Auto-Free in Kansas City

Bus service is relatively good in Kansas City, Missouri (except at the city's northern and southern fringes) and generally quite dreadful in its suburbs.  Accordingly, I shall discuss the city first, focusing on the most transit-friendly parts first.

 

I.  The City

 

A.  The Core

 

1.  Downtown

2.  Crossroads

3.  Quality Hill

4.  West Bottoms

5.  Columbus Park

 

B.  Midtown

 

1. Crown Center

2.  Westside

3.  Hyde Park

4.  Westport

5.  Volker

6.  Union Hill 

 

C.  The Near South

 

1.  Country Club Plaza

2.  Brookside

3.  Country Club Plaza

4.  Waldo

 

D.  South Kansas City

 

E.  The Far East: East of Troost

 

1.  Scarritt Renaissance

2.  Pendleton Heights

3.  The Jazz District

 

F.  The Northland

 

II.  The Suburbs

 

A.  Missouri

 

1.  North Kansas City

2. Oakwood

3.  Lee's Summit

 

B.  Kansas City, Kansas

 

C. Johnson County, Kansas

 

THE CITy: KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI

A. The Core

1. Downtown: The Historic Core (photos here)

Buses: served by nearly every bus.

Downtown Kansas City, like many downtowns in mid-sized cities, fell on hard times in the late 20th century and is just beginning to recover. Having said that, downtown's residential population has almost doubled since 2000, from about 10,000 residents to 19,000 today. I still would not say that downtown is lively compared to, say, downtown Philadelphia, but it has improved quite a bit.

The core of downtown is between 6th and 15th Streets. North of 6th Street lies the River Market area, which has few office buildings and is instead dominated by the River Market shopping area, as well as a couple of large Asian grocery stores nearby.

The southern edge of downtown, the Power and Light district between 12th St. and 15th St., by contrast, is dominated by bars and nightclubs.

Some of the major advantages of downtown life include: having a grocery store (Cosentino's at 10 E 13th), the region's major public library (14 W. 10th St.), and most of the region's bus lines within a few blocks. In addition, if you want to live in a tall building with amenities beyond those of a typical apartment complex (such as a doorman), downtown is probably the best place to do that.

2. Crossroads: An Arts District (photos here)

Buses: Main Street MAX, 28, 37X, 54, 142, 152, 170, 173, 471

Crossroads is just south of downtown (between I-670 and 20th Street, bounded by Oak on the east and Broadway on the west) and is centered on 19th and Baltimore. It is the city's main district for art galleries; the neighborhood has over 70 art galleries, and it has numerous other stores related to the visual arts.

 

Art galleries generally open new shows on the first Friday of each month from 6 to 9 pm. During First Fridays, thousands of people flock to the Crossroads. On the other hand, the Crossroads is pretty quiet on a normal weekday. In my opinion, the neighborhood's most interesting building is the Western Auto Building at 21st and Grand- formerly a corporate headquarters, now condos. I recently saw a unit advertised there for $1275 (pretty high for Kansas City!)

3. Quality Hill: A Gentrifying Old Neighborhood (photos here)

Buses: 12, 25, 27, 37X, 101, 102, 109, 129

Quality Hill is just west of downtown (west of Broadway between 7th and 14th Streets) and was one of the city's richer neighborhoods in the late 19th century. It began to decline in the 1920s, and many of its historic buildings were destroyed in fires.

In recent decades, a lot of infill construction has occurred there, and it has became popular with people who want to live near downtown but pay a little less than they would in the core of the central business district. A one bedroom in Quality Hill Towers, one of the neighborhood's more expensive buildings, rents for around $650-700, and some buildings are even cheaper. By contrast, downtown has buildings renting in the four figures. In addition, Quality Hill is a bit quieter than downtown; although there are restaurants on Broadway, the neighborhood becomes more homogenously residential further west.

One neighborhood advantage: Quality Hill has Case Park at its western edge, which boasts commanding views of areas to its west. (The park is also of historical interest; Lewis and Clark stopped somewhere near there). Although many buses serve the fringes of this neighborhood, only the 12 goes all the way to Case Park.

4. West Bottoms: Old And Industrial (photos here)

 

Buses: 106

Quality Hill sits on a bluff, and below that bluff, cut off by highways and railroad tracks from the rest of the city, sits the industrial West Bottoms area, former home of the city's stockyards. This area has some interesting-looking old buildings- some deserted, some still used for industry, and at least one antique shop. In addition, some of the buildings are used as haunted houses during the Halloween season. However, hardly anyone lives here; according to city-data.com it has about 40 households- and given the general low level of residential occupancy I would imagine that it is pretty deserted at night.

