pash wrote:Yeah, to be fair, there are a couple of non-freeway routes through the bottoms. But there's no route that you could walk or bike without feeling complete out of place. Partly that's the desolation of the riverfront and the West Bottoms, but it's mostly just the completely car-only design of the connections. Even with better connections, though, walking or biking between downtown KCK and downtown KCMO probably wouldn't work real well because of the elevation changes.
Point is, getting to downtown KCMO from KCK is nothing like getting there from Martini Corner, no matter that the distance is similar. But with a streetcar line connecting through the West Bottoms, I'd be surprised if the two city centers didn't feel pretty close together.
Don't ask me why but I actually have this weird classically romantic and sentimental attraction to the Inter City Viaduct. It's just a cool road.
A street car would have to traverse a river, an enormous dead zone and a lot of interstate highway. Probably a very expensive and ultimately underutilized endeavor but I'd agree some kind of public transport between the two cities would be beneficial.
pash wrote:Yeah, to be fair, there are a couple of non-freeway routes through the bottoms. But there's no route that you could walk or bike without feeling complete out of place. Partly that's the desolation of the riverfront and the West Bottoms, but it's mostly just the completely car-only design of the connections. Even with better connections, though, walking or biking between downtown KCK and downtown KCMO probably wouldn't work real well because of the elevation changes.
Point is, getting to downtown KCMO from KCK is nothing like getting there from Martini Corner, no matter that the distance is similar. But with a streetcar line connecting through the West Bottoms, I'd be surprised if the two city centers didn't feel pretty close together.
Don't ask me why but I actually have this weird classically romantic and sentimental attraction to the Inter City Viaduct. It's just a cool road.
A street car would have to traverse a river, an enormous dead zone and a lot of interstate highway. Probably a very expensive and ultimately underutilized endeavor but I'd agree some kind of public transport between the two cities would be beneficial.
I lean to anywhere from 47th to 103rd, State Line to Nall. Specific hot spots are a few blocks within the PV Shops, a few blocks within the Fairway Shops, Reinhardt Estates or Westwood Hills. I also like the large lot area near Corinth called Town & Country. The area near the proposed park at Meadowbrook is also appealing if done well.
pash wrote:Yeah, to be fair, there are a couple of non-freeway routes through the bottoms. But there's no route that you could walk or bike without feeling complete out of place. Partly that's the desolation of the riverfront and the West Bottoms, but it's mostly just the completely car-only design of the connections. Even with better connections, though, walking or biking between downtown KCK and downtown KCMO probably wouldn't work real well because of the elevation changes.
Point is, getting to downtown KCMO from KCK is nothing like getting there from Martini Corner, no matter that the distance is similar. But with a streetcar line connecting through the West Bottoms, I'd be surprised if the two city centers didn't feel pretty close together.
Don't ask me why but I actually have this weird classically romantic and sentimental attraction to the Inter City Viaduct. It's just a cool road.
Wasn't the Intercity Viaduct originally developed as a streetcar bridge?
A street car would have to traverse a river, an enormous dead zone and a lot of interstate highway. Probably a very expensive and ultimately underutilized endeavor but I'd agree some kind of public transport between the two cities would be beneficial.
pash wrote:Yeah, to be fair, there are a couple of non-freeway routes through the bottoms. But there's no route that you could walk or bike without feeling complete out of place. Partly that's the desolation of the riverfront and the West Bottoms, but it's mostly just the completely car-only design of the connections. Even with better connections, though, walking or biking between downtown KCK and downtown KCMO probably wouldn't work real well because of the elevation changes.
Point is, getting to downtown KCMO from KCK is nothing like getting there from Martini Corner, no matter that the distance is similar. But with a streetcar line connecting through the West Bottoms, I'd be surprised if the two city centers didn't feel pretty close together.
Don't ask me why but I actually have this weird classically romantic and sentimental attraction to the Inter City Viaduct. It's just a cool road.
Wasn't the Intercity Viaduct originally developed as a streetcar bridge?
A street car would have to traverse a river, an enormous dead zone and a lot of interstate highway. Probably a very expensive and ultimately underutilized endeavor but I'd agree some kind of public transport between the two cities would be beneficial.
Apparently you are right about the streetcar tracks. But they were only there from 1907 to 1936. I loved the viaduct when I was a kid in the 60's because it had a cool name (Viaduct) and it had incredible views of downtown Kansas City, the Missouri and the Kansas Rivers, and the bustling but also foreboding (to an 8 year old) West Bottoms below. The whole western part of KC with the bluffs above the KS river were (are) fascinating. Also, as a kid I was incredibly impressed by pictures of the 1951 flood and the intercity viaduct standing high and dry while being surrounded by half submerged buildings.
I do HAVE to live on the KS side (residency requirements for wife's job) and we have chosen the Rosedale area around KU Med. Strawberry Hill was a close second and I have many friends that live there. I've really grown to like the area, I can easily walk to restaurants and bars on 39th, the new woodside development, etc., I can walk to see the doctor, pharmacy, dentist, other services, etc. I have several grocery stores within walking and biking distance. It is an easy bike ride to Westport, and definitely walkable on a nice day. It is an easy bike commute to downtown KCMO where I work. I am close enough to the JOCO border I could send kids to Shawnee Mission school district if that were an issue for me (you just have to pay the extra property taxes). Not to mention that my house was insanely affordable. I feel like I have the best of all worlds.
