"I'm going to live in Lombard." <pause> (Chicago: condo, townhomes)

[sbd78]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

rgb123, your arguments are not convincing. To say that a town of 5000 people that blows up into a suburb of 60,000 people still maintains its original character is just ridiculous. It's not immature to rip on the bland landscape of the ex-urbs. It's about wanting more out of life.

Honestly, Oak Brook, Lombard, and the lot are all the same to me. So yeah, Oak Brook has a better mall and lots of stores--that you can easily drive to from other suburbs! For anyone to think they are somehow better than another person based on the municipality their house is in is really ridiculous. I don't understand it. But I do understand being repulsed by the entire suburban experience, and I'm just wondering if that's the "pause" the OP is hearing when she says she's moving to Lombard. And that's why I asked what line of work she was in, because there are some professions that seem to have more disdain for the suburbs than others.

You say, "For anyone to think they are somehow better than another person based on the muncipality their house is in is really ridiculous", yet you seem to imply you are somehow better for living in the city as opposed to any of the burbs. I personally think its ridiculous to debate whether the city or suburbs is better. Different things work for different people in different points of their lives. I lived in the city for 5 years after college, and loved it. I was single, enjoying the great nightlife, trendy restaurants, and shopping in the urban boutiques Chicago has to offer. Now I'm married, living in the suburbs, and have a 1 1/2 year old child. Living in the city was great before, because I had different priorities then. Now that I have a small child, I very rarely go to trendy restaurants or nightclubs and bars, I never shop in trendy boutiques, and trying to walk to the grocery store or wait for a bus in the middle of winter with a toddler just doesn't make sense. I'm glad I experienced it while I did, but now a yard for my child to play, decent schools, and more bang for my housing dollar is a lot higher on my priority list. I feel quite fulfilled with the life I have now and wouldn't change it for the world. So if wanting more out of life to you means spending your entire life in the city, then I'm glad you found your niche that makes you happy. But just because someone makes the decision to live in the "repulsive" burbs doesn't make the city dwellers somehow better.

[Lookout Kid]

Suburbanites are so sensitive about the differences between their sprawel cornfield subdivisions. When I say Oak Brook and Lombard are all the same to me, I'm saying that I dislike them equally--even though one is regarded as prestigious in some circles. In the end, you are all living in the same isolated bland automobile-centered landscape. It doesn't matter if you dress up your drywall boxes with a bunch of gaudy architectural features and add a lot of meaningless square footage that you don't use! You still live in a sea of useless lawns, bad landscaping, cul-de-sacs, feeder roads, and strip malls. So the Oak Brook strip mall has a Room and Board and the Lombard Stip Mall has a Wickes? If that's a meaningful difference to you, then you deserve to live there.

I don't think I'm better for living in the city... I live in a very non-prestigious neighborhood. I just think I'm having a better time and a more enriching life experience!

Aw crap, who am I kidding. I'll see you in Lombard when my kids reach junior high!

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

Suburbanites are so sensitive about the differences between their sprawel cornfield subdivisions. When I say Oak Brook and Lombard are all the same to me, I'm saying that I dislike them equally--even though one is regarded as prestigious in some circles. In the end, you are all living in the same isolated bland automobile-centered landscape. It doesn't matter if you dress up your drywall boxes with a bunch of gaudy architectural features and add a lot of meaningless square footage that you don't use! You still live in a sea of useless lawns, bad landscaping, cul-de-sacs, feeder roads, and strip malls. So the Oak Brook strip mall has a Room and Board and the Lombard Stip Mall has a Wickes? If that's a meaningful difference to you, then you deserve to live there

Youre generalizing a few cookie-cutter burbs to the many old and historic ones. If you want to go by date of build, homes out here are better than the ones in the city that were built at the same time. Dont try and pull that crap saying that all suburbs are strip malls and drywall boxes, that dont fly with me nor anyone else who truly knows the suburbs.

[deegers]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

Aw crap, who am I kidding. I'll see you in Lombard when my kids reach junior high!

Ha! you cracked! I saw it! You know you would love it when the time comes, you know it!

It's ok everyone, this one will come over to the dark side. Just give it time...

[rgb123]

honestley, yeah it kinda sounds like maybe you don't know the area all that well.

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

Suburbanites are so sensitive about the differences between their sprawel cornfield subdivisions. When I say Oak Brook and Lombard are all the same to me, I'm saying that I dislike them equally--even though one is regarded as prestigious in some circles. In the end, you are all living in the same isolated bland automobile-centered landscape. It doesn't matter if you dress up your drywall boxes with a bunch of gaudy architectural features and add a lot of meaningless square footage that you don't use! You still live in a sea of useless lawns, bad landscaping, cul-de-sacs, feeder roads, and strip malls. So the Oak Brook strip mall has a Room and Board and the Lombard Stip Mall has a Wickes? If that's a meaningful difference to you, then you deserve to live there.