West Bottoms is pretty difficult to get to; it is a pretty long walk from downtown, though you can take a bus to Woodswether at the area's northern fringe, and can then go south on Mulberry to see the rest of the neighborhood.

 

5.  Columbus Park: The Neighborhood Formerly Known As Little Italy (photos here)

 

Buses: Not directly served by any buses.  The closest buses are on Grand (served by Main Street MAX and the 110/173 buses).

 

If you walk east on 5th Street downtown, past a bridge going to the northern end of the city, you will find yourself not in bustling River Market but in a quiet residential neighborhood.  This is Columbus Park- once Kansas City's Little Italy, now a heavily Asian neighborhood which also seems to have a flourishing arts scene.  As far as I could tell, there is only two Italian restaurants left in the neighborhoood (Garozzo's, 526 Harrison, and The North End, 910 East 5th).  However, the neighborhood still has red, white and green fire hydrants as a reminder of its Italian heritage.  Columbus Park is a good place to live if you want to live some place that is near downtown but feels very much off the beaten path.  On the negative side, it borders the much poorer neighborhoods of Kansas City's east side.

 

B.   Midtown (between about 20th and 43rd)

 

1.  Crown Center: Urban But Not So Historic (photos here)

 

Buses: Main Street MAX, as well as 36X, 37X, 142, 27, 28, 471, 51, 54, 123, 173.

 

In the 1960s, the area around the Hallmark Cards headquarters at 26th and Grand was dilapidated,  a mix of old warehouses, used car lots, and vacant buildings.  So the Hallmark CEO decided to tear all those buildings down and start afresh, building a modernist shopping and entertainment complex.  Crown Center is dominated by a mall at 2450 Grand, which includes three levels of shops and restaurants (as well as an aquarium and a ice skating rink).  In addition, the adjacent blocks include a high-rise hotel,  two high-rise condominimum buidings, and a high-rise office building.

 

Just west of Crown Center are additional attractions.  The Liberty Memorial, a giant World War I memorial with a World War I museum in its basement, is a block away (at 100 W. 26th) and Union Station, the city's Amtrak station, is just north of the memorial.  Union Station may be worth a visit, as it also has a shopping mall and Science City, a child-oriented science museum.

 

Crown Center is a great place to live if you want someplace close to downtown, with high-rise apartments and tourist-oriented attractions.  On the other hand, its lack of streetlife makes it seem a bit sterile and antiseptic, and it is one of the city's more expensive areas.

 

2. Westside: Spanish Is Spoken (and English, too)

 

Buses: 27, 123

 

As you go west from Crown Center, you may notice I-35 bisecting the city.  If you can make your way over or under the expressway, you will find one of the city’s more unusual working-class neighborhoods: Westside, centered around West 17th Street.  

 

In a city dominated by white Anglo-Saxon Protestants and African-Americans, Westside is a heavily Hispanic neighborhood, especially near Southwest Boulevard (served by the 123 bus) which has numerous Mexican-oriented businesses.    

 

However, the part of the neighborhood around 17th and Summit (served by the 23 bus) appears to be experiencing creeping gentrification, judging by the type of businesses on that street: Mattie Rhodes Art Center & Gallery, Blue Bird Bistro, and Chez Elle Creperie and Coffee House.  

 

What makes Westside attractive is that because its commercial streets are a little narrower than those of most of Kansas City and it has many low-rise buildings built before 1900, it feels quieter and more historic than other midtown neighborhoods.

 

3. Hyde Park (photos here)

 

Buses: 25, 31, 32, 35, 39, 54, Main Street MAX, Troost MAX (though I am not sure whether to count either Main or Troost as part of this neighborhood)

 

A few blocks south of Crown Center (extending through the East 30s and early 40s), between Main and Troost is Hyde Park, another area that was an elite neighborhood a century or so ago. The first Hyde Park house was built in 1888, with growth peaking in the first decade of the 20th century. Like many other street-car era neighborhoods, Hyde Park fell into disrepair in the late 20th century, and is now being revitalized to some extent.Hyde Park is not the only close-in neighborhood with beautiful, large old homes- but what is distinctive about Hyde Park is its diversity. Although most blocks are dominated by single-family houses and the occasional apartment building, Armour Road (served by the 35 bus) is dominated by 1920s midrise apartments- some mostly occupied by government-subsidized renters, others more middle-class. Rents tend to be on the low side for Kansas City, ranging from about $500-800 for studio and one bedroom apartments.

