KC beneficiary of young people "boomeranging" home?

[KCMax]

Interesting article. KC girl profiled in this piece about young people leaving their hometown for major US cities, then returning because of the low cost of living.

Salon: Moving home: The new key to success

After nine years in Brooklyn, N.Y., Emily Farris, Midwestern cuisine queen, decided she was sick of baking tuna casseroles in a kitchen that was also a hallway. “I was sharing a tiny apartment. I wanted to live like an adult,” she says, “and in New York I couldn’t afford to do that.”

So she started thinking about where else she might like to live: Austin, Texas, Portland, Ore., maybe Chicago. But then, in 2008, she flew to her hometown of Kansas City to promote her new cookbook. “I was sitting in this plaza where there were lots of shops and restaurants,” she says. “I saw buses with bike racks on them. When I left Kansas City [in 2000] it seemed suburban and boring. But when I came back to visit, I saw people I wanted to be friends with.”

Kansas City shouldn’t panic about its kids making a beeline for the coasts, because many of them will eventually come back, their value as residents increased. What looks like brain drain could ultimately be brain gain.

[earthling]

This is nothing new. KC has attracted 'brain gain' since the 80s and still has relatively high in-migration. KC ranked top 10 with % gain of young educated last year. It's been going on for years but not sure how much of it is 'boomerang'.

[longviewmo]

It probably seems "suburban and boring" if you never leave Overland Park, Blue Springs, or whatever, which seems to happen to quite a few kids anymore. It's kind of weird to give directions for something ten miles away and has been there 'forever' (say Bartle Hall, for instance) to someone who's lived here their whole life.

[phuqueue]

In fairness to her though the city has come a long way since 2000

[chaglang]

In fairness to her though the city has come a long way since 2000

Absolutely. When I left here for Boston in 1998, there was no renovated Union Station. The Bloch Building, Sprint Center and Performing Art Center weren't even pipe dreams yet. And that's just the big things. The Crossroads didn't exist in its current form, there was no First Fridays, and the River Market was just starting to pick up. Culturally it was not much to look at. We finally moved back in 2007 in part because the arts and architecture scene had made enormous gains.

[brewcrew1000]

How much of re-discovering of your hometown/anchor city is a result from parenting? A parent in Blue Springs/Olathe is not going to let there 14-18 year old kids explore in the "city" to shop at a funky store, eat at an exotic restaurant or do something else that is interesting because they are glued to the news and see the daily homicides or negative "fear" stories happening in KCMO so the parents won't let them go into KC on there own and the parents sure as hell don't want to take them into the city.

It's not until the kid becomes cultured in college or wherever that they start to re-discover cities and say "Hey this place really isn't that bad and actually really cool"

[chrizow]

How much of re-discovering of your hometown/anchor city is a result from parenting? A parent in Blue Springs/Olathe is not going to let there 14-18 year old kids explore in the "city" to shop at a funky store, eat at an exotic restaurant or do something else that is interesting because they are glued to the news and see the daily homicides or negative "fear" stories happening in KCMO so the parents won't let them go into KC on there own and the parents sure as hell don't want to take them into the city.

maybe, but some parents do take their kids to the city, or let their kids roam around the city when growing up. when i was 12-15, my friend's mom would drop us off in westport or the plaza like we were getting dropped off at the mall, and come back hours later. we went to movies at the tivoli, ate at mario's or jerusalem cafe, and just walked around.

similarly, i see kids walking around by themselves at first friday, westport, plaza, etc.

[earthling]

How much of re-discovering of your hometown/anchor city is a result from parenting? A parent in Blue Springs/Olathe is not going to let there 14-18 year old kids explore in the "city" to shop at a funky store, eat at an exotic restaurant or do something else that is interesting because they are glued to the news and see the daily homicides or negative "fear" stories happening in KCMO so the parents won't let them go into KC on there own and the parents sure as hell don't want to take them into the city.

It's not until the kid becomes cultured in college or wherever that they start to re-discover cities and say "Hey this place really isn't that bad and actually really cool"

^I was thinking something like that but you stated it better. Many (not necessarily most) don't discover their own cities until they leave and come back.

[brewcrew1000]

Some parents do let children explore but most do not and how do you know those kids are from the suburbs going to First Friday, Westport,Plaza? There are lots of teens that live in Brookside, Plaza and even Hyde Park who would more likely go to those events then some kid in Blue Springs or Olathe. I could ask 15 people at my job in Grain Valley (Most of the employees live in blue springs or GV), and I guarantee you 1 or 2 of them have heard of First Friday.

[warwickland]

I think cities with large amounts of sprawl that have only seen the urban area see appreciable amounts of rejuvenation over the past 5-10 years have historically had a problem with kids leaving and never even knowing or giving their own city a chance. I think KC has powered through or accelerated this with a stable local economy and in-migration and will see even more improvement as more natives come back or stay. Many midwestern cities are experiencing this same phenomenon to a certain extent and to a point it's only gaining back lost ground, but people under say, 40 who never saw the streetcars run, it's a real improvement.