Clay County (Kansas City, Lee's Summit, Blue Springs: city hall, buy, theater)

[Samantha S]

Originally Posted by kcmo

This is from a person that is new to the area.

He started kind of getting wound a bit and putting down Kansas “what’s in Kansas” there is nothing there, why are they so arrogant? So I jumped in and we had fun with it.

Thank you!! You just made the precise point I've been trying to make all along!

THIS is exactly how it happens. It's a self perpetuating thing and it happens on BOTH sides.

People LOVE to talk about "those other folks" and the stories multiply. "No, no! Let me tell you about the a-hole from [the other side] that I met last week!"




My husband works downtown. One of his coworkers asked him yesterday, in sarcastic jest, of course, if our kids had butlers to help them onto the school bus.

Want to guess where he lives?

Now tell me, kcmo, how should we respond to people like that?

Is there a way to respond so that this guy - who started the conversation by being an a-hole - isn't going to leave thinking my husband is "arrogant"?

You see, the guy had already made up his mind! He wasn't even looking for a response or asking a real question. He was making a statement and taking a stab. Probably waiting for a few more people to "jump in and have some fun with it."

I think JoCo leaches off the MO side for everything from economic development to culture

And again we go with this.

Which you refuse to research - because you are afraid I'm right and that the "cultural" amenities of which you speak are funded primarily by endowments, donations and ticket sales - so you keep talking out of your BUTT about this!

Yep - you keep spewing it - I will keep pointing out that you are full of crah-pole-ah (That's how we JoCo snobs say it!)

(You know - the real truth is that BECAUSE the "cultural" amenities of which you so often speak are funded primarily by endowments, donations and ticket sales -- it's quite possible that the average JoCo resident contributes just as much OR MORE to these attractions as YOU DO! )

But don't let a silly thing like FACTS get in the way of your "jumping in and having fun!"

[Samantha S]

Originally Posted by luzianne

And you don't think Missouri people ask us why we live in Johnson County? You think they don't tell us why they could never live in Johnson County

You know ... I don't think anyone from MO has ever asked me why I live in JoCo.

Many are VERY quick to point out how much they dislike it. But they don't ask why I live there.

See .... maybe it's because they figure they already know!

[ryanswindle]

Originally Posted by Samantha S

You know ... I don't think anyone from MO has ever asked me why I live in JoCo.

Many are VERY quick to point out how much they dislike it. But they don't ask why I live there.

See .... maybe it's because they figure they already know!

Or maybe it's because they're afraid you'll knife them, you are from JoCo after all, and we all know how you JoCo folks are... Always with the stabbing..

[RjRobb2]

Originally Posted by luzianne

Well, the guy who did that was a Missouri boy who had just recently moved to Kansas....and he committed the murder in Missouri....just saying....

Edwin Hall grew up in Emporia, KS. He was born and raised in Kansas and had moved to Missouri when he was an adult. My wife knew him and his foster family really well. She use to babysit and coach him in gymnastics.

[luzianne]

Originally Posted by RjRobb2

Edwin Hall grew up in Emporia, KS. He was born and raised in Kansas and had moved to Missouri when he was an adult. My wife knew him and his foster family really well. She use to babysit and coach him in gymnastics.

Yes, but he had just moved from Missouri and he was familiar with the Grandview area; that is why he took her there to kill her. That's why I called him a Missouri boy - because that is where he was living as an adult and they had just moved to Olathe recently before her murdered Kelsey Smith.

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by luzianne

Hmmm. And here you are always saying KU fans are OBSESSED with college sports/basketball and Missouri fans don't even talk about it. And here your own son is bringing up the subject. Interesting. Cause usually kids pick up what they see their parents doing. But you say you don't. Hmmm.

If you must know the details...

We were playing with a bb that we won at some game at Worlds of Fun. My neighbor was blaming his poor play on the ball jokingly and my youngest said "what are you KU or something" My kids know about the rivalry, they are casual MU fans, but they don't really care.

My neighbor then said no he likes Clemson, (I think that's what he said, again, don’t follow college), then he said he likes MU here though that's when "he" started talking about what he thinks of Kansas people. FWIW.

