Perceptions of Raytown???

[Raytown Phoenix]

So, what are your perceptions of my city? Be honest.

[chrizow]

i grew up in raytown, living there full-time between 1981 and 1999, and part time from 1999-2006 while i was in college/law school. i had absolutely no idea that raytown was perceived differently than lee's summit, lenexa, or the northland until i went to college. then, i realized that raytown is perceived as (a) "redneck," (b) "ghetto," or (c) both.

my own perception is that it's a pretty average, blue-collar suburb. the racial demographics are shifting, but it's the same sort of thing - people moving out of the city to the next suburb out for a better life. it remains an average, blue-collar suburb. other than that, i dont really think about it too much other than it's still where my parents live. it is basically indistinguishable, for me, from other blue-collar suburban areas like parts of independence, northland, lee's summit, shawnee, etc.

[flyingember]

I couldn't tell Raytown apart from Independence or east KC if it wasn't for the city limit signs.

[slimwhitman]

I grew up in JoCo, so Raytown or Independence were always the punching bag for WT jokes. I had no reason to actually visit the place, so I didn’t know any better. That was in the ‘80s. I am more enlightened now, having worked on a few planning projects in the city over 20 years. I see it as a struggling blue collar city desperately seeking an identity. The downtown is too weak (now) to provide that identity, unlike a decent oldtown OP , Indy, L.S. or Shawnee. It just sorta floats out there as a place without a heart or icon to set it apart. Almost everyone from my generation that I now know that grew up there or bought a starter house there have moved further out on the piece of pie (Lee’s Summit or Blue Springs). Schools are fine, but missing a reputation as a “good school”, so they “move to better schools”. I cannot think of one single reason I would have to visit there.

Correct or not....my honest take of the place.

[mean]

Growing up, Raytown always seemed like Independence's slightly more dilapidated cousin. Today, I don't have much of an opinion of the place, although I used to visit Raytown for Fiesta Azteca. That was probably the best thing Raytown had going for it, as far as I could tell.

[chaglang]

Honestly it's always been kind of a nowhere place. I'm still not completely sure where it is (tho in fairness, I can say the same about Lenexa). Growing up, I think Cool Crest was out there, and it seemed to be on the way to the stadiums. Later on it was where the driving test place was located. I think there is a nursery out there that sells about 500 different kinds of hostas. But that's about it. If you told me that none of those places are in Raytown I wouldn't be surprised at all.

[aknowledgeableperson]

Although my wife grew up in KCMO her home was east of Swope Park. Guess because kids there went to Raytown schools and many went to Raytown shops that area identified more with Raytown than KCMO. The older part of Raytown always seemed to have a blue collar feel but the eastern part, by Woodson, seemed to be more professional. No matter what, though, you didn't want to mess with Raytown cops. They were like Independence and Grandview but not as bad as KCK.

[Highlander]

Growing up, Raytown always seemed like Independence's slightly more dilapidated cousin. Today, I don't have much of an opinion of the place, although I used to visit Raytown for Fiesta Azteca. That was probably the best thing Raytown had going for it, as far as I could tell.

I always thought it was pretty much the other way around.....Independence was the dilapidated one. But that was when I was in HS before the eastern Jackson County suburban scene took off.

[Highlander]

Honestly it's always been kind of a nowhere place. I'm still not completely sure where it is (tho in fairness, I can say the same about Lenexa). Growing up, I think Cool Crest was out there, and it seemed to be on the way to the stadiums. Later on it was where the driving test place was located. I think there is a nursery out there that sells about 500 different kinds of hostas. But that's about it. If you told me that none of those places are in Raytown I wouldn't be surprised at all.

Coolcrest=Independence. It's on US 40. Raytown's northern boundary was much further to the south.

[chaglang]

Honestly it's always been kind of a nowhere place. I'm still not completely sure where it is (tho in fairness, I can say the same about Lenexa). Growing up, I think Cool Crest was out there, and it seemed to be on the way to the stadiums. Later on it was where the driving test place was located. I think there is a nursery out there that sells about 500 different kinds of hostas. But that's about it. If you told me that none of those places are in Raytown I wouldn't be surprised at all.

Coolcrest=Independence. It's on US 40. Raytown's northern boundary was much further to the south.

Way to ruin my childhood memories.

[shinatoo]

We went to Cool Crest a couple of weeks ago, not busy but still very nice.

Drove through Raytown by my childhood home on 85th and my first house on 69th. Both neighborhoods have declined but the 69th street area was as bad as you imagine east KC, or western Independence (What we called Methdependence). Really sad, for all the "perceived" negative versions of Raytown, it never lived up to its billing, but it seams the great recession has done it in. I think commuter rail my be it's last hope. It may be to late.