I don't think I'm better for living in the city... I live in a very non-prestigious neighborhood. I just think I'm having a better time and a more enriching life experience!

Aw crap, who am I kidding. I'll see you in Lombard when my kids reach junior high!

[M TYPE X]

Lombard .............. that's like Glen Ellyn ........... except it's not. It's like you were on Roosevelt Road, and kept going, because you missed I-355. It's like, you haven't seen enough downwardly mobile strip malls in your life, so you were going "on tour."

So ........... how many rocks in Oak Brook are from Westmont? Do the POLICE know about this?

[read this with a Peter Griffin drawl and it sounds funny.]

[ham727]

Oh my! What a response I got! As the OP, I think I left a few things out of my original post that might be important to know. I'm from the Detroit area and have been interviewing in the Chicago area (in advertising/marketing communications, for the person that asked that) and looking for a place for our family to live. We don't live in Illinois right now, we still live in Michigan, so we're just trying to get a handle on the different suburbs of Chicago.

This whole suburb vs. city thing is SO strange to me because, in Detroit, no one lives downtown (well, very few, let's just say). It's NOT safe, it's not cool, it's not hip....the suburbs are the place to be out here. We go into Detroit for a football, baseball, or hockey game, or maybe the art museum, the opera, or a concert, and leave immediately afterwards to go back to the suburbs.

To me, coming from a place like the Detroit area, Lombard has a lot of character. Right now, in Michigan, we REALLY live in a generic suburb compared to Lombard, Wheaton, Elmhurst, for example. We don't even have a downtown in my town. And that's the case with most of the burbs around here. So, I guess, I'm coming into the Chicago area with a Detroit mindset.

Plus, the economy is SO bad here, that there are 3-4 houses on every block in foreclosure. People can't sell their homes, so they just walk away and foreclose and move out of state. Anyhow, when we visit the Chicago area we see buildings going up, progress being made, houses being sold, people who HAVE JOBS! Oops....I think I'm getting off the topic...

Thanks for all your responses. We can't wait to relocate to Lombard!

~Nancy

[Steve-o]

Well, best of luck in your adventures here! Its sad to see MI in such bad shape, its a gorgeous state. I hope it turns around quick, its a great place to live when things are going good.

[HOWELL_STREET]

In an earlier thread, to answer the comments to the 'op', we were talking about why the CEO had a 'pause'.

A company owner, CEO, or one's boss has to consider the worse case scenarios at ALL times. As an example, consider the situation at Motorola, right now. IF you don't know what is happening there, then read the business section of the Chicago Tribune for today (DEC. 1, 2007).

So it is my opinion that Ham727's CEO was thinking about the situation in which Ham727 perhaps could not commute to work under severe winter conditions.

An employee does not consider this in the same 'light' as a CEO. At worse, somebody stuck in Chicago during a severe storm, either sits on the floor of a railroad station (look at how many times this has happened at O' Hare) - - or he tries to find a hotel room after everyone has rented them all. The boss has schedules to keep and can't do it if the employees are stranded.

Such a situation only happens one time with an individual employee and then it becomes top priority in one's mind.

So as a suggestion to Ham727, set up a 'possibles' bag at your office desk. Keep personal items such as tooth paste, blanket, etc. Also keep a reserve of about $200 in cash (in case the credit card network is down). All of this is in case 'you' can't find a $82 room for rent because the Chicago stampede has occured and they are all rented out.

Another very good thing to do is to request the free book from FEMA, "Are You Ready"? Look it up on FEMA's web site. It is 'free'.

Why do I promote all of this? Because I am a retired CERT member in Milton Township, Illinois. CERT means "Community Emergency Response Team".

In the end, it is your own choice and so I am finished with this subject. I have no interest in arguing about it.

Carter Glass

[Lookout Kid]

Alright, I have the answer to your original question now that you mention your line of work. My wife is in that industry--at a large advertising agency in town--and there is DEFINITELY an anti-suburb bias in that profession. Most of my wife's boss's bosses who don't live in the city will live in older suburbs like Oak Park, and the real higher ups go with established North Shore suburbs like Winnetka or Lake Forest. There are people who make $700,000 a year living in very small older houses, so there is a different set of priorities at work there. And nearly every childless person who works there will have an anti-suburb bend. The youngin's are mostly these designer/hipster types, so you will know where they will be... They even discriminate based on the city neighborhood you live in. It's like New York in that respect. You can't be a young hipster living in Lincoln Park, and even the old hipster haven of Wicker Park/Bucktown is too yuppie to be cool enough anymore. No, they choose to suffer by living in a higher crime "more real" neighborhood like Humboldt Park, Logan Square, or Pilsen.

It's ridiculous, but this is the world you are entering into. Since you have kids, I'm assuming you won't be at the designer level, and will perhaps be more of a Creative Director, Account Director, or Project Manager? Either way, you will feel like a babysitter working with these hip 20-somethings. It's a really strange industry. My wife is in her mid-thirties, and she is one of the old ones now.