Samantha, when I lived in KCMO, we voted all the time to fund things like the zoo, museums etc. Jackson County is spending ¾ billion on the stadiums that is pretty evenly shared by JoCo. JoCo is a close second in population in the metro, yet acts as if it’s in Iowa when it comes to metropolitan cooperation. Again, why do the largest counties of metros across the country come together to fund regional assets (that tend to be in the central urban county), yet joco feels like it has no responsibility in that regard to contribute other than via tickets and fund raising? Everybody pays for the tickets and a lot of people donate. That does not erase the fact that there needs to be a much larger dedicated funding source for area sports and cultural facilities and venues. That way the venues can be better maintained and ran, have cheaper ticket prices etc. I just don’t see the big deal as to why the entire area can’t pay tiny taxes on regional needs rather than ¼ to ½ the area paying 2-4 times as much in taxes. This is especially annoying when people love to throw around the "richest county in KS" or one of the richest in the county” stuff. Really? So the people in the richest county in KS can’t afford an extra 50 bucks a year to properly fund Arrowhead or the KC Zoo or give places like the Nelson, Union Station, Liberty Memorial, Starlight etc more breathing room to be more successful? Especially considering all of these places are tied directly to the quality of life of JoCo? Why would most active people live in JoCo if KCMO was not next door? It sure would help the people in Waldo that can't afford to go to a Chiefs game if they could pay a little less or at the very least get better city services rather than funding the things used mostly by suburban residents anyway.

But really none of that bothers me near as much as how JoCo has poached so much of KCMO’s economy. Over the past few decades, JoCo has become one of the wealthiest counties in the nation by simply moving so many companies from MO to KS while not having to deal with any of the baggage that KCMO has do deal with such as stadium funding and social issues like dealing with a poverty population and an aging infrastructure.

If JoCo didn’t have any of the companies that came from MO, it would be not more impressive than Platte County today corporation wise. A few office parks, a few HQs, but a nice suburban residential county.

I have kept up with business in metro KC like nobody else. I ready the papers every day, all of them. I read the business journal religiously. I used to drive over to the Leawood Library just to grab the JoCo business papers to keep up with those incase the Star or Journal missed something. Ingrams, KC Biz Mag, the old College Blvd News. All of them. I have my finger on the pulse of this city like few others do in the metro. Not a month or a week goes by without another business moving from KCMO to JoCo, mostly lured with tax breaks and other incentives.

I’m sorry, I don’t like how JoCo interacts with the metropolitan area. The county acts much more like a fierce and vicious competitor to KCMO than a friendly neighboring suburban county and many of the people there tend to look down on anything KCMO or MO even though most are pitifully ignorant of what KCMO is truly like or know any of the real history (especially racial history) of how JoCo has grown mostly at the expense of KCMO.

It’s nothing personal. Again, it’s just the way KC is and probably always will be.

[smellykat]

Originally Posted by luzianne

Yes, but he had just moved from Missouri and he was familiar with the Grandview area; that is why he took her there to kill her. That's why I called him a Missouri boy - because that is where he was living as an adult and they had just moved to Olathe recently before her murdered Kelsey Smith.

Luzianne - Accept the fact that Edwin Hall was born in Kansas, therefore, he is a KANSAS boy. A poster with personal ties has confirmed this fact. BTW - I am a KANSAS girl born in Kansas City, Kansas, grew up in Prairie Village, married in Fairway, lived in Overland Park and continue to own property in Johnson County. LET IT GO!

[skrizzle]

Originally Posted by luzianne

Yes, but he had just moved from Missouri and he was familiar with the Grandview area; that is why he took her there to kill her. That's why I called him a Missouri boy - because that is where he was living as an adult and they had just moved to Olathe recently before her murdered Kelsey Smith.

He was a KS boy, born and raised. Kinda like BTK killer. Tho KS does attract other nuts not born there... just look at Fred Phelps.

[Samantha S]

Originally Posted by kcmo

Samantha, when I lived in KCMO, we voted all the time to fund things like the zoo, museums etc. Jackson County is spending ¾ billion on the stadiums that is pretty evenly shared by JoCo. JoCo is a close second in population in the metro, yet acts as if it’s in Iowa when it comes to metropolitan cooperation.

And what kind of money are you voting to spend? Property tax money? No, I don't think property tax money goes to the stadium or the zoo.

I believe you are voting on the spending of KC earnings tax money and possibly sales tax money.

