Kansas City optimism

[cdm2p]

Does anyone else think that people in Kansas City lack optimism?
We are hyper-critical of our town. When people move here from other places, they are often asked why they would choose kansas city. What image does that project to newcomers and visitors?
IMO, lack of optimism and positive thinking is holding our city back. It's the kind of mindset that prevents us from building a modern transit system. It's the kind of mindset that frets about downtown development. People want cool mixed use development projects like those in other cities, except when those projects are proposed in their back yards.
In this new year, lets be optimistic about our town. We live in a great city with great neighborhoods and great amenities. Let's not be so negative and instead lets focus on celebrating all of the things that make Kansas City a great place to live.

[KCMax]

The older generation, yes.

The younger generation seems a lot more positive about downtown, even suburbanites.

[smh]

In this new year, lets be optimistic about our town. We live in a great city with great neighborhoods and great amenities. Let's not be so negative and instead lets focus on celebrating all of the things that make Kansas City a great place to live.

Hear, hear.

[chingon]

Ahhhh, fuck this town.

[grovester]

Ahhhh, fuck this town.

and everyone older than me

[kboish]

There is a significant portion of the population that is down and out on KC, but I'd wager most of those people are clueless to what actually exists here and has been built in the past10-15 years. Unfortunately lots of those people talk to the newbies. KC needs a better PR campaign for its local citizens. Less murders and a functioning school district are the only complaints most people have....But...There has been a significant shift in this city that is quite tangible and the national press seems to be catching on to that.

On the other hand, I also think there is a growing portion of the population who love this city and rep it well to outsiders. I would include Mayor James in that group (thankfully and importantly so), but mostly I would say it is a younger generation who are settling the city. I think once those people begin to have children grow up in this city it will begin to develop a new image of itself. The urban core is learning to grow up without crying about losing people to the suburbs.

I myself have finally learned to stop hedging my words about how great a city it is and apologizing for what it is not. Instead, i've recognized the beauty of what it is and is slowly becoming. KC has never failed to impress people who i have taken on tours of the city (low expectations probably help) and for those who visit me often, a few have even begun to truly love the city.

[KCMax]

For those of you that lived in other cities that are perhaps more positive, what do you attribute that to? I lived in the DC area for a few years and DC had a moribund reputation in the 80s. It was a drug cesspool filled with violence and a huge homeless problem. Its mayor was a laughingstock busted for cocaine and hookers.

By the time I moved there it had really begun to turnaround with major revitalization in many neighborhoods and it had become "cool" to live in the city again. The new mayor - Anthony Williams - boldly proclaimed his goal was to attract 100,000 new residents (I think he fell well short, but the mere fact he said that was his goal spoke volumes). Now I'd say the perception of many in the DC area is that the city is doing well. It still has major problems with crime, public education, drugs, violence, even infrastructure problems (they whine just like KC when there is a blizzard and snow isn't cleared immediately), but I thin people are generally optimistic about the city. Its also a much younger city now (and a heavily immigrant population), and I'm not sure the new population is aware of the former memes of DC as a drug town.

I'm interested in other examples. How do we breed a new positive attitude here?

[KCMax]

I myself have finally learned to stop hedging my words about how great a city it is and apologizing for what it is not. Instead, i've recognized the beauty of what it is and is slowly becoming. KC has never failed to impress people who i have taken on tours of the city (low expectations probably help) and for those who visit me often, a few have even begun to truly love the city.

I think some of this a Midwestern modesty/insecurity. If you boast too loudly about your city, you'll get haters, and we don't respond to criticism very well. Better to pre-empt the criticism by dissing the city yourself.

St. Louis OTOH seems to have a tremendous amount of civic pride, that I think stems from its days as a major player during the early 1900s.

[TheBigChuckbowski]

I myself have finally learned to stop hedging my words about how great a city it is and apologizing for what it is not. Instead, i've recognized the beauty of what it is and is slowly becoming. KC has never failed to impress people who i have taken on tours of the city (low expectations probably help) and for those who visit me often, a few have even begun to truly love the city.

I think some of this a Midwestern modesty/insecurity. If you boast too loudly about your city, you'll get haters, and we don't respond to criticism very well. Better to pre-empt the criticism by dissing the city yourself.

