'Evil' suburbs deserve more respect
When you attend a lecture at the downtown library, presented by a land strategist from the liberal Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., be prepared to be ridiculed if you live in suburbia.
Recently, I attended just such a lecture by Christopher Leinberger, who is one of the nation’s strongest advocates for “walkable urbanism.”
In his world, he would like to reverse the “sprawl” of the last half century that has led to such awful places as, say, Johnson County, though he didn’t name it.
To him, suburbanites live in an evil world without light rail or streetcars, with strip malls and concrete parking lots and two or more cars in every garage. This is the “drivable suburban life,” as he called it.
In Leinberger’s imaginary world, we would all live in dense communities, where riding a bicycle to work or to the store would be commonplace. He said so.
When he showed an aerial slide shot of suburbia, with rows and rows of housing, he got snickers from the crowd. To Leinberger, this is a big joke.
Leinbeger is an expert in his field, so he came armed with lots of facts to prove his point.
For example, for every 1 percent of population growth over the last 50 years, there has been a 6 percent increase in land use. The moral of that story is we are wasting land. Yes, we are. But in this area there is almost endless vacant land that is inexpensive to develop.
He also cited a survey in which one third of those questioned said they would prefer to live in “walkable urbanism.” One third rejected that idea. And one third either didn’t know or didn’t care. Thus, Leinberger declared it a tie.
I don’t know where the survey was conducted, but I guarantee you, if that question were asked of citizens of Johnson County, you would not get a result anything like the one Leinberger quoted.
This is because what the lecturer failed to address is the quality of life in “sprawl” areas like Johnson County.
Not once in the two-hour lecture did Leinberger say anything about schools. Would suburbanites want to move to the “urban walkability” downtown or midtown if they had a child in school? Not in this metropolitan area, they wouldn’t.
He also failed to mention the words “public safety.” Suburbia offers what urban areas do not, and that is a nearly crime-free life.
And at no time did Leinberger address that suburbanites like to live in homes with yards and fences around them to keep in the barking dog.
Leinbeger looks down his nose at our existence. If only we could have our revelation and see the light. His light.
We do see some compromise with “walkable urban” environments. A recent example is the construction of a mixed-use development called Park Place at 117th and Nall in Leawood. I think Leinberger would agree that the layout of that development, combining offices, retail and residential is, indeed, enticing and would qualify as “walkable suburban.” But that project, whose location had all the right ingredients for success, is not likely to be replicated anytime soon.
And “Vision Metcalf” does have on its drawing board a trolley going down Metcalf Avenue. (He says a streetcar in downtown Kansas City is “critical,” which leaves us shaking our head.)
Leinberger does not appreciate the quality of life that suburbia offers. He certainly could not imagine that we are proud of where and how we live.
Reach Steve Rose, a Johnson County freelance columnist, at srose@kc.rr.com
Richard L Wagner
1 year agoI’m glad that Rose suggest that compromise is possible. Mutual respect is possible between the two cultures.
I myself am a product of urban KCMO and live in the downtown area. I could not conceive myself of living in JOCO. That being said, there are times, when I am so frustrated with the ugly part of urban living, that I swear that I am going to sell-out, and head for the nearest rural small town.
Constant gang related graffiti, broken glass on side walks, neighbors who park on the wrong side of the street, litter, neighbors who put their trash out the night before so that the animals spread the trash around the street, unsupervised adolescents on the street at night, constant sirens 24/7, noise, my car was recently stolen, I left my bicycle back pack on my front porch and turned around and it was gone, car stereo systems that shake your windows when the drive down the street, liquor stores that sell single-serving beer to homeless persons who loiter all day on the corner, increasing homicide statistics in KCMO, the KCMO school district, etc, etc, etc.
George Hunsucker
Northland
1 year agoYou are much more patient then I would ever be Richard. Why do you put-up with it when you could have a nice serene lifestyle and go to “the city” when you wanted vs. choosing to live in it????????
Leigh Taylor
1 year agoRespect is a two way street. Way too often suburbanites refer to my quiet, pretty Central Hyde Park neighborhood as “The Ghetto”…but hey, I suppose that is okay. Doesn’t really set a positive tone for the rest of the conversation.
Brandon Lewis
1 year agoWow Richard! with all that going on downtown, it’s no wonder the Power & Light District is having a hard time attracting patrons. Based on your description of the area, I would not want to live, shop nor eat in the area.
I’ll continue to spend my money in better cleaner areas like the Plaza, Westport, Zona, Legends or wherever. Yuck!
Richard L Wagner
1 year agoGeorge,
I was born and raised in the city. Given all the previously stated irritants, it is home to me. I have lived in San Francisco and visited other urban metropolis like Mexico City, and this is where I am comfortable. I probably would be bored in the suburbs. Maybe there is a naive hope that I and others like me can improve the city, and if everyone up and left the city, it would only be worse. Isn’t that what the previous response had been in history.
