St. Joseph Relocation info needed (Kansas City, Ashland: rental, insurance, crime rates) - City-Data Forum

chitown_fam2010 · 02-06-2010, 09:14 PM

I am currently living in chicago illinois. My husband, brother, sis in law, and myself would all like to move to st. Joseph missouri. My husband and i lived there once for only a month. We enjoyed the living expenses and the job. While there we were called a racial slur. That doesnt bother me very much, it would not stop me from going back. My only concern is living near those ppl who are racist .... So i was wondering if anyone had any info on st. Joseph as far the areas that have african americans.

GraniteStater · 02-06-2010, 09:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chitown_fam2010

I am currently living in chicago illinois. My husband, brother, sis in law, and myself would all like to move to st. Joseph missouri. My husband and i lived there once for only a month. We enjoyed the living expenses and the job. While there we were called a racial slur. That doesnt bother me very much, it would not stop me from going back. My only concern is living near those ppl who are racist .... So i was wondering if anyone had any info on st. Joseph as far the areas that have african americans.

Make sure you have a job lined up before moving anywhere in this economy.

chitown_fam2010 · 02-07-2010, 10:48 PM

yes we have jobs lined up ..... i just really need that info on the areas... this economy is very horrible.

misplaced1 · 02-08-2010, 09:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chitown_fam2010

yes we have jobs lined up ..... i just really need that info on the areas... this economy is very horrible.

Seriously you need to go to St. Joe and look around the areas you can afford and check out the crime rates in whatever areas around town.

I think race should come second to safety and living next to people of a certain race sure doesn't guarantee safety of piece of mind.

Figure out your price range, then find out what parts of town those exist in, then go see if that neighborhood is a fit for you.

I mean unless you seriously are only looking to move anywhere a certain race is or isn't without any care of real living conditions, thefts, vandalism, neighborhood quality, cost of housing, rental or home ownership.

You haven't given anyone much to go with in assisting you, other than race preference so I'm not sure what you expect.

northbayeric · 02-08-2010, 10:05 PM

I've been away from these forums for the past several days, so I'm very glad I came back to check in!

As someone who has made two visits to St. Joe during the past three years, the only area I would steer away from is the part of Midtown near Messanie Street between 12th and 22nd Streets. That area looks more run-down and has more incidents of theft from what I understand. But violent crime is pretty rare anywhere in town.

Try looking first to the north and east. Look north of Frederick Ave., and east of 21st Street, but also look at Noyes Blvd. and North 22nd Street. My wife and I had looked at a couple of houses on Francis Street out by 27th and (I think) 31st Street, or wherever Francis Street dead-ends to the east when we tried to move back there. What beautiful old houses along Francis St., Jules Street, Faraon St. and nearby. Many houses on Lovers Lane and Ashland Avenue are more expensive, but try around there too, and along Gene Field Road. There are newer houses east of I-29. The south side looks pretty good too, with a lot of smaller, older houses. It feels like you're kind of separated from the main part of town there, but Hyde Park, at the southern end of the parkway greenbelt system, is a nice, large outdoor park.

Have a qualified inspector check any older house you might look at. If it turns out to be a real fixer-upper, that could get very burdensome and expensive. But many of them have been refurbished very nicely, and St. Joe has been a total buyer's market for quite some time.

I really like St. Joseph a lot. The parkway greenbelt system is beautiful during the late spring through mid-autumn seasons. And you're absolutely right, and I like your attitude about not letting one idiot using the N-word to you, stop you from moving to this quaint, historic town of 75,000 people. Actually, one of Missouri's state representatives from St. Joe, Martin Rucker, is black, and seems like a very decent guy from what little I've read about him. Looks like he's running for the state Senate.

Interior improvements to the East Hills shopping mall have been made within the past two years, and I'm hoping it's able to get more business these days--it had a pretty severe vacancy problem before that, but it's still a nice indoor one-floor mall, at least as of March 2008. There's all kinds of shopping up and down the Belt Highway, so there's not much of a need to go down to Kansas City to shop.

Let me, and the rest of us, know how your move goes! I sent you a direct message reply with a recommendation for the realtor my wife and I used when we were looking at houses back there. I wish you and your family the very best. We're hoping to save enough money and pay down bills so that we can make our next trip to St. Joe around September 2011 or thereabouts. It'll be great if it works out.

chitown_fam2010 · 02-09-2010, 08:17 PM

well put it like this i'm from chicago and we have been named murder capital more than once .... i agree we will surely go and look around. and many of the ppl from other races were quite friendly and very helpful to my husband and i. i beleive that any place outside of chicago and illinois will benefit my family greatly.

tuckey · 02-12-2010, 08:05 PM

I've lived in St. Joseph, MO. for over 30 years and I can tell you there are better places to live. If you like working in fast food, trying to sell cars, selling insurance, shoping at a mall that has nothing to offer in terms of retail shopping, I guess St. Joseph is your city. My suggestion to you is that if your serious about moving to the area, I would look at Kansas City. Yes, I know the cost of living is good here; however, in comparisoon to Kansas City, St. Joseph just doesn't come close. If I were you, I would reconsider making St. Joseph your home and instead look seriously at Kansas City.

Sincerely,

Someone with a college degree and moving from the area very shortly

joetownmom · 02-23-2010, 11:38 AM

St. Joe is my hometown (hence my name) but I haven't lived there for decades. There are some positive things about St. Joe and I will always love my hometown but I have no plans to ever return to live there.

Some of the big beautiful old houses along Ashland Avenue are very nice and that area is relatively safe. Overall, I would say stay away from most of the North End (my home area which has gone way down hill in recent years), most of the South End, and concentrate on the far East Side and the newer areas save for the Ashland Avenue area. Stone Crest and the area out there is not bad.

St. Joe's biggest draw is the history which is very rich but the city has been job poor. St. Joe was once the third largest livestock packing house center in the nation but when Swift's closed back in late 1971, the economy took a hit that has never been recovered. Most of the major industries outside the packing houses is gone too like Meade Paper (formerly Wes Tab).

xanzzz · 05-23-2010, 06:26 AM

Probably too late but to answer the OP direct question.

I have lived here for over a decade coming from a major northern Midwest city.

This city is extremely racist. It is not so immediately noticeable because there are few minorities living here as a percentage but there is no doubt this is a racist town. The city as a whole assumes everyone thinks minorities are lesser people and do not practice discretion or basic guarded talk in this area and just freely belt out their racists views. It is still stunning to this day to be in the presence of a person you think is a very high class person who will then say something incredibly ignorant and racist in the same manner as talking about the weather.

JetShadez66 · 05-29-2010, 06:55 PM

Racism in St. Joe, that doesn't surprise me. I live in Gower, just southeast of St. Joseph. Currently St. Joe has one of the quickest growing hispanic populations in the United States. This has caused strife among factory workers. However, for the most part African American status doesn't seem to a pot that is stirred frequently, it has been sent to a different pot. As stated above though, make sure you have a job lined up, and one word of advice, some of the small towns in the area...not all of them, but some of them, are racist and you need to tread carefully around them. St. Joseph though, it's big enough that it is primarily just a giant population now.
Just my two cents on the subject.