Hey fellow classmates! I haven't sent in my fee yet, am waiting to hear back from one more school but think its most probable that I'll be in KCUMB class of 2010!
I live in the Kansas City area. Traffic can be bad, but it really depends on where your coming from and what direction your going. For instance, Interstate 70 Westbound is unclogged in the later part of the day where Eastbound is unclogged in the morning. Most of the interstates are like that. Its just when your going the wrong direction at the wrong time of day, your in trouble. Also as far as I'm concerned, the bad traffic areas, i.e. the triangle and South portion of 435, are far enough from the school you won't have to deal with them. I live 15 miles from my workplace and never take more than 30 minutes to get there. Thats not too bad.
On crime, I know that we have a high rate, but it doesn't affect your average Joe. The reason I think the rate is so high is that Independence is one of the nations Meth labs, basically. As far as I have heard, the only people who are victimized are those that are involved in drugs and prostitution. So stay away from that (tempting isn't it,
😉 j/k) and you should be fine.
On where to live - North Kansas City is good and so is Independence - although not all parts of NKC and Independence are created equal. Go check out the area, you should be able to tell whats a safe area and what isn't, and you'll be fine. I'm not sure of the commute, but if your married with a family, east of 291 on 24 HWY in the Osage/Susquehanna area, you can get a pretty nice house (3 br/2 bath) for <$130,000. AND if anyone's looking to buy, we're selling our 2 br 2 1/2 bath townhome for somewhere around $110,000. Its pretty new, we were the first owners (bought it two years ago). Its got a garage, and comes with all appliances other than washer and dryer. Its in a great neighborhood (houses nearby are worth $300K plus. The commute would be somewhere around half an hour. We're selling cuz its just a 2 br and we have two kids... otherwise its a great house for a small family or even a group of roomates. If anyone wants more info, email me at
[email protected]
I don't know much about apartments since we own.