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Well, I'm from the Seattle area and we have lived here since July. NOTHING compares to Seattle and the beauty. Hubby is from Blue Springs. I have already lived in this area for 10 years of my life (12 years ago). Talked him into moving back "home" to WA. We were there for 10 years. He lost his job, we lost our house. Time to move on. We picked here---again, only because I found a great job at Shawnee mission medical center and it is less expensive. (But Johnson county is not that much cheaper---really).
He still hasn't found a fulltime job and my kids hate it here. We are in a good school district (Olathe) and my kids all hate it. The kids are all stuck up and disrespectful. The teachers treat the kids like they are in jail and my daughter likes to be respected. (this is all hear-say---from my oldest (15y). But I guess my daughter isn't your "typical" teenager. She does not like to be treated like a child. She is in school to learn and not screw around.
As one Washingtonian to another---don't do it!! Don't move! I can't wait until we move back---with or without my husband. He isn't even that close to his family.
Sorry if I sound angry at KC---maybe it's just the "Johnson" county scene. Maybe we picked the wrong area!
Just dress them all up as little KU fans and they will make more friends .
I have relatives in Seattle. I love the city, just love it. Nearly every time I go there, it's sunny too. Even the suburbs are more dense, far more interesting, walkable, tend to be built around lots of water and hills. The 5 is crowded, but it's not that bad really, and Seattle has a pretty decent transit system and now with light rail, it's getting better. Seattle has a very international feel to it. It seems more diverse and mixed and it's a huge tourism city. The city has a fraction of the crime and blight that metro KC has. It's not even comparable in that respect. I would imagine that KCMO and KCK combined have five to ten times the murders annually and blight is limited. I love the industrial ship yards, the West Seattle area is just incredible with the beaches and views of Seattle. Downtown Seattle is very large and very active and there are just dozens of condo towers popping up everywhere. Even some of the corporate suburbs like Bellevue are breathtakingly beautiful, interesting and urban when comparing them to places like Overland Park. Washington State as well as Oregon and British Columbia, not to mention other vibrant urban centers like Portland and Vancouver being so close is hard to compete with. Tacoma is even interesting and I always got a kick out that city havening light rail while KC doesn't. I love KC and try to rep it well and think the city can compete with most towns. Seattle to me is in a different league though and it's in my top few. Depends on what you want (or where you can find a job ).
I have relatives in Seattle. I love the city, just love it. Nearly every time I go there, it's sunny too. Even the suburbs are more dense, far more interesting, walkable, tend to be built around lots of water and hills. The 5 is crowded, but it's not that bad really, and Seattle has a pretty decent transit system and now with light rail, it's getting better. Seattle has a very international feel to it. It seems more diverse and mixed and it's a huge tourism city. The city has a fraction of the crime and blight that metro KC has. It's not even comparable in that respect. I would imagine that KCMO and KCK combined have five to ten times the murders annually and blight is limited. I love the industrial ship yards, the West Seattle area is just incredible with the beaches and views of Seattle. Downtown Seattle is very large and very active and there are just dozens of condo towers popping up everywhere. Even some of the corporate suburbs like Bellevue are breathtakingly beautiful, interesting and urban when comparing them to places like Overland Park. Washington State as well as Oregon and British Columbia, not to mention other vibrant urban centers like Portland and Vancouver being so close is hard to compete with. Tacoma is even interesting and I always got a kick out that city havening light rail while KC doesn't. I love KC and try to rep it well and think the city can compete with most towns. Seattle to me is in a different league though and it's in my top few. Depends on what you want (or where you can find a job ).
I agree with the above regarding descriptions of Seattle.
But I would never expect KC to "compete" in those terms. If you come from Seattle to KC and expect it be like Seattle, you are bound to be disappointed in many aspects.
But you might also be pleasantly surprised in others ...
Thanks, to everyone, for your thoughts. Believe me, if it were just about the cities, we wouldn't even be having this conversation. I don't need to be sold on Seattle; I moved my family from California because we absolutely love the city. But it's hard to get to know people really well here; the "Seattle freeze" concept, where you can make friends on the surface but few people really let you in and become close, is fairly accurate. And after making the move, we realize that without a network of people who really make you feel that you belong, even the greatest city is just a collection of buildings.
Family is the thing that can't be quantified. That's why we're considering this. I know that KC can't measure up to Seattle in a lot of areas, but I've always found the Midwestern friendliness cliche to be true: rarely have I found friendlier people than in KC. I've spent some time there, and our plan is to spend about a week on two different trips staying in different areas and living like locals as much as possible to see if the fabric feels like what we want.
