Sprint Nextell (Kansas City, Lee's Summit: crimes, homes, neighborhood)

[OPguy]

I can speak to Sprint from experience. I worked there as a Information Technology (IT) Contractor. I had several "tours of duty there" before I left them 7 years ago and found a more stable IT job.

I still have several friends in IT that have worked there or are still there.

Sprint has always had problems trying to "get big" then "get bigger" at the expense of focusing on just doing a really good job and staying focused. This gets driven by the upper management, but it is a long and boring story involving a lot of telephone industry acronyms.

The job "shedding" that Sprint has regularly gone through has been disruptive for the IT job market here in Kansas City. We might be a bit higher paid if they did not keep pumping unemployed IT guys out every few quarters. Although it has calmed down a little bit after the Nextel merger.

As for Sprint going under, I've always thought it might be a good thing for the IT jobs market to just "amputate" and get it over with so the market can heal and move on instead of continually being flooded with job seekers.

[northbound74]

Originally Posted by Samantha S

People from the burbs of often shop near their homes.

That I shop near my home does not mean that I am "terrified" to shop anywhere else, or to associate with anyone from any other part of the metro.

The great thing about the new Blue Ridge is that it doesn't have to rely on outsiders for survival. A mall no longer works in that location because outsiders see it as a crime-ridden area.
It has crime, yes, but is not what I would call crime-ridden.
I think it's great they plugged in businesses that locals can use and afford to do so, even though I'm not what you'd call a Wal-Mart supporter. I also think it's great that people support their local neighborhood shopping districts.
There are other types of shopping that is intended to lure people from a larger radius like the Bass Pro, or a mall. Blue Ridge is no longer one of them.
I will say Blue Ridge is a bit dull, and they could have done something more interesting with it. You take what you can get sometimes.

Originally Posted by luzianne

Yeah, that Applebees at Blue Ridge? Someone was shot in the head in the parking lot of that Applebees in, I believe, 2003. And yes, there was a lot of crime in the areas Bannister, Blue Ridge and Indian Springs malls. Maybe you have a higher threshold for crime than I do. None is fine with me.

If you want no crime, you better high-tail it out of Johnson County. In the five years I've been in the area, there's been bank robberies galore, carjackings in the Oak Park parking lot, major prostitution stings, shootings, house robberies in broad daylight... all in beautiful, crime-free, JoCo. Odd thing is, it's happened all over the place, not just in one area of the county.

[luzianne]

Originally Posted by northbound74

The great thing about the new Blue Ridge is that it doesn't have to rely on outsiders for survival. A mall no longer works in that location because outsiders see it as a crime-ridden area.
It has crime, yes, but is not what I would call crime-ridden.
I think it's great they plugged in businesses that locals can use and afford to do so, even though I'm not what you'd call a Wal-Mart supporter. I also think it's great that people support their local neighborhood shopping districts.
There are other types of shopping that is intended to lure people from a larger radius like the Bass Pro, or a mall. Blue Ridge is no longer one of them.
I will say Blue Ridge is a bit dull, and they could have done something more interesting with it. You take what you can get sometimes.



If you want no crime, you better high-tail it out of Johnson County. In the five years I've been in the area, there's been bank robberies galore, carjackings in the Oak Park parking lot, major prostitution stings, shootings, house robberies in broad daylight... all in beautiful, crime-free, JoCo. Odd thing is, it's happened all over the place, not just in one area of the county.

I didn't say there is no crime in Johnson County. I said no crime is fine with me. NO place has no crime at all. But Johnson County has a heck of a lot less of it that other places in the metro, and Jackson County crime is horrible. And in fact, if you pay attention, a lot (most?) of the Johnson County crime is perpetrated by people crossing the state line from Missouri. Which is why the police here pull over cars with Missouri and out of county tags. Call it "profiling" if you want; I am glad they do it. And no, I don't mean racial profiling or that they pull over people of any given race. But if crimes are being committed by people who are coming to our area from adjacent areas, and the police decide they are going to stop cars and see what people are doing here from across the state line or another county, that's fine with me. Violent crime is pretty much nonexistent where I live. Murder rate: zero. Works for me.

