Waukegan lakefront (Chicago, Elgin, Lake Bluff: theater, school, university)

[middle-aged mom]

Originally Posted by Alexus

I don't think Barrington has anything to worry about from the outflux.

The least of my concerns.

There are no easy answers to these urban-suburban problems, anywhere.
Poverty-gangs-drugs go hand in hand and have destsroyed many communities, throughout the U.S. Revitalizing one area poisons another. I sadly, have no answer to this.

[Don Vito]

Once you get past lake bluff it all really just seems to start going down hill.

[LexusNexus]

Originally Posted by nanannie

A lovely improved, enlarged park/marina would be an easier,less expensive goal. Even some nice condos added to the picture. Everyone loves the lakefront, its a shame about the eyesore Waukegans is.

I do have lofty goals, I admit. But I think the city is deserving of such. Ray Bradbury is from Waukegan. Waukegan is where I learned how to play the violin, where I played Beethoven, Handel, and Bach while overlooking the lakefront from the den of my music teacher's Sheridan Rd home. It is the place where some of the greatest people that I have ever known lived. At one time, Waukegan had immense character, a place of quiet quality.

A major world-class university would transform that city ilke you can't imagine. Waukegan really is a very unique place for those with the appreciation of its history and a vision to bring out the true nature of the place.

It really is a goal I have.

[aragx6]

Keep playin' that lottery then Alexus, I'll be waiting for Waukegan U.

[GoCUBS1]

Originally Posted by Alexus

I do have lofty goals, I admit. But I think the city is deserving of such. Ray Bradbury is from Waukegan. Waukegan is where I learned how to play the violin, where I played Beethoven, Handel, and Bach while overlooking the lakefront from the den of my music teacher's Sheridan Rd home. It is the place where some of the greatest people that I have ever known lived. At one time, Waukegan had immense character, a place of quiet quality.

A major world-class university would transform that city ilke you can't imagine. Waukegan really is a very unique place for those with the appreciation of its history and a vision to bring out the true nature of the place.

It really is a goal I have.

Alexus, Count me in for support. Seriously.

I also grew up in Waukegan and, although it has changed ALOT, I have many fond memories. In high school, I took a writing seminar with Ray Bradbury... amazing. Waukegan was also the home of Jack Benny and there has always been a thriving theater community there. The Genessee Theatre has recently been renovated and there are some great headliners...

Waukegan really provided me with a wonderful multi-cultural education as a kid - my friends were white, black, hispanic, rich, poor, etc. People of great character. I thought everyone lived this way until I got to college.

We also had so much fun on the lakefront and at nearby Illinois State Beach. I'll never forget the opening of smelt fishing season with my dad on the Waukegan pier.

BTW, there actually was a small college in Waukegan (Shimer College) and my dad taught some classes there... Maybe you should work to expand it to a university?

I do think Waukegan is primed for revitalization... Now's the time to buy...

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p.s. Just found out that Shimer College was moved to the IIT Campus in Chicago. I obviously haven't been to the Waukegan Shimer campus in years. Too bad - it was a really unique campus based on the Great Books/Socratic teaching method.
Another loss for Waukegan...

[lakecountylifer]

Waukegan U? LOL.

A lakefront University providing opportunitites of higher learning to residents (i.e non-students). What has Loyola (literally in the lakefront) done to clean up Rogers Park? Campus crime is regularly in the news. Hmmmmmmm....

The Lake County I know wants its McDonalds staffed, its lawns manicured, its gas stations attended, its houses cleaned, etc. etc.-----Where do the fine residents of Lake County want these low income/low skill employee's who serve their needs to live???? Siberia?

People crying about Waukegan not being affluent need to understand that if you don't provide low cost areas for low income people to live, you might need to flip your own burgers. $8 an hour isn't going to allow someone to buy a $400,000 townhome in Deerfield or attend Waukegan U. Unfortunately, Waukegan is what it is, unless you want to change the economic system (i.e start paying $12 for your cafe latte????)...

[Incognito Mosquito]

Originally Posted by middle-aged mom

Pray tell, where might all those lower income and uneducated people, go?

Perhaps another approach would be that such a redeveloped area might offer better opportunities and education for lower income people than may currently exist.

