Eyesores & Architectural Blunders (ongoing thread)

[warwickland]

haha, don't get me started.  what began as a promising new-urban-esque town square has metamorphosed into a beige "lifestyle center."  RED, not surprisingly, is behind it, and it's the worst thing everrrrrr.   :x

well, maybe this leaves open the chance for something better that even what was originally planned...who knows.

[chrizow]

getting back on topic and away from raytown, here is an architectural and planning travesty. 

notice the thick forest, which has been completely moon-scaped infavor of giant roads and possibly the most bland homes ever.

[warwickland]

id be afraid to see where that sidewalk leads...especially considering it's jacksonville. but that doesnt matter, really.

[LenexatoKCMO]

I hadn't noticed the sidewalk - anyone else catch that it only goes down one fork through the subdivision and mysteriously ends in the middle of one guy's yard?  bizzare.  Is he the only one in the hood that walks? 

[Highlander]

getting back on topic and away from raytown, here is an architectural and planning travesty. 

notice the thick forest, which has been completely moon-scaped infavor of giant roads and possibly the most bland homes ever.

Truly awful.  The whole development looks more like a suburban storage facility than it does a subdivision.

[LenexatoKCMO]

I wonder if they have a covenant forbidding landscaping. 

[KC0KEK]

id be afraid to see where that sidewalk leads...especially considering it's jacksonville.

It probably ends in an alligator's belly, or at least the person walking on it does.

[trailerkid]

Don't want to be attacked?  Don't post crap like that.

I guess I didn't realize I was being "attacked" but whatever...I know you've always been sensitive to people's comments. Again, the point I was making was an illustration of no aesthetic value (e.g. Raytown) vs. rabid self-conscious and contrived aesthetic value (Western Shawnee). I'll take something with false stones and plastic ornamentation over drab 1950s utilitarianism anyday.

[aknowledgeableperson]

East KCMO between 435 and Blue Ridge is a mix of that bizarre urban/rural stuff that I always point out as being prevalent in KCK and some bungalow/ranch areas like along Eastwood Trafficway.  Same deal south of Raytown where, like KCK, it looks like it was a booming suburban area and then all of the sudden it just stopped.  So you have 30 year old built up subdivisions and farm land (mostly east of James A Reed).  It's odd.  This along with the crime issues that ruined Hickman Mills and Ruskine have tarnished Raytown's image.

Lived in this area (Bannister and James A Reed) for 14 years.  Much of the so-called farm land has old time owners not willing to sell.  So how do you develop vacant land when the owners refuse to sell?

[trailerkid]

Lived in this area (Bannister and James A Reed) for 14 years.  Much of the so-called farm land has old time owners not willing to sell.  So how do you develop vacant land when the owners refuse to sell?

Pieces of land with any semblance of ruralism or agricultural prowess in the KC region make Grid blush.

[GRID]

Lived in this area (Bannister and James A Reed) for 14 years.  Much of the so-called farm land has old time owners not willing to sell.  So how do you develop vacant land when the owners refuse to sell?

The northland, Lee's Summit, JoCo etc are all the same way, farmers eventually give in to either the development that is changing their quality of life or eventually take the money and run as the value of the land just gets too high to keep it agricultural.  Taxes is what typically pushes out the ones that don't want to sell.  I'm not saying we should run farmers out of growing areas, I'm just saying that's how areas develop.

That area simply quit growing in about 1985 and everything jumped over into Lee's Summit and Blue Springs or whatever.

The reasons why are very similar to what happened to the Bannister Mall, section 8 housing nearby, race issues and crime (or perceived crime).

[aknowledgeableperson]

That area simply quit growing in about 1985 and everything jumped over into Lee's Summit and Blue Springs or whatever.

The reasons why are very similar to what happened to the Bannister Mall, section 8 housing nearby, race issues and crime (or perceived crime).

The last housing development in the area was around 93rd and Raytown Road.  The was another in Raytown off 83rd Street and Raytown Road that was the old Camp Little Flower.

Almost bought one of the new ones along 93rd but did not like the long term prospects of the area so we moved over 19 years ago to a resale in the Red Bridge area instead.

