyone is escaping the Empire NY taxes are out of control. My mother is still in contact with a friend who grew up in Glenns Falls, NY and moved to KC in the 1980s. It was for economic reasons along with her husband. It is hard to get ahead in NY (even with a good paying job) due to the high tax burden.

[TabulaRasa]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

I just don't think the Plains cities are on the national radar screen at all. I don't think many people think much at all about cities like Wichita, Kansas City, Omaha, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Sioux Falls, Fargo, etc.

That's understandable. I would say that I doubtless give Camden, New Jersey, Portland, Oregon, Providence, RI, Bellingham, Washington, Santa Barbara, California, etc. exactly the same attention on my personal radar screen - that being none at all - as folks from those locations likely do to the communities listed above. It's still fairly ignorant of people, though, to assume that various communities in a given, loosely defined region that one isnt' familiar with must all be pretty much the same (i.e. lumping a city like Kansas City in with one like Fargo, for instance) just because they're not on your radar. I mean, I haven't spent an inordinate amount of time on the Eastern seaboard, myself...but I do have enough perspective and general knowledge to know that Boston and Bangor aren't "pretty much the same" simply because they're both in New England and I don't really know New England. I also know that San Diego and Sacramento aren't really comparable, either, despite not being a West Coast person. But it appears that people without any significant middle America experience definitely think that the majority of our cities are basically interchangeable, rather than individual communities with individual sets of features and amenities and individual character, just like the communities in their region.

[skrizzle]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

You really can stop the "GraniteStater" is completely negative on KC. I'm not. So many cities in the Midwest are worse than KC by comparison.
I guess I do place a higher value on aesthetics and natural ammenities. I like the Great Lakes and the Northwoods ammenities very much. The reservoirs of the lower Midwest are not in the same league. I also dislike hot weather very much. I escaped up to the Northwoods and North Shore of MN every chance I got when I lived in KC.

I would stop it, but every post that comes up about KC that you pop up in, you say something negative. I mean... you got a reputation as being anti-KC in the KC forums for a reason LOL

It's the same as if someone came at me for STL, i've been called out on it. I admit it. I don't hate STL, just the people... which makes me dislike STL more.

[TabulaRasa]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

Everyone is escaping the Empire NY taxes are out of control. My mother is still in contact with a friend who grew up in Glenns Falls, NY and moved to KC in the 1980s. It was for economic reasons along with her husband. It is hard to get ahead in NY (even with a good paying job) due to the high tax burden.

This particular person is coming from Buffalo (as did my SO), where there is very, very little by way of employment, outside a very narrow range of niche careers. All of us actually adore Buffalo, which has a friendly, fun, ethnically diverse atmosphere, but it's really hard to justify staying someplace where, if you don't work in health care or in the academic community at SUNY-Buffalo or one of the other schools, your most likely job option is going to be manning a debt collections call center cubicle indefinitely.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by skrizzle

I would stop it, but every post that comes up about KC that you pop up in, you say something negative. I mean... you got a reputation as being anti-KC in the KC forums for a reason LOL

It's the same as if someone came at me for STL, i've been called out on it. I admit it. I don't hate STL, just the people... which makes me dislike STL more.

Here are my top six reasons that I still like KC
1) KC is a good place for engineers and highly technical people
2) The cost of living is extremely low
3) It is easier to "get ahead" and build wealth in KC compared to other areas because of overall lower costs.
4) KC offers a diverse built atmosphere of varying levels of urbanity- so most can find a certain niche they like.
5) It is not the Sunbelt
6) The suburbs are mostly quite safe with low crime, low housing prices, and good schools.