Moving to KC soon...

Post by **staubio** » Tue Apr 06, 2004 4:14 pm

KC wrote:I'm a huge downtown guy and I wouldn't raise a kid where I live now....first off no other kids, 2nd no yard (which I love), just a couple reasons.....downtown is an awesome place to live but I don't think it's the right place for kids to live. Just my opinion though.

Maybe I don't get it, or maybe I'm not warm-blooded American enough, but why does everyone need a yard? Someday I want to write a dissertation about the lost concept of sharing. What about parks? Why do we need house after house dotting the landscape, each with half an acre, when we can have neighborhood parks that automatically foster neighborhood interaction. There should be people in parks! Kids should be able to walk to the park and have playmates there -- a true world of their own.

Where I grew up, the lawn was for mowing and the park was for playing. I live in an apartment now and play frisbee, football, bocce, etc. I go to the park. I don't need my own space for these activities. The City Market sells me fresh veggies. I'm a happy camper with all of the benefits of the lawn.

So, why do I always hear people bemoan density because they want a lawn -- and then they so infrequently use it and simultaneously leave park deserted?

KCPowercat · Post by **KCPowercat** » Tue Apr 06, 2004 4:20 pm

I personally don't want a yard......that's why I live where I do. I'm just saying most people want some space when they have kids.....mostly because they are scared to death to send their kids to a park anymore....which is sad.

MidtownGrrl · Post by **MidtownGrrl** » Tue Apr 06, 2004 4:33 pm

but why does everyone need a yard

I have to say, I LOVE my yard, back and front. Gardening is definitely a hobby of mine. In decent weather, we spend many nights out on the patio, letting the animals play in the backyard. And while I love public spaces, it's also nice to have a private outdoor space, even if it's just my 20' by 40' patch of brick and green.

Usually, once a week, some passerby or neighbor will tell me they enjoy my yard. We live on a corner, so they have to walk past our house and garden for 1/2 a block. But I really want to get rid of as much of the grass as possible, and go with flowers and native plants.

Post by **staubio** » Tue Apr 06, 2004 4:34 pm

KC wrote:I personally don't want a yard......that's why I live where I do. I'm just saying most people want some space when they have kids.....mostly because they are scared to death to send their kids to a park anymore....which is sad.

My bad, you said you love not having a yard, not that you love yards. I interpreted the statement differently. I agree with what you say, though, about fear, but I wouldn't think unattended children in the lawn are that much safer. It is very sad. It does my hard good to see parks thrive, but mostly I only see it in "big kid" parks like Mill Creek or Barney Allis.

carfreekc · Post by **carfreekc** » Tue Apr 06, 2004 7:52 pm

Brookside is a good place for walking to basics. It has two grocery stores, a drugstore, and some shops and restaurants, plus a walking trail you can take to other places. The trail used to be the streetcar route, so it's more of a streetcar suburban area. It can get a little precious at times; a few years ago some residents were whining about an Amoco gas station closing and the prospect of a Starbucks taking its place. (There's another gas station in the area. There are no coffee shops open late in that immediate area, however.)

A coworker of mine sends his kids to KCMO public schools (Lincoln Prep for h.s.) and has said they've been pleased with the experience.

Post by **bahua** » Tue Apr 06, 2004 8:07 pm

I wasn't trying to point at suburban areas as necessarily bad. Brookside is suburban, but it isn't sprawled. Sprawl is where I take issue. The area is just a bit too sperad out to be considered urban, and the fact that it's primarily single-family homes didn't even occur to me. That isn't an urban/suburban barometer, in my opinion.

My point is that if you'd prefer to walk, to get basic services, it's very easy in Brookside, if you can manage a house close to 63rd and Brookside. I say scout the area out, to get an idea. Waldo(75th & Wornall) might also appeal to you, Aric.

KCforumer · Post by **KCforumer** » Tue Apr 06, 2004 9:00 pm

Here is an excellent photo tour of the Brookside neighborhood's business district as well as the variety of houses:
http://www.cyburbia.org/forums/showthre ... =Brookside

Brookside is a semi-urban neighborhood. Although, it isn't an ideal semi-urban neighborhood, but it is nice.

cdschofield · Post by **cdschofield** » Tue Apr 06, 2004 11:56 pm

Here's my take on Brookside. The vast majority are 30's - 40's married professionals planning to have kids or already have them. Although 2 of my neighbors are gay, 1 single and the other a couple.

It seems like everyone walks here for pleasure, in fact I have to be more watchful for walkers instead of cars when backing out of my driveway. Kids run pretty much free through the neighborhood and down to the park. In fact, I let my kids ride their bikes to the Baskin Robbins on 63rd if they go with a couple of other friends. This time of year in the evenings Trolley Track Trail is crowded with walkers, joggers and bikers. As far as walking to get basics, I've walked to Brookside to go to the post office, restaurant, bar, drug store, Fabulous Foos or coffee house but for groceries I usually drive since trying to walk with groceries for a family of 4 is not easy. The nice thing about Brookside is that even if you drive, you can park and walk to everything.

School wise it seems like almost everyone in Brookside sends their kids to catholic schools whether they are catholic or not. PreK - 8 is St. Elizabeth's, St. Peter's, Visitation. High school is St. Teresa's or Notre Dame de Sion for girls and Rockhurst for boys. Bishop Meige is the coed catholic high school. The charter schools in the area are Academie Lafayette (K - 8 French immersion), Brookside Charter School (K - 6 formerly Brookside Day School), Southwest Charter School (6 - 11 will soon be through 12), University Academy (6 - 11 Helzberg is financing a new state of the art campus for the school on Holmes and will then expand the grade levels). The public elementary schools in the area are Border Star Montessori ( K - 6), Bryant (K -6), Cook(K -6 actually a good school but nobody ever talks about it). The only decent public middle and high schools in the city are Lincoln College Prep Middle & High and Paseo Academy of Fine and Performing Arts. There are some that go to Pembroke Hill School (PreK - 12 THE private school in Kansas City).

