Originally Posted by kcexpress69
Kansas City
It's been a part of me for 48 out of the 50 years I've been on this planet. I've seen the best of the best and the worst of the worst in this city.
My praises:
I love the fact that KC is nearly centrally located in the middle of the U.S., which means that I could travel to anywhere in the 48 states and get there within a day or 2. The summers can be hot and the winters cold, but not quite as bad as maybe living in southern Arizona or northern Minnesota. Cost of living is much lower here than in other parts of the US, and the economy is strong enough here that you shouldn't have too much of a problem finding a job, or break the bank trying to find a place to live, although there are a few exceptions to that. Downtown and the surrounding area has made significant progress over the last 20 years to rehab old buildings, and build new ones. A new arena was built in the late 2000s in hope to attract an NBA or NHL team. So far, no team has relocated, but it still draws people constantly, to shows and concerts, and to my knowledge has been successful. More people have moved downtown and there's plenty of entertainment in the Power and Light District and in the crossroads. A new airport to replace the current one is finally underway and is expected to be complete by 2024. We do have a streetcar that's so far been successful, although it really needs to be expanded in order to get more potential out of it. Those are a few things that come to mind.
My grievances: (where to start)
The state line/river issue: Most large cities are near a body of water of some kind, be it an ocean or sea, a lake, or a river. Kansas City happens to be at the conjunction of two rivers... the Missouri and Kansas Rivers. The Missouri River pretty much splits the city in two, with the population nearly divided up fifty/fifty, believe. (I've been Googling but unable to find the exact population of KC just north of the river) Anyway, most of the north population is suburban which is almost in its own enclave from the rest of the city south of the river. As if that's not bad enough. Missouri/Kansas State Line, runs right smack dab through the middle of the Metro Area. Nearly two million people live in the seven most populous counties between the two states, and 58% live on the Missouri side, and 42% on the Kansas side. I really wished that the state line was 20 miles west or east of downtown KC, because I believe that would alleviate many of the problems that this city has, not to mention that the population of Kansas City could easily be close to 700,000 people.
There's no light rail, and likely never will be. The street car is nice to move people around downtown (and to the plaza eventually) but it's not an effective mode of transportation, and you really need light rail to move people in and out of the city effectively. People just rely on cars too much and the city on both sides of the state line are not interested in funding a system like that.
Like many large cities, the public school system is a disaster, and may never get fixed, which is preventing families from moving back into the city.
Because of the divide, many large projects get stalled for years, sometimes decades before they become a reality. As mentioned, the new airport terminal is being built, but that's after many years of debating on whether or not we needed one. (trust me, we did). Also, our downtown convention center hotel is set to open in April, but that's only after about 25 years of fighting over financing and other stupid crap that's kept us from getting better conventions and as a result, losing millions of dollars of revenue. There's now a debate heating up on relocating the Kansas City Royals downtown. The lease at the current location isn't up for another 10 years, but already there's talk about where to put it, and trying to avoid them moving across state line into Kansas. Anyway, that's a few issues. I'm sure there will be more that I will thing of after I post this!!
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