KU kids slam downtown

trailerkid · Post by **trailerkid** » Sun Oct 19, 2003 12:36 am

I feel like a bit of a spy telling this...

In one of my classes at KU we got into a discussion of suburbs. One girl from Jo Co described KC as a doughnut with downtown being the hole. She went on to say "There's nothing there." The class seemed to be in agreement as everyone built upon her claims. She also went on to diss the bus system in KC saying how cool Chicago is for having light rail. I felt like I was going to explode. Downtown has the City Market, West Bottoms, 18th and Vine, great architecture, Crown Center, bars and restaurants, the Lyric, the Midland, the Folly, public transportation, and tons of other stuff I'm leaving out.

I am damn sick of this suburban ignorance...get out of Oak Park Mall and start being accountable for your surroundings instead of ignoring them. If downtown has nothing than Jo Co is non-existent.

The stupid teacher also talked about building a commuter rail between lawrence and KC which, ultimately, would make it easier to live in Lawrence and work in KC (let's hear it for more suburban sprawl in Lawrence!!)

QueSi2Opie · Post by **QueSi2Opie** » Sun Oct 19, 2003 8:11 am

trailerkid wrote:One girl from Jo Co described KC as a doughnut with downtown being the hole.

That's funny, actually

trailerkid wrote:She went on to say "There's nothing there." The class seemed to be in agreement as everyone built upon her claims. Downtown has the City Market, West Bottoms, 18th and Vine, great architecture, Crown Center, bars and restaurants, the Lyric, the Midland, the Folly, public transportation, and tons of other stuff I'm leaving out.

Unfortunately, most people are two kinds of people. They either identify downtown as being inside the loop and consider the City Market and Crown Center as being seperate from the actual Central Business District. Or, they consider the Plaza, Westport, Crown Center, The Loop, West Bottoms, 18th & Vine, Troost, Paseo, Prospect, The City of North KC, etc. all part of downtown...and givin' those places that same universal name. What can you expect when people go to see the St. Patrick's Day Parade on Grand in downtown and stare at boarded up and broken windows? Most people in the burbs (that actually work in the burbs) would only go to the downtown loop in the evenings or weekends when the only real activity is on Broadway.

Main, Walnut, Grand and so on (in the loop) are near lifeless at those times except during a convention or concert.

trailerkid wrote:I am damn sick of this suburban ignorance...get out of Oak Park Mall and start being accountable for your surroundings instead of ignoring them. If downtown has nothing than Jo Co is non-existent.

I believe the KC Star did their study on both sides of the State Line, and the most common thing people said when describing downtown KC was "DEAD".

It's not jus' suburbanites either, I've had friends/associates visit from Cincinatti, Dallas and Denver and they said the same (or something similar). That's why I've mapped out a new way to show out-of-towners the city, being careful of the times and places. It's embarrassing when U2 wants to film their Last Night On Earth video in KC because it has such a towering skyline with little to no people walkin' around the streets. Thankfully, that is quickly changing.

KCDevin · Post by **KCDevin** » Sun Oct 19, 2003 9:30 am

if i were there those kids would have gotten some real chewin out. Although since they are older theyd have more comebacks.
I hate it when kids slam KC, I can just explode. Several kids at my high school slam Missouri and I just about explode.
Last year in middle school a few kids were talking about how STL was better than KC, well, with their lack of knowledge, and my smarts and experience, they shut up

.
I just think anyone who bashes KC should be sent off to some deserted island, or should be sent off to LV so they can see a real trashole. (I hate LV cause of all its crime, gambling etc...)

mpls · Post by **mpls** » Sun Oct 19, 2003 12:38 pm

trailerkid wrote:I feel like a bit of a spy telling this...

