KU kids slam downtown

eliphar17 · Post by **eliphar17** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 10:44 pm

I admit, even though I live in JoCo, that I find all those stories really funny. What ticks me off is when Missouri people assume that everyone from Johnson County is like that. I could maybe understand their indignation if there existed any Kansans who ripped on the Missouri suburbs. But it only seems to be a one-way stereotype.

Post by **mean** » Wed Oct 22, 2003 12:06 am

It goes both ways. It seems that a good number of suburban people on BOTH sides of the state line are ignorant of the coolness that is Kansas City, but KCMOers seem to pick on JoCoers for it more than people from MO burbs. I think this is partly because it is easy for MO to feel resentment toward KS/JoCo for the decline of KC. But this resentment is misplaced. KCMO should blame itself for not competing effectively, and instead of playing the blame game, learn to compete effectively without going broke.

Post by **bahua** » Wed Oct 22, 2003 6:26 am

Yeah, it's the god-damned jews and italians we should blame for our troubles!

...er no.

The divisive thinking exists there, simply because of ignorance. If you grew up in Shawnee or Blue Springs, you aren't likely to know much about how nice KC is, especially if you don't work or play there.

tat2kc · Post by **tat2kc** » Wed Oct 22, 2003 7:43 am

I usually try to post some notices about downtown activities in the teacher's lounge each month. My coworkers, for the most part, think its really cool that I have a loft in the crossroads arts district. Funny thing is, before last year, most of them had not heard of the crossroads, or did not know where it was. Now at least, they are beginning to understand that the idea that downtown is "dead" is totally inaccurate. From my perspective, I tell them that my biggest issue is trying to find which of the many activities in a given weekend to participate in.

The attitudes are slowly changing, but I can tell a positve difference in the 16 months I have lived down here.

Royals Fan · Post by **Royals Fan** » Wed Oct 22, 2003 7:52 am

Yeah, it's the god-damned jews and italians we should blame for our troubles

We all know who we should be blaming, it's clear to me.

Royals Fan · Post by **Royals Fan** » Wed Oct 22, 2003 7:57 am

The divisive thinking exists there, simply because of ignorance. If you grew up in Shawnee or Blue Springs, you aren't likely to know much about how nice KC is, especially if you don't work or play there.

I don't agree, I have lived in the Northeast area all of my life and my experience is that people from the Missouri side are far more knowledgeable about downtown than people from J Cty Kansas. The majority of people in J Cty KS came from somewhere else and are clueless about downtown. I have many friends and aquantances from Independence, Lee's Summit & Blue Springs that are downtown freindly and are far more aware of KC neighborhoods than J Cty dorks.

phxcat · Post by **phxcat** » Wed Oct 22, 2003 8:03 am

The majority of people in J Cty KS came from somewhere else and are clueless about downtown.

Well, maybe that explains it, and that is not a reason to blame JoCo. I imagine that people from JoCo who grew up in KC know as much about the city as natural born Northlanders, BS, or LS people. Who can blame newcomers for ignorance about the city? And don;t blame JoCo for successfully growing the city.

J Cty dorks

What a worthless, pointless comment. Will you just shut up?

DanCa · Post by **DanCa** » Wed Oct 22, 2003 10:05 am

Hey Phxcat... I flew through Phoenix to and from KC last week and hadn't been there in 12 years. Anyway, what I noticed was that the city has an incredibly boring and small skyline for a city of its size. It also looked like all the buildings were built in the '70s. The stadium looked like the only newer thing there. I also noticed that they don't seem to have many freeways there either. Isn't it hard to get across parts of Phoenix taking surface streets?

One thing I liked was the great view you get of downtown flying into Sky Harbor. For a second there it was scary flying so close to the high rises, but at least we got a view. Unlike KCI where you're lucky to see a farm and a few cows on your approch.

QueSi2Opie · Post by **QueSi2Opie** » Wed Oct 22, 2003 12:19 pm

Royals Fan wrote:I don't agree, I have lived in the Northeast area all of my life and my experience is that people from the Missouri side are far more knowledgeable about downtown than people from J Cty Kansas. The majority of people in J Cty KS came from somewhere else and are clueless about downtown. I have many friends and aquantances from Independence, Lee's Summit & Blue Springs that are downtown freindly and are far more aware of KC neighborhoods than J Cty dorks.

JOCO makes up half the Friends of the Zoo, in addition to everyone here seein' JOCO plates at City Market, Westport, the Plaza, Crown Center, Nelson-Atkins, the Convention Center, the Ballets, Operas, and Orchestras, and even the Crossroads on First Fridays. From what I see, these people spend money and time in Missouri. Just because they live in the Kansas suburbs and don't spend all their shopping & dining money in Missouri makes them all lack knowledge about KCMO?