I don't understand the sentiment that downtown KCK and KCMO are difficult to get in between without using the interstates. Do you guys not use the Riverfront trail? The bottom level of the intercity viaduct is a dedicated bike/pedestrian path. I usually take woodswether up to where it meets 3rd street under Broadway. Google estimates it takes 16 min to get from city market to strawberry hill on bike, which is pretty conservative. You could probably do it in 10 min or less if you were in a hurry. I've gone back and forth between downtown KCK and downtown KCMO multiple times in an evening just to meet up with different friends. It's a really nice ride, here's some pics: http://kcrivertrails.org/tour/tour4.htm
I might have a different view, having been a southern WyCo and northeast JoCo Jayhawker by birth,
But Black Swan and Quivira are pretty spectacular, at least by KC standards.
My Kansan paper route as a kid was
Westwood and Westwood Hills. I didn't like em then, don't know about now.
As someone who has lived this question - my family moved to PV. I lived downtown from 98-12, and it was not realistic to put three (now four) people into a 1-bedroom condo downtown. As much as I hated to move out of the city, we cannot afford to pay for private school and two mortgages (although the condo is rented, it is still more risk to deal with). So we moved into the SME school district. We are within walking distance to the Village, but mostly walk to Windsor Park with the kids.
As an MU grad, I lived many years under Norm Stewart rules (never enter KS unless you have too). I have roughly 6,900 days left until both kids graduate, and we can get back to Missouri, but who is counting.
When we were looking at houses, I preferred Westwood. In retrospect, I'm glad we chose PV over Westwood. The homes we saw in Westwood are much older, and considering all the stuff that has arisen on our home - which was built in the early 50's - I can't imagine what surprises await you in am even older house. Plus, our kitchen is pretty tiny, but the ones in Westwood were very small. It wouldn't work well with 4 people.
if i couldn't have a close-in walkable pre-war suburb setup with a small downtown in kansas (seems like pretty slim pickings in joco)...i think it would depend on where i could find a nice mid-century ranch. perhaps somewhere easily bikeable to waldo.
pash wrote:Yeah, to be fair, there are a couple of non-freeway routes through the bottoms. But there's no route that you could walk or bike without feeling complete out of place. Partly that's the desolation of the riverfront and the West Bottoms, but it's mostly just the completely car-only design of the connections. Even with better connections, though, walking or biking between downtown KCK and downtown KCMO probably wouldn't work real well because of the elevation changes.
Point is, getting to downtown KCMO from KCK is nothing like getting there from Martini Corner, no matter that the distance is similar. But with a streetcar line connecting through the West Bottoms, I'd be surprised if the two city centers didn't feel pretty close together.
When I lived in the Bottoms 05-10, I walked in and out of the area all of the time. In fact, I coincidentally walked from Martini Corner all the way home. I was a pedestrian by necessity and not choice. Which is one of my bellwethers for change in KC- once I see someone, whom I can make a justified assumption about their walking by choice- that area has changed.
Well, someone did post a residency requirement related to work, but outside of that the only reason I'd have to move anywhere would be related to job distance and whether I liked the commute or not. Earlier this year I changed jobs from an employer in the Briarcliff area (Northland) to an employer in Corp Woods down in Overland Park. My commute went from 15 minutes to 30 minutes (on a good day). The commute doesn't really bother me, but we have thought about moving, especially since most accounting jobs tend to be down in JoCo anyway.
I'd rule out most of the places people listed due to housing costs. Houses in PV, OP and Leawood are just too far out of our price range. We have a roughly $240K house in KCMO up near Liberty. That same house in PV, OP, Leawood would be a $300K+ home. And usually around $300K they are largely out of date with significant maintenance issues.
So for us, we'd probably be looking for something more in the area of Olathe.
If money were no object I'd probably pick something in any one of these locations: Westwood, PV, Fairway, Mission Hills, Leawood.
So I commute down Merriam Lane/SW Blvd and have lately had this irresistible fantasy about buying all the property on the south side of SW from Old McDonalds down to the Vox Theater all the way south to the RR tracks. I've found myself on the Wyco parcel viewer checking owners and property values.
I swear someone is land banking all that property.
I've lived on both sides, but if I were to move back to KS from Waldo, it would probably be PV or Fairway. I've considered a move, primarily because there is very little privacy in the city with the houses so close together and I'd like to have a bigger back yard.
KC_JAYHAWK wrote:I've lived on both sides, but if I were to move back to KS from Waldo, it would probably be PV or Fairway. I've considered a move, primarily because there is very little privacy in the city with the houses so close together and I'd like to have a bigger back yard.
Come north to Briarcliff or NKC. Quiet, good schools, easy to get anywhere in the city except College Blvd, 7 day bus service, closer to downtown than Waldo
Basically, if your job isn’t off 435 in KS you gain a lot to move north.
