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Thanks, 67 Chevelle...by the way...I drove a hopped up 71 Nova for 23 years!
This is a lot of info, I like it. I'll have to print it out and have my wife go over it. I think it answers a ton of questions about living arrangements and the general vibe of the area. Here in "Butt of California", we as a family, have kept pretty much to ourselves for the last 3 years or so. It's amazing how many bad-apples have moved into the area in the last 10 years...mainly from L.A.,other parts of California and Nevada. I've done a lot of business with a bunch of people here in the last 5 years and have been screwed 6 ways to Sunday several times (in a business sense or course) and in social settings as well...talk about "entitlement". Hence, we primarily keep our social activity limited to close family members. Lately, I like to tell people who are visiting from out of state how blessed they are they live elsewhere...especially when their eyes start to glaze over at how nice the weather is.
Ironically, 3 years ago, we made 2 of the best friends we've ever had in our lives while living here. The thing is...they are both native born Pennsylvanians HAHA! Sadly, they have since moved far away from here after finding out the dirty truth about the sort of folk who choose to settle here in SD. Well, here I go whining again. Trying to stay positive!
Thanks again, 67. Looking forward to the great exodus outta here!
This is an experience that I have had countless times here and is ongoing.
When I encounter by random chance a person who is notably more open, friendly, polite, well-spoken, and generally polished, I "know" from long experience that they grew up somewhere other than the Bay Area. It is very much the refreshing exception rather than the rule and thus I always take the time (if I have it) to converse with the person long enough to confirm my hunch. My track record is, at minimum, 90% right. This is particularly true with women....as women from most anywhere else stand out further from the natives than the men do.
As an example, just the other day I shopped at Target and went to a register worked by a young lady with all the positive attributes I previously listed. It was as though I had turned back the clock and was somewhere around 95th & Metcalf. Just doesn't happen here - especially not at Target or similar. So I got to talking with her and asked where she was from. She had just moved here months ago from the St. Louis area. That's how it goes 9 times out of 10.
If you proceed with the Overland Park move, you will be blown away and delighted with the cultural difference.
There are some intangible things to a lot of JOCO areas too. When we first moved here engaging people at church in conversation the very first thing they did was try and place you into a socio economic class which kind of put us off as we relocated from a rural town in NW Indiana where that was the last thing you cared about. So instead of questions like where did you move from, what age are your kids, we fielded questions like what subdivision do you live in. Not every area but MANY are like this and to go along with it a sense of entitlement. We used to go to a wine bar in Liberty, MO and no one cared where you lived, what you did for a living, what car you drove, etc. My buddy in Liberty would tell people "he's from JOHNSON COUNTY" and there would be a little nod/wink.
Great post. And I think you summarized well in the passage above one of the main reasons KCMO (the poster) dislikes Johnson County. Some people have zero tolerance for wannabe-high class, uppity suburbanites- I guess KCMO falls into that camp.
Great post. And I think you summarized well in the passage above one of the main reasons KCMO (the poster) dislikes Johnson County. Some people have zero tolerance for wannabe-high class, uppity suburbanites- I guess KCMO falls into that camp.
"wannabe" is the key word there, so don't flatter yourself too much. Johnson County is highly overrated by the locals and just plain average at best. It's a nice suburban area and that's it. It's looks great on paper and so it makes fun lists with other suburbs that also look nice on paper and the residents eat it up. I have nothing against Johnson County for it simply being a nice suburban area. I live in a nice suburban area. There are a bazillion nice suburban areas all across the country and there are other nice suburban areas in KC. Liberty is nice. There is a reason people in Liberty will "wink" about being from Johnson County and it's not because they are jealous...
So for the last time, I have nothing against suburbs. They fill a need and generally co-exist quite well with other suburbs, a central city and a regional metropolitan area.
Johnson County doesn't do that. That's why I don't like JoCo.
The fact that people that live there actually think the place is amazing when it's really just an average suburb in probably one of the least desirable states in the country? Yea, don't really care but find it comical.
The fact that JoCo is probably one of the worst regional partners in the entire country and siphons and poaches and freeloads off KCMO every chance it gets no matter what damage they inflict? Now that I don't like, never will. As matter of fact, that is the reason that I pretty much hate Johnson County. It has nothing to do with not liking strip malls, good schools and six lane streets, trust me.
Johnson County has grown only at the expense of KCMO and to this day they have no other method of economic growth. Meanwhile, they are the second largest county in the metro and yet have zero interest in regional cooperation. They have always been and will always be a thorn in the side of KCMO and the primary reason that the entire Kansas City metropolitan area (especially the urban core) will never reach its potential. When two of the largest counties in the metro can't not get on the same page for anything, you simply are limited on how far your metro can go. Kansas has ONE county that seems to matter and one county that is like 30-40% of the entire state's economy and it's a suburb of KCMO.
The state of Kansas has decided that it will do whatever it takes to grow that one county even if it's chewing off the hand that feeds and it and continues to nurture it. Without the culture, entertainment, arts, sports etc of KCMO, Johnson County is about as interesting and desirable as a subdivision in Kansas. Oh wait.
I wasn't trying to describe myself, just certain people who I am sure exist in Johnson County, and every other affluent suburb in America.
Yea I know, my reply wasn't directly at you. Johnson County is fine. It's a nice place to live and the vast majority of the people that live there are just normal people that are just living normal suburban lives. Outside of Leawood and parts of OP, the county as a whole is not even all that affluent, it's average. But for a large county, it has a very low percentage of lower income people, so the overall averages are higher than most counties.
