Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Missouri > Kansas City
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 05-08-2010, 03:24 PM
 
Location: South St Louis
4,365 posts, read 4,566,999 times
Reputation: 3176

Advertisements

Surely by now, we all know that rankings of cities based on some concocted formula should be read just for entertainment purposes only, right? Good. With that said...
A just-released Men's Health article grades American cities using a specially-calculated "fat factor". Kansas City rates as one of the fattest and gets an "F" grade. To be fair, St Louis doesn't score much better; it receives a "D".
Okay, so the Missouri cities may be on the heavy side, but apparently the Texas cities are the real porkers. Here's the link:
The Fattest Cities - MSN Health & Fitness - Weight Loss (http://health.msn.com/weight-loss/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100257787&gt1=31036 - broken link)
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 05-08-2010, 05:50 PM
 
3,635 posts, read 10,752,496 times
Reputation: 1922
St. Louis got a C, and is litterally right in the middle of the list
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-08-2010, 06:39 PM
 
822 posts, read 2,047,758 times
Reputation: 401
Lots of [burp]...food here.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-08-2010, 07:11 PM
 
Location: Indiana Uplands
26,429 posts, read 46,607,911 times
Reputation: 19574
That doesn't surprise me at all. The KC metro needs a lot more conservation lands and trails, particularly in JOCO.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-09-2010, 02:42 PM
 
Location: Middle America
37,409 posts, read 53,599,905 times
Reputation: 53073
The signature cuisine is fatty meat, and walking is typically spurned in favor of driving...go figure.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-09-2010, 08:20 PM
 
29,981 posts, read 42,949,243 times
Reputation: 12828
Quote:
Originally Posted by GraniteStater View Post
That doesn't surprise me at all. The KC metro needs a lot more conservation lands and trails, particularly in JOCO.
Kansas City metro area has an abundance of city parks and conservation lands with trails, golf courses, ball fields, lakes, skate parks, etc... . Perhaps you are unaware that Swope Park contains more than twice the acreage of NYC's Central Park?

Other parks in the immediate KC metro area include (but not limited to) :

Shawnee Mission Park-(1,250 acres)
Fleming Park (7,800 acres)
Hodge Park (1,000+ acres)
Theis Park (also known as Volker Park)
Loose Park
Penn Valley Park
Minor Park
Tower Park
Andrew Dripps Park
Budd Park
Sar-ko-par
Overland Park Community Park (177 acres)
Penguin Park
Antioch Park
Machen Park
English Landing Park
Mill Creek Park
Southmoreland Park
Thomas Stoll Memorial Park

Links to Conservation areas in KC metro area, Missouri side (search by County:
Conservation Atlas | Main Search | Atlas Database version 2.0

Johnson County Kansas Parks & Rec.
Johnson County Park & Recreation District: Parks & Facilities: Directory

Wyandotte County Kansas Parks
http://www2.wycokck.org/dotmaps/Docs/parks_rec.pdf

Kansas State Parks
Locations / State Parks / KDWP - KDWP

Please feel free to add any of the many I've likely missed!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-09-2010, 08:51 PM
 
Location: Indiana Uplands
26,429 posts, read 46,607,911 times
Reputation: 19574
Quote:
Originally Posted by lifelongMOgal View Post
Kansas City metro area has an abundance of city parks and conservation lands with trails, golf courses, ball fields, lakes, skate parks, etc... . Perhaps you are unaware that Swope Park contains more than twice the acreage of NYC's Central Park?

