WingNews logo WingNews
top | item 5214840

(no title)

mkinsella | 13 years ago

This is great for the area. There is a lot of unsung innovation coming out of the Midwest with Kansas City playing a large part of it. Coupled with a ton of very smart people, Kansas City is ripe to become a major player in the startup community.

Also, the city is wonderful. Beautiful, amazing food, great schools, cheap, clean, and great transportation options for vacations (out of a great airport!). As someone who lived there for 18 months before moving to San Francisco, there is a lot about Kansas City that I miss.

discuss

order

sakopov|13 years ago

KC is mostly a financial tech hub. Lots of development in banking and insurance. Not much innovation really and i do agree with you that it is great for the area in that respect.

Here are some downsides (I agree/disagree with you in some things):

1. Crime rate is astonishing. There are deadly shooting nearly every other day. In fact, last one i heard involved 2 deaths at Westport, which is right where Google Fiber planted its roots.

2. City is beautiful in early spring. Summers are incredibly hot and humid and burn the entire city to the ground. Winters are freezing-cold.

3. Schools are no different than anywhere else. Some good. Some bad.

4. Public transportation is non-existent. Unless you consider waiting for a bus for 40 minutes a good transportation system. Any attempt to put rails to use failed miserably. KC is ultra-conservative. Nothing will ever happen here unless it has something to do with the Chiefs & Arrowheads Stadium. Bottom line is if you don't own a car you will have very difficult time getting around. Some neighborhoods don't even have sidewalks. Walking to a store 2 miles away would mean walking on public roads and dodging cars until you find a sidewalk.

5. This is something that everyone who lives here for more than a year complains about. There is nothing to do in KC. It's the same people and same places. Summer time is more event-friendly. Winters are dead. Nothing to do but go out to drink and eat somewhere.

6. Majority of people are overweight... and don't care. It's actually scary how much of the population is overweight. That's because you're forced to drive everywhere.

And some upsides:

1. It is VERY clean. Almost pristine.

2. Living is VERY cheap even in the center.

3. Food is amazing.

4. Airport is very convenient and conveniently placed.

5. Great place for sports. Chiefs will always have fans here. Regardless of how bad they are. Tailgating is amazing. Unfortunately, every team except for Sporting KC has been miserable for decades with no signs of recovery, but still have very solid fan bases.

6. You're 2/3 hours away from everywhere in the country.

Take what you want from this. If i were in my early/mid twenties and single I would never move here. If i had a family or looking for a place to retire, I would definitely consider KC. IMHO, if KC wants to attract young talent like Boston, New York, San Francisco or Seattle it'd have to be a bit more engaging than getting fiber installed in every house.