bad neighborhoods in St. Joseph, mo (St. Louis, Liberty: house, safe area, buying)

[northbayeric]

Originally Posted by jeb2113

let me know if you have any questions about st joseph

Thank you very kindly, and welcome to these forums too! Earlier in this forum thread, I wrote that my wife and I are very eager to move back to St. Joseph. Having visited it for the first time back in September, my enthusiasm for St. Joe hasn't waned at all. We have a lovely house we'd like to purchase, and we just need to get ours sold here, and hopefully I'll have a good job there lined up before we make the move. Actually, it would be more accurate to say that we don't *have* the house yet. We'd like to get it, though!

I've been reading about the escalating estimates to get St. Joe's sewer system fixed up. That sounds a bit ominous, but there's got to be some good solution to what sounds like an over $100 million problem. I just hope none of our sewer bills go into outer space! Yikes.

If I think of any other questions, I'll know who to turn to in addition to StJoeFanatic! Well, OK, let me ask you this. I didn't get the chance to eat at Jerre Anne's over near South 27th Street. Would you say the food there is so good that I'd have a hard time trying to wedge myself out the door before waddling back out to my car? Seriously, I've heard really good things about Jerre Anne's and I didn't get the chance to eat there during my two-day whirlwind stay in town. StJoeFanatic loves eating there, and I wanted to ask you if you're familiar with it as well. Is the atmosphere something like this?
http://bestsmileys.com/eating1/2.gif (broken link)

[carlym]

I'm still looking at retiring to st joe next summer to be closer to my farmer brothers in nw missouri. I look at Live Search alot but would like to hear from someone "really" there. I love older neighborhoods 20's thru 50's houses. I see alot of them between Frederick & Messanie. I've seen some near Moila on Jules or Faraon. Would you live in those areas and feel safe? Thanks

[mamagirl55]

Originally Posted by haleybsn

My family will soon be relocating to St. Joseph, Mo. We are in Louisiana right now, and have no way of looking at neighborhoods in person. The houses there look BEAUTIFUL , affordable, and historic, exactly what we're looking for. But what are the neighborhoods like there? We like the look of the King Hill area (on line, mind you). Is this a bad part of town? Are there any areas to avoid because of crime, etc.? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[i]I'VE LIVED IN ST.JOE MOST OF MY LIFE.THE KING HILL AREA IS NICE.THE BAD AREA IS IN EAST END AROUND MESSANIE STREET.THATS ONE OF THE BIGGEST DRUG AREAS.IF YOU NEED ANY INFO I'D BE HAPPY TO HELP.HERE'S MY

EMAIL ADDRESS (MOD CUT)

[northbayeric]

Thanks for this info! Oooh, I'm hoping the moderator can take out your e-mail address. I sure don't want you to wind up getting spammed like crazy as a result of it being visible here. There's a way for us to send a direct (private) message to you to take you up on your offer to provide more info about St. Joe.

My wife and I are definitely moving ahead with our plans to move to St. Joseph--quite a bit closer to Krug Park than the King Hill area. I got to visit it for the first time this past September, and said, yep, this here's the place! Looking to make the move by no later than the end of March--right after Easter, or sooner if our house here sells AND I've got a job lined up by then.

Again, great to have you with us!

[mjb62676]

Originally Posted by StJoeFanatic

I have been in St. Joe for about 12.5 years. I also work in local government here.
Below, I will post my response to another posters similar question<br>
Originally Posted by RCL
Can any of the people from St. Joseph please elaborate a bit, are there any areas of St. Joseph to avoid?

Very few... and those few are in a state of change at this point, so I would say that in a few years, even those "iffy" neighborhoods will be just fine. (an area called Midtown--however, they are trying to revitalize and have a Weed & Seed program in place as we speak to try to clean it up)

Truthfully, when I moved to St. Joseph 12 years ago, I was single and all alone. I ended up finding a small "inexpensive" apartment in what turned out to be quote "The most crime ridden, worst place in St. Joseph". I never really saw anything other than folks "hanging out" I am sure there was some bad stuff going on (drinking, drugs, etc) but I certainly never saw it. I would have never lived there for 1.5 years before moving on to a different neighborhood if I had.

Truthfully, other than a few blocks in the mid-town area... there really is no "dangerous" area in this town... a few "run-down" areas, with folks that don't have much to spend on housing upkeep, but they are not bad people... just poor.

