Peak oil brings a bit of suburban bigotry to an end!!! We're in the last days of long commutes to Kansas City!!!

Believe it or not, there are some people who are still so scared of minorities that they live in the hinterland outskirts of Kansas City and drive more than to 100 miles everyday in order to work within the city limits and often downtown.

Whether these people like it or not, the days of driving more than 50 miles back and forth are at an end for middle-class workers. Like the rest of the American transportation scheme, highways and roads in Kansas City were built around the idea of cheap gas. That is no longer the case and smart cars aren't going to cut it.

On the bright side, this means that we might get some new (if unwilling) Kansas City residents. However, I have no idea where they're going to live if they're not the kind of people who can afford 500k condos . . . Which is all that's for sale around this basement dweller.

A recent post by the insufferable blog "Let's Go KC" relays some frightening news about the economic impact of housing choices. In a nutshell it reveals that it just costs too much to live out in the sticks when fuel costs could reach the equivalent of another mortgage payment for folks who are coming in from the outskirts of this town.

We all know these folks, and I'm sure there is a lot to be said for small town living but it's not hard to imagine that the lack of minorities in their hometowns was most likely a factor in their home buying choices. And it's not like I'm revealing any new facts here given that home prices in places like Olathe, Liberty, Leavenworth and Atchison are tumbling. Even worse, can you believe there are quite a few people who commute in from St. Joseph, Warrensburg and Belton and beyond?!?!?!?!

The word is out, the lifestyle is over and we're all going to have to get a lot more comfortable with our new neighbors who didn't really want to be in Kansas City in the first place.