Good Neighborhoods in Kansas City

Good neighborhoods in Kansas City are everywhere, but they can be hard to find if you're not from Kansas City.

Obviously, there are several good neighborhoods in Johnson County, which is actually in the state of Kansas but is considered a part of the greater Kansas City area. Neighborhoods in Johnson County that are good include:

Leawood

Leawood, Kansas is an upper middle class neighborhood in Kansas City that attracts upper class people who want to pay middle class housing prices. If you are considered upper class in Kansas City, you are probably considered middle class in larger cities like New York and Scottsdale. Therefore, the neighborhood of Leawood looks very similar to upper class neighborhoods in larger cities, but housing is much more affordable. Good neighborhoods in Leawood include Hallbrook, which has it's own golf course, bank and security gate.

Loch Lloyd

Another good neighborhood in Kansas City is called Loch Lloyd, or "The Village at Loch Lloyd". It is a private, membership only neighborhood that is located at the southern-most tip of what is considered to be Greater Kansas City. Loch Lloyd has a country club, a golf course, and it's own zip code!

Prairie Village

Prairie Village, or "perfect village" as it is affectionately called by it's residents, is THE perfect Kansas City neighborhood to raise kids. Littered with the area's best school districts, young parents and children alike thrive in the neighborhood of Prairie Village. The houses are not extravagant or fabulous but they will cost you plenty. A small little 3 bedroom house will double in value if you pick it up and place it in Prairie Village. Security is great in PV as well, patrol cars will stop anyone who isn't white and driving a mini van or SUV full of soccer kids. One thing to remember about the neighborhood of Prairie Village is this: Don't try to drive through PV after school gets out!

More good Kansas City neighborhoods to come...

If you have specific questions, please post them as a comment - no sign up required - quick commenting - and we will try to answer your questions quickly.  Thank you!

MLB 10 The Show Tips - Pitching, Batting, Road to the Show

MLB 10 The Show Tips - Pitching, Batting, Road to the Show

First of all, don't panic! MLB 10 The Show is HARD - I mean REALLY hard. Do yourself a favor and practice. When you first put the game in, go straight to practice mode. The only exception is if you've mastered MLB 09 The Show - then you can probably go ahead and start the Road to the Show, Franchise or Online play. This article is not for you, this article is for people like me who completely SUCK at this game.

The best thing to do is practice. Practice pitching first as that is what you will spend most of your time doing. The first thing to realize about pitching in MLB 10 The Show is that the optimal "line" you are trying to hit on the pitching meter is at the beginning of the curve, towards the middle - NOT at the end of the meter where the colors are (yellow, orange, red). I must have spent 2 hours trying to land the line in the color zone when all the time it is supposed to land in the middle of the whole curve - the color part is just the power. After that it is just a matter of how good your pitcher is at throwing the different pitches. Pitchers with higher skills can throw more pitches correctly etc. If your pitcher sucks then he's just going to suck - there's nothing you can do about it.

Next practice batting. The x button swings normally and the square button swings for the seats. One article I read on MLB 09 The Show said to start (before the pitch) by raising the left joystick up before you swing. In practice mode in MLB 10 The Show you won't need to worry about the pitch count, but it is essential in regular gameplay. Just like the real game, pitch count will determine what kind of pitch you are going to get next. It is wise to let a few pitches go by, especially if you are up in the count. You've got to be really patient. MLB 10 is not an arcade game where you're going to hit home runs constantly - or even get a hit for that matter. You have to wait for your pitch. Oh yeah, and if you're first starting out, set the game on Rookie.

Fielding in MLB 10 The Show is pretty much like any other baseball game - just run to the ball (there is no sprint button in case you're looking for one) pick it up and throw it to the right base or you can throw to your cut off man (R1).

Base running is an art form but the easiest way to do it is R1 means return all runners, R2 means steal (before the pitch) and for some reason R2 means STOP the runner after the pitch. L2 (before the pitch) will make all runners steal - which is good for the bottom of the ninth with 2 outs. The MLB 10 The Show book that comes with the game spends almost the entire time talking about base running - there's 6 pages on it. Read it and you will probably be even more confused then when you started. Just remember that after the pitch L1 advances everyone and R1 makes everyone go back.