St. Louis OTOH seems to have a tremendous amount of civic pride, that I think stems from its days as a major player during the early 1900s.

I don't think that's it at all. I think we have a TON of suburbanites that have no clue what we have in Kansas City because they're too scared to leave Overland Park. When they go on vacation, though, they'll stay in the urban core in those cities and see all the value that comes from being in an urban core (or just see it on TV). But, they never see that value in KC because they never go to the urban core in KC so they think the whole metro sucks because Overland Park sucks and that's all they know.

The problem is that people actually think it's dangerous to be within 5 blocks of Troost.

[FangKC]

The attitude people in the Northland and Johnson County have about Kansas City being dangerous is laughable to me. I lived in Phoenix in the late 80s when people were being randomly shot on the freeways for gang initiations. I remember being in Harlem and Alphabet City in NYC when they were really scarey. I lived in the East Village in 1992, and one morning when I left my building for work, there was a dead guy sitting erect on a stoop of a building down the block. Kansas City doesn't hold a candle to some of these places for the fear factor.

Of course, NYC had a big turnaround in the mid-90s. Harlem and Alphabet City have been gentrified, and are different places. New York City is among the safest major cities in the world now.

When I first moved to Kansas City, my sister told me that if I moved east of Troost, she'd never come visit me. I do live east of Troost now, but my Northeast neighborhood is perfectly safe. Children play in yards and on the sidewalks. Old people walk for exercise. People sit on their porches at night. Budd Park is filled with people walking in the evening.

[cdm2p]

Not sure how helpful it is to get into city vs. suburb arguments. If we want to sell people on the virtues of urban living, we need to sell those virtues to people who already live here. If we can sell it to them, it will be easier to sell to those who are moving here for the first time.

[kboish]

I don't think it is a city vs suburb debate, but I see alot of the same kind of thing Chuck was talking about.

I know people in suburban KC who think brookside is dangerous b/c its in KC and DEFINITELY my neighborhood at 5th and troost (though they may have never been to either...isn't sad there are people in our metro who have never been to core areas of the city?...getting side tracked). Those people would never live her. But, then they live in San Diego and have homeless people and crack heads living in their alleys all over the place and don't think twice about it b/c its just sooo cool. Or live in NYC near some rough projects in Brooklyn, but just think its a cool experience, even telling me stories about there buddy getting jumped for wearing the wrong color hat and telling like its some kind of cool badge of a story...if it had happened in KC they'd be like, yep, thats KC for ya.

When its where you're from its scary and stupid to live there, but when the person moves to a new city that has a cool reputation then suddenly its ok for them. It baffles me.

[loftguy]

Each of you have made good points, but let's keep this thread on track.

KCMax, I think you come closest to answering the question. I have pondered this pronounced absence of optimism for many years and do believe that our midwestern agrarian heritage is relflected in the group think of Kansas City's contemporary urban citizenry.

Years of being subjected to the whims of weather, pests, disease, and uncontrolable market conditions have created a negative thought process that leaves one expecting disaster and failure, while questioning and damning inspired activity (insert: downtown ballpark, light rail, riverfront development, starting a business, living east of Troost..).

I further observe that a general lack of education, travel and broad life experience contributes to the continuation of cultural malaise.

It's a unique individual in Kansas City that runs counter to this "show me" attitude. And yes, this is different from other cities that are truly thriving and growing. We need to change this paradigm, either by conversion, or import.

[TheBigChuckbowski]

It's a unique individual in Kansas City that runs counter to this "show me" attitude. And yes, this is different from other cities that are truly thriving and growing. We need to change this paradigm, either by conversion, or import.

That last line made me think of what could be a good ad campaign for either Downtown, the urban core, or KC in general. Have transplants from other more brand name cities (NYC, Boston, LA, Chicago, SF, Portland, Miami, etc) tell why they moved to KC and/or why they've stayed in KC.

I would think that would draw in way more suburbanites than the crappy "it's like living on a college campus or whatever!" commercials that run now.

[Highlander]

Just spent the last two weeks in KC. You guys don't know how lucky you are. I left very optimistic. The Nutcracker was sold out, every storefront on the plaza was occupied, every restaurant packed, impossible to find a parking spot at CC the day we went, and a lot more good news coming out in the Star seemingly daily. There have been setbacks no doubt, sand granted, it was Christmas time, but I thought the city was looking pretty damn good.

