Moving from Seattle WA to Cass County area

[angela seattle]

Originally Posted by TabulaRasa

The first Latina I met here in KC, a coworker of mine, lives in Belton, so does most of her family. She went to Ray-Pec High School, and felt very culturally isolated at the time, but says that the Latino population has increased since then.

so says my sister who had a few latino friends at ray pec says but they assure me it has changed, it makes the kids a little less nervous moving that way

[angela seattle]

Originally Posted by angela seattle

Hi I am moving from Seattle WA soon to Cass county area due to lack of jobs in Washington state with my family We are a mixed latino family and live in a mixed latino neighborhood currently and are looking for a neighborhood similar to the one we are in now. we will be moving to the Raymore Belton area first thing, does anyone know how the area is. Also we enjoy going to latin clubs here and wondered if there are many there. Also as a mixed family would we have issues in that area I have only visited there a few times with my family and we didn't really check out the area any help would be appreciated.

Hi I have read responses and other posts to get a feel the area. I have met people here in Seattle who have visited or passed through or worked for a short time who told me somethings about the area but I rather hear from people who actually live in KCMO or suburbs or grew up there, I feel you would know more. One thing I keep being told by these folks is KCMO and suburban Neighborhoods are divided by race certain races live on one side of the city, others to their side just an example of what I was told) out here in Seattle and the puget sound area most of the time is divided economically like any city we do have pockets where more races are prominent for the most part seems to be people live were they can afford it. It is expensive here even in what people would call the cheap part of town, for example my neigborhood is fair priced (Rent on 3 bd apt low end 775 up to high end 1300) and in our complex our neighbors are white, black, latino,native american, and pacific Islander. I have even notice this in Bellevue which is what I would compare to Overland Park, Leawood,and Lees Summit from what I have read on various threads. Like I said I rather here from you guys then a bunch of naysayers who didn't enjoy the time they had there or were to caught up with the midwest is different sentiment. thanks.

[TabulaRasa]

In all honestly, as much as I love KC and the surrounding communities, one of the few negatives that's jumped out to me in the time I've lived here is the segregation. Ethnic communities with both KC proper and in the suburbs I have experience with really aren't very mixed at all in much of the metro. All cities have this to an extent, but it's been more noticeable here than other cities I've lived in that there just isn't much residential mixing, compared to elsewhere I've lived.

[angela seattle]

Originally Posted by TabulaRasa

In all honestly, as much as I love KC and the surrounding communities, one of the few negatives that's jumped out to me in the time I've lived here is the segregation. Ethnic communities with both KC proper and in the suburbs I have experience with really aren't very mixed at all in much of the metro. All cities have this to an extent, but it's been more noticeable here than other cities I've lived in that there just isn't much residential mixing, compared to elsewhere I've lived.

Thanks TabulaRasa, do you think it is because people tend to stay where they grew up or is it just a given, we do have to make this move for at least a few years,and we know it will not be like "home"takes adjustment on our part but we are trying to find something a little like the area we live now. Even if we dont we are very adapatble anyway being military brats and all

[BostonToKC]

While KC is very segregated, this is the norm for every other major metro area in the country. Even the more "liberal" places such as Chicago or Boston are highly segregated, IMO.

This phenomenon is not unique to KC in the least....

[TabulaRasa]

I used to live in Chicago...it still has a high amount of segregation, but also a high number of neighborhoods that actually ARE quite ethnically mixed (and socioeconomically mixed, albeit to a lesser extent - income level still segregates, as it does everywhere)...KC doesn't really have a Rogers Park, et al. It just doesn't have the wealth of neighborhoods that are notable for being ethnically diverse...each one is pretty strongly one ethnicity or another. There are portions of Chicago that definitely have that, but also parts that definitely do not. It's much more noticeable here, to me that there is very, very little mixing, by comparison.

I don't really know why it is. Having been a resident only a few years, I haven't lived here long enough to really understand the sociology behind it.

[famusdarlin]

TabulaRasa, being a native of Kansas City I tend to attribute that to a smaller minority population. And a small percentage of newcomers to the area being minorities. I see this trend changing with more latinos coming to the area. When I worked in corporate america I worked in diversity for a very large corporation based here and we had a difficult time getting minorities to consider moving to Kansas City and an even harder time getting them to stay. And that is because there is a smaller monirity population here.