I'm frankly not as interested in other people's experiences with KC as I am in suggestions for neighborhoods, arts, culture, recreation, etc. The reason is, everyone experiences are colored by so many other factors: their upbringing, life experience, attitude, health, and so on. Heck, I've meet people here who hate living in Seattle, which I can't understand. But any city is no more and no less what you make of it. I live on Bainbridge Island now and while some people here are convinced they've found paradise, my wife and I find it sleepy and isolated. We're walkers; we want to live in a place where walking home six blocks from the store takes an hour because we run into friends on the way.
So...what are the friendliest parts of KCMO? What are the coolest little isolated pockets or ethnic neighborhoods? What are the best places to find musicians (I had a blues band in LA and can't find anyone here in Seattle who wants to start a blues group; everybody wants to be Kurt Cobain)? What's the hiking like? I know there's no Puget Sound or Mt. Rainier, but there's got to be a reason that 500,000 people live there besides the BBQ. I know it's not the Royals. ; )
any city is no more and no less what you make of it.
I completely agree with this.
I also agree with the friendliness aspect. I have found people here to be very friendly and welcoming.
Johnson County has a reputation for being "snobby". Personally, I have never found this to be the case, so I kind of just consider the source when people say that.
For walkable neighborhoods, Brookside will always come to mind. The Plaza area as well. There are also a couple of pockets of walkable neighborhoods in the NE corner of Johnson County as you get toward the Plaza. But you will also have to consider your total lifestyle to know whether or not you will have much in common with your neighbors.
To be honest, most of the people we know well we know either through work or through kid activities. People with whom we already have something in common. While I think my immediate neighbors are very friendly people, we don't "hang out" with most of them and don't really interact much other than friendly hellos. Not because we or they are "unfriendly" but just because don't have too much occasion to do so.
I think you will enjoy the Blues scene in KC. There are several options there. If you have school age kids, you will be doing them a disservice if you not at least check into the Johnson County public schools, particularly Blue Valley and Shawnee Mission districts.
That gives us a little more information to work with. Given that information I think you might like Brookside. The people I know who live in Brookside really have great relationships with their neighbors. There are tons of kids walking around, playing and people standing out talking to neighbors. But just like any other neighborhood some areas are more friendly than others. I would suggest when you come to the city walk around some of the neighborhoods and see if you find them friendly.
Union Hill and West Plaza also appear to be friendly neighborhoods.
Most of the music artsy people I know hang out around Westport. Check out the Mutual Musician's foundation in the 18th and Vine neighborhood for fellow Blues Musicians. Kansas City's local music scene is very underground. Most people don't know what is going on with local music and it almost takes finding one person to show you what is going on. I am more into the hip-hop/ neo-soul/ poetry scene, so I don't know as much about the Blue's scene, but sometimes they overlap, so I know the blues musicians are there.
Samantha, this person is not going to be interested in JoCo. Promise you Try one post without (over)hyping up the Blue Valley and SM school districts will ya? Some people are just not going to be impressed by JoCo and I think this is one, so why waste your time and his?
To the OP. Yea, that's my point. KC is a great city. I just think a very small part of the population knows it or takes advantage of it and I'm not just talking about the suburban population, but also KCMO residents as well. I think you will quickly find out that local residents have an insane inferiority complex when it comes to KC. It’s difficult for a local resident to say good things about KC. It’s very popular however to blast every single thing KC does, every single attraction it has, etc as being a failure, a waste of tax money etc. You will find out soon enough. But at the same time, you can enjoy the city and what it has to offer regardless of the overall tone of most metro area residents and it does offer a lot and if you choose that life and hang around others that do as well, you will be just fine.
Now I won't sit here and say I like KC better than Seattle, because I don't, but I think KC is one of the top 10-15 metros in the country that offers as close to a complete package as possible (metropolitan, yet affordable).
I hope you find something you like, but I’m going to be a bit honest with you. Urban KCMO has limited areas that are going to offer what you want. The closest thing will probably be Brookside, but that area is not going to be quite as diverse, interesting, funky etc as you sound like you are looking for. Brookside to most people in KC is urban, but the general characteristics of the area lean more suburban than urban, especially if you are moving from a larger coastal urban center. As long as you keep that in mind, I think you will be ok in Brookside. Also don’t get too worked up over how friendly the Midwest is. All you have to do is read through these forums to get a better idea of that. People in KC are overly friendly on the surface, but can be extremely two faced and just as difficult, if not more so, to penetrate into true friendship circles in the midwest as anyplace else.
KCMO might have 500k residents (metro over 2 million), only about 100k of them live in nice urban areas, the rest live in suburban northland (half of the city of KCMO is suburban north of the river) areas or more blightened or ghetto areas.