 

Both the apartment-dominated blocks and the house-dominated blocks are socially diverse; some blocks (like Janssen Place) are still full of mansions, while other blocks are more working-class. The richest census block group in the neighborhood, east of Oak between 35th and 39th, has a median household income of $99,000; on the other hand, the blocks just north of them have about one-fourth that income level and a 35 percent poverty rate.

 

This diversity is also reflected in housing prices; when I looked at zillow.com I found one house in the neighborhood for only $70,000 (and some cheaper ones south of 39th Street in poorer blocks), and homes on Janssen Place as expensive as $675,000. By contrast, the areas just east of Troost are consistently poor, and the neighborhoods further south and west tend to be better off.

 

Hyde Park retail is not so impressive. The major shopping street is Linwood Blvd. (served by the 32 bus) which boasts a Costco and a Home Depot with a giant parking lot, and that street also has a few fast-food restaurants. Both Linwood and nearby Main have become turned into traffic sewers, and as a result tend to have fairly low-value businesses.

 

4. Westport: Another Neighborhood On The Way Up (photos here)

 

Buses: 35, 39, 47, 51, Main Street MAX.

 

Westport is just west of the southern edge of Hyde Park, west of Main and between 39th and somewhere in the mid-40s. Westport has a rich history; it was first settled in 1831, before the rest of Kansas City. During the Civil War, the Battle of Westport was fought there. However, it eventually became just another neighborhood, and its older housing stock dates mostly from the first decade or two of the 20th century, Westport houses tend to be much smaller than those of Hyde Park; I am not sure it was ever an elite neighborhood.

 

On the other hand, Westport has rebounded from mid-century decline a little more smartly than Hyde Park; about 1/3 of its housing was built after 2000 (as opposed to only 10 percent of Hyde Park). It lacks the luxurious homeowner blocks of Hyde Park, but its cheapest houses aren't as cheap as those in Hyde Park's poorer blocks. This may be because Westport is a few blocks further from the very poor neighborhoods of Kansas City's East Side, and borders the wealthy Plaza neighborhood. Westport is very much a singles neighborhood; its average household size is 1.6 people, 2/3 the citywide average.

 

Westport retail is much more extensive than that of Hyde Park; it has become one of the city's major dining/entertainment districts, centered around Westport Road (served by the 35 bus). Its general feel is more hipster-y than gold-plated: when I think of Westport I think of used book stores and futon stores more than I think of stores oriented towards the middle-aged upper classes- and also bars, lots of bars. However, Westport Road is not as consistently walkable as one would expect from an urban shopping district; some stores hug the street as they should in an urban environment, while others are set back behind yards of parking. Like much of midtown Kansas City, Westport looks like it was retrofitted quite a bit to serve the needs of the automobile- enough so that it looks less like a prosperous intown neighborhood than like an incoherent mix of city and suburb.

 

A more walkable part of the neighborhood is Pennsylvania Avenue around 41st St. (near the Tivoli theatre).  Here for a block or two there is nothing but shops in front of the sidewalk, rather than a mix of traditional urbanism and large parking lots.   The nearest bus is the 47 on Broadway a block to the east. 

 

5. Volker: Charm in Midtown (photos here)

 

Buses: 39, 51

 

Just west of Westport, between Southwest and the Kansas/Missouri state line, is the Volker neighborhood. If you want a neighborhood that looks like a nice, walkable college town, with slightly fancy locally oriented stores that aren’t set back behind yards of parking, Volker is for you. Volker is also a little more socially homogenous than Westport or Hyde Park; its poverty rate is only 11 percent, far below that of its neighbors to the east. The unsubstantiated gossip of City-Data.com message boards suggests that Volker is safer and more family-friendly than other midtown neighborhoods; however, I know of no way to empirically verify this claim.

 

Rents and housing prices are pretty comparable to those of the other two neighbors- though like Westport, Volker is not a good place to look if you want a mansion. Volker’s rental housing stock tends to have a more small-town feel as well, with lots of two- and three-story buildings and less new construction than Westport.  One less agreeable characteristic of Volker, however, is that it is less transit-accessible than its neighbors, because it is farther from Main Street (and thus not near the MAX line). One of its two bus routes (the 39) is a crosstown bus, which means Volker has only one bus (the 51) going to downtown. The 51 is not quite as useful as the MAX buses; it only runs every half hour, and stops running a bit earlier (10 PM as opposed to 11 or midnight).