To sum it up, practice a lot, drink several beers before attempting to play in the first place. And remember that this game is meant to simulate REAL baseball and therefore it might move a little slow and require a shit load of patience.

If you have specific questions, please post them as a comment - no sign up required - quick commenting - and we will try to answer your questions quickly.  Thank you!

kc auto show - info on the Kansas City Auto Show 2010

kc auto show - info on the Kansas City Auto Show 2010

The KC Auto Show is on this week at Bartle Hall in downtown Kansas City near The Power and Light District.

Several great cars will be on display as well as some great Kansas City bands. On Friday night the kc auto show features The KC All Stars on the main stage. On Saturday night the kc auto show features beatles tribute band Liverpool. On Sunday night the Kansas City auto show will feature Woodstock Flashback.

The entire auto show is set in a 60's theme and they have chosen some of Kansas City's best entertainment acts. Kansas City bands for the kc auto show were provided by Adam Blue Productions.

Kansas City Neighborhoods - A Breakdown of KC Neighborhoods

Kansas City Neighborhoods - A Breakdown

For just the GOOD Kansas City Neighborhoods go HERE.

Kansas City is probably one of the most tricky cities regarding good and bad neighborhoods. If you don't know any better, you might end up with some serious buyer's remorse.

If you're planning on moving to Kansas City, you'd better understand the different neighborhoods before buying that dream... - or nightmare home.

In order to understand this blog, you might want to pull up this Map of Kansas City for reference. Kansas City is flat with no bodies of water so the streets here run in a perfect "grid" with the numbered streets running East to West, and the named streets running North and South. Isn't that handy :)

Let's start by defining Central Kansas City:

We're not going to discuss downtown Kansas City or any suburbs of Kansas City in this article - we'll do those in another piece. We're just going to focus on the area between 39th and 103rd and between Holmes Road and State Line (look at your map - or picture a square area). This is Central Kansas City.

The first rule of real estate in Central Kansas City is easy - Anything East of Holmes Road is the ghetto. This is true all the way from 5th Street (downtown) clear up to 135th street (Kansas City's most Southern point). Don't move there, enough said.

Now that we've ruled out everything East of Holmes Road, let's start with the area between 39th Street and 47th Street - East of State Line and West of Holmes. This area is pretty much considered the Westport area. Westport has gotten pretty bad lately. There is a shooting in westport almost every week. The shootings happen late at night when the ghetto folks start "cruising" the Westport bar areas - they're not there to buy anything or go into any of the nightclubs - but just to cruise around with their boom-boom music playing and sporting their tricked out cars (who's cost probably kept them from paying that month's mortgage). They are extremely rude (especially to whites) and they will shoot you. So that's nighttime in Westport - as far as the daytime goes, Westport is pretty much full of lower class "hippie" type folks who enjoy the coffee shops and the Pitch magazine. There used to be a lot of gays in Westport but most of them are making their way downtown towards the Power and Light District condos.

South of 47th Street - North of 63rd - West of Holmes - East of State Line. This area contains the Plaza, which has made Kansas City famous for it's lush fountains and top shelf shopping and dining. The plaza is a great little area and contains everything from expensive condos to affordable apartments. Plaza living is very nice - the only drawback is that there is only one grocery store within miles and it is a MAD HOUSE. South of the plaza to Gregory Boulevard is a fairly upscale neighborhood that contains a popular dog walking / picnic area called Loose Park. This area is usually defined as Brookside and it is filled with great little shops, restaurants and neighborhood bars. Brookside is getting older, however, so the upkeep on a house would probably be a huge factor - most of the houses in Brookside are well over 60 years old. The other downside to living in Brookside is that it has ZERO access to any highway.

South of Gregory - North of 85th - West of Holmes - East of State Line. This area, more commonly known as "Waldo" is a lower class area that is deteriorating fast. Abandoned buildings are everywhere, and we're starting to see more PayDay Loan shops and Fried Chicken chains opening up - oh, and pawn shops too. Always a bad sign. For some reason everyone who lives in this part of town has a dog, and all of the men wear sandals. I would stay clear of Waldo.

South of 85th - North of 103rd - West of Holmes - East of State Line. This area includes Santa Fe Hills and the Ward Parkway "mall" - if you can call it a mall. This used to be a great area but it has gone to the dogs. The lower class folk have moved in and it is NOT a good place to live.