[smh]

Just spent the last two weeks in KC. You guys don't know how lucky you are. I left very optimistic. The Nutcracker was sold out, every storefront on the plaza was occupied, every restaurant packed, impossible to find a parking spot at CC the day we went, and a lot more good news coming out in the Star seemingly daily. There have been setbacks no doubt, sand granted, it was Christmas time, but I thought the city was looking pretty damn good.

Woot, woot!

[loftguy]

It's a unique individual in Kansas City that runs counter to this "show me" attitude. And yes, this is different from other cities that are truly thriving and growing. We need to change this paradigm, either by conversion, or import.

That last line made me think of what could be a good ad campaign for either Downtown, the urban core, or KC in general. Have transplants from other more brand name cities (NYC, Boston, LA, Chicago, SF, Portland, Miami, etc) tell why they moved to KC and/or why they've stayed in KC.

I would think that would draw in way more suburbanites than the crappy "it's like living on a college campus or whatever!" commercials that run now.

THAT is a great idea, Chuck. Somebody put this in front of the CVA, the Downtown Council and the Chamber. Mayor Sly, too! The concept really does have merit.

The city has many transplants that are high on what is to be enjoyed here and would make credible and persuasive salespeople for KC. Two relocation specialists have mentioned to me in the past few weeks how pronounced the out of town relocation flow is at present.

And Highlander, you're right, things are good in KC by comparison to many. That's part of the point. There is a huge percentage of the population here thinks that the good you point out just indicates how far we're going to fall, and how foolish the entrepreneurs and boosters are.

[FangKC]

Each of you have made good points, but let's keep this thread on track.

I further observe that a general lack of education, travel and broad life experience contributes to the continuation of cultural malaise.

This is so true. Anyone who has done some traveling, or lived in other big cities, sees the merits of Kansas City, and knows the downsides are minimal.

On another sidenote, I also think it's funny when people here complain about things like property taxes. I have an uncle in New Jersey that thinks Missouri is a virtual paradise because he pays $7,300 a year in property taxes there on an average split-level ranch house worth about $335,000. The property taxes on a similarly-priced, but fancier and newer, house here in Briarcliff in KC would be $$4,795.

[Highlander]

Each of you have made good points, but let's keep this thread on track.

I further observe that a general lack of education, travel and broad life experience contributes to the continuation of cultural malaise.

This is so true. Anyone who has done some traveling, or lived in other big cities, sees the merits of Kansas City, and knows the downsides are minimal.

On another sidenote, I also think it's funny when people here complain about things like property taxes. I have an uncle in New Jersey that thinks Missouri is a virtual paradise because he pays $7,300 a year in property taxes there on an average split-level ranch house worth about $335,000. The property taxes on a similarly-priced, but fancier and newer, house here in Briarcliff in KC would be $$4,795.

In Texas, the state that all the people that want do away with state income tax wish to emulate, I paid around $10,000 year on a home valued just under $300,000. While I do not pay income tax, so many other things are much higher than in KC (and every day life is double the hassle).

[aknowledgeableperson]

I don't think that's it at all. I think we have a TON of suburbanites that have no clue what we have in Kansas City because they're too scared to leave Overland Park.
...
But, they never see that value in KC because they never go to the urban core in KC so they think the whole metro sucks because Overland Park sucks and that's all they know.

They are not too scared to leave OP but it is more of an attitude of why leave OP, and for them OP doesn't suck. Afterall they can live, work, and play there. Much like the reverse with your attitude to OP, why leave the KC city core.
There might be a very few people who think the whole metro area sucks but they probably exist not just in the burbs but also in the core (since this metro area is not NYC or Chicago or some other similiar city).
Anyway, personally I think KC and the metro area is great. I have lived here all of my life. Know people who have moved here and think it is also great. There are a wide variety of neighborhoods and cities to live in, cost of living not high, entertainment options to satisfy almost everyone, the highs of the local economy may not reach the heights of the national one but the lows generally do not approach the lows the national one will reach. And there are many other positives.
Does the metro area, and in particular KCMO, have problems? Sure, much like any other area or city in the country.