[northbound74]

One can make the argument that at least 50% of the crime in Independence also comes from east KC. Actually, I'm almost certain of it. We share the same problem in that regard. Criminals from east KC probably commit most of the crimes in most of the suburbs in Jackson County and eastern Johnson County. Wyandotte criminals also do their share of causing trouble around the area.

Jackson County isn't that bad, it's just plagued by having that one big high crime area within it. If Wyandotte and Johnson Counties were to consolidate like some want to do, that would make Johnson County (or whatever they'd call it) look much the same.

[MrsMo]

A friend of mine works for Sprint, and he told me they are sub leasing some of the buildings. Matter of fact there are only 3 other Sprint employees with him in the building he works in.

[sparksharp]

Jackson County isn't that bad, it's just plagued by having that one big high crime area within it.

Just curious...where would that be?

[OPguy]

Originally Posted by MrsMo

A friend of mine works for Sprint, and he told me they are sub leasing some of the buildings. Matter of fact there are only 3 other Sprint employees with him in the building he works in.

This week when I had lunch with some comrades from Sprint they were talking about the de-fragmenting effort on the Sprint campus there at 119th & Nall.

They are consolidating people into fewer buildings there and have a plan to lease out more of that now unused building space.

[RjRobb2]

Originally Posted by kcmo

Metro North Mall.

Zona Rosa, Barry Woods, Boardwalk, Shoal Creek etc killed that mall. That and horrible management and the fact that it’s just an ugly old mall that nobody wants to go to anymore. I mean it really is. Simon Properties made Indep Center into a very nice mall, but at least they had something to work with. The Center is still nice mall, it’s open, it feels modern etc. Malls that look like Metro North either close or are turned into lifestyle centers. Metro North Mall was to be turned into one till the economy crashed. That area is still building homes and the retail in that area will probably bounce back once there are enough residents to support it along with all the new stuff at 29 to the west and 35 to the east.

Metro North Mall was dead long before any of those were built. The company that owns them has used that building as a tax write-off for more than a decade. I know people that have attempted to lease storefronts in that mall and were turned down even though there are many open places.

I have a friend right now that owns a store in there and they are planning on revitalizing it. They were going to tear it down but that has changed and now they are just planning to renovate. That could change though.

[MrsMo]

The problem with Blue Ridge Mall was the management. I worked at Brothers Pets for 10 years and watched it slowly go down hill. The mgmt wouldn't fix the mall air conditioning units and left it up to the stores to help cool the mall area. They also raised the rents so high people could no longer afford to stay. We did see some problems with low income teens shoplifting. We had 2 try to steal 2 ferrets one night by sticking them down the front of their ridiculously baggy pants. Crime was not a problem with Blue Ridge. I live a few blocks south of the area, still very well kept. BTW, the rats were in the tunnels under the mall, where deliveries were made.

[famusdarlin]

Originally Posted by luzianne

I didn't say there is no crime in Johnson County. I said no crime is fine with me. NO place has no crime at all. But Johnson County has a heck of a lot less of it that other places in the metro, and Jackson County crime is horrible. And in fact, if you pay attention, a lot (most?) of the Johnson County crime is perpetrated by people crossing the state line from Missouri. Which is why the police here pull over cars with Missouri and out of county tags. Call it "profiling" if you want; I am glad they do it. And no, I don't mean racial profiling or that they pull over people of any given race. But if crimes are being committed by people who are coming to our area from adjacent areas, and the police decide they are going to stop cars and see what people are doing here from across the state line or another county, that's fine with me. Violent crime is pretty much nonexistent where I live. Murder rate: zero. Works for me.

Wow, that was an unbeleivable statement. It sounds like you are saying no people from Missouri Should be allowed into Kansas without being pulled over by the police. Please tell me that is not what you mean.