I used to live in Hyde Park and I liked it but it just seems Brookside has a better infrastructure for everyday living.

carfreekc · Post by **carfreekc** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 12:03 am

cdschofield wrote:I used to live in Hyde Park and I liked it but it just seems Brookside has a better infrastructure for everyday living.

It seems like Hyde Park is more 'urban' in the sense of the people who live there, but it doesn't have much to walk to for services, does it? I get fuzzy on Hyde Park boundaries (esp. 'old' HP vs regular HP), so I could very well be forgetting something obvious here...like, does it go to Broadway?

Post by **bahua** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 12:09 am

Not much of anything you can walk to from there, but it's just amazing how dramatic the difference is between the east side of troost and the West, just south of Armour.

KCforumer · Post by **KCforumer** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 1:25 am

cdschofield wrote:Here's my take on Brookside. The vast majority are 30's - 40's married professionals planning to have kids or already have them. Although 2 of my neighbors are gay, 1 single and the other a couple

Do you happen to live on Cherry St?

aric · Post by **aric** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 7:20 am

JBinKC wrote: Other neighborhoods to consider are Union Hill (depending on your budget), Central Hyde Park, Valentine, Roanoake/Coleman Highlands, 39th & State Line, West Plaza, and Plaza/Westport. All of these places have great houses, are quite walkable, and are clean and safe.

Can anyone refer me to a site that defines these neighborhoods, even roughly? I know some, but I don't know where Union Hill, Valentine, or Roanoke/Coleman Highlands are. I am going to be out there for a couple days soon and want to explore these areas.

And thanks a million to everybody for all the responses to my question. You have been extremely helpful and have given me a perspective on KC that I lacked (everyone else I know in the area is of the "Why the hell would you want to live in the city?" variety)

Does this group ever get together in person? Seems that a bunch of people with similar interests/values like this ought to. Sort of a "Kansas City Urbanite Club" or something...

KCPowercat · Post by **KCPowercat** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 7:52 am

aric....we've gotten together once to tour the new library. With all the new construction going on we'll have to go somewhere else. A few have tried to get together for a happy hour sometime but it hasn't worked out to my knowledge.

Neighborhood maps? We were just looking for one the other day and couldn't really locate one. Here's a list of all the registered neighborhood groups in the city

http://www.kcmo.org/neighbor.nsf/name?openview

Hyde Park - http://www.hydeparkkc.com/

we could probably define some rough boundaries on here....just let us know which ones.

aric · Post by **aric** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 7:58 am

KC wrote:we could probably define some rough boundaries on here....just let us know which ones.

Union Hill, Valentine, and Roanoke/Coleman Highlands

Thanks!

Slappy the Wang · Post by **Slappy the Wang** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 9:23 am

Aric,

In all seriousness, you need to speak with a realtor who's familiar with the 1200 Block of Paseo, the 2700 Block of Prospect and anything along Quindaro. These are the HOT SPOTS!

KCPowercat · Post by **KCPowercat** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 9:25 am

slappy...we all don't want to live in St. Joe......

Aric, another area you might want to check out is Columbus Park. L_G is familiar with the area I believe.....

anybody want to give the boundaries of these neighborhoods?

Post by **dangerboy** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 9:53 am

Valentine is the area around Penn Valley Community College. 31st St. to 39th St. and Southwest Trafficway to Broadway.

Coleman Highlands is directly west of Valentine, across Southwest Trafficway.

Roanoke is just to the south, north of 39th Street, between Southwest Trafficway and Roanoke Rd.

Be sure to get a realtor that is familar with urban neighborhoods. Reece and Nichols' Country Club office has several.

I think Hyde Park is generally between Main and Troost, from Linwood to Brush Creek.

Columbus Park is just east of the River Market, on the other side of the Heart of America Bridge (MO Hwy 9).

Post by **staubio** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 9:59 am

One can use the cities GIS system to plot the census neighborhood boundaries:
http://map1.kcmo-net.org/mapping/map.cf ... 1049112.12

Roanoke: 39th on the south, Southwest Trafficway on the east, Karnes Blvd on the north, Roanoke Rd on the west

Coleman Highlands: north of Karnes, Roanoke Rd on the west, 31st on the north, SW Trafficway on the east

Volker: State Line on the west, Roanoke Rd on the east until 39th, then SW Blvd on the east until Westport Rd

Valentine: SW Tfwy on the west, 39th on the south, Broadway on the east, 31st on the north

Union Hill: 31st to 27th, Main to Gilham

South Hyde Park: Gilham to Troost, 47th to 39th
Central Hyde Park: Gilham to Troost, 39th to Armour
North Hyde Park: Gilham to Troost, Armour to 31st

There are a few. Hope that helps.

JBinKC · Post by **JBinKC** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 10:46 am

dangerboy is right...the Reece and Nichols Country Club office has several realators that are extremely knowledgeable about these area's. We used Dana Nachum out of that office and she was invaluable. In fact our weekly house shopping went through all of the neighborhood's we've talked about so far.

KCPowercat · Post by **KCPowercat** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 11:30 am

Wish I would have asked before buying a place, our realtor was from the burbs and wasn't informed at all...of course we didn't do any searching, we just used here to get the process going on the place we already found.