Now, a very large portion of JoCo residents work in Jackson County. It's mainly a suburb after all. When you work in KC, MO, you pay the 1% Earnings tax. And if you live in JoCo, your salary is likely to be higher than if you live in Jackson Co. We also pay sales tax when we buy anything in MO, which many do who live so close and work there. So a pretty good chunk of JoCo is in fact sharing in that tax burden.

SO this:

why do the largest counties of metros across the country come together to fund regional assets (that tend to be in the central urban county), yet joco feels like it has no responsibility in that regard to contribute other than via tickets and fund raising?

Is complete and total BS. We may not pay as much per capita, but we do pay a pretty good chunk that you seem to be conveniently forgetting.

JoCo also sees little if any residual income back from any of the attractions we are funding because most of the related businesses that make money from any of these places are in MO.

So it seems to me that the city gets a pretty darn fair shake from JoCo.

So the people in the richest county in KS can’t afford an extra 50 bucks a year to properly fund Arrowhead or the KC Zoo or give places like the Nelson, Union Station, Liberty Memorial, Starlight etc more breathing room to be more successful?

Again - we already are giving much more than that.

And again - places like the Nelson, Starlight ... these non-profit organizations receive only a very small portion of their funding from tax revenue. Which again, JoCo does contribute to.

But really none of that bothers me near as much as how JoCo has poached so much of KCMO’s economy. Over the past few decades, JoCo has become one of the wealthiest counties in the nation by simply moving so many companies from MO to KS while not having to deal with any of the baggage that KCMO has do deal with such as stadium funding and social issues like dealing with a poverty population and an aging infrastructure.

And we've been over this time and again.

You want someone to blame for the last 30 years? Start with KC's leadership.

Couple that with the fortunate position that JoCo was in with plenty of room to spread South and there is no poaching. Just reasonable business decisions. Corporations go where it benefits their bottom line. Period. They do this in EVERY city, not just KC.

If after 30 years of losing businesses to the burbs, KC hasn't figured out how to incent them to stay ... well, I don't know what to tell ya.

You expect the city of OP to NOT do something that benefits its residents and improves its economy when the opportunity is not only knocking but begging at the door???

First rule of business: Find the need, and fill it. KC has not been able to do that as well as OP has in recent decades. Some of that is luck on OP's part (with the topography for example) but most of it is due to better planning and better leadership.

For a guy with his "finger on the pulse" of the metro, you really seem to struggle with some of these very basic concepts.

Many people in MO are bitter over these things. Can't help ya with that. Bitterness makes people think other people look down on them. Can't help ya with that either. Many other people in KC (who choose to educate themselves as opposed to whining) understand the real issues at play here. From those people there is little complaining about the burbs, they know with whom their dissatifaction lies and it's not in JoCo.

[Samantha S]

You know, I really should be working. But just for fun, I did a little digging myself.

If someone has more up to date or better information, feel free to correct me. This is the result of amateur googling and my handheld calculator.

But from what I could find:

Kansas City's annual budget is about $billion. The most significant sources of revenue are Earnings taxes, sales and use taxes, and Revenue from Public Enterprises (think airport). Another chunk from property taxes, some from gaming, grants, tourism and a surprising chunk from court fines (only 2%, but still!)

Now, the residents of Johnson County on the KS side are accused of being freeloaders. Of not paying their fair share when it comes to enjoying the cities many amenities.

So I'd really like to know ... where does the money come from? and where does it go?

Many JoCo residents and others outside the city limits pay the KC earnings tax. From our household alone the city gets thousands of dollars per year. I would guess close to 40% of the ET comes from outside of KC, but I used 35% to be conservative.

Same thing with sales tax. As many JoCo and surrounding residents work, shop, eat, and enjoy the cities many amenities, we pay a BIG chunk of sales tax. Again, I used 35%.

Revenue from Public Enterprises I went with 20%. I think it's probably much higher than that, but that's really hard to say. This line item is close to one quarter of the total budget, so there may be many factors in there.

With gaming, tourism, etc. JoCo is also contributing a significant chunk.

Basically, by my estimation, JoCo and other surrounding areas account for at least 20% of the revenues for the city.

So -- what are we buying??? Let's look at how the money is spent:

Most is spent on salary and benefits and "economic growth".

Public infrastructure spending accounts for about 20% of the total. So outside money is pretty much covering that piece entirely.

You're Welcome!