Once the Northland and Eastern Jackson county start developing more retail and restaurant options, those people will spend less time in the core areas and more time in the suburbs, therefore becoming less knowledgable about what's new and exciting in the city itself. Plus you did make one good point, many people in JOCO are from other cities and states. KC needs to do a better job of promoting itself to it's own geographical region.

phxcat · Post by **phxcat** » Wed Oct 22, 2003 6:58 pm

Hey Phxcat... I flew through Phoenix to and from KC last week and hadn't been there in 12 years. Anyway, what I noticed was that the city has an incredibly boring and small skyline for a city of its size. It also looked like all the buildings were built in the '70s. The stadium looked like the only newer thing there. I also noticed that they don't seem to have many freeways there either. Isn't it hard to get across parts of Phoenix taking surface streets?

One thing I liked was the great view you get of downtown flying into Sky Harbor. For a second there it was scary flying so close to the high rises, but at least we got a view. Unlike KCI where you're lucky to see a farm and a few cows on your approch.

Your right. The downtown sucks- if people think downtown KCis dead, you ought to see Phoenix- and that is with the Suns, D-Backs, and Coyotes. There are about seven freeways in the city. And, with the exception of hte line of buildings along Central (north of downtown) that's all there is! No Plaza, no West Bottoms, nothing! I showed someone here pictures of KC and he thought it was New York! It is not as hard to get around as you would think, because the city hasan almost perfect grid- and the major streets every mile are oftne six lanes wide- seven with the left turn lane. I don't hink people here have an urban mentality. Most are westerners and they would just as soon keep sprawling as have a great city. Surprise is about forty minutes from downtown- and they are geting ready to go right past surprise, on the other side of the White Tank Mountains and build a few hundred thousand new homes. It is insane!

I don't know if you've noticed yet, but you've hit on a nerve! IUt is a nice view of downtown from the airport, though- but I guess that is part of what has kept the heights down.

DanCa · Post by **DanCa** » Thu Oct 23, 2003 9:55 am

I noticed that area of other high rises north of downtown. It almost looks like two downtowns from the air. And I didn't notice highrises anywhere else. But I remember an episode of "This Old House" in Phoenix where they were working on a nice old Spanish home in an older neighborhood, so there must be some cool neighborhoods in the older part of the city.

The thing I don't like about a lot of western cities that are located in huge valleys like Phoenix, Vegas or Denver is that they're so incredibly flat. Even a lot of Orange County is flat along the coastal plain where I live. Growing up in KC, I don't think I realized just how hilly it is until I moved away.

FangKC · Post by **FangKC** » Fri Oct 24, 2003 12:01 pm

I lived in Phoenix for 7 years before moving to New York. That older neighborhood you refer to is the Encanto District, and it is cool and very trendy. It's filled with a lot of wonderful old Spanish-style homes and craftsman bungalows.

I worked in downtown Phoenix and I can say that Kansas City has a much more charming downtown. Arizona Center was an attempt to create a Plaza-like area in downtown Phoenix, but it was just like plopping a suburban mall in downtown.

There are Plaza/Westport-like areas in Phoenix: Biltmore and Scottsdale Fashion parks, but they lack the charm of our Plaza and Westport areas. The trendy area in Phoenix actually exists in downtown Tempe, which is near ASU's campus.

Phoenix didn't begin building freeways until the late 80s--after the sprawl. City leaders had the idea that if they didn't build freeways, that Phoenix wouldn't turn into another Los Angeles. Eventually, after the city continued to sprawl, they started building freeways. Phoenix--by the way--has one of the lowest population densities--in its center city--of American cities.

Few cities grew as fast as Phoenix did. Before 1945, the population was around 50,000. In 58 years, it has grown to around 3 million. I think it's the sixth or seventh largest American city now. When I moved there in 1985, there were about 5,000 people moving there each month.

One of the negative attributes about Phoenix is that it is so bland in its environment. Many parts of the city could be anywhere in America. It is a city of strip malls and fast-food type architecture.

I still have friends in Phoenix and they have said that there are new lofts being constructed near downtown. New because they're weren't many older buildings to convert to lofts, so they just created new lofts.

I agree about Kansas City being so hilly. It is one of the city's charms. Kansas City shares that with Pittsburgh, Seattle, and San Francisco.

There are a few "hilly" areas of the Phoenix area though. Paradise Valley is certainly that. One of the things Phoenix has going for it though are the mountains that surround it. They are beautiful--along they tend to hold the smog over the city--and that smog problem is one of the problems Phoenix faces that KC doesn't.

FangKC · Post by **FangKC** » Fri Oct 24, 2003 12:19 pm

DanCa wrote: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

I agree. The 39th/State Line neighborhood is cool. I was walking around that neighborhood just last week and thinking it would be a cool place to buy an older house to restore.