hyde park: believe the hype?

[chrizow]

I've been flashed the beaver at the corner before.  Welcome to the edge of midtown.

awesome: http://blogs.pitch.com/plog/Ho%20Map.pdf

[midtown]

Yikes.  What can you do, though, other than to keep calling (that's not a rhetorical question, by the way)?  From that map, it's obviously a big problem that needs to be addressed before the Troost corridor can really move forward.

[trailerkid]

Chriz...

you're not that old yet...why move to Hyde Park? Do you trade stock now?

[mean]

awesome: http://blogs.pitch.com/plog/Ho%20Map.pdf

I live in hooker central! Awesome!

My wife has several funny stories about guys trying to pick her up while she was walking home from the bus stop. I mean, white chick in a business suit? What kind of idiots are out there trying to score?

[chrizow]

Chriz...

you're not that old yet...why move to Hyde Park? Do you trade stock now?

seems like you're pretty unfamiliar with the demographics of hyde park.  a lot of young single people and young families that live there, especially outside of the more tony central hyde park. 

[GRID]

How about some aerials? 

[medleyj]

Yeah, it goes against the HUD standards of the current day. Apparently though it was approved by the former mayor's office with little fan fair (and no community involvement).  I know there are issues about not being able decrease the amount of Section 8 available housing (so if they made it a 50/50 split, or 80% market rate/20% Section 8 per HUD standards they would have had to find another place to move more Section 8 units.  Still pretty unacceptable to have verticle segregation in this day and age.  We'd never let them gate off an entire area of town to put poor people, but for some reason they allowed this to happen.

My guess is this is the work of a Barnes staffer named Donovan Mouton. At the time that was going on, Mouton had a plan to bring high speed internet access to the poor. That's much easier to do if they are concentrated in one place. I don't know where he expected to get the money to buy them all computers.

[chrizow]

hyde park is awesome!  i haven't even moved in to the house yet, and i've had four neighbors approach me on the porch and introduce themselves and offer to help with anything i need!  i also think someone is fortuitously mowing my lawn for me (perhaps for the aesthetics of the block more than helping me personally)!  echoes of porch-based socializing can be heard into the night - but not too late! 

!

[rxlexi]

what, you didn't believe us?   

glad to hear you're enjoying yourself thus far...perfect time of year to get out for some porch sitting evenings.

[KCMax]

Wonderful pictures GRID, Hyde Park looks awesome.

[ComandanteCero]

not be cynical, but i wonder if the friendliness is part of the "frontier mentality" of gentrification 

[chrizow]

not be cynical, but i wonder if the friendliness is part of the "frontier mentality" of gentrification 

perhaps, but i think more than anything a lot of people drawn to hyde park tend to be nice, helpful, look out for the area, etc.  hyde park has been the "frontier" for a long time, and i think people are comfortable with that to an extent.  there is a cohesive neighborhood vibe that i just don't really see in a lot of other parts of town. 

[ignatius]

I'm one of these people hanging out on someone else's HP front porch often.  There's a sense of excitement from homeowners when someone moves in next door that comes across as someone who appears capable of taking care of their home and shows interest in moving the neighborhood forward.

Was just over at HP friend the other day BBQing in backyard when a guy next door announced he was buying the fairly rundown house and would be fixing it up.  For my friends, kinda made their day.  She always said that house needed a gay guy with lots of money to rehab it - and that's what happened.  She's already invited him over for dinner before he's even closed on it.

[midtown]

Always good to hear more stories like this 

We need to have a KCRag hyde park meetup or something.

[chrizow]

a hyde park meetup would rule.  all KcRag hyde park residents and sympathizers welcome! 

while i appreciate the information, the "Hyde Park Crime Update" emails make me paranoid.  there was another brazen burglary a block away from my place recently.  gah.

[midtown]

Yeah, it seems like there is an uptick in the amount of crime in the summer.  Our neighbors across the street recently moved out after being broken into one too many times.  I felt bad for them.  Someone's already moved in to take their place though (the house is a rental), so at least it isn't sitting empty.

I guess, even though the crime e-mails do tend to make me nervous, I'd rather be aware of what's going on to be a little better prepared.

[alpha_glamourina]

a hyde park meetup would rule.  all KcRag hyde park residents and sympathizers welcome! 

while i appreciate the information, the "Hyde Park Crime Update" emails make me paranoid.  there was another brazen burglary a block away from my place recently.  gah.

Aw, I understand how you feel, and I hope you don't feel too creeped out about it for long.  Burglaries happen all over the metro area, and the more concentrated the population, the more break-ins occur.  It's an unfortunate inevitability.  But on the upside, you know all the things you can do to discourage this from happening to you (alarm system, a Barky-McClarky dog, motion sensitive lighting, security bars on vulnerable windows, neighborhood involvement, etc.)  Just focus on your home's security and the likelihood of you becoming a victim to this sort of crime measurably decreases.  That's a promise and a fact. 

[rxlexi]

not sure where to put this, but the multiple new flights of stairs in Gillham Park look great!  I love that the access to Rockhill and the Nelson area from S. Hyde Park is being maintained; I was worried about the detoriorating quality of some of the staircases earlier this year.

[midtown]

Yeah!  I go running and walking along there pretty often, and the new steps look wonderful.

[warwickland]

any south hyde parkers out there enjoy the companionship of the nice ladies who work the corner of 45th and troost?  it warms the heart when they surreptitiously wave or, more boldly, actually run (barefoot) towards your vehicle trying to flag you down!  sigh, i feel like i am finally part of something...

Two summers ago when i was taking particulate/pollution samples around 45th troost i was rush upon by a lady and man (with a hat) about 6:47 AM on a summer Saturday morning. I didn't know what was going on, hung over-hadn't finished my coffee...ran two stop signs.

Congrats on the home my friend, I'm still "homesick" occasionally for midtown KCMO.