Other parks in the immediate KC metro area include (but not limited to) :

Shawnee Mission Park-(1,250 acres)
Fleming Park (7,800 acres)
Hodge Park (1,000+ acres)
Theis Park (also known as Volker Park)
Loose Park
Penn Valley Park
Minor Park
Tower Park
Andrew Dripps Park
Budd Park
Sar-ko-par
Overland Park Community Park (177 acres)
Penguin Park
Antioch Park
Machen Park
English Landing Park
Mill Creek Park
Southmoreland Park
Thomas Stoll Memorial Park

Links to Conservation areas in KC metro area, Missouri side (search by County:
Conservation Atlas | Main Search | Atlas Database version 2.0

Johnson County Kansas Parks & Rec.
Johnson County Park & Recreation District: Parks & Facilities: Directory

Wyandotte County Kansas Parks
http://www2.wycokck.org/dotmaps/Docs/parks_rec.pdf

Kansas State Parks
Locations / State Parks / KDWP - KDWP

Please feel free to add any of the many I've likely missed!
I will grant you Swope Park. It is quite large. MO tends to do better at setting aside lands for parks AND conservation. However, JOCO has a inadequate amount of parkland acerage based on population trends over time. The 1250 acres of land that is Shawnee Mission Park is not much at all. The county should have set aside at least double or triple that amount of acerage many decades ago. Now, the park is overcrowded compared to what it was developed for originally. The only parks inside 435 in JOCO are bike trails that run RIGHT ALONG the interstate or neighborhood pocket parks. Even the Arboretum (as nice as it is) does not encompass very much land.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-09-2010, 09:20 PM
 
Location: Middle America
37,409 posts, read 53,599,905 times
Reputation: 53073
Swope Park is awesome, but it's not all that usable, fitness-wise. Although we do get a lot of walking in at the zoo, and Lakeside Nature Center.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-10-2010, 08:27 AM
 
29,981 posts, read 42,949,243 times
Reputation: 12828
Quote:
Originally Posted by GraniteStater View Post
I will grant you Swope Park. It is quite large. MO tends to do better at setting aside lands for parks AND conservation. However, JOCO has a inadequate amount of parkland acerage based on population trends over time. The 1250 acres of land that is Shawnee Mission Park is not much at all. The county should have set aside at least double or triple that amount of acerage many decades ago. Now, the park is overcrowded compared to what it was developed for originally. The only parks inside 435 in JOCO are bike trails that run RIGHT ALONG the interstate or neighborhood pocket parks. Even the Arboretum (as nice as it is) does not encompass very much land.
Shawnee Mission Park is approx. 400 acres larger then NYC's Central Park. From your post one would think it is the only park in the Johnson County/Overland Park/Lenexa/Shawnee area. Far, far from it.

Stoll Park on 119th is just barely outside of the I-453 loop with ballparks and trails.

Heritage Park at 159th & Pflumm is less than 20 acres shy of the acreage covered by Shawnee Mission Park.

Links to maps of biking/hiking trails in Johnson Co. KS
NE JOCO http://www.jcprd.com/parks_facilities/pdf/trlgd-ne.pdf

NW JOCO http://www.jcprd.com/parks_facilities/pdf/trlgd-nw.pdf

SE JOCO http://www.jcprd.com/parks_facilities/pdf/trlgd-se.pdf

SW JOCO http://www.jcprd.com/parks_facilities/pdf/trlgd-sw.pdf


If one is ambitious for long distance rides they can tackle Missouri's Katy Trail. I have known people who regularly bike from KC to Lawrence and back. I don't believe the newer Kill Creek Rail is included in the info. I have posted. Leawood also has an abundance of trails and bike friendly areas "close in". It is not unusual to see large groups of cyclists along Ward Parkway and throughout Mission Hills/Prairie Village/Leawood residential areas either.

My point is that your previous statement about KC being ranked amongst the fattest cities due to a lack of adequate parks, conservation areas, and trails is just false. The facilites are there.

Last edited by lifelongMOgal; 05-10-2010 at 08:38 AM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-10-2010, 08:30 AM
 
Location: Prairie Village, KS
476 posts, read 1,316,721 times
Reputation: 125
We have terrific parks. Its just that you have to get in your car and drive to get to any of them.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Missouri > Kansas City

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 12:29 PM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top