Johnson County, Kansas: The American Dream? (Kansas City, Hope: how much, hotel, attorneys)

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by denverian

I was born and raised in Overland Park and promply left the state after graduating from high school in the late 80s. I'm white, as was every other person in my neighborhood, and there were definitely racist undertones in JoCo back then. People considered anyone with "WY" on their license plate to either be white trash or poor and black, either way, someone to look down upon. I remember a neighbor calling the police because a "car with MO plates and black people in it" was driving around the neighborhood.

I'm glad I've moved away and experienced other cultures and people. It seems odd to me that some of my peers from high school who stayed in JoCo still seem to have that mentality, although usually shrouded in sarchastic political correctness. I was raised to believe that JoCo and Shawnee Mission schools were superior to the rest of the metro area, which is pretty pathetic. Overall, JoCo just isn't for me - too cookie cutter, not urban, and way too conservative for me. I like living in the city and interracting with all sorts of people, which is what I have now.

fyi The 80's were a long time ago. Most of my neighbors are actually somewhat liberal we even have *gasp* a couple gay guys living down the street <yawn>. (One senator and the governor are democrats in case you hadn't noticed. The JoCo area is somewhat moderate....but if you are really left it might not seem that way.)

As for the schools, yes...the schools in the JoCo area ARE better than the general metro area and are amongst the best in the country.

It is indeed cookie cutter in a lot of ways and definitely not "urban".

To each their own, best of luck.

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by Plains10

Well, I will offer you my perspective as a former resident of Johnson County for over 20 years.

I will list the positives and negatives of the area.

Positives:
It has a relatively strong economy.
Lower housing costs compared with the national average.
The schools are generally well regarded.
It is close to the Plaza and not too far from Downtown.
The relative increase in diversity over time.
A LARGE range in housing stock and varying types of neighborhoods to choose from.

Negatives:
The extremely fast population growth. (Expect bigger city traffic issues, construction, and highway noise issues even in neighborhoods that are even 5-10 blocks removed from the I-435 beltway)
The extremes in the weather.
The relatively long drive to the International Airport.
The overly conservative politics, particularly in the newer suburban areas.
The EXTREME lack of forward thinking with regard to public transit until more recently.
The overall vanilla and plastic feel to many of the newer neighborhoods. (These areas tend to have more of a transient population as well)

I agree with most of what you are saying. But having moved to the area from Chicago let me throw my 2 cents in on a few of those.

-Extremes in weather? That's the entire midwest.
-Long drive to the airport? Takes me 35minutes to go 35miles. Used to take me an hour to get 20 miles to O'hare or Midway.
-Public transit is very very hard to manage in a decentralized place like KC also, it takes me 15min at most to get to work...no incentive for public transit.
-Housing is 1/2 of chicago prices.
-City/rural mix...you can live on a farm and drive <45minutes to just about any part of the metro area and see a pro baseball game, good museums etc.
Conversely, you can head out to the countryside for a picnic etc. and not take an entire day doing so.
-Conservative politics thing is overblown in my opinion. Again, Dem Governor and senator....someone must be voting for them and it isn't the western part of the state.

[k350]

American dream? I hope not, if so then I want no part of it.

Johnson County, Overland Park in paticular, has ended up being one of the worst places I ever lived. Went for a visit in 2002 and it reconfirmed my thoughts.

The place is gawdy, bland, full of cheap made houses (use to build them) and the people are just as dull. If you are not into the Chiefs or shopping at yet another bland retail store, then you are not in the "click" of the place and people as that is all they think life is about.

The place is a joke, people lock themselves inside their little house with their stupid manicured lawn and if they go anywhere it is straight to the car and straight to the store and circle around for 10 mintues until finding the closest spot. The thought of actually ever having to get out and walk or lord forbid confront and meet your neighbors (they beleive in saying the same "how are you doing" and calling it knowing your neighbors) is foreign to people and they would cringe in horror if they ever had to.

I packed my stuff and moved as soon as I possibly could and never been happier 15 years later.

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by k350

American dream? I hope not, if so then I want no part of it.

Johnson County, Overland Park in paticular, has ended up being one of the worst places I ever lived. Went for a visit in 2002 and it reconfirmed my thoughts.