Richard L Wagner
1 year agoBrandon,
Personally, I don’t even go near the P&L District. I am not interested in loud bars, crowds or overpriced drinks.
But, I am close enough to the Plaza and Westport that I can drive there in minutes or ride my bicycle there. As far as eating or shopping in area, I would wager there is more authentic Mexican food, better bar-b-que,and more variety of food than Zona Rosa or the Legends.
I am close enough to the Plaza or Westport that I can get there in minutes by car, bicycle or public transportation. As far as living in the suburbs, I would prefer a choice in the color that I paint my house.
Kent Mueller
1 year agoGreat comments, Richard. We do appreciate a bigger variety of house colors than beige, beige or beige.
George Hunsucker
Northland
1 year agoRichard,
I have lived in Melbourne & Sydney, Australia and they were big cities. The difference is they were not a big American city with its “issues”… I think you would find the ‘burbs satisfying…. I truly would not feel safe living in downtown KC, we did in the two above….
What’s your favorite mexican place in the city? I too bet it’s better. While I’m at it, how about an Indian favorite?
Richard L Wagner
1 year agoMexico City is a wonderful, fascinating, colorful, friendly city, albeit with issue. I would imagine most of the mega-metropolises or large urban cities in the world suffer from crime, environmental contamination, urban decay, etc.
There are some older inner-ring suburbs that have their charm, in Kansas. I think that the older areas of Roland Park, Merriam, Prairie Village have some nice older neighborhoods, with large trees and diverse architecture.
I like Pardo’s on SW Blvd, and over in KC KS, I like El Camino Real,Laura’s Bakery. Or, my favorites are the kitchen of a Mexican family’s house.
I am not familiar with Indian restaurants, but there is a Mediterranean restaurant near UMKC called Sahara. I love Sahara.
Mark Hastert
1 year ago“In Leinberger’s imaginary world, we would all live in dense communities, where riding a bicycle to work or to the store would be commonplace.”
Read more here: http://voices.kansascity.com/entries/evil-suburbs-deserve-more-respect/#storylink=cpy
It’s not imaginary, it’s Brookside, or Quality Hill, or any of the other livable neighborhoods that were built around pedestrian traffic. These are life style choices each with their own distinct characteristics.
And no, Kay I don’t think that anyone who chooses to live in or advocate for an urban environment is trying to destroy the US, sheesh. Where do you get this stuff? Time to put the tin foil back on your head.
Mark Hastert
1 year ago“I think you would find the ‘burbs satisfying….”
Read more here: http://voices.kansascity.com/entries/evil-suburbs-deserve-more-respect/#storylink=cpy
George, there’s a reason they call it Over-bland Park, Argh-Argh! Just teasing…
Steven Fetter
66223
1 year agoI have lived in NY, Philly, and the ATL. Overland Park is by far, the nicest, cleanest, safest, and friendliest place I have ever lived.
To each their own. We are blessed to have so many housing options. This is what is great about America.
George Hunsucker
Northland
1 year agoWe haven’t lived in the area that long so truly don’t know….
Why is it that KC generally seems to dislike OP? Is it jealousy? I don’t live in OP since we wanted to be closer to grandkids, but it seems an awesome place to live, so why the vitriol????
Must be another lib thing I don’t understand.
Matthew Nugent
1 year agoThis is really interesting (and I apologize in advance for being longwinded). Essentially, Leinbarger made a design argument, that density=good. Suburban life would be improved with more conservative land use, better transit options, more walkability, etc. These are all pretty standard new urbanism talking points and have been for years. However, the takeaway from Rose’s viewpoint is that density=city=bad. And the counterargument he makes is basically affluence-based: we have less crime, we have better schools, we have a better quality of life in Johnson County than do people in Kansas City. Nobody can rationally argue against the first two points, and, quality of life being in the eye of the beholder, I’m not touching the third point. But you can see that these guys are more or less talking past each other. What this exposed, inadvertently, is everyone’s biases about the word “urban”. It can mean so many things –good and bad - to so many people, that I am stupefied that planners (oops, I almost called then urban planners) insist on continuing to use it. It’s an incredibly divisive word manages to take traditional design elements like walkability and town centers, and connote them with blight and poverty. Planners, especially in the Midwest, need to do a better job of understanding how much this language matters when talking to people who for whatever reason chose to live away from “urban”. Rose, though, doesn’t offer much of a counter argument and basically leads Johnson County on a victory lap. He may not like the idea of living in midtown Kansas City, but that isn’t much of a rebuttal to Leinbarger’s ideas. Leinbarger wasn’t advocating increased crime and poorer schools in Johnson County, but, in a bit of a strawman argument, Rose responded as if he did. Clearly Rose likes some of the ideas Leinbarger advocates for – he singles out a local suburban walkable development for praise – which makes the ‘how dare you’ tone of the column baffling.