Opinions on Independence, MO? (Sugar Creek: schools, pharmacy, live in)

[kcmo]

Will you people listen to yourselves!

Raytown has bad schools, Raytown is racist.

WTF? Raytown is fine, has fine schools and considering it's one of the more diverse districts in the metro, how can it be "racist"?

OK, now listen to me on this.

Independence is FINE. You can find just about every kind of housing and neighborhood in Independence as you can in Blue Springs or Lee's Summit, only you are closer to more places to eat and shop.

Sure, Independence has some urban issues in the western and northern parts of the city, but it's a rather large suburb with nearly 120,000 people and it's still growing and when you drive around the newer parts of Indepedence, you can't tell if you are in Lee's Summit, Olathe, or Liberty. Independence has nice suburban areas with good housing prices and good schools.

It's no wonder KC is in the shape it's in. According to this forum,the only places worthy of living are Lee's Summit and Johnson County.

That couldn't be more further from the truth.

[want to move somewhere]

what about the area around E US-24 a few blocks east of Winterstone Golf course. Is this a mostly nice area? Is this a largely hispanic or AA or White area? Does anyone know is this a high meth area, this area east of the golf course?

[Hazel W]

I lived in Independence until two years ago and I wish I were back. As everyone is saying, stick to the east side. The southeast quadrant is growing by leaps and bounds. Also, you'll find the Blue Springs School District in Eastern Independence. While the Independence School District is fine - certainly in comparison to the KC district - I believe Blue Springs District is considered better. About Raytown, I thought it was part of KC School District. I am likely wrong.

The people are very friendly and neighborly. There are some lovely homes along 39th Street and off on the side streets northward to 35th. Some newer homes are quite expensive but there are plenty of less cost and, to me, more "homey" houses all over the area. Except for the 39th & 291 crossing, the neighborhoods are quiet and safe for children.

There are several good shopping areas, a great area on East 39th Street & Hwy 291. Best of all is the City Council which is really there for you when you need them. Drop a letter to your councilman and you'll have a reply within days and find the problem being resolved quickly if at all possible. Once in a while, there'll be a councilman who falls down on the job but, on the whole, they have a fine City Council that cares what happens to Independence.

As several have said, Blue Springs and Liberty are both nice towns but you'll need your own transportation. Independence does have pubic transportation if you need it. Then, I'm just partial to Independence. I've not lived in the other two towns.

Finally, Independence is "Harry's Town" - President Truman.

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by want to move somewhere

what about the area around E US-24 a few blocks east of Winterstone Golf course. Is this a mostly nice area? Is this a largely hispanic or AA or White area? Does anyone know is this a high meth area, this area east of the golf course?

It's a decent area really.

It's not quite as nice as Blue Springs and Lee's Summit or the southern parts of Independence, but it's a decent area and it's actually growing quite a bit along US24.

I would say the area is diverse economically compared to most newer suburbs, but I would not say it has a lot of crime or anything. Just a bit lower average demographic than most suburbs.

It's mostly white. Probably little if any hispanics and a few blacks. Did you say you were black? I don’t' think there would be any racial issues there.

There is a large section 8 housing project near 291 and 24. I wouldn't live there. haha. But I have a friend that lives like a block from there and they don't have any problems.

Independence, especially northern independence and this part of independence is pretty redneck though. That would be my biggest problem with the area. But you can probably get into a pretty nice home along US 24 for substantially less than it would cost in just about any other part of the metro area’s suburbs, except maybe Wyandotte County.

[Mr getosoul]

Independence Mo is a racist city were only 4% of the city is black so schools like Glendale with Todd Siebert as principal is a damn joke...They dont allow parents to sign in and go to the kids clasroom,dont want parents on fieldtrips,dont really want parents at the school..they want parents to make an appt (WTF)..kids on the playground snorting happy crack heres the link(http://www.kctv5.com/news/15908960/detail.html) , Indep Police being on world news for crazy ish all the time..drugs, murders, racism...If YOUR A MINORITY READING THIS BE AWARE!(http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=3780590)

Even the racist superintendent Jim Hinson is a damn joke...I record/songwrite for a living I have done some of the biggest records, so when my face made it into KC STAR, PITCH, ROLLING STONE, INDEP Examiner(front cover) they have hated seeing that I am a successful young black man and the best way they can target me is through my kids in there underperforming schools.

William Chrisman were my kids attend has soo many pregnat teens walking around hugging on the boyfriends...I mean whats going on with the city of Indepedence Mo?

Then my other kids attend Pioneer Ridge Middle School were the new principal Michael Wishaar is doing the same ish as todd Siebert...Boy I tell you JIM HINSON has HIS PUPPETS WELL TRAINED LOL...

Im moving out Independence soon they can take this run down drug infested, racist schools and police and shove it up there ASSES!

PS: THEY DONT HAVE MLK in the schools..when asked " we include it in our everyday studies" BULL****...

[kcmo]

If the district is racist, why would they have taken over the eastern portion of the KCMO SD with open arms? I don't think any other district in the metro would have touched those schools.

[MrsMo]

Raytown is NOT racist!!! We have become more urban over the last 20 years. The schools on the elementary level are good, was not impressed with the secondary level though. Would have been better off paying for Catholic HS. DGS now attends Raytown public schools after his first few years in Catholic school and is doing very well. He loves it.
The area east of Winsterstone in far eastern Indep is not bad. DD used to live out that way. Her stepson attended Fort OSage schools and I was very impressed with the district.

[beth0301]

SteveO813, let me guess .... Blue Mills?

[northbound74]

I like most areas of Independence. Don't care for any of the northern sections around 24 hwy, even way out in Susquehanna... it's trashy out there. Even some of the newer houses out there are becoming run-down looking.
Independence does have some racism issues. Not to excuse that, but it's really no worse than most places I've seen around here. As for all that other stuff Mr getosoul mentioned, uhh... I'm trying to take that seriously... Independence again isn't substantially different than many other places around here, which kind of makes me want to leave the KC area all together.

[kcmo]

If you shop at any of the stores around the Independence Center area, you would see that a very high percentage of the shoppers are black. Much more than Oak Park or Zona Rosa. Sounds like this guy is just in a bad part of the city.

If you are the successful young black man you say you are, then you probably have the resources to move to a nicer area of the metro like SE Independence, Blue Springs or Lee's Summit where the district has less "ghetto" problems that all the parents end up having to deal with in one way or the other.

But most of the time when people cry “racist”, a lot of it has to do with people that have chips on their shoulder and simply won’t get along with others. My wife teaches in the KCMO SD and that district is racist, only it’s the blacks that seem to have the problems with the whites, not the other way around and the teachers, principles etc are no exception. Then we wonder what is wrong with the district.