Flossmoor

[suburban_boy]

People are too quick to give up on areas that still have life. People act like the entire South Suburbs is on it's way to becoming Englewood. Most of the cities still have a strong core of working/middle class people along with good working/poor people. Sure you have some riff raff, but crime can be nipped in the bud if people would just take more action.

Business will come to the area, but if we stop supporting the ones that are already here then why would any businesses want to move here? Why are people ripping River Oaks? Just because an area doesn't have a Whole Foods or Traders Joes (both rip-offs) shouldn't make it undesirable. What ever happened to building a community. Nowadays, people want the amenities and opportunities already in place instead of taking the time to created them own their own. I personally don't care if their isn't a Trader Joes, Abercrombie and Fitch, Forever XXI, Nordstroms or IKEA in my community (That's why I have a car).If rich or poor people would just put their resources together, with a little vision, they can either bring those stores to their cities or create ones just like them. I personally like the small town feel where local business are all concentrated in a small downtown. Don't get me wrong, I like the store mentioned above, but I think the local mom-and-pop establihments brings a certain type of charm to a city and gives it more value. That's why I like suburbs like Homewood and Lansing, e.g.

[allen2323]

Originally Posted by knighthood82

I know that dealerships everywhere are closing but when they make up a large part of the landscape of a town it's especially bad. When a medium size town loses 5 or 6 of them in a small amount of time it certainly can be a sign of decline. Midlothian has the same thing going on right now. You dont see this happening at the same degree in Tinley Park or Orland Park. Most of the new car dealerships on 159th St there are still intact with new ones joining them.

The dealerships in orland park and tinley park are obviously still selling cars and making enough money to stay in business. The matteson auto mall also seems to be doing good. Foreign brands and luxury auto brands are not being affected as much. South holland lost it's american brand dealerships just like many other places. But the foreign brand car dealerships right next to south holland in calumet city around river oaks mall seem to be doing good also.

[allen2323]

Originally Posted by urza216

I never see any boarded up bussinesses in Orland. It's so heavily supported by so many people. Maybe people should be supporting nearby Lincoln Highway or nearby River Oaks Center Drive instead of putting thier money into Orland.

And just for the record, most of downtown Orland is majority white. The neighorhoods are almost 100% white.

I agree, how do you think places like Orland Park, tinley park, and frankfort get so much more retail than suburbs like matteson? It really isn't about the changing racial makeup in some areas from a retailers standpoint completely, because the median incomes haven't changed. In fact the median incomes have gone up in areas like matteson, country club hills, homewood, olympia fields, and flossmoor. And, are even higher in some cases than orland, tinley park, or frankfort. How many affluent homeowners do you see living in these areas both white and black? So, where is all of the retail at? If people stopped wasting there gas to drive all the way out to orland, tinley, and frankfort to do most of there shopping that they could do closer to home we would see alot more upmarket coporate retail stores opening in our own areas. It seems that most whites and even more than a few blacks prefer driving all the way to orland, tinley, and frankfort to spend there money. So retailers in turn get the best of both worlds by building everything out there in one large retail area. Then everyone blames the decline in retail on the blacks when really it has all to do with the money that is being consumed in orland park, tinley park, and frankfort by our affluent white residents and even some of our affluent blacks residents. Driving to orland, tinley, and frankfort to buy furniture, cars, eat at restaurants, and buy all of your clothing. Then these same people have the nerve to complain about how all the retail is moving to orland and how the stores are starting to look so GHETTO around Matteson, licoln mall or whatever because it is only blacks who are shopping there. The area around riveroaks in calumet city is alot less affluent but majority of it's middle class population shops in the area so they have a nice shopping area that is very comparable to other areas with the same income makeup. If blacks are the problem then how does calumet city (which is less middle class with a median household income of $48,000) and it's surrounding areas that are way less affluent and have way fewer WHITES able to have a more vibrant retail area than matteson and it's surrounding areas? Because, river oaks is in a less affluent area but still middle class and all of the residents in the surrounding area shop there instead wasting gas. Lincoln mall doesn't even have a Macy's like river oaks has and the median household income in some of matteson's surrounding areas are double that of river oak's surrounding areas. How can you have vibrant retail in a community if over half the residents choose to do most of there shopping somewhere else other than where they live?