What do you dislike about Kansas? (Lenexa, Allen: real estate, neighborhoods, buying)

[KevK]

Originally Posted by kcmo

I should not reply to this, but I will...

I am from a large, urban city. Kansas City, Missouri.

I hate the fact that whenever I travel and I tell people where I am from, I am immediately labeled as a rural person that lives in a flat, brown, lifeless part of the country around very few people.

I don't like the Wizard of OZ, I have never lived on a farm or owned any livestock. I don’t care about KU and or wheat. I’m not conservative and not really religious at all.

I’m just a guy from the city.

I'm from a city, and 9 times out of ten, I'm from a much larger and urban city than the people that ask me what it's like to live in a place like Kansas.

So, I have to correct them and explain that I live in a city and that this city is in Missouri. This is a large city that has pro sports teams, museums, amusement parks, theater, etc. It’s a very liberal and democratic city. It’s very diverse and offers all the culture and entertainment you would ever want in a major city.

This "city" has skyscrapers, traffic jams and bus lanes. This “city” is set in a very forested area with rolling hills and even some steep bluffs and it built around rivers and is surrounded by many lakes.

This "city" has an urban core population density that rivals any mid sized city out there. This city of a half million people anchors a metropolitan area of well over 2 million people and even though there are suburbs on the Kansas side, almost everything that this city offers to tourists and locals alike, nearly everything that people think of when they think of “KC” is on the Missouri side. The stadiums, the zoo, the airport, the amusement parks, the arenas, the broadway plays, the fountains, the skyline…

So, please when this jet lands at KCI, please for the love of god, please say welcome to Kansas “City”, instead of welcome to Kansas.

I don’t want to be associated with the bible thumping, suburban loving, KCMO bashing, Jayhawk worshiping Kansans.

I’m from K”C”. And K”C”. Is a big, urban city that is nothing like the image that people have of Kansas.

There is lots more I dislike about Kansas but I won’t even go there.

So I want to say thank you Kansas for naming your state after a city in Missouri. Yes, few people know it, but KCMO was a city before Kansas was a state.

And then Wyandotte decided to rename itself to Kansas City as well because they thought it would help them grow as KCMO was booming at the time. Some things never change.

So to this day, everybody in the country is confused on why the hell KC is in Missouri and to this day, KC has a horrible image of the least respected state in the union instead of an image of an interesting, and sophisticated large urban city that it is.

KC will forever be associated with Kansas, tornados, banning the theory of evolution and Dorothy.

Thanks Kansas!

You would be surprised at the number of people that think Kansas City is actually ALL within the confines of Kansas. As I have spent a life about the country, I have heard that often and when you tell them that most of it is in fact in the state of Missouri they always say "why isn't it called Missouri City then?"

[Foreverking]

Originally Posted by KevK

You would be surprised at the number of people that think Kansas City is actually ALL within the confines of Kansas. As I have spent a life about the country, I have heard that often and when you tell them that most of it is in fact in the state of Missouri they always say "why isn't it called Missouri City then?"

Questions:

1. when your being chased by the Kansas City Cops from Misourri, can they cross over into kansas and nab you?

2. which side is more redneck?

[northbound74]

Originally Posted by Foreverking

Questions:

1. when your being chased by the Kansas City Cops from Misourri, can they cross over into kansas and nab you?

2. which side is more redneck?

1. I think they can, but it's caused controversy in the past, due to wrecks with horrible consequences.

2. Kansas has more suburbanites and yuppies, while Missouri has those, but also the much more typical urban types of all sorts.
In Kansas, the redneck populations seem to be predominately in Wyandotte and Leavenworth Counties, but there's still some in Johnson County. In Missouri, some (but by no means all) neighborhoods in suburbs like Independence, Raytown, Sugar Creek (especially that one).. and to a lesser extent, the areas that surround those towns.

Once you're 10 minutes outside the city in just about any direction, you're in hickville, seems like. Trust me. I'm from Arkansas, and I know what hickville is, and it ain't no differnt 'round here.

I try not to have too much negativity towards my kinfolk.. I mean rednecks, but I do find them to be a fascinating segment of the population.

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by alwaystraveling25

To start my response, I want to say that I was born and raised in the Detroit Metro area (population around 4 Million) and currently live in Chicago (City 3 Million, with suburbs 8 million). I also lived in Lenexa (I know, It's JOCO), but was in a serious relationship with a man who lived in KCMO, so I spent almost 100% of my time in KCMO.

You are right on a few parts: What kansas is associated with, the fact that people are pretty uneducated regarding KCMO, etc.

But: Kansas City Metro area is spread over 340 miles and 11 counties (I looked it up online). You can't expect to cover an area that big and have "two million people" versus the fact that well over three million live in Cook County, Illinois. I agree that KCMO between the River and Brookside/Waldo area is very diverse and city-fied. I also agree that is a great mid-sized city.

What really, really ruins KCMO is the suburbs and outlining areas. I hated Johnson County, their attitude towards KCMO, and the way that everyone from the suburbs in both MO and KS has nothing better to do then to preach the bible and spew their hate. Even in KCMO, everytime my boyfriend and I went to a gay bar it was full of straight bachelorette parties and other people observing the "freaks".

KCMO is a good mid-sized city, but until you get rid of the ultra-conservative suburbs (JOCO is a great example), people will never change their perception of it.

And I'm sorry, I have flown all over the country, flying into MCI (sorry, it's not KCI, no matter how much people in KC call it that) is depressing. You land in a big field and there is nothing around for miles and miles. Nothing made me sadder about living in KS then returning there from a trip elsewhere!