The place is gawdy, bland, full of cheap made houses (use to build them) and the people are just as dull. If you are not into the Chiefs or shopping at yet another bland retail store, then you are not in the "click" of the place and people as that is all they think life is about.

The place is a joke, people lock themselves inside their little house with their stupid manicured lawn and if they go anywhere it is straight to the car and straight to the store and circle around for 10 mintues until finding the closest spot. The thought of actually ever having to get out and walk or lord forbid confront and meet your neighbors (they beleive in saying the same "how are you doing" and calling it knowing your neighbors) is foreign to people and they would cringe in horror if they ever had to.

I packed my stuff and moved as soon as I possibly could and never been happier 15 years later.

You sound like a drama king with all your broad brush attacks.
Seems like you had a bad neighborhood where you didn't fit in with an established click. Shame you have to attempt to extrapolate that onto an area encompassing about a thousand square miles give or take.

You do make a good point about some of the low quality housing thrown up in the past 10 years....but that is a national phenomenon.

I live in a very well constructed 25 year old home with nice big walnut trees.
I know all my neighbors and people are always out walking in my neighborhood.

I could care less about the Chiefs and can't remember when I last watched a chiefs game.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by Mathguy

You sound like a drama king with all your broad brush attacks.
Seems like you had a bad neighborhood where you didn't fit in with an established click. Shame you have to attempt to extrapolate that onto an area encompassing about a thousand square miles give or take.

You do make a good point about some of the low quality housing thrown up in the past 10 years....but that is a national phenomenon.

I live in a very well constructed 25 year old home with nice big walnut trees.
I know all my neighbors and people are always out walking in my neighborhood.

I could care less about the Chiefs and can't remember when I last watched a chiefs game.

I think most people would agree that new construction everywhere is not very appealing to the eye.

[denverian]

Originally Posted by Mathguy

fyi The 80's were a long time ago. Most of my neighbors are actually somewhat liberal we even have *gasp* a couple gay guys living down the street <yawn>. (One senator and the governor are democrats in case you hadn't noticed. The JoCo area is somewhat moderate....but if you are really left it might not seem that way.)

As for the schools, yes...the schools in the JoCo area ARE better than the general metro area and are amongst the best in the country.

It is indeed cookie cutter in a lot of ways and definitely not "urban".

To each their own, best of luck.

I seriously don't see JoCo as a whole being "moderate". My parents now live in Olathe and the first thing people ask you is, "Where do you go to church?" And they've got more than their share of the nutty, evangelicals out there! And this is the land of Kay O'Conner, another far-right wacko.

I'm gay and refuse to live in a state that will most certainly be one of the last in the country to even grant domestic partnership rights to gay people. Your Dem. governor is probably more conservative than Gov. Ah-nold in California, or she wouldn't have been elected.

I'm not bashing JoCo, just pointing out that if you're not religious, conservative, and not into the whole suburban lifestyle, you probably won't care for the place. That said, far NE JoCo (Fairway, Westwood, Prarie Village) are very nice, liberal leaning, and near the Plaza and downtown and quite different from the rest of the county.

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by denverian

I seriously don't see JoCo as a whole being "moderate". My parents now live in Olathe and the first thing people ask you is, "Where do you go to church?" And they've got more than their share of the nutty, evangelicals out there! And this is the land of Kay O'Conner, another far-right wacko.

I'm gay and refuse to live in a state that will most certainly be one of the last in the country to even grant domestic partnership rights to gay people. Your Dem. governor is probably more conservative than Gov. Ah-nold in California, or she wouldn't have been elected.

I'm not bashing JoCo, just pointing out that if you're not religious, conservative, and not into the whole suburban lifestyle, you probably won't care for the place. That said, far NE JoCo (Fairway, Westwood, Prarie Village) are very nice, liberal leaning, and near the Plaza and downtown and quite different from the rest of the county.

I'm not religious or conservative and I get along fine here. It sounds like your idea of a moderate is someone that supported hillary instead of obama.

Yep, there are some right-winger types running around but cherry picking individuals from certain groups to show how bad it is, that's a shady tactic best reserved for the political section. (Or do you want me to recall when I lived in the gay part of Chicago and describe the people I would see in the parade as typical gays? )

I find your handwaving about us electing democrats and that "our democrats" are really republicans to be somewhat dishonest. Somehow I am picturing you as kinda out to the distant left but you think you are just slightly left or even moderate.

