Potentially moving to Kansas City, need some insight (Independence, Overland: low income, insurance)

[Floorist]

Originally Posted by sub

That'd be like saying Kansas City and Kennett shouldn't be in the same forum just because they're both in Missouri.


Yeah, they're done on the metropolitan level. Most cities have suburbs that are nothing like the core city or even each other.
I suppose KCK is the odd duck out because it uses its own street grid. Even Johnson County goes along with MO on that one.

No one who lives on either side would think they should be considered one place. Economically and racially they are worlds apart.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by Floorist

No one who lives on either side would think they should be considered one place. Economically and racially they are worlds apart.

So are the East and West sides of the older part of Kansas City, yet they are in the same city.

Once again, these forums are organized on the metropolitan level, and both Kansas Cities are in the same metropolitan area. Furthermore, the suburbs in Johnson County are suburbs of Kansas City, Mo., more than they are of Kansas City, Kan. (only Roeland Park and Merriam qualify as JoCo suburbs of KCK IMO; even those others that border Wyandotte County, like Fairway and Westwood, are oriented towards KCMo rather than KCK.

[TabulaRasa]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

So are the East and West sides of the older part of Kansas City, yet they are in the same city.

Once again, these forums are organized on the metropolitan level, and both Kansas Cities are in the same metropolitan area. Furthermore, the suburbs in Johnson County are suburbs of Kansas City, Mo., more than they are of Kansas City, Kan. (only Roeland Park and Merriam qualify as JoCo suburbs of KCK IMO; even those others that border Wyandotte County, like Fairway and Westwood, are oriented towards KCMo rather than KCK.

Out of curiosity, why Merriam and Roeland Park but not Mission?

[KC_Retiree]

Originally Posted by TabulaRasa

Out of curiosity, why Merriam and Roeland Park but not Mission?

The growth for most of Johnson County came west out of Kansas City Missouri and not south out of Kansas City Kansas. Immediately adjacent towns like Mission Hills and Fairway (1949) were incorporated before Roeland Park (1951). Prairie Village, while not incorporated until 1951, has been growing in population since 1941 (first as unincorporated Johnson County and then as Prairie Village. Same for Mission.

It's splitting hairs to call any city a suburb of KCK (although Bonner Springs might actually fit that bill) because KCK is a suburb of KCMO. KCK was named explicitly to take advantage of KCMO's already well established name and to sew confusion in the hope of getting some of the westward migrating nation to settle a few meters further west. Now, they are all part of the SMSA and can all be considered KCMO burbs even though they may not be "suburban" in culture.

[Floorist]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

So are the East and West sides of the older part of Kansas City, yet they are in the same city.

Once again, these forums are organized on the metropolitan level, and both Kansas Cities are in the same metropolitan area. Furthermore, the suburbs in Johnson County are suburbs of Kansas City, Mo., more than they are of Kansas City, Kan. (only Roeland Park and Merriam qualify as JoCo suburbs of KCK IMO; even those others that border Wyandotte County, like Fairway and Westwood, are oriented towards KCMo rather than KCK.

It would be far less confusing to people who don't know the area to divide them.

[kcmo]

KCK is a suburb of KCMO. It's a suburb with a lot of urban problems and some urban characteristics, but it's still a suburb to KCMO. Everything in Johnson County is also a suburb of KCMO.

If you start splitting things up, then where do you stop? Independence is very similar to KCK. It's actually older than KCMO, was more of its own city at one time etc, but now, it's very much a suburb of KCMO. Blue Springs is not a suburb of Independence, it's also a suburb of KCMO.

KC is no different than almost every other city in the country. It has a core city that is surrounded by suburban cities. It's not a two city metro area like Dallas Fort Worth or Minneapolis St Paul.

If you were to split the metro up by state line, the prominent city on the KS side would be Overland Park, not Kansas City, Kansas anyway.

[Floorist]

There is a world of differences in taxes, facilities,etc.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by Floorist

It would be far less confusing to people who don't know the area to divide them.

Other way around. Treating them as though they were separate would only reinforce the misconceptions of the Easterners. Please stop making my job harder.

Originally Posted by kcmo

KCK is a suburb of KCMO. It's a suburb with a lot of urban problems and some urban characteristics, but it's still a suburb to KCMO. Everything in Johnson County is also a suburb of KCMO.

If you start splitting things up, then where do you stop? Independence is very similar to KCK. It's actually older than KCMO, was more of its own city at one time etc, but now, it's very much a suburb of KCMO. Blue Springs is not a suburb of Independence, it's also a suburb of KCMO.

KC is no different than almost every other city in the country. It has a core city that is surrounded by suburban cities. It's not a two city metro area like Dallas Fort Worth or Minneapolis St Paul.

If you were to split the metro up by state line, the prominent city on the KS side would be Overland Park, not Kansas City, Kansas anyway.

A couple of comments:

—Actually, KCK isn't a suburb of KCMo; it has its own major employment centers (the Union Pacific and BNSF railroad yards, the GM assembly plant and the Fairfax Industrial District) that draw commuters into the city from outside it — including some from KCMo. It's true that it's not an equal of the city in Missouri, but I think the better way to think of it is as a "satellite city" much like Newark (NJ) is to New York or Wilmington (DE) is to Philadelphia.

And Floorist, you will note that neither Newark nor Wilmington have their own forums here. Newark discussions take place in the New York City forum, and talk of Wilmington can be found in the Philadelphia forum. Generally speaking, those places within metropolitan areas that got their own C-D forums are areas that were actually suburbs but grew to the point where they function as metropolitan sub-centers: Orange County outside Los Angeles, Long Island and Westchester County in New York, Philadelphia's New Jersey suburbs. Following that rule, we are likely to see a Johnson County forum before we see one devoted to KCK.

As for Overland Park being "the prominent city on the Kansas side," that is a fairly recent development caused by two things: OP's growth and KCK's decline. And not even KCK combining with its county saved its bacon.

Originally Posted by Floorist

There is a world of differences in taxes, facilities,etc.

Sure there are. Same thing for New York, Hoboken and Newark, or Chicago and Gary, Ind., or Philadelphia and Wilmington, or Washington, DC, and Arlington, Va.

No separate C-D forums exist for any of these.

Once again: By arguing that KCK should have a separate forum, you're not reducing the confusion, you're increasing it.

[MarketStEl]

Pardon me for piling on, but I have pictorial evidence to support my argument that making a separate forum for KCK is a bad idea because it would reinforce rather than reduce the confusion.

My neighborhood supermarket is a Fresh Grocer, which, along with ShopRite and four other brands, is part of Wakefern Food Corporation, the largest and second-oldest (after Kansas City, Kan.-based Associated Wholesale Grocers) retailer-owned wholesale supply cooperative in the country. (It's also the largest employer in its home state of New Jersey, where it was founded in 1946.)


In January of last year, Wakefern-family stores ran a promotion featuring rotisserie chicken cooked with the barbecue flavors of four legendary barbecue capitals. The first of the four: Kansas City. (Memphis, North Carolina and Texas would follow.)

Take a look at the advertising sign over the rotisserie chicken rack. What state is missing in the illustration?


Own photo, uploaded to Facebook in January 2020

Now does everyone understand why giving KCK its own forum is a bad idea?

[Okey Dokie]

And another thing: how many threads does KCK actually generate on here?