In one of my classes at KU we got into a discussion of suburbs. One girl from Jo Co described KC as a doughnut with downtown being the hole. She went on to say "There's nothing there." The class seemed to be in agreement as everyone built upon her claims. She also went on to diss the bus system in KC saying how cool Chicago is for having light rail. I felt like I was going to explode. Downtown has the City Market, West Bottoms, 18th and Vine, great architecture, Crown Center, bars and restaurants, the Lyric, the Midland, the Folly, public transportation, and tons of other stuff I'm leaving out.

I am damn sick of this suburban ignorance...get out of Oak Park Mall and start being accountable for your surroundings instead of ignoring them. If downtown has nothing than Jo Co is non-existent.

The stupid teacher also talked about building a commuter rail between lawrence and KC which, ultimately, would make it easier to live in Lawrence and work in KC (let's hear it for more suburban sprawl in Lawrence!!)

what idiots. we have the same type of thing up here in minne. people don't venture into minneapolis but insist on saying there is nothing to see. fuck them, let mall of america be the downtown for their suburban asses.

Post by **mean** » Sun Oct 19, 2003 12:46 pm

She also went on to diss the bus system in KC saying how cool Chicago is for having light rail.

That's pretty funny, cause I didn't see any light rail when I was there.

ShowME · Post by **ShowME** » Sun Oct 19, 2003 1:31 pm

. One girl from Jo Co described KC as a doughnut with downtown being the hole.

Kansas reminds me of a hole as well and it's got nothing to with doughnuts.

Royals Fan · Post by **Royals Fan** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 8:27 am

That's the problem with Kansans, they are too close. There wouldn't even be a Johnson County KS if it wasn't for KCMO. Why would morons from some town in Kansas be talking trash about KCMO? I hate being next to a stupid ass state like Kansas, no wonder we (KCMO) have a complex.

KC_JAYHAWK · Post by **KC_JAYHAWK** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 9:58 am

Royals Fan wrote:That's the problem with Kansans, they are too close. There wouldn't even be a Johnson County KS if it wasn't for KCMO. Why would morons from some town in Kansas be talking trash about KCMO? I hate being next to a stupid ass state like Kansas, no wonder we (KCMO) have a complex.

That's the problem with you Royals Fan, you're too close....leave...please.

You know what I hate hearing.....stupid ass comments by Royals Fan

Post by **bahua** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 10:06 am

You must have one of them fancy "talkin' web browsers."

QueSi2Opie · Post by **QueSi2Opie** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 12:42 pm

KCDevin wrote:should be sent off to LV so they can see a real trashole. (I hate LV cause of all its crime, gambling etc...)

Besides Kansas City, my other favorite cities are New Orleans, Chicago and Las Vegas.

Royals Fan wrote:That's the problem with Kansans, they are too close. There wouldn't even be a Johnson County KS if it wasn't for KCMO. Why would morons from some town in Kansas be talking trash about KCMO? I hate being next to a stupid ass state like Kansas, no wonder we (KCMO) have a complex.

I'm afraid you have morons from Lee's Summit, Blue Springs, Parkville and Liberty that dis KCMO as well.

DanCa · Post by **DanCa** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 12:51 pm

I was in town all last week and spent a little time downtown. A couple things impressed me. First, I saw street cleaners sweeping up leaves on Quality Hill and trash being picked up and emptied downtown. I also saw a lot of people on the street in Quality Hill about 2 in the afternoon. And then there are all the loft projects. I have one friend who just purchased a loft that's under construction downtown and another who chose to move to an apartment on Quality Hill. People who I've never discussed the downtown issue with in my life actually had a positive attitude toward downtown and were quick to talk about everything going on - especially about all the lofts. But then on the other hand, when I told my mother (who lives in O.P.) that I was going downtown to visit someone she was shocked that someone lived there and told me to be careful because it was a dangerous place.

