St Louis vs Kansas City (St. Louis, St. Charles: neighborhood, public school, university)

[friedzone]

Thanks for all the great analysis. Personally I'm leaning towards moving to KC, really a nice city with the fountains and nice mix of old and new architecture. I know it gets cold and snows but nothing like the 20 below we have had here in Wisconsin.

KC seems more automobile friendly from "google maping" around.

Would I be wrong to say that Overland Park Kansas is a very upscale area?

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by friedzone

Thanks for all the great analysis. Personally I'm leaning towards moving to KC, really a nice city with the fountains and nice mix of old and new architecture. I know it gets cold and snows but nothing like the 20 below we have had here in Wisconsin.

KC seems more automobile friendly from "google maping" around.

Would I be wrong to say that Overland Park Kansas is a very upscale area?

Overland Park has a wide range of neighborhoods to choose from. It is not all upscale throughout the entire city. Overland Park stretches for nearly 150 city blocks. You have lower-middle class neighborhoods, middle class neighborhoods, upper-middle class neighborhoods, and wealthy neighborhoods. Also, JOCO has a wide range of condo and apartment stock of varying age. If you really want upscale in Johnson County Leawood, Mission Hills, and Mission Woods are some of the most upscale cities.

[friedzone]

Thanks. There are certainly a lot of different areas to choose. I'm looking at a condo downtown.

[northbound74]

Originally Posted by STLCardsBlues1989

Kansas City is not "far superior". It may be home to you, but you may give St. Louisans this idea (which they probably already have) that Kansas Citians think they are superior.

St. Louis City IS growing again since 2000. Yeah, there's ghetto. I'm sure there's ghetto in Kansas City also. There has been millions invested in Downtown St. Louis since 2000. There are still things being built, like Roberts Tower. There is development taking place in St. Louis. I think for the first time in a long time St. Louis is on the rise again.

But I'm not surprised that St. Louisans think Kansas Citians think they are all that, because apparently they do. Next time, before you starting drooling falsities, take a look around at Downtown St. Louis now compared to 10 years ago. St. Louis as a whole, especially Downtown, is on the upswing. Yes, economic times are hard, but I believe St. Louis will continue to grow.

"Far superior city" is just laughable. If any city is "far superior" it may be New York, which is more superior (if you can rank cities that way) than St. Louis or Kansas City, which are on the same plane.

It goes both ways. People who live in one town often think that it's better than the other.
I've come across several people from St. Louis who think that we in KC are just a bunch of backwards hicks living in a substandard city that really isn't a "big" city, just a wannabe. Go figure.

Over the last several decades, including the present, KC has generally been growing at a faster rate than St. Louis. Both city's downtown areas have experienced a dramatic turnaround in recent years. Both have bad areas.
For the most part, they are somewhat in the same category, but the differences are big enough that some would prefer one quite a bit over the other. To outsiders, there's probably not much difference.

[northbound74]

Originally Posted by friedzone

KC seems more automobile friendly from "google maping" around.

Kansas City is very easy to get around in. Much of it is in a grid pattern, and every corner of the city has direct access to downtown. It has the most freeway miles per capita of any city, and traffic jams are virtually nonexistent by most city's standards.

Downtown is very cool. Lot's of condo's to choose from down there. There's a supermarket, pharmacy, YMCA, the best library branch in town, and a countless number of restaurants. Most of the best stuff KC has to offer is in the downtown/midtown corridor. If you're a sports fan, the Stadiums are 10 minutes to the east.

[stlsmoore]

STL also has a MUCH more ghettoized area than Kansas City. All of "north county", "north city",

Lol all of North County is blighted huh...you truly have STL all figured out

[STLCardsBlues1989]

Don't bother with him. I've heard people who think that all North County is bad. I've never been there, so I'm not going to talk about what I don't know about.

[northbound74]

Originally Posted by STLCardsBlues1989

Don't bother with him. I've heard people who think that all North County is bad. I've never been there, so I'm not going to talk about what I don't know about.

Not sure what 'North County' is, but if it includes Florissant and Hazelwood, I don't think those parts are all that bad. I like the blue-collar aspect.

[kcmo]

Yea, north county is a pretty large area for it "all" to be blightend. Some of it has seen better days for sure, but much of it is fine. I would equate North County to Eastern Jackson County in KC in many ways such as suburban "black" flight, blue collar etc.

[myrab]

Originally Posted by aragx6

First of all I've been to KC more times than can count and in that area especially, but you kind of proved my point. No oe in KC seems to be able to name neighborhoods, leading outsiders to believe they have few distinctions. They're fine areas, I'd live there in a heartbeat (I really enjoy Brookside), but that's not what I was really saying.

Here's the best example of looking at it from the angle of someone who truly wants to love car less. From my favorite Web site walkscore.com

"The top 4 neighborhoods in Kansas City are Walkers' Paradises. 14% of Kansas City residents have a Walk Score of 70 or above. 38% have a Walk Score of at least 50—and 62% live in Car-Dependent neighborhoods."
Kansas City's Most Walkable Neighborhoods - Walk Score Neighborhood Rankings

62% of KC neighborhoods are car dependent!

edit:: Again I want to reiterate that I really like Kansas City and I don't want to fight about it, because I think it's a great town. My point, and I think it was muddled in my last post, is that St. Louis is made up of a lot of interesting and distinct neighborhoods in a way that Kansas City isn't and, as a rule, I think more of Kansas City's neighborhoods are car dependent than St. Louis'.

Thank you so much for mentioning the website walkscore.com! What a great resource.