It seems that hundreds of millions worth of taxpayer cash to create "density" in Downtown Kansas City might be going down the drain given recent census data revelations.
To wit . . .
SURVEY SEYZ THE YOUNGER GENERATION IS STAYING THE SUBURBS AND THE KANSAS CITY PLAN TO LURE THE "CREATIVE CLASS" IS MISGUIDED AT BEST!!!
Almost a decade of following this strategy should reveal that it doesn't work but here's most evidence with which we need to confront this town's most strident consultants and toy train cheerleaders.
A KICK-ASS TKC READER tells us: "The Toy Train streetcar is being built on a myth. Millennials are leaving the city. Check the census data"
Check it:
538 Blog: Think Millennials Prefer The City? Think Again.
Deets and evidence to back up this claim:
"According to U.S. Census Bureau data released this week, 529,000 Americans ages 25 to 29 moved from cities out to the suburbs in 2014; only 426,000 moved in the other direction. Among younger millennials, those in their early 20s, the trend was even starker: 721,000 moved out of the city, compared with 554,000 who moved in.1 Somewhat more people in both age groups currently live in the suburbs than in the city.
"Indeed, for all the talk of the rebirth of American cities, the draw of the suburbs remains powerful. Across all ages, races, incomes and education groups, more Americans are still moving out of cities than in. (Urban populations are still growing, but because of births and immigration, not internal migration.)"
Read between the lines here and it's clear that the future Kansas City's urban core isn't leaving the suburbs, they're homegrown and it seems like the might even be Mexican and mostly not interested in tourist transit.
Developing . . .
Crime. It's about crime, schools and low taxes. The powers that be don't understand that's what they have to take care of first and foremost. If they can do than then the other concerns will take care of themselves.
ReplyDeleteFirst Fridays simply created the perfect end of week happy hour for City Hall movers and shakers to intersect with a young, hip, crowd they would've never paid attention to otherwise.
ReplyDeleteThe oldsters get addicted to Crossroads Cool Aid, and now we have streetcars and development all for the millennial class, few of which will remain downtown.
9:49 is right. If you read the stats more closely, it reveals a desire to live in the city, but without a quality public school option, most will still opt for the suburbs once they start a family.
ReplyDeleteMost council candidates are talking about early childhood education as an option, but that means more $ and the results from that are mixed. I see opportunities to improve KCPS, but I'm so busy fighting them on their poor decisions that there's no time left for discussing things the district/city could partner on to improve education and reduce crime.
Anyway, this study also backs up a strategy that I have been working on; that immigrant families still want to buy and repair affordable homes in the city.
There's a lot of good data here, but KC needs creative and fiscally responsible minds to know what to do with it.
9:49. FTW
ReplyDeleteViolence and crime are the number one reason taxpayers of all ages move out of, or, refuse to move into a neighborhood.
Anyone that thinks KCSD is fixable is either crazy, lives in Kansas, makes money from the KCSD, or, is running for office.
Kansas City will never be a "downtown" type of city. Get over it Russ and Jan. I know yall visit other cities like Seattle, Portland, and others and DREAM of Kansas City being the same. GET OVER IT!
ReplyDeleteThe air hissing out of the downtown hype balloon has been barely audible over all the rah rah, but it's escaping at more alarming rates every day.
ReplyDeleteBut the tax abatement-driven make believe development continues, the city budget continues to be directed at pretty much anything other than actual services, and cheering continues, hoping that no one will look behind the curtain.
Turnout for the upcoming elections will be the usual abysmally small percentage of voters and the new politico celebrities will learn soon enough who they really work for.
Fantasyland is about to shut down.
To be a downtown city you have to have a downtown that attracts people.
ReplyDeleteSo my questions are,
What is there to attract people to live downtown?
How does a few lofts here and there make people want to live in an area that doesn't provide for them.
Outside of a bunch of bars what else is there to really do downtown seven days a week.
Tell me the class of people who would want to live in an area where being inside behind locked doors after dark is a lifestyle.