[GRID]

^ good move, the area never did recover.

They are just now beginning to build homes in the area again, but clear over by Colbern and hwy 350, Lee's Summit schools, KCMO address.

[shinatoo]

Most of the hosing stock in Raytown is 50 plus years old and has held up well. It may not be really attractive area but its not unattractive either. The area around Wildwood lake is very nice as is Laural Heights.

If you want to know what Raytown is like but don't want to go there, just drive to 55th and Nall and imagine there aren't any curbs, that's Raytown. I almost said that their is definitely nothing in Raytown that looks like Tosspot's Snoutville but then I remembered something worse, I will post it when I get back in town.

[aknowledgeableperson]

^ good move, the area never did recover.

They are just now beginning to build homes in the area again, but clear over by Colbern and hwy 350, Lee's Summit schools, KCMO address.

Lee's Summit schools yes, Hickman Mills no.  Some of our friends remained in the area and had kids graduate from HMHS.  What a shame.  Although they got good grades they did suffer from the lack of opportunites that some other schools offered.

Those homes also are not on the lower end of the price scale.

Also have to tell you of a story my son heard about one of the kids who lived on our block.  He had a good family, three years older than my son.  Father worked for Bendix and had a church in Olathe.  Mother worked for a utility if memory serves me well.  He was a good athlete, college football scholarship, just retired from Candian League Football.  He described his background as coming from a poor family, living in the ghetto, and so on.  What a made up story, either that or things were a lot worse there than I remember.

[Tosspot]

[chrizow]

heh.  a giant Target with an Escalade in the foreground. 

classic Americana. 

the guy in the white shorts looks like it might be my friend's brother-in-law. 

[GRID]

Lee's Summit schools yes, Hickman Mills no.  Some of our friends remained in the area and had kids graduate from HMHS.  What a shame.  Although they got good grades they did suffer from the lack of opportunites that some other schools offered.

Those homes also are not on the lower end of the price scale.

Also have to tell you of a story my son heard about one of the kids who lived on our block.  He had a good family, three years older than my son.  Father worked for Bendix and had a church in Olathe.  Mother worked for a utility if memory serves me well.  He was a good athlete, college football scholarship, just retired from Candian League Football.  He described his background as coming from a poor family, living in the ghetto, and so on.  What a made up story, either that or things were a lot worse there than I remember.

Even the area that is in LS Schools is just barely showing signs of growth.  A few subdivisions near 350 & Colbern and a few near Truman Medical Center Lakwewood.

My grandmother lived in the Robandee/Loma Vista area of KCMO and she sold her home in the mid 90's for like 30k.  The same home would have gone for 110k in Prairie Village or 90k in Waldo.  It's a little better now, but not much.  I spent some time in the area, including working the night shift at the grocery store at 95th and Blue Ridge.  It was in fact "ghetto", that is why I have always called the Ruskin/Hickman Mills area KC's "suburban ghetto".

[aknowledgeableperson]

I hadn't noticed the sidewalk - anyone else catch that it only goes down one fork through the subdivision and mysteriously ends in the middle of one guy's yard?  bizzare.  Is he the only one in the hood that walks?   :lol:

The sidewalk that begins in the upper right corner does not in in the middle of one guy's yard.  You cross the street and the walk goes to the bottom right corner.  Much like what happens in many neighborhoods.

Of course, if you were in mine we do have one end at the edge of the property line.  The next lot is in another subdivision and the house on that lot was built before the city required sidewalks.  Go further east and a sidewalk appears and lasts for 3 to 4 houses then stops again.  Those houses were built when a sidewalk was required.

[aknowledgeableperson]

  I spent some time in the area, including working the night shift at the grocery store at 95th and Blue Ridge.  It was in fact "ghetto", that is why I have always called the Ruskin/Hickman Mills area KC's "suburban ghetto".

Was the grocery store the Hen House?  Or the later name?  Shopped at Hen house instead of the store in the Robandee SC.

We lived west of James A. Reed on a dead end off of Bannister.  We called ourselves the sore thumb since the houses on our block were unlike the others in the area until they started building new houses south of Bannister.  Even with them being newer our houses were better though.