P.S. There was a ballot inititative that sought to define marriage as 1man-1woman....it got 60% of the vote....but then 40% voted against it.

[alwaystraveling25]

I think you really have to be a gay or lesbian and live in JOCO to understand...while you yourself might be understanding, the rest of the area is not. I cannot recall how many times I got called out at work for not having a girlfriend, or not being married with kids, simply because i was 24 and that was what is expected.

Overall, my take-away of JOCO is this: If you are republican, white, religious, and conservative, you will LOVE IT! I was looked down upon at work and in public places (in my old job I traveled all over the Metro, as far away as Russell and Council Grove, KS) because I didn't go to church and wasn't married.

While I do believe that there are some people in JOCO who aren't bible thumping and gay hating, that is clearly NOT the majority! Living in Johnson County for 1.5 years made me miserable.

Again, going back to the original topic, If you LOVE suburban life and are more religous and conservative, then Johnson County is a great match for you. If you are more Liberal and less focused on the bible and doing everything with your church group, you will be ill-advised to move there.

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by alwaystraveling25

I think you really have to be a gay or lesbian and live in JOCO to understand...while you yourself might be understanding, the rest of the area is not. I cannot recall how many times I got called out at work for not having a girlfriend, or not being married with kids, simply because i was 24 and that was what is expected.

Overall, my take-away of JOCO is this: If you are republican, white, religious, and conservative, you will LOVE IT! I was looked down upon at work and in public places (in my old job I traveled all over the Metro, as far away as Russell and Council Grove, KS) because I didn't go to church and wasn't married.

While I do believe that there are some people in JOCO who aren't bible thumping and gay hating, that is clearly NOT the majority! Living in Johnson County for 1.5 years made me miserable.

Again, going back to the original topic, If you LOVE suburban life and are more religous and conservative, then Johnson County is a great match for you. If you are more Liberal and less focused on the bible and doing everything with your church group, you will be ill-advised to move there.

It's a big big jump from being a closeted gay in the suburbs (which would suck pretty much most places as the burbs are where the married straight folk generally live) to extrapolating the area as a bunch of conservative bible thumpers where it would be bad to live in if you were a liberal non-church goer. liberal non church going <> single gay guy.

On my block I have probably 4-5 conservative couples (age 55+), a pair of gay guys and 3-4 couples that are liberal. We all get along fine.

Want the shoe on the other foot?
When I lived on Roscoe in Chicago for 3 months I couldn't meet people or make friends because my neighbors were only interested in other gay guys, wearing arseless chaps in the parade and hooking up with one another as much as possible. The minute they figured I was straight....I went invisible.

I don't make claims about the whole city based upon the small sample of people I met there. I also recognize that it stinks to be a single guy in the burbs whether you are gay or straight. Sorry you didn't like it...but seems like I know a lot of people that like it here that you are saying couldn't.

[denverian]

Originally Posted by Mathguy

I'm not religious or conservative and I get along fine here. It sounds like your idea of a moderate is someone that supported hillary instead of obama.

Yep, there are some right-winger types running around but cherry picking individuals from certain groups to show how bad it is, that's a shady tactic best reserved for the political section. (Or do you want me to recall when I lived in the gay part of Chicago and describe the people I would see in the parade as typical gays? )

I find your handwaving about us electing democrats and that "our democrats" are really republicans to be somewhat dishonest. Somehow I am picturing you as kinda out to the distant left but you think you are just slightly left or even moderate.

P.S. There was a ballot inititative that sought to define marriage as 1man-1woman....it got 60% of the vote....but then 40% voted against it.

I don't think this is the thread to try and define liberal, but I'm not a pot smoking, vegan hippie on a commune. I know in recent years the right has tried to take mainstream liberalism and re-define it as "extreme/distant" left, so let's not go down that road.

I consider myslef to be mainstream liberal and live around mostly people with similar political views. Being gay and having children, I would never live someplace like JoCo because I guarantee you there would be issues with neighbors and my children would have issues in school for having gay parents. In Denver, we're not just "tolerated", but accepted and embraced as a family, and that's a lot healthier environment for us and our children. Not to mention, KS doesn't recognize same sex parents, whereas CO does.

60/40 huh? Not bad for Kansas!