Many who come in here might not remember but I do remember a time when one could go downtown and spend the whole day and evenings shopping at many fine stores. A time when the downtown was decorated at holiday times in a festival manor. A time when there was even a Christmas parade downtown and the streets lined with people watching it who didn't even live downtown. I remember a time when you could walk around downtown and not be fearful of being mugged or robbed.
What happened Kansas City MO, I'll tell you what happened you started voting people into office who didn't care about the people or the downtown area. The city destroyed the police department and turned it into the mess it is today. They let race be a deciding factor on the downtown area instead of making it safe for all with proper law enforcement.
In short they let the town go to crap and are lacking the balls to admit so.
I remember when Tony's mom was running for city council, she told Mike Shanin and Scott Parks "Perception is reality, " on their afternoon radio program.
ReplyDeleteThe perception is that KCPS cannot educate children and if you live in Jackson County, you're probably going to be robbed or murdered. Neither is true, but when you move to a quiet suburban neighborhood, the noise of the city becomes more intimidating and is the driving force for those misperceptions. And I don't begrudge those who prefer that lifestyle (so long as they don't project racist undertones onto their children,)
Kansas City should focus resources on providing the tools to encourage private investment in the struggling neighborhoods; quality schools, safe, clean parks, quality transit options, access to high speed internet, and other amenities that most middle class families expect.
at the same time, we should be developing dense, urban style, mixed use developments in the Northland that can serve to bridge the gap between the suburban and urban lifestyles, and encourage new generations to rethink their misperceptions and hesitations to move into the urban core.
Most people in jackson county don't live in Kansas City.
DeleteI'd move if I were you!!! We have trucks available today!!!
ReplyDeleteMention what a fucking whiny bitch you are and get 10% off a one-way rental!
Guess the baby boomers will move downtown to ride the toy train until they die
ReplyDeleteWhen Mr. Stadler sends his kids to Paseo or Southeast or even Southwest we can all believe that the Kansas City Public School System in capable of delivering a quality education.
ReplyDeleteThere were over 1,000 calls to the police for help last year at Southwest alone.
I guess he would have us all believe that so much has changed since Judge Clarke and Benson raped Missouri Tax Payers the way girls are raped in Kansas City Public Schools now.
Lets revisit our freshly remembered past so we don't send out kids to slaughter today or in the future.
http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/americas-most-costly-educational-failure
THIS is the tip of the iceberg Mr. Stadler, you send YOUR kids to Paseo.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-zttPCDqYU
Teddy Kennedy never did "bus" HIS kids.
ReplyDeleteThe gulf between city & suburb/rural will continue, & of course, xenophobia will exasperate the class struggle. I don't see how this will end well.
ReplyDelete^^^^^^^^ shut the fuck up you loser. you're a fucking assholke who hasn't and never will amount to shit.
ReplyDeleteByron, the only struggle is people trying to escape the black dysfunction, politics, violence and graft that dominate inner cities all over the US.
ReplyDeleteClass my ass.
Stalder, nobody moves north of the river for density. They put up with crossing bridges to get to work so their kids have room to run and safety to not be running from a thug with a gun. Keep your delusions on the south side of the river - it's already ruined.
ReplyDeleteWho cares if a bunch of subRUBEans don't understand how VIBRANT the KC inner core is.
ReplyDeleteThat just leaves more TWERKING
AND JERKING here for the rest of us!
Down here we call that Urban Radio
ReplyDeleteOr maybe they have to relocate back to the burbs because today's jobs don't pay shit and thus no option but to move back home?
ReplyDeleteSo if I have to give up my awesome studio apartment and move into my parent’s basement, am I considered a suburbanite? I might have to, my dad is being mean and tells me if I do not get a job soon, he will cut off my trust fund. That would not be cool beans.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteRight, got to factor in that Eastern Jack River Trash demographic.
ReplyDeleteSuburbs are for pikers. Anyone that moves to KC for work doesn't go willingly for the suburbs life out here. I don't care what city it is, the townies never move to the city because of the 'cost' 'crime' or some other lame excuse to make small bets, just like the oak tree in mama's backyard.
