kyrie614

When we Kansas Citians elected our long-time city auditor, Mark Funkhouser as Mayor, we heard the inevitable "Gotta have that Funk!" and saw it plastered all over.

If his name is anything for it, West 39th Street is one of the funkiest places in Kansas City. It has plenty of trendy restaurants and shops, an award-winning pizza joint, coffee house, bars and nearby housing for the University of Kansas Medical Center. It's all lots of fun ... and funky.

As a downside, it's a very busy street. Lots of cars, not so much room.

Always a fun place to visit, getting around here is not always that easy. Living near here means parking headaches.

Gillham Plaza is an extension of Gillham Road through one of the centers of redevelopment in Kansas City. Distant from all the amenities, there is prime urban housing in recently renovated condos, a gym, a trendy coffee shop, a punk rock venue a convenience store and parks within walking distance of each other.

The street itself is short and does not carry much traffic. It is not in a residential area, though there are plenty of residences around. You are squarely in the city with a good view of Downtown.

The area is well-kept, pet-friendly and quite safe.

"The Paseo" as it is called is one of the biggest, and perhaps longest boulevards in Kansas City. It runs from Downtown to 63rd Street and has both good and bad areas. For the majority of its length it is well maintained and runs through a tree-lined canopy. In some places the two directions are separated by a huge median where children could safely play.

Areas to be recommended here are around Troost Lake (27th St), though this is not the best of areas and south of Cleaver Blvd where the street runs through a residential areas with large medians.

Paseo is somewhat isolated from businesses, shopping and food, though there are a few businesses along its length, that is the exception, not the rule.

Troost Ave is a reasonably safe street, but the look of it from Cleaver Blvd toward the North would make you wonder if some kind of disease had decimated the population. Vacant buildings and houses litter the street and there is always plenty of trash simply sitting about, not to mention the lack of upkeep by the city. It is safer than it looks, however.

Travel South of Cleaver Blvd and it is a completely different story, at least mostly. The street runs right through a beautifully kept Rockhurst University. As it travels into the outskirts of the city, it remains reasonably well maintained and safe.

As you go from Main Street toward the East along Armour Blvd, you see a number of very nice lookin apartment buildings which appear ritzy. This must be a nice areas of town, you tell yourself. Come back at night and it's a different story.

The road is well maintained and as with most boulevards in Kansas City, it runs through an almost park-like setting. In fact, its so idyllic that you don't even notice that there are high-rise apartments on the road unless you take a step back.

There is at least one complex, newly renovated, where the police seem to have a perpetual presence and a constant group of people loitering around.

It's an area that seems nice, but is nice to avoid at night.

Armour Blvd is a hidden gem in the middle of Kansas City. The western part of the road, West of Main St is short, but includes some very nice areas with plenty of residential development.

The houses are well kept, traffic is remarkably light for such a big street and it is a reasonably safe area, even if surrounding areas are not so safe or pretty.

Within a mile of Westport, two miles of the Plaza and Downtown, so there's easy access to food, shopping and other needs.

East Linwood Blvd runs to the Eastern side of Main Street. The city always seems to have trouble keeping it pothole free for more than a month ... that is when they're trying at all.

Generally, the street is quite safe between Main and US 71, and it is even well-maintained in some places, but there are a number of run down buildings and vacant lots along what could be a very nice street.

East Linwood used to run through the roughest part of the city, since US 71 was converted into a major highway, the worst of the crime and violence shifted to the East and is now near Prospect Ave. As you go East things become run down and then improve, but this is certainly a place where you would not want to spend your evenings unless you are very comfortable with the city.

Downtown Kansas City officially ends at 31st St, a major cross-city street through a park, a redevelopment district and then some reasonably safe, but run down blocks. Go a block South and you hit Linwood Blvd. It used to be a tree-lined a wide boulevard. It is now a major thoroughfare through town.

Linwood divides East and West at Main Street. The Western part is well maintained but a short couple of blocks and traffic here is either non-existent or a nightmare. Every evening there is typically at least one accident at W Linwood Blvd and Central St.

There are a few eating establishments around and a Home Depot and Costco here as well, but there is little if any residential development and it's clear your in the middle of Kansas City here.

On the up side, you are very close to the Plaza, plenty of shopping and food on Main Street and also quite close to Westport, where dining and night life are the specialty.

It's not hard to believe that Harry Truman owned property along Karnes Blvd and the surrounding streets. The street is wide, tree-lined and is a beautiful example of how a neighborhood in a city can be designed well.

Karnes also runs through a park which separates the 39th Street shopping and dining experience near the KU Medical Center from a fully residential areas known as Coleman Highlands.

The park at the bottom of Karnes includes a football field, sand volleyball court and a community center.

The road and park along it are well-maintained, but during the winter and heavy rains the big hills here (who would have though there were big hills in the Midwest) are quite a bear. Karnes regularly floods out at the bottom during a heavy rain and it can be quite treacherous in the snow, though it can recover quickly from each. In the middle of the hot and humid Kansas City summers, the park at the bottom of Karnes is at least 10 degrees cooler and a perfect place to exercise in the hot weather.

The Coleman developments were one of the first organized residential projects in Kansas City. West Coleman Road is the backbone of this residential neighborhood. I've lived here for almost 3 years, and except a few sirens, you have the benefit of a safe neighborhood and clean streets.

It is also a place where you are within a mile of shopping, a hospital, Interstate 35, a community college, a great bar scene, some of the oldest parks in the city and easy access to Downtown.

House prices are steep here with an average house running near $300k, but having grown up in the suburbs, moving in here makes the things people hate about the city distant, and the things you love so close.

Brookside Blvd is an extension of Main Street from the Spanish-style Country Club Plaza to the center of the Brookside neighborhood, originally built as a small suburban shopping area.

The road runs South through a well-maintained park with a running path and then opens up to the shopping area near 63rd Street. Among the shops are a drug store, high-end grocer and a number of local restaurants. One of the highlights is The Roastery Café, a coffee shop owned and run by a Kansas City coffee roaster.

During the day the shopping area is bustling, and there are a few places open late enough to enjoy a beverage with some friends, but nights are much more quiet here than you find in others areas in town.