Another area I visited was 39th St. just west of KU Med/State Line Rd. This is such a cool neighborhood with a market, restaurants, Bigbucks Coffee, etc. and great houses being restored all over the place. The problem I noticed though was that streets, drains and sidewalks look like crap. Something really needs to be done to upgrade these neighborhoods - especially in neighborhoods that are turning around and becoming desireable.

tat2kc · Post by **tat2kc** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 5:55 pm

This JOCO goober reminds me of one of my coworkers, who lives south of 151st st. in Olathe. She was complaining about the commute to home, when traffic is bad. Takes her about 30 minutes to get home. We were chatting about things to do in town. She and her husband have season tickets to the symphony and the opera, and the theatre league (hubby is a doctor). Her favorite restaurant is the American, Lidias, and the City Tavern, followed by the plaza restaurants. They love the first friday gallery crawl, and they made it downtown for the 3rd friday shows. Her favorite place to shop is the Plaza. I started laughing at her and she said: "whats so funny?"

me: "well, you live in southern joco, but you do all your social and cultural things downtown."

her: "yea, so what?"

me: "So basically what you are saying is that you drive 30 minutes each way to my neighborhood to have fun, and just sleep in Joco."

her: "oh, shut up." and she leaves the office with my laughter following her.

Post by **mean** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 7:44 pm

Haha, nice shot, tat.

Post by **bahua** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 9:38 pm

30 minutes is pretty optimistic, unless she's driving like one of those cars with the little "JO" on the single license plate.

SonicBoi · Post by **SonicBoi** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 11:48 pm

Tat2kc, That is too funny.

GRID · Post by **GRID** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 11:53 pm

I have no problem admitting that I "sleep" in Blue Springs. Any city, even the cities with a huge vibrant Downtown still has 90% of it's population away from Downtown.

We need people like this that actually know about Lidea's or have theater season tix.

KC has too many of the clueless suburbanites that are afraid to come downtown and don't have a clue what's there.

scooterj · Post by **scooterj** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 5:02 pm

tat2kc wrote:This JOCO goober reminds me of one of my coworkers, who lives south of 151st st. in Olathe.

I overheard an amusing conversation this afternoon between a southern JoCo woman and a man who was trying to giver her directions someplace. She kept interrupting the man telling him that the directions couldn't possibly be right. The problem? He was telling her that she needed to get on I-435 and go north. "No, that's not possible, 435 runs east-west!" she demanded.

Other than her daily I-35 commute, apparently this woman spends all over her time in SoJoCo and had no idea there was a whole big world out there and that I-435 happens to make an 88-mile-long loop around part of it.

QueSi2Opie · Post by **QueSi2Opie** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 9:37 pm

scooterj wrote:Other than her daily I-35 commute, apparently this woman spends all over her time in SoJoCo and had no idea there was a whole big world out there and that I-435 happens to make an 88-mile-long loop around part of it.

True Story...

The other day I was delivering packages in the Ruskin Heights area, but havin' lunch at McDonald's on Bannister when a Lee's Summit woman and her out-of-town mother pulled up and asked me directions to the Plaza.

Told her to take Bannister to Highway 71, then take Highway 71 North to Swope Parkway, and take Swope Parkway West to the Plaza. Her response was, "But doesn't that go through a bad neighborhood? Can't we get there from I-435?"

Post by **mean** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 9:48 pm

You should have said, "Oh, sure! Take I-435 to Eastwood Trafficway. Take a left on Eastwood, then a right on Blue Parkway. You'll know you're close when you get to Prospect Avenue. Just hang a right, and it's about six blocks!"

QueSi2Opie · Post by **QueSi2Opie** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 9:54 pm

mean wrote:You should have said, "Oh, sure! Take I-435 to Eastwood Trafficway. Take a left on Eastwood, then a right on Blue Parkway. You'll know you're close when you get to Prospect Avenue. Just hang a right, and it's about six blocks!"

ROTLF!!!

I actually jus' told her that the area along Highway 71 and Swope Parkway wasn't dangerous at all, and it would take too long goin' on I-435.

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