South of 103rd - North of 135th - West of Holmes - East of State Line. This area is still fairly nice and includes Red Bridge, Bridlespur and Verona Hills. Those who live there are looking over their shoulder, however, because they know that this will be the next Kansas City neighborhood to fall. Let me just stop and explain something here: The lower class are moving their way south and west - basically to get out of the ghetto that they live in and to get away from their own kind. In reaction to this, the wealthy people are moving South and if they can afford it, WEST into beautiful and expensive Leawood, Kansas to avoid the oncoming ghetto folk. For a good example of this movement, take a look at how far south they have built up on Metcalf - wealthy people are running SOUTH. Back to this neighborhood...The best thing about this neighborhood is 435 highway. It's just blocks away. This neighborhood will be safe for about another 5-10 years before turning lower-middle class.

To be continued...stay tuned for North Kansas City, Grandview, Independence, Lee's Summit, Blue Springs and downtown kc.

KC Auto Show 2010 - Kansas City Auto Show

KC Auto Show 2011 Info HERE

The Kansas City Auto Show is back for 2010 at Bartle Hall on March 5th, 6th, and 7th. The Auto Show will feature live entertainment from The KC All Stars, Liverpool, and Woodstock Review.

This year's KC Auto Show will feature several exciting activities including an arcade, test driving, and Kansas City artist Jessica Lyew-Ayee will paint a 60’s style Kansas City-scape for the Auto Show.

Concept cars will include a Corvette (pictured), a Mercedes mini-van/bus, and the all new incredible Jaguar.

The KC All Stars will perform hits from the Motown era on Friday night, March 5th. Liverpool will perform all of your favorite hits from The Beatles on Saturday afternoon and evening, March 6th. Woodstock Flashback will feature music from Woodstock on Sunday afternoon, March 7th. Entertainment brought to The KC Auto Show by Adam Blue Productions, a national entertainment agency that is based in Kansas City.

Admission for The KC Auto Show:
Adults - $10
Children (8 - 12 years old) - $5

History
Although there is evidence that an association of dealers existed, and that a Motor Car Show was held in March 1907,the first documented beginning of the Automobile Dealers Association of Greater Kansas City can be traced to the organization's original Articles of Incorporation dated November 11, 1909. Originally known as the Motor Car Trade Association of Kansas City, 15 intricately penned signatures appeared on the Articles.

Automobiles and over-the-road transportation were still in the formative years as the purpose of the Association is described in those original Articles:

* To promote scientific investigation into the problems of the navigation of the air, and to inform the public thereof;
* To inform the public as to the construction and uses of both pleasure and commercial motor cars, and to this end to publish and distribute literature, to conduct and manage shows and exhibitions of motor cars and accessories and air ships of various kinds, and to hold and manage public contests of motor cars and air ships;
* To foster the building and maintenance of good roads, and to disseminate information to the members and to the public concerning roads and tours, and to aid in the passage of wise laws concerning roads and streets and the users of motor cars thereon;
* To bring about friendly and courteous social and business relations among motor car dealers and those connected with allied lines of business in Kansas City.

Needless to say, the Kansas City auto industry has evolved quite a bit over the past 100 years. And though we have removed terminology such as air ships from our charter, we continue to uphold the basic principles of encouraging public interest in new automobiles; and fostering the highest standards of integrity in business practices among new car and truck dealers. Some things never go out of style.

Description
Flashback to the 60s March 3-7 at the Greater Kansas City International Auto Show sponsored and produced by the Automobile Dealers Association of Greater Kansas City. This year we're going retro with the cars, music, fashion and art from the psychedelic decade alongside eight football fields of new cars, trucks, SUV's, crossovers, vans, and hybrids. Don't miss your one chance this year to see hundreds of vehicles from the past, the present and the future... all under one roof.

Watch the Kansas City Star for "Buy One Get One Free" special offers.

Sponsor: The 2010 Kansas City Auto Show is sponsored by the Automobile Dealers Association of Greater Kansas City under the direction of Auto Show Chairman John McCarthy of McCarthy Auto Group. Additional sponsor: The Kansas City Star and cars.com.