 

6.  Union Hill: Victorian Homes (photos here)

 

Buses: Main Street MAX, 31, 32

 

Union Hill is between 27th and 31st Streets, between Crown Center and Hyde Park.* It is a monoculture of housing (including both houses and small apartment buildings); retail is in nearby neighborhoods or at the fringes of Union Hill on Main Street (at the neighborhood's western edge).  What, then, is noteworthy about Union Hill?  

 

It does have some impressive Victorian housing, unlike nearby areas which are mostly newer construction.  So if you want a Northeast KC-like housing stock only a few blocks from Crown Center and a not-too-long walk from downtown, that's kind of a significant amenity. Also, it is near historic Union Hill Cemetery, if you like cemeteries.  

 

*(You may be wondering why it is No. 6 on my list of midtown neighborhoods.  The reason is that I l visited it last, and it was easier to put it no. 6 than renumber everything else). 

 

C.  The Near South: Between the mid-40s and the mid-70s

 

1.  Country Club Plaza: Urban Gold Coast (photos here)

 

Buses: 35, 47, 51, 57, Main Street MAX

 

Most cities have at least one well-off neighborhood, full of restaurants, shops and even offices, where a pedestrian-oriented street fabric means that you can see lots of people walking as well as driving.  In some cities (like Philadelphia) that neighborhood is downtown.   In Kansas City, that neighborhood is Country Club Plaza (often referred to as “the Plaza”), in the late 40s just west of Main Street. 

 

The Plaza itself is a shopping center built in 1922 by J.C. Nichols (who also built and planned most of the neighborhoods south of the Plaza), making it the oldest surviving planned shopping center in the United States.   The Plaza’s assets include not only its shops but its beauty: it overlooks well-maintained Brush Creek, and its Spanish-style buildings make it unique in Kansas City.

 

The Plaza is dominated by high-end shops and restaurants and luxury hotels.     However, the Plaza’s retail suffers from one weakness: the absence of shops serving more day-to-day needs, such as grocery stores.  There is a CVS at 50th and Main a few blocks away, and the nearest real grocery store is in Brookside, a 10 minute ride away on the Main Street MAX.  On the other hand, the Plaza has a Barnes & Noble and one of the city’s better neighborhood libraries, at 48th and Main right on the MAX line.

 

There is also plenty of housing near the Plaza.  The area’s most distinguished-looking buildings are the mid-rise apartment buildings on Ward Parkway, such as Casa Loma and the Locarno; however, these buildings are so popular that you cannot count on them having vacancies at any given time.   If you want a doorman building, Plaza Pointe at 4901 Wornall is an option, as are numerous newer condominium buildings both north and south of the Plaza (which tend to rent for around $1000-1200 for a one bedroom apartment).    The Plaza’s rental options are not limited, however, to such expensive options.  If you are willing to live in a lower-rise building west of the Plaza’s shops or north of 47th Street you can find apartments that are as low as $650-700 for a studio or a one bedroom apartment.  Another alternative is to live a few blocks east of the Plaza, near the Art Museum at 47th and Oak (served by the 47 bus).  The aging apartment buildings on 47th Street near the museum are a bit cheaper than most Plaza buildings, although the more majestic mid-rises on Warwick Boulevard are not. 

 

The Plaza also has better public transit than most neighborhoods further south.  The Main Street MAX line runs between downtown and the Plaza every 10 minutes during the day; by contrast, every other MAX bus runs further south, which means that Brookside and Waldo get MAX buses only once every 20 minutes.

 

2.  Brookside:  Streetcar Suburb (photos here)

 

Buses: 57, 63, 155, Main Street MAX

 

If you want a place that is more walkable than hard-core suburbia and quieter than the Plaza, try Brookside, a 1920s streetcar suburb centered around Brookside Plaza, a group of shops between 62nd Street and Meyer Boulevard just east of Wornall.  Brookside shops, like those of the Plaza, are pedestrian-oriented: you never have to walk through a parking lot to get to a Brookside shop.  On the other hand, the shops have parking on the side or in the back, so more people drive to Brookside shops than to those of the Plaza.    Brookside shops are also much more practical than those of the Plaza: in addition to cutesy high-end shops, Brookside also has two grocery stores, Cosentino’s and Price Chopper.

