I am Moving to Oak Park (Berwyn, Bellwood: neighborhood, good schools, living in)

[kindrakindra]

Where is the Oak Park traffic? What am I missing? The town is 3 miles long and 1.5 miles wide. Barring a snowstorm or crazy rain event, the traffic is virtually non-existent for in town trips. (Yes, take side streets at rush hour, and not Harlem). That's a huge plus for Oak Park, especially compared to Lakeview in Chicago or even La Grange. Plus, there's no train that runs through town stopping up traffic all the time, like La Grange.

OP, what size is your dog? I have 20 something friends that live in a newer high rise on Harlem north of Lake, above Trader Joe's. They have two little dogs and parking. They love that area because they can walk to the gym (FFC and the Y), bars and restaurants in Oak Park, bars and restauarants in neighboring Forest Park, the library, several parks, the Metra and the el. Here is the building.

http://www.whitecoresidential.com/oakpark.htm

[oakparkdude]

When we were looking at apartments several years ago we searched for pet-free buildings due my wife's severe allergies. Unfortunately for us, but good for you, there weren't very many such buildings.

Regarding Oak Park Place apartments mentioned in the previous post, its a lovely, high-end, new construction building (elevator building, central a/c, in-unit laundry, granite counter tops, rooftop lounge/deck), but likely out of the price range mentioned by the original poster.

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by urza216

I don't think I've ever been to Elmhurst (and if I have, I've only passed through it..) But this was definitely not the pie chart I was expecting.

But if it's anything like Naperville, the pie chart is surprising after seeing the area with your own two eyes, lol

Believe it or not, Elmhurst now has an elementary school that's majority Hispanic and 40% low income...

Illinois Interactive Report Card

Having grown up there, it's hard to believe but it is what it is. I think we'll start seeing more and more suburbs previously thought to be "homogeneous" start having to recognize the same thing.

[Shoboshky]

Wow thank you guys soo very much, We have one Dog he is 25 LBS and 1 Cat. Thank you for the information on the apartment. We will be calling there tomorrow and looking at the price range !

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by oakparkdude

Speaking of bizzarro recommendations...

All those towns have parks that are perfectly fine for taking a walk with a little dog. The OP did not mention anything about any special desire / need for diversity or anything else that would make Oak Park a better choice. Granted, none of them have quite the "panache" of Oak Park, nor do those towns likely to have the same "mindshare" of folks looking to move to a suburb because of the reputation of its schools, though the OP does not seem to have much interest in those qualities...

The relative traffic volumes and associated delays that one experiences getting to/from a home in Oak Park from/to a job in Oak Brook are well documented. The fact that the major expressway (Eisenhower) that links the two is horribly undersized has led to proposals from IDOT to widen expressway to which Oak Park has countered with requests (? pipedreams...) to deck over the expressway to increase parkland...

If one has ever been at the Harlem or Austin ramps that serve Oak Park and Oak Brook from the Eisenhower the back-ups often leave cars stopped on the expressway itself. That is function not of Oak Park's footprint/boundaries but the number of people commuting via cars. Oak Park may be a fairly compact community, and it does have pretty good transit options for points to the east, but anyone that lives there and works west (which is probably a significant percentage of residents) they have to drive. If folks encourage others to drive they are just making the pollution and traffic woes worse. Complicating the mayhem if the fact the Eisenhower eixts are left lane exits. Even if one were to use Roosevelt of other route south of Oak Park to get from Oak Brook the limited number of cross-over through streets would result in large numbers of vehicles funneled through a limited number of options. Once one gets onto Harlem or Austin it is not uncommon for the lights at the interchanges themselves to require multiple cycles fo backed up traffic. Similarly the efforts to which certain residents have gone to "concentrate" traffic onto arterial streets means it is difficult get through the business district without getting stopped by multiple lights. In contrast towns that have similar traffic volumes are likely to have much wider streets and traffic control devices designed to foster higher speeds instead of building congestion / frustration.

In short, even if one envisions themselves frequently stopping home from work and then "going for a night out" in Chicago I would suggest that for someone working in Oak Brook the towns in my list may afford folks an easier commute. Instead of dealing with 30+ minutes of snarled traffic one could be home in 10 minutes, have plenty of time to eat either in one's own home or one of those town's local eateries, then head into Chicago after the worst of rush hour traffic is clear.

I don't think that is "bizzaro" so much as prudent...

(adding most of these comments for those who really do not understand just how many options there are for folks working in Oak Brook and unaware of the range of nearby 'burbs...)

[chitownperson]

IDOT's plan to widen 290 was at the expense of essential public transport services. You mention the added pollution with more car on the road by people encouraged to drive? Well, cutting the blue line to add another line would for sure add more drivers on the road. Think of all the people in south Oak Park (a much larger volume bases on the density of apartment and condo buildings in that section of the village) that would be affected, and be forced to drive, further adding to the pollution and congestion that's already on 290. The whole concept for a lot of the farther out suburbs are based on driving... It's exhausting enough trying to walk through Oak Brook Mall let alone navigating the surrounding geography without a car. Extending more public transport options west would do more than IDOT's half minded plan.

[chet everett]

I neither support nor oppose any effort of IDOT to widen 290, further I hold no particular opinion on the value of increased transit to the western suburbs.

I am merely stating that it is well known that the volume of vehicular traffic that attempts to commute west from Oak Park is far greater than the design capacity of the expressway. Together with the fact there are currently poor options for public transit to Oak Brook explains why / how the traffic between the two is terrible. Oak Brook is the eastern most suburb in DuPage Co, it was laid out between the towns that have Metra service and there are only weak attempts to link its employment areas to other transit options.

Folks that deny this simply do not acknowledge reality. Further, folks that encourage more people to engage in this sort of a car centric commute make the problem worse...

[JacksonPanther]

Originally Posted by chet everett

I am merely stating that it is well known that the volume of vehicular traffic that attempts to commute west from Oak Park is far greater than the design capacity of the expressway. Together with the fact there are currently poor options for public transit to Oak Brook explains why / how the traffic between the two is terrible. Oak Brook is the eastern most suburb in DuPage Co, it was laid out between the towns that have Metra service and there are only weak attempts to link its employment areas to other transit options.

Folks that deny this simply do not acknowledge reality. Further, folks that encourage more people to engage in this sort of a car centric commute make the problem worse...

You're not going to solve this problem by trying to point people to Hillside, or North Riverside. Not sure how you can recommend those towns, when in the past you have railed against Elmwood Park, which has pretty much the same issues, and probably access to better public schools.

This is really a first for me. In all my years on the Internet I cannot ever remember anyone recommending Hillside or North Riverside as viable options.

[chet everett]

The OP has very modest requirements -- someplacce to walk a small dog and close to job in Oak Brook. Hillside and North Riverside have deccent parks / access to Forest Preserves and easy drive via surface streets. The failure for people to consider them will probably lead to the spread of more blighted crime riddden areas...

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by chet everett

The failure for people to consider them will probably lead to the spread of more blighted crime riddden areas...

Truer words were never spoken. We seem, unsuprisingly given government policy over the past several decades, to have a mentality that communities are disposable, with everyone wanting to "move up" to the bigger and better thing. For decades, of course, that was largely car dependent exburbs. Many community areas in the City as well as inner-ring suburbs were allowed to decay and were left for dead as people followed the expressways further and further out.

Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on your viewpoint) increasing gasoline prices will probably force a rethinking of this mentality over the next 10-20 years.