jthorn65 at sbcglobal.net wrote:
>
> The suburbs have
> spread to the Kansas side to escape the higher MO county property
> taxes so most people who work in KC probably now live in KS however.
> It's a very fucked up place.
Chuck0 wrote:
>
> You are wrong about the reasons why the suburbs spread to Kansas. The
> suburbs here in Johnson County have exploded over the course of 50 years
> because of racism. The existence of a state line running through the
> metropolitan area, combined with redlining and restrictive covenants,
> meant that many whites fled Kansas City, Mo. for the Kansas suburbs. So
> it's really about race and schools. In the 20th century, the Shawnee
> Mission school district was seen as much better than the Kansas City
> district.
All cities can cite white flight for a big part of the rationale for the explosion of the suburbs. It's the pattern that is explained in county tax rates. Why not greater growth in Platte, Clay, and Jackson counties in MO instead of Johnson? Why Johnson over Wyandotte, which has greater proximity to KC? Expanding in the direction of St. Joe through Platte and following the river would made sense instead of the explosion into Johnson Co. in Ks. Look at the property tax assessments for 50 then 40 then 30 and then 20 years back and you'll understand why the suburbs grew the way they have since WWII. If Shawnee Mission school district is the reason explain why Olathe is the second largest town in Johnson county in spite of not being in that school district? The developers PRIMARILY moved where taxes were lowest, whites fled the city to those places and then built the schools that were coveted by even more whites. The Shawnee Mission story explains local pop. growth pretty well in Johnson Co. but not Johnson Co. vs. Platte Co. I have all this history somewhere in a paper a friend of mine wrote. He is a city planner and was examining what KC did wrong when he was working for the city of Phoenix. Looking at Phoenix today they did not pay much attention to his paper.
John Thornton