 

By and large, Brookside is dominated by single-family homes.  However, there is one high-rise condo building near the shopping center, the 333 West Meyer condos (where a one bedroom rents for around $900).  Near the University of Missouri at Kansas City (at the neighborhood’s northeastern end, between Volker Blvd. and 54nd Street) there is lots of cheaper, more student-oriented housing.

 

Brookside is served primarily by the Main Street MAX bus, which mostly runs down Wornall and by the 57 bus (which runs less often but goes further south into suburbia).  In addition, the 155 and the 63 go east-west through Brookside.

 

3.  The Country Club District (photos here and here) 

 

Buses: 51

 

Kansas City's wealthiest neighborhoods are on the city's far west side, near Ward Parkway between Country Club Plaza and about 70th Street (and especially between 55th Street and Meyer Boulevard).  These neighborhoods go by a variety of names, but were originally part of the "Country Club District" mapped out by J.C. Nichols in the first two decades of the 20th century.  For that matter, the city's wealthiest suburb is Mission Hills, Kansas, just on the other side of the state line from these neighborhoods. 

 

As you might guess, these neighborhoods are dominated by huge single-family homes. But these blocks are more walkable than many rich suburbs.  Most of these blocks (except for a few blocks north of 55th Street) have sidewalks, and most of them (again except for a few blocks north of 55th Street) are on the city's street grid.  On the other hand, most of them (except for the blocks closest to Wornall) are not within a short walk of anything but other houses.

 

Its transit service is so-so; if you live in one of these big houses you can take the 51 bus (which serves Ward Parkway until 6 PM or so) or you can walk several blocks to Wornall and take the 57 or the MAX.   I'm guessing that this is not the ideal neighborhood for the die-hard bus rider, but if you happen to be the sort of eccentric billionaire who likes to walk and use transit but still wants to live in a million-dollar mansion, this area may be right for you.

 

4. Waldo: The Middle Ground Between City and Suburb (photos here) 

 

Buses: 57, 175, Main Street MAX

 

Waldo, centered around 75th and Wornall, is kind of a cross between Brookside and suburbia.  Like Brookside, it has some shops that are right in front of the sidewalk, so that you don’t need to cross a parking lot to get to them.  And from a transit rider's perspective, Waldo is more desirable than more suburban areas further south, because it is the southern terminus of the Main Street MAX line.

 

On the other hand, Waldo also has “big box” (or at least “medium box”) stores surrounded by lots of parking, including a CVS, a dollar store, and an Aldi’s supermarket. 

 

Waldo is a good place to live if you want to live in a place that is somewhat more walkable than most of suburbia, feels somewhat more suburban than Hyde Park or Westport, and cheaper than Brookside or the Plaza.   

 

D.  South Kansas City: Land of Sprawl (photos here) 

 

Buses: 51, 57, 175

 

The part of Kansas City south of Waldo and east of Troost is very suburban indeed: you can't count on sidewalks in this part of the city, retail is generally dominated by giant parking lots, and as you go south of 85th Street (and even more so, south of 103rd Street) the city's grid gradually gets replaced by cul-de-sacs.  On the other hand, these are mostly well-off areas, and you can probably get more house for the money here than in Brookside. 

 

The best bus in this area is the 57, which runs down Wornall until 103rd Street, then turns west to State Line Avenue.  The last weekday run of the 57 ends at 9 PM.

 

One advantage of South Kansas City is that it is not part of Kansas City's troubled school district.  Areas south of 85th are in their own school district, which is less prestigious than that of the Kansas suburbs but still far more so than that of Kansas City. 

 

E.  The Far East: East of Troost

 

Generally, the neighborhoods east of Troost (a street served by the 25 and Troost MAX buses) are the city's poorest, most crime-ridden neighborhoods- so I can't say I recommend them unless you really know what you are doing.  As far as I know, the major exceptions of this rule tend to be relatively close to downtown (although some suburb-like areas at the very eastern fringe of the city are a bit better-off as well).

 

1.  Scarritt Renaissance: Poverty and Gentrification (photos here)

 

Buses: 24, 30

 

In the late 19th century, northeast Kansas City (the area north and east of downtown, but south of what is now Kessler Park) was an elite neighborhood.  And some blocks still are, especially along Gladstone Boulevard, a street near the park that boasts the Kansas City History Museum and several other mansions. 