King Hill is just fine-not a bad part of town at all

QUOTE:I'm wondering if it would be advantageous to live in the south end of town (south of 229 near Hyde Park) so as to be a little closer to KC, or if it's better to live further north, between downtown and Noyes Blvd?

As far as what part of town you want to live in.... it depends...
We live on the north end, not far from Noyes Blvd in a wonderful neighborhood. There are those that live in the "southend" they are called "southenders" and they have some very big PRIDE in their area. There is a slight clash between some in the southend and those in the north.

Some there tend to be hyper critical of government and change of any kind. Seems the northenders are more progressive and are just fine with change. It also seems that those on the north (and east) side of town are professional, career folks with families. They also tend to have a higher percentage of people who are transplants to St Joseph and have thouroughly embraced the beauty of this City and it's history.

Southside folks have lived here forever and will tell you if you want anything new in this town or want to change anything, that you should just go back where you came from, cause everything is fine the way it is!

However, having said all that... you would never be able to tell them apart... I'll give you an example...

A brand new shopping area has opened up north (on the north belt hwy) It has anchors like Sam's Club, Home Depot, Kohl's, Borders Books, etc....
In addition, many new restaurants have opened with several more on the way (famous daves bbq, olive garden, etc)
Now, when this new area was under development, the southsiders complained and loudly. They were "never going to step foot in those places!" "It was going to be the downfall of our community", etc.... those were the sentiments out of that end of town, even though the development was not near their homes, nor would it impede with their way of life.

Come to present day.... those stores are flourishing, and the restaurants are PACKED day and night.....It cannot be all because of people in the north. The folks from the south end are standing in line to get a table, just like everyone else.

So, other than the folks in the southend being very "vocal" about their convictions, they are very nice, very fine folks. They are very proud and take pride in their lifestyle, just like the northenders.

This town is large, but not like a huge metropolitan area (like KC or St Louis).
Like I said, we live on the north side, and it still only takes us 30 minutes to get to the KCI aiport, so I wouldn't worry about location as far as being close to KC...you should really just find a home in this community that you love. In a town this size, location to KC doesn't matter...everywhere is "close" to interstate access!

That's a politically correct explanation of the South-enders if I've ever seen one.

How's that mayor working out for "Way to Go, St. Joe!"?

[northbayeric]

Originally Posted by mjb62676

That's a politically correct explanation of the South-enders if I've ever seen one.

How's that mayor working out for "Way to Go, St. Joe!"?

Can you provide some specifics? Granted, Mayor Ken Shearin doesn't walk on water, but are you suggesting City Manager Vince Capell does? Let me stress that in no way am I taking sides in their quarrel with each other. Maybe your objections to Mayor Shearin have little if anything to do with his relationship with the city manager, for all I know.

[mjb62676]

My issues with Shearin have nothing to do with Capell.

He's a whack job, and I still can't believe the "people of Saint Joseph" voted him in.

If he'd been in charge, no way the Shoppes go in...

Those people would be perfectly happy if they had been able to go on in life with their beloved Super Walmart with the baby diapers in the parking lot, Food4Less, and Aldi.

I've said it many times, it got infinitely better while were were there, and I hope for the sake of all the other transplants, it continues to get better (because there is a LONG way to go), but I have to wonder with Shearin in charge...he's already said "I didn't want/expect to win" and "I wanna quit". That guy is a real piece of work, and all the "good people" of St. Joe got him voted in.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by northbayeric

Can you provide some specifics? Granted, Mayor Ken Shearin doesn't walk on water, but are you suggesting City Manager Vince Capell does? Let me stress that in no way am I taking sides in their quarrel with each other. Maybe your objections to Mayor Shearin have little if anything to do with his relationship with the city manager, for all I know.

Missouri is similar to the south because many of the smaller towns still have the "good old boy" system in place. Even Lawrence, KS which has a population of around 90,000 is run like a small town. Those that have money and influnce are catered to by the city commission.

[mjb62676]

I think that goes for anywhere.

I'd never compare Lawrence and St. Joe as cities, but I think I see what you're getting at.

[MoNative34]

I do think St. Joe is slowly changing for the better. Nothing happens overnight! I don't live in St. Joe, but live sort of close and I'm defininately aware of some of the quirks of the community. Where in this world is a place that doesn't?? The cost of living is reasonable. If you can't find a job you like, KCMO, Atchison KS, Leavenworth, KS and Cameron, MO are all within an easy hour or less drive.

As far as bad neighborhoods, maybe midtown. In comparison to other parts of the country, some may say its not so bad. All relative.