Relocating to suburbs (Liberty, Leawood: racism, cities, hot)

[TabulaRasa]

I sincerely doubt that the Northland is on most residents' radars as a part of town to be especially on your guard.

[RjRobb2]

Originally Posted by TabulaRasa

I sincerely doubt that the Northland is on most residents' radars as a part of town to be especially on your guard.

No not at all. North Kansas City use to be but now that they have cleaned it up, it is nothing to worry about either. North Kansas City has a higher police per citizen ratio than any other city in the state.

[sparksharp]

You do realize that their is a higher chance of you winning the lottery than being a random victim of a violent crime?

I'll take the lottery please!

Let me ask you this, what is the price range you are looking for?

I've been looking in a very wide price range. 250,000 to 400,000.

Look...I just don't know why the stats would indicate one thing if it wasn't "reality". As a newcomer to the area, what else do I have to go on but stats and personal recommendations? And personal recommendations are very subjective, so that leads me back to the logic of the stats.

[famusdarlin]

Hey, here's my 2 cents.


Anyone can move to any area of the city they would like, however in my opinion there is NO WHERE in the northland, Johnson County, Lee's Summit or Blue Springs that would not feel comfortable walking around day or night. I don't have statistics available, but I say that having grown up in one of the safest suburbs in the area, Liberty, according to the source provided.

[famusdarlin]

Originally Posted by smellykat

Sparksharp:

FYI - sounds like the safest place in KC

Leawood: The security zone - KansasCity.com

What an article. It gives all these positives then you get to the last page and it pretty much tells you the city is a haven for folks wearing white sheets and caps. lol. Talk about racism! But it's a reallly nice to live, I guess for some people who don't mind racial profiling and all other things that keep those "other" people out! OMG.

[Samantha S]

Originally Posted by famusdarlin

What an article. It gives all these positives then you get to the last page and it pretty much tells you the city is a haven for folks wearing white sheets and caps. lol. Talk about racism! But it's a reallly nice to live, I guess for some people who don't mind racial profiling and all other things that keep those "other" people out! OMG.

The end of the last page talks about stuff that happened quite a long time ago and personally, I don't think their single source is all that reliable as an expert on Leawood history. The stuff about racial profiling may have had some merit (I wouldn't rule it out entirely) but even "The ACLU has conceded its study was limited."

Leawood may well be more "white" than other areas of the metro. But to conclude from the article that "the city is a haven for folks wearing white sheets and caps" is really stretching it - and quite frankly, offensive.

[northbound74]

Originally Posted by famusdarlin

What an article. It gives all these positives then you get to the last page and it pretty much tells you the city is a haven for folks wearing white sheets and caps. lol. Talk about racism! But it's a reallly nice to live, I guess for some people who don't mind racial profiling and all other things that keep those "other" people out! OMG.

I wouldn't go so far as call it racist, at least not more than most any other place around here, but it makes Leawood sound like a sad, lonely, isolated, and depressing place. I'm not saying it is, but the article makes it sound that way.

Funny thing is, that was written in 2005, and the Star made it sound as if Leawood had it's crime fully under control for the previous two years.... but sometime around 2005, I remember hearing of a rash of break-ins in Leawood.
There's the fallacy in relying too much on crime stuff when making a house-buying decision. You'll surely get burned.

I wouldn't want to live in a high crime area anymore than the next person, but when you're talking about the suburbs around here, just about any of them, the differences are so small and insignificant, that crime really shouldn't be much of a consideration when choosing. Also, property values coincide with the perceived quality of the school districts more so than they do for crime.

[Samantha S]

Originally Posted by northbound74

I wouldn't go so far as call it racist, at least not more than most any other place around here, but it makes Leawood sound like a sad, lonely, isolated, and depressing place. I'm not saying it is, but the article makes it sound that way.

I "heard" "Leawood is a pretty safe place to live, but don't speed there!"

This is really interesting. Different people reading the same article and interpreting completely different slants and messages.

I wonder if the exact same article were written but a different city's name were inserted, if the "message" would be any different.

This phenomenon supports my contention that people (and I don't exclude myself) have preconceived notions about different areas of the metro. They have already made up their minds, and in reading an article such as this, they will zone in on words or phrases that support what they already think - even if it distorts the context of the actual article.

[TabulaRasa]

From article: "The state line corridor on the Missouri side is not exactly a criminal hotbed, but Leawood’s rate of violent and property crimes is one-fifth of Kansas City’s side over to Wornall Road, from 75th Street to Interstate 435."

I guess I lucked out...when I lived in that area on the MO side, my sole brush with "crime" was somebody taking the Autism Awareness ribbon magnet off my car while parked at Ward Parkway Center's Target.

[Samantha S]

Originally Posted by TabulaRasa

From article: "The state line corridor on the Missouri side is not exactly a criminal hotbed, but Leawood’s rate of violent and property crimes is one-fifth of Kansas City’s side over to Wornall Road, from 75th Street to Interstate 435."

I guess I lucked out...when I lived in that area on the MO side, my sole brush with "crime" was somebody taking the Autism Awareness ribbon magnet off my car while parked at Ward Parkway Center's Target.

Again, interesting perspective.

When I read, "The state line corridor on the Missouri side is not exactly a criminal hotbed" I took that to mean that crime isn't really much of an issue on the MO side either. So I wouldn't consider anyone who has avoided crime to have just "lucked out".

20% of a low number is a lower number, but both are fairly safe areas.

People are funny.