 

However, as you go south from Gladstone the neighborhood changes radically.  St. John Avenue (served by the 30 bus) looks a bit like Westside: a laid-back, human-scale Asian and Hispanic block, full of little corner stores intermingled with residences.  The blocks near Independence, at the neighborhood's southern fringe, are simply a incoherent mix: some blocks are full of little Victorians that are in the process of being restored to the original glory, and some blocks just look poor.  There are also some interesting ethnic supermarkets on Independence Blvd., most notably San Antonio (one of the city's better Latin American markets).

 

If you don't mind living a few blocks from scary neighborhoods, northeast Kansas City is quite cheap: I saw an apartment advertised here for only $375!

 

2.  Pendleton Heights: A Little More Poverty, A Little Less Gentrification (photos here)

 

Buses: 24, 30

 

Pendleton Heights is just west of Scarritt Renaissance, separated from the latter neighborhood by the Chestnut Trafficway, a mini-highway in the middle of Kessler Park.  Like the latter neighborhood, it has some dilipidated houses and apartments, and some old houses that have been nicely restored.  On balance, Pendleton Heights seems to be a little less gentrified. Both Pendleton Heights and Scarritt Renaissance are much nicer (and much safer) than neighborhoods just south of Independence, and are also safer than neighborhoods just to their east.  

 

3.  The Jazz District: The Historic African-American District (photos here)

 

Buses: 108, 110

 

Many cities have neighborhoods that were the historic centers of their African-American population, and then fell into disrepair (or were even destroyed by so-called "urban renewal") in the late 20th century: Atlanta's Sweet Auburn, Jacksonville's La Villa, New York's Harlem.  Kansas City has such a neighborhood, the area around 18th and Vine. However, this area now benefits from the Jazz Museum and Negro Leagues Museum, both of which are on 18th.  In addition, there is an apartment (or maybe condo) building or two on 18th near these museums, so it appears that the museums have had some positive spillover effects.  On the other hand, the two or three nice blocks of 18th Street are surrounded by deserted-looking industrial areas, so this is not the sort of area I would recommend if you want to take a long walk to downtown.

 

F.  The Northland: North of the Missouri River (photos here)

 

Buses: 34X, 37X, 38, 129, 132, 133, 135, 136, 142, 173, 201, 230, 231, 237, 243, 244.

 

Kansas city north of the Missouri river is technically part of the city, but as a practical matter is mostly one vast expanse of suburban sprawl; to an even greater extent than in South Kansas City (or in the Kansas suburbs) sidewalks are at best a sometime thing, and the street grid has been overwhelmed by a flood of cul-de-sacs.  On the positive side, the Northland has more bus service than the Kansas suburbs.   In particular, the 142 (North Oak) bus runs till 10:30 PM on weekdays and the 129 (Airport) bus serves the airport after 11.

 

As far as I can tell, there is only one walkable Northland neighborhood within the city limits: the Zona Rosa "lifestyle center" . (Photos in the Northland album linked to at this start of this section).  Zona Rosa is an outdoor shopping mall that is designed to be walkable, with shops hugging the street rather than being set back behind yards of parking.  In addition, Zona Rose is not limited to shopping: there are some apartments and condos above the Zona Rosa shops.  And unlike some other otherwise walkable Northland suburbs, Zona Rosa has decent transit service from the 142 bus, which runs until after 11 PM.

 

On the negative side, Zona Rosa is ringed by garden-variety suburban sprawl, there is a lot more shopping than housing, and most of the stores are fancy national chains and restaurants rather than retail that I would use every day. However, the more conventionally suburban Boardwalk Square (which is less than half a mile away, and is served by the 129 bus going to the airport) has a Wal-Mart and some other discount retail.