[chrizow]

Drove through Raytown by my childhood home on 85th

85th and what? i grew up on 85th between harris and sterling, just south of RSHS. i would say the immediate neighborhood has declined 5% in terms of appearance and upkeep since 1999. i will say that my first inkling that raytown may not quite be like everywhere else was when, during my junior or senior year of high school, a house at the corner of sterling 30 feet from the RSHS parking lot exploded due to a meth lab and a guy died. a cop lived next door and (apparently) never realized what he was living next to. the meth-cooker reportedly ran out of his house, on fire or badly burned, and collapsed on the cop's front steps.

as far as the "delapidation" of indy vs raytown, i think the worst of independence appears way worse than the worst of raytown, but in this battle we all lose. i delivered mail all over independence as a summer job in college, and there were some extremely distressed areas in independence. maybe if i had the same kind of "boots on the ground" experience in the poorer parts of raytown it would be similar.

[shinatoo]

Drove through Raytown by my childhood home on 85th

85th and what? i grew up on 85th between harris and sterling, just south of RSHS. i would say the immediate neighborhood has declined 5% in terms of appearance and upkeep since 1999. i will say that my first inkling that raytown may not quite be like everywhere else was when, during my junior or senior year of high school, a house at the corner of sterling 30 feet from the RSHS parking lot exploded due to a meth lab and a guy died. a cop lived next door and (apparently) never realized what he was living next to. the meth-cooker reportedly ran out of his house, on fire or badly burned, and collapsed on the cop's front steps.

As far as the "delapidation" of indy vs raytown, i think the worst of independence appears way worse than the worst of raytown, but in this battle we all lose. i delivered mail all over independence as a summer job in college, and there were some extremely distressed areas in independence. maybe if i had the same kind of "boots on the ground" experience in the poorer parts of raytown it would be similar.

85th Terr between Harvard and Sterling, all the way in the back of your neighborhood. House backed up to the woods. I remember very distinctly when that house blew up. I graduated in 89 so I'm a bit older than you, but the change in the loop where I grew up has been noticeable. Mainly because of turnover. I don't think anyone moved in or out of my street from 71 to 95.

The dramatic change has really been in the Laurel Heights Neighborhood and across Raytown Road. My first house was at 69th and Raytown Road on the east side or Raytown Road, one of those little all brick ones. Drove back into that neighborhood, which used to be pretty nice, older residents, and now there are probably 5 homes that are totally boarded up, 5 empty lots and multiple houses that look like no one takes care of the exterior at all.

I used to deliver hospice medication as a summer job and got to visit all the worst neighborhoods in KC, Western Independence, East KC, eastern Dot, Ruskin. Same housing stock as Raytown in most of those areas but Raytown was always different. People took some pride in there homes and tried to maintain their investments, now it just looks like every other run down place. Southwood Manor is still a strong neighborhood though.

Oddly, the little neighborhood east of our old neighborhood, Pershing and Grant, has actually improved the last decade. Many of those houses, built in the 1915-1925 time frame, had finally fallen in and have started to be replaced by nicer homes. Or just gotten rid of.

[shinatoo]

Drove through Raytown by my childhood home on 85th

85th and what? i grew up on 85th between harris and sterling, just south of RSHS. i would say the immediate neighborhood has declined 5% in terms of appearance and upkeep since 1999. i will say that my first inkling that raytown may not quite be like everywhere else was when, during my junior or senior year of high school, a house at the corner of sterling 30 feet from the RSHS parking lot exploded due to a meth lab and a guy died. a cop lived next door and (apparently) never realized what he was living next to. the meth-cooker reportedly ran out of his house, on fire or badly burned, and collapsed on the cop's front steps.

As far as the "delapidation" of indy vs raytown, i think the worst of independence appears way worse than the worst of raytown, but in this battle we all lose. i delivered mail all over independence as a summer job in college, and there were some extremely distressed areas in independence. maybe if i had the same kind of "boots on the ground" experience in the poorer parts of raytown it would be similar.

85th Terr between Harvard and Sterling, all the way in the back of your neighborhood. House backed up to the woods. I remember very distinctly when that house blew up. I graduated in 89 so I'm a bit older than you, but the change in the loop where I grew up has been noticeable. Mainly because of turnover. I don't think anyone moved in or out of my street from 71 to 95.

The dramatic change has really been in the Laurel Heights Neighborhood and across Raytown Road. My first house was at 69th and Raytown Road on the east side or Raytown Road, one of those little all brick ones. Drove back into that neighborhood, which used to be pretty nice, older residents, and now there are probably 5 homes that are totally boarded up, 5 empty lots and multiple houses that look like no one takes care of the exterior at all.

I used to deliver hospice medication as a summer job and got to visit all the worst neighborhoods in KC, Western Independence, East KC, eastern Dot, Ruskin. Same housing stock as Raytown in most of those areas but Raytown was always different. People took some pride in there homes and tried to maintain their investments, now it just looks like every other run down place. Southwood Manor is still a strong neighborhood though.

Oddly, the little neighborhood east of our old neighborhood, Pershing and Grant, has actually improved the last decade. Many of those houses, built in the 1915-1925 time frame, had finally fallen in and have started to be replaced by nicer homes. Or just gotten rid of.

[longviewmo]

When I was born, my parents had a house a couple blocks east of the area you're talking about. We moved away a few years later. I remember that explosion too because I distinctly remember being out of town. It's noticeably going downhill (I don't know of anywhere else that always has a cop car out in front of their Walmart), but I'd say there's still some bright spots.