I do think many there think that they are better than other people just because they live in JoCo, but that's normal and part of suburban culture. I lived in a nicer part of suburban Jackson County than much of JoCo, but it was often assumed I lived in a less desirable area by JoCo people. But most JoCo people don't even know what the nice parts of Jackson County, Clay County and Platte County are like. But again, this is the case everywhere, including here in the DC area.
My major beef with JoCo is the things that 99% of the population don't even care or know about. They don't care or know that the new AMC HQ in Leawood was poached from KCMO with ludicrous amounts of incentives. They just think they moved from downtown to be in the "better" part of the metro. You take that one case and multiply it by hundreds and that's why I resent JoCo. They can think they are "uppity" all they want. Trust me, JoCo is not impressive to people that have have been around the country. It's an average, but nice place to live in a Midwestern suburban environment. You can find the same thing in Omaha, St Louis, Chicago, Dallas, Columbus etc. What makes JoCo unique and interesting is not the leawood town center plaza (of which there are similar places in suburbs across the country), but the greater metropolitan area that it's a part of.
JoCo and many of its residents simply don't get that "metropolitan area" part. They think they ARE the metropolitan area.
KCMO is doing just okay right now. But it would have a MUCH stronger and more desirable and economically vibrant urban core if JoCo was not such a fierce competitor and that would make JoCo a more desirable place as well. Maybe if KCMO was stronger and had a bigger more desirable downtown business center, JoCo would actually be doing "better" today than it is now and be doing so without having to resort to the same practices (poaching, freeloading etc). Denver and Minneapolis have great suburbs that co-exist and cooperate with the cities on many levels. You can have both a strong city and great burbs but the KS side has chosen to go a different direction and only think about any selfish short term gains no matter the long term consequences to the region as a whole.
^^^^^ So you had to hijack a thread about Overland Park to say the same things that you have said over and over and over and over again on this forum that obviously stem from your deep-seated jealousy of Johnson County that must have started in childhood?
Yea I know, my reply wasn't directly at you. Johnson County is fine. It's a nice place to live and the vast majority of the people that live there are just normal people that are just living normal suburban lives. Outside of Leawood and parts of OP, the county as a whole is not even all that affluent, it's average. But for a large county, it has a very low percentage of lower income people, so the overall averages are higher than most counties.
I do think many there think that they are better than other people just because they live in JoCo, but that's normal and part of suburban culture. I lived in a nicer part of suburban Jackson County than much of JoCo, but it was often assumed I lived in a less desirable area by JoCo people. But most JoCo people don't even know what the nice parts of Jackson County, Clay County and Platte County are like. But again, this is the case everywhere, including here in the DC area.
My major beef with JoCo is the things that 99% of the population don't even care or know about. They don't care or know that the new AMC HQ in Leawood was poached from KCMO with ludicrous amounts of incentives. They just think they moved from downtown to be in the "better" part of the metro. You take that one case and multiply it by hundreds and that's why I resent JoCo. They can think they are "uppity" all they want. Trust me, JoCo is not impressive to people that have have been around the country. It's an average, but nice place to live in a Midwestern suburban environment. You can find the same thing in Omaha, St Louis, Chicago, Dallas, Columbus etc. What makes JoCo unique and interesting is not the leawood town center plaza (of which there are similar places in suburbs across the country), but the greater metropolitan area that it's a part of.
JoCo and many of its residents simply don't get that "metropolitan area" part. They think they ARE the metropolitan area.
KCMO is doing just okay right now. But it would have a MUCH stronger and more desirable and economically vibrant urban core if JoCo was not such a fierce competitor and that would make JoCo a more desirable place as well. Maybe if KCMO was stronger and had a bigger more desirable downtown business center, JoCo would actually be doing "better" today than it is now and be doing so without having to resort to the same practices (poaching, freeloading etc). Denver and Minneapolis have great suburbs that co-exist and cooperate with the cities on many levels. You can have both a strong city and great burbs but the KS side has chosen to go a different direction and only think about any selfish short term gains no matter the long term consequences to the region as a whole.
^^^^^ So you had to hijack a thread about Overland Park to say the same things that you have said over and over and over and over again on this forum that obviously stem from your deep-seated jealousy of Johnson County that must have started in childhood?
Only someone in JoCo would think people are jealous of JoCo lol! I thought people were jealous of me because I lived in Overland Park... but then I got out from under the rock at age 18 and left home and left Kansas. Now I can view it with more of an outsider's perspective, and it's nothing special. Suburbs exist all over the country.
Of course this thread turned into another senseless JoCo argument. BOTH SIDES of that argument are just silly.
Where are these entitled JoCo people who think JoCo and everyone in it are the end-all-be-all? I've lived in Olathe and Overland Park for most of my life and I still haven't met any of these entitled people. But just about every day I get anywhere from a half-joking snarky remark "oh you're one of those JoCo snobs" to actual disdain for living in the suburbs, and the implication that somehow my life is devoid of culture or personality - simply because of the part of town I live in. Which side is entitled again?
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Trying to stay positive!
So you had to hijack a thread about Overland Park to say the same things that you have said over and over and over and over again on this forum that obviously stem from your deep-seated jealousy of Johnson County that must have started in childhood?