Middle-Aged Mom, save your breath. From the sound of it (left town over 30 years ago, pie-in-the-sky dreams) Alexus is an old fuddy duddy who's out of touch with reality. Blame poor people for being poor, yea that sounds like the attitude we want in the leader of a world class university, maybe you should head this venture up yourself Alexus.

[LexusNexus]

Originally Posted by lakecountylifer

Waukegan U? LOL.

A lakefront University providing opportunitites of higher learning to residents (i.e non-students). What has Loyola (literally in the lakefront) done to clean up Rogers Park? Campus crime is regularly in the news. Hmmmmmmm....

The Lake County I know wants its McDonalds staffed, its lawns manicured, its gas stations attended, its houses cleaned, etc. etc.-----Where do the fine residents of Lake County want these low income/low skill employee's who serve their needs to live???? Siberia?

People crying about Waukegan not being affluent need to understand that if you don't provide low cost areas for low income people to live, you might need to flip your own burgers. $8 an hour isn't going to allow someone to buy a $400,000 townhome in Deerfield or attend Waukegan U. Unfortunately, Waukegan is what it is, unless you want to change the economic system (i.e start paying $12 for your cafe latte????)...

Waukegan is 45 miles from Chicago so Loyola and Chicago really are irrelevant here. In fact, of the schools in the Chicago area, only University of Chicago would be the only university able to compete with a university of this magnitude. Imagine scientists and scholars who would much more prefer the quiet quality of a small town over the hectic rat race that is Chicago. This university could capture any segment, perhaps be a fertile ground for the development of emerging technologies, working in collaboration with increasingly more influential areas of the world such as India and China. How about a college within the university that has a musical development program that rivals Julliard in NYC? It develops classical musicians on the same magnitude. Maybe the university has a college that specializes in high technology, tweaking and discovering the emerging research interests in computer science, software, artificial intelligence, robotics, and graphics. I'm talking about a university with a top law school, medical school, and business school. Such a university would attract scholars and students from around the world and the country and transform Waukegan from a place with thinking that far transcends the "it is what it is" mindset that has caused the place to regress over the years.

The revenue generated from this university provides an incredible boost to the city, making subsidizing housing for low income residents more likely. Right now, the town is spinning its wheels, lacking a vision for how to transform the place. The city has an incredible lakefront and not a clue what to do with it. This is simply one idea.

You have a better one let's hear it? The "it is what it is" comment however is a clue that you don't have any.

[LexusNexus]

Originally Posted by Incognito Mosquito

Middle-Aged Mom, save your breath. From the sound of it (left town over 30 years ago, pie-in-the-sky dreams) Alexus is an old fuddy duddy who's out of touch with reality. Blame poor people for being poor, yea that sounds like the attitude we want in the leader of a world class university, maybe you should head this venture up yourself Alexus.

My friend, I am far from a "old fuddy duddy" and the reason why poor people are poor really should be the topic of another thread. The idea here is a world-class university in Waukegan. Maybe the reason that Waukegan has become "what it is" is because of the calloused, downtrodden mindset that I'm reading here from some of you. My God, wake up! Lose the sourness and pessimism. It's obvious you haven't a clue what type of town Waukegan was.

You know nothing about me. But my idea is just that right now. An idea. It does help to leave an area and get an outside perspective. I have done just that and perhaps Waukegan has allowed the lakefront to go undeveloped because the area has regressed and is now inhabited by people with no spirit who don't care to dream but are simply just trying to maintain while waiting to die.

I'm different. You have some novel ideas? Let's hear them.

[LexusNexus]

Originally Posted by middle-aged mom

The least of my concerns.

There are no easy answers to these urban-suburban problems, anywhere.
Poverty-gangs-drugs go hand in hand and have destsroyed many communities, throughout the U.S. Revitalizing one area poisons another. I sadly, have no answer to this.

The focus is not on solving the urban-suburban problem. The intent here is to develop a world-class university in a small town 45 miles from Chicago, a location with an incredible lakefront. This is most certainly going to positively impact Waukegan in a very big way. It would transform the city.

The poverty-gangs-drugs issue really belongs in another thread.