[mean]

Growing up, Raytown always seemed like Independence's slightly more dilapidated cousin. Today, I don't have much of an opinion of the place, although I used to visit Raytown for Fiesta Azteca. That was probably the best thing Raytown had going for it, as far as I could tell.

I always thought it was pretty much the other way around.....Independence was the dilapidated one. But that was when I was in HS before the eastern Jackson County suburban scene took off.

That was probably pretty accurate before my time. By the time I was a teenager, the square and the surrounding area had begun being revived and many of the houses, which had often been converted to cheapo apartments, were being renovated back to nice single family units. The area around Independence Center also got developed (and has since seen even more development). Areas all along 23rd Street and 24 Highway were thriving, too.

Today, a lot of what appeared to be doing well when I was younger is full of abandoned buildings and vacant lots, though. I don't spend enough time in Independence anymore to judge, but it's pretty depressing to drive down 23rd street, south down Noland from 23rd, etc. Does not seem to have aged well. I've no idea how Raytown might compare today.

[chrizow]

I normally would decry suburban strip mall development, but i have been actually pleased to see new strip malls built in Raytown in the past few years, gaining decent-enough tenants like Chipotle and Jimmy John's along 350 Hwy. Downtown Raytown seems stagnant - basically unchanged since the 90s.

After the Wal-mart and Hy-Vee moved out of the strip mall at Blue Ridge/350, I figured that strip would just be a horrendous blight forever. To my surprise, the center is occupied again, with a Sutherlands and an indoor go-kart track or something. Not exactly marquee tenants, but it's good to see the place filled.

One bright spot in Raytown is Benetti's coffee house. They roast their own beans and the coffee is good. Worth a try if you're in the area.

I have no idea how "north" Raytown is faring now compared to the past. I am mostly familiar with the 350 corridor and area around RSHS.

[GRID]

Still spend a lot of time in Raytown, probably more time per year then most on this forum because I have a a lot of family there.

Never understood why the city gets pissed on so much. Just a blue collar inner ring suburb and a lot of down to earth good people and modest, yet generally well maintained housing stock. The worst parts of Raytown have always never even been in Raytown. Portions of KCMO that touch Raytown are some of the most ignored and run down parts of the city of KCMO, but most people label those areas as Raytown and SKC and the rise and fall of the Bannister Mall and the Hickman Mills/Ruskin areas have only made this image of Raytown worse.

Considering that Raytown is generally surrounded by total crap on all sides, I find it quite incredible that the city has been able to maintain a decent population base, low crime and some nice neighborhoods.

The 350 corridor has been really cleaned up with new strip malls etc. Raytown has always reminded me of northern JoCo west of Nall and east of 35.

While the image of Raytown has always been somewhat annoying, The metro image of Independence continues to piss me off. Independence is a large city with a lot of very diverse areas, yet for some reason the entire city is labeled based on some of its most run down areas. I personally think Independence has also done well with what it has to work with. The city has maintained a thriving retail area even though they don't have the demographics and income to support it and Blue Springs and Lees Summit have built millions of sq ft of subsided greenfield retail space closer to more affluent residents. Independence has also put more effort than average into its aging areas and taking on the KCMO schools was something the city should be applauded for. Historic downtown and some of metro KC best tourist attractions too.

But like all of metro KC, Independence downfall is it still has too much blight and like most area cities it has too much incorporated land.

[shinatoo]

I normally would decry suburban strip mall development, but i have been actually pleased to see new strip malls built in Raytown in the past few years, gaining decent-enough tenants like Chipotle and Jimmy John's along 350 Hwy. Downtown Raytown seems stagnant - basically unchanged since the 90s.

That Chipotle has armed security guard inside the restaurant. No even a off duty cop, just some dude with a sidearm. Nuff said.

Grid, for a long time I was one of Raytown's biggest defenders. I think you are off base about a) Raytowns current conditions (crime is way up, property values are back at 1993 levels, schools are dropping in rankings every year); and, b) what Raytown is surrounded by. It's crap on the south and east sides but the North and West are still very nice neighborhoods, probably one of Raytown's saving grace.

[longviewmo]

I normally would decry suburban strip mall development, but i have been actually pleased to see new strip malls built in Raytown in the past few years, gaining decent-enough tenants like Chipotle and Jimmy John's along 350 Hwy. Downtown Raytown seems stagnant - basically unchanged since the 90s.

That Chipotle has armed security guard inside the restaurant. No even a off duty cop, just some dude with a sidearm. Nuff said.

Grid, for a long time I was one of Raytown's biggest defenders. I think you are off base about a) Raytowns current conditions (crime is way up, property values are back at 1993 levels, schools are dropping in rankings every year); and, b) what Raytown is surrounded by. It's crap on the south and east sides but the North and West are still very nice neighborhoods, probably one of Raytown's saving grace.

Yeah, the house my parents built in '88 sold in '09 for less than it cost to build in '88.