 

The Briarcliff neighborhood is somewhat more walkable than the rest of the Northland, but not very.  This area has an apartment complex that is a couple of long blocks from a somewhat Zona Rosa-like shopping center (by which I mean that it looks like a cross beween conventional sprawl and Zona Rosa, which some shops near a sidewalk but parking that dominates the scenery rather than being hidden behind garages).  No buses directly serve Briarcliff, but you can walk about 1.2 miles from there to the corner of 42nd and Oak (served by the 142 bus, and by the 38 from 9-5 except on Sundays)

 

THE SUBURBS (OR, THE LESS SAID THE BETTER)- I recognize that the discussion below does not cover every suburb; in particular, I have omitted Gladstone (a working-class Northland suburb) and Independence east of the city, to name two of the suburbs with better bus service.  However, I decided that rather to focus on completeness, I would limit my discussion to suburbs I had actually visited in recent memory.  If you want to add a discussion of another suburb, feel free to contact me at mlewyn@hotmail.com

 

 

A.  Missouri

 

1.  North Kansas City: A (Partially) Walkable Suburb (photos here)

 

Buses: 38, 132, 133, 135, 142, 173

 

Perhaps the most walkable Kansas City suburb is North Kansas City just north of the Missouri river (and south of lots of territory that was long ago annexed to the city of Kansas City itself).  The major bus going to downtown, the 142, stops on Burlington, an industrial street that is too wide to be pedestrian-friendly.  However, a short walk to the east gets you on Armour Road, an old-fashioned small-town downtown with low-rise offices and shops that aren't hidden by parking lots.  (Armour Road is directly served by a couple of buses but none of them runs particularly late).  NKC is somewhat working-class and industrial; however, it is fairly safe.  The property crime and robbery rates are a bit higher than those of the wealthier suburbs, but it did not have a single murder between 2008 and 2012.

 

2.  Oakwood: Not So Walkable (photos here)

 

Buses: 142

 

The 142 bus, as it goes up to the North 50s, lets you off at the western border of Oakwood, a small, middle-class suburb with no sidewalks and nothing but single-family homes.  Oakwood is obviously not an ideal place for someone without a car.  Having said that, the entire community has less than 200 people- which means that it is all within walking distance of the 142.

 

3.  Lee's Summit: Take Amtrak (photos here) 

 

Buses: 152

 

Lee's Summit is a well-off eastern suburb with a old, walkable (if rather sleepy) downtown.  However, the downtown is only accessible from Kansas City by Amtrak (and obviously by car).  The only bus going to Lee's Summit is a rush hour only bus that only goes to the more suburban part of town.

 

4.  A few other semi-walkable suburbs

 

Downtown Liberty is the County Seat of Clay County and is dominated by a cute courthouse square.  But its only bus service is a express bus, the 34X, that runs very early in the morning and twice during the afternoon rush hour. 

 

Avondale, just north of Kansas City, is a working-class postwar suburb that is only a few blocks long and has narrow streets (though no sidewalks).  It is served by the 135- another rush hour only express bus,  But if you were really venturesome I suppose you could walk there from North Kansas City. 

 

B.  Kansas

 

1. Kansas City Kansas: Our Industrial Suburb (photos here)

 

Buses: 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 113, 115, 116.

 

Many cities have a small town across a river that has suffered more from disinvestment and middle-class flight than the main central city.  New York has Newark, St. Louis has East St. Louis, Philadelphia has Camden.  Kansas City, Kansas is our Newark- but having said that, KCK is definitely less poor and violent than those places.  Because KCK has merged with Wyandotte County, it has some middle-class suburbs within its tax base.

 

Nevertheless, KCK is not much to look at from an urban perspective.  Its downtown is fairly lifeless (though unlike really poor places like East St. Louis, it supports thrift shops and even a small grocery store or two).  The more suburban parts of town are not rich enough to be desirable and not urban enough to be

walkable.   So I can't really recommend KCK as a place to live unless you are working there; and even then, if you are working in downtown KCK you might as well live in downtown KC Missouri if you can afford it. 

 

Perhaps the most interesting and bizarre part of KCK is all the way at the end of the 101 bus line (which runs until 11 PM): the Village West development.  At the edge of town there is a NASCAR racetrack- and in the area surrounding the racetrack there is all manner of stores (including practical ones like Target and Payless shoes) and an apartment complex.  None of these places are particularly pedestrian-oriented, since wherever you go you must walk through a sea of parking, and not every street has a sidewalk (though the ones that don't have a big grass lawn to walk on).   So on the one hand you have most of life's needs within walking distance- but on the other hand, this is in an environment where walking is hardly encouraged.

 

2.  Johnson County: The Less Said The Better

 

Buses: Johnson County buses (the Jo), 175.

 

Johnson County is the richest suburban county (and, I note, the center of Jewish life in the region).  Unfortunately the buses there (mostly Johnson County buses) only run 9-5.  So I don't think Johnson County should even be dignified with anything other than condemnation.   If for some reason you must go to Johnson County, go to the Jo website (see "links" page for link).