I’m not trying to discourage you, but it helps to know what you are getting into when moving to another city.
As far as other areas besides Brookside…
You should look into South Hyde park, basically east of Main around the KC Art Institute and Nelson Art Gallery. It’s walkble to the Plaza, Main Street Businesses etc and you will find the area to be very “artsy”. The only downfall of the area is that crime can be a little high and it’s close to some higher crime areas which are generally to the east and southest.
Coleman Highlands is a very neat area, VERY community oriented and all the residents know each other. You probably won’t find an area more “tight” that Coleman Highlands. Very interesting and historic homes, huge trees and very close to most of urban KCMO….via Car. That’s the biggest problem. That area is right smack in the city, but it’s like an isolated urban neighborhood. 99% of metro area residents couldn’t even tell you where Colemand Highlands is.
South Plaza, Valentine, Volker, West Plaza, Roaknoke, Westport, Southmoreland, Union Hill etc are all areas that will probably interest you as well.
Right now, Brookside is probably one of the better options. It’s very walkable, safe, has lots of services (grocery stores etc), friendly (can be snobby) and what it may lack in culture is very close by.
Samantha, this person is not going to be interested in JoCo. Promise you Try one post without (over)hyping up the Blue Valley and SM school districts will ya? Some people are just not going to be impressed by JoCo and I think this is one, so why waste your time and his?
Whatever. He asked for opinions, I gave mine. Different people tend to ask the same questions over and over, so the answers (even from you) are bound to get redundant as well.
I didn't say I thought he would like JoCo. I said, "if you have school-age kids ..." and I stand by that recommendation.
Try one post without the "insane inferiority complex" will ya?
I feel like I should step in and break up the clinch between two boxers... ; )
I've spent a little time in JoCo...not impressed. It reminds me of Irvine, CA, the original planned community that I used to live near when I was a California beach bum. Gated neighborhoods, very similar, not very diverse, and you had to drive everywhere. Great schools, but at what price? Yuck. I chose to live in Laguna Beach, which, aside from being at the beach, had the funky, arty scene I loved and still love.
Thanks again, everyone. I really, really appreciate everyone's feedback. The City Data boards rock.
And yeah, if we make the KC move, I'll be looking for blues players ASAP.
I feel like I should step in and break up the clinch between two boxers... ; )
Meh, par for the course around here
Quote:
I've spent a little time in JoCo...not impressed. It reminds me of Irvine, CA, the original planned community that I used to live near when I was a California beach bum. Gated neighborhoods, very similar, not very diverse, and you had to drive everywhere.
Not too many gated neighborhoods and more diversity than you might think, but definitely ho-hum suburbia (a plus to some, a minus to others) and a car is a must.
I was getting lunch today at a Subway and I overheard a young guy asking where in Overland Park or Lenexa he could go for some night life. They kept steering him to Westport, but he wanted to stay in the area. I just laughed. I said, "You won't find what you want around here! Take the directions!"
From what you've described, you will much prefer Brookside and like areas others have mentioned. Just plan on private schools.
As far as making friends out in the neighborhood, honestly, that has been a challenge for us in the KC metro. Most of our close friends are via work and other things we're involved in, like music ensembles. Which is cool, but everyone from those contexts is flung all over the metro, and sometimes you'd like a circle of friends in your immediate neighborhood.
When we lived on the Plaza, it was tough, because our building seemed to have a lot of UMKC and Rockhurst grad students, and there was a decent amount of turnover in the building...didn't really get to know anybody, because it was a temporary home for many (one of the few buildings on the Plaza proper that hadn't gone condo yet, so popular with short-termers). And hanging out on the Plaza, you're of course with people from all over the city/burbs, not necessarily meeting your neighbors. When we decided to move, one of the reasons was to rent a house, with a yard that we could be out and about it, and get to know neighbors that way. We chose Waldo for its comparative mellowness, but it was a bit TOO mellow...as in, the whole time we lived in our neighborhood, we didn't meet a SINGLE neighbor, mainly because we didn't HAVE neighbors. Our block in Santa Fe Hills had all but about two houses sitting empty with "For Sale" signs. Very, very, very quiet street.
Surprisingly, when we bought our house this past fall (we ended up falling in love with an arts and crafts cottage in a historic district near downtown Lee's Summit), every single neighbor stopped by to introduce themselves and chat. Might be a buying vs. renting thing...people bother to get to know you when they know you're sticking around for longer than the length of a lease. And while I wouldn't by any means say that in order to find friendly neighbors, the answer is to move to the suburbs, that turned out to be the case for us, which was surprising.
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They kept steering him to Westport, but he wanted to stay in the area. I just laughed. I said, "You won't find what you want around here! Take the directions!"