ReplyDeletePeople with kids who want good schools, that's a lifestyle decision, and it's understandable. I'm not talking about that... Anyone single living or DINK in the burbs out here should consider moving far away, try something new. Everyone I know from other parts of the country lives in the city, and everyone I know in the burbs grew up out here, no exceptions.
Why is this hard for people to understand? Oh, that's right, the people in the burbs need to drive 30 minutes to leave the house, so they don't, and instead they get a dose of the city on this blog. Anyone can predict one side of the coin forever, I'm optimistic KC is making progress, and the naysayers will miss the whole thing because they went through life staring at a screen in the burbs.
I moved to the suburbs to get away from all the self important bloggers and activists. It's great. That silence.... is the sound of nobody bitching and whining or calling for a boycott every 15 seconds.
ReplyDeleteThe problem in kc is that the council men look at the town as fiefdoms
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Super Dave on this one. I don't know much about a vibrant downtown because I wasn't alive during that time. So, I've never seen what Super Dave has described. But as far as having race decide major issues - this City has lost the best part of its mind. My minority status nudges me to vote for a minority candidate but my better judgment is supported by the notion that race should have no bearing on who does what and for how long. A voter should decide on who's the best candidate. The norm now, however, is to let Black people have a chance. It's desperation for some guilt-stricken whites to push for the Black candidate and other civil-rights era type Black people that believe everything should be run and controlled by Blacks - and neither position is good for the City as a whole. Super Dave nails it!
ReplyDelete4:23: Did you have a point?
ReplyDelete11:18: No, we won't.
@6:17PM. one thing I've discovered since leaving KCMO 15 years ago is that most of the black elected officials in KC couldn't get elected dog catcher in many of the surrounding suburbs.
ReplyDelete@7:44. Yeah, I did...
ReplyDeleteForgot I need to break it down small here.
Essentially, people are always flocking to the burbs here because the schooling in the city is bad. Regardless of the article, or the "data", more young people are moving downtown, but they are coming from out of state. Many posting here are writing from the comfort of their suburban home, and they don't know much about the downtown scene.
If things in the city go according to plan (i.e., KC becomes highly attractive for working professionals), then those in the suburbs will be completely priced out of the downtown real estate market. Once KC Proper is perceived as "safe" or "good" enough for everyone in the burbs, it will be too late for them to act on it. For this reason, it makes sense why the suburban crowd is rooting for the city to fail, because it will validate their decision to make a safe bet and spend their entire adult life two blocks away from their lame ass parents house.
The final point was that nobody who grows up in the suburbs moves to the nearby city anyways, and that's true for almost any major city, for a variety of reasons. People in the burbs get their urban exposure through this blog, and the overemphasis on negative stuff has a cascade effect. It'll be fun to watch downtown KC bring in the new money, and the naysayers will get louder as those downtown condos become further out of reach...
And 10:40 does not nor has lived "downtown". The Mayor doesn't, none of the council members do. Why?????????
ReplyDelete@10:40pm
ReplyDelete"If everything goes according to plan" is the key to the rest of your post.
The "plan" has already been accomplished by the insiders who sold the KCMO politicos on their latest urban futurist designs.
The bond attorneys, developers, construction companies, contractors, consultants, and others have already made their money and are long gone.
What's left is reduced revenue for KCMO, lots of debt, and buildings that will soon be half-empty (just like One Kansas City Place) or low-rent apartments that the next round of politicos will have to figure out what to do with.
And, really, when was the last time centralized planning in KCMO "went according to plan"?
Fantasyland.
"For this reason, it makes sense why the suburban crowd is rooting for the city to fail, because it will validate their decision to make a safe bet and spend their entire adult life two blocks away from their lame ass parents house."
ReplyDeleteWouldn't it make more sense to realize that different people like different lifestyles, 10:40, and those who prefer downtown living should be allowed to live downtown in peace and those who prefer the 'burbs should be allowed to live there without being judged for their choice or being inordinately required to subsidize those who choose to live downtown?
11:45: The mayor lives in Union Hill, which is within the current (admittedly questionable) definition of downtown.