First off, I understand the metro area includes a ton of land, but 80% of the metro area population lives in a pretty typical, compact area within about 25 miles of Downtown KCMO. The continuous urbanized area of metro KC's five core counties is like 1.7 million people and if you look at cities that compare to KC like Cincinnati, Denver, San Antonio, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Sacramento, Portland etc, you would find that KC is right there with those towns when you compare the urbanized population and density rather than just looking at overall stats.

I never said that KC is a Chicago, or even a Detroit for that matter. But KC is a decent, mid-sized urban center that has a horrible image because of its name and location. People can't comprehend that a major city exists in "Kansas".

MCI, KCI, whatever you want to call it, is in the middle of nowhere, and to make things worse, all the flight patterns into MCI come in from the west or north and there is nothing to see when you land there. But KCI is only about 2 miles from booming suburbs (that you don't see when you fly in). KCI is not all that far away from the built up part of the metro and it's only about 20 minutes from Downtown.

But if you fly into KCI and take 435 to Kansas or to the east side, you will think you landed in Nebraska.

If you fly in from Atlanta or Florida, you fly over the entire metro and its quite impressive and if you take I-29 to 169 into the city, The city is also quite impressive as you enter it by car and you see development as soon as you leave the airport.

I always take 29 into the city from KCI so, to me, the airport is just about like any other airport I have flown out of.

The biggest problem with MCI is the retarded three terminals which also give a false impression of the airport being dead because there is not central terminal. But that is a different story.

Originally Posted by KevK

You would be surprised at the number of people that think Kansas City is actually ALL within the confines of Kansas. As I have spent a life about the country, I have heard that often and when you tell them that most of it is in fact in the state of Missouri they always say "why isn't it called Missouri City then?"

I travel the country extensively, I visit every major city in the USA every couple of years.

I know exactly what you are talking about.

Originally Posted by Foreverking

Questions:

1. when your being chased by the Kansas City Cops from Misourri, can they cross over into kansas and nab you?

2. which side is more redneck?

Yes, they do it all the time, probably on a daily basis. Mostly between KCMO and KCK.

KCK is about as redneck as you can get.

KCMO is very urban and nothing like that even exists in Kansas, that is where you live if you live in a high-rise condo or row house etc.

Both sides of the state line have suburbs that can be considered a bit redneck. Platte in Missouri and Johnson in Kansas are pretty white collar type places.

Clay in Missouri, Cass in Missouri, Wyandotte, Miami, and Leavenworth in KS can be pretty redneck.

Overall, Metro KC is a pretty typical midwestern big-city like St Louis, Indianapolis, etc.

The central part of KCMO is very urban and you can find most of the same things in urban KCMO as you can in any major urban center, even some much bigger than KC, but the suburban areas can get extremely conservative and some can get pretty hick, again, not uncommon for major midwestern cities.

[j_k_k]

Originally Posted by Foreverking

Questions:

1. when your being chased by the Kansas City Cops from Misourri, can they cross over into kansas and nab you?

They get delayed by having to put on some shoes first, so you have a good chance to put some ground between you and them.

[city_data_poster]

The small town minds and small town gossipers thing can be found in all 50 states! Believe me, I've traveled all over the midwest by car (Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, you name it) and I've met some really weird people. Real jerks too! Losers, you could say.

But every state I've been in has had its nice folks too.

[GSXRScott]

Dislike:

1. The ugly landscape. (i.e. everything west of Manhattan)
2. The red neck neo cons that still think Bush is the greatest president since Kennedy.
3. Unfortunate number of chunky folk!!!!!!!!!!
4. Everyone seems to chew, yukk.
5. The incredible isolation from other ecosystems such as the mountains, desert and ocean.
6. The wind.

Originally Posted by salsashark

It's funny how people who have never left Kansas act like it's the biggest sh*thole in the world. If you've never lived anywhere else how do you know what is and isn't better?

I like that thought process salsa.

[thriftylefty]

I am from KCK and never gave much thought about were I lived until i was in a hotel loby and heard an out of towner describe it as "a poor little industrial town", (some times you got get the bad news from a stranger)

[anifani821]

I find it so amusing - the slams about MCI. I am an NC native, have traveled all over this country and in Europe . . . and the first time I got off a plane at MCI . . . I looked around and thought - alright. Wide open spaces. I loved it. I still love it.

There is something liberating about the landscape around the airport. I always enjoyed driving back home to Lenexa from the airport after a trip . . . kinda zen . . .

So you see . . . same place, but very different reaction. People tell me they love it here in Charlotte, where I live now, b/c of all the huge trees . . . and I sometimes feel like I am going to CHOKE w/ all these big trees around me - and never really seeing the horizon . . .

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by anifani821

I find it so amusing - the slams about MCI. I am an NC native, have traveled all over this country and in Europe . . . and the first time I got off a plane at MCI . . . I looked around and thought - alright. Wide open spaces. I loved it. I still love it.

There is something liberating about the landscape around the airport. I always enjoyed driving back home to Lenexa from the airport after a trip . . . kinda zen . . .

So you see . . . same place, but very different reaction. People tell me they love it here in Charlotte, where I live now, b/c of all the huge trees . . . and I sometimes feel like I am going to CHOKE w/ all these big trees around me - and never really seeing the horizon . . .

I know from experience that a general lack of trees means that the climate will be more extreme. The relative lack of trees in any place is a big negative for me. Forested areas act as a calming influence for many people, and tend to moderate the climate compared with wide open spaces.