Why on earth would city folks move to suburbs (Chicago: home, rail)

[via chicago]

Originally Posted by supernerdgirl

haha, yeah at this rate that proposed line will probably NEVER happen, thanks to the inept people running this state. Metra's going to have a hard enough time keeping their current lines going.

Its definitely long range. If we can somehow snag the Olympics, hopefully that will get on the fast track, as well as the Circle line for the L.

[supernerdgirl]

Originally Posted by via chicago

Its definitely long range. If we can somehow snag the Olympics, hopefully that will get on the fast track, as well as the Circle line for the L.

I just want to keep my bus route, that's all I ask.

[Lookout Kid]

The Dutch example is a really good one. The Netherlands has done a great job of creating new suburban development that balances green space with appropriate density for mass transit. Of course, they are also limited by the fact that they often need to fill and drain land to make it habitable, so that probably helps them.

I would like to see an urban growth boundary managed by a regional planning authority with teeth. Portland established these in the 70s, and it has really helped that entire metropolitain area develop in a more responsible fashion.

[prinsessa]

[quote=bungalowdweller;2196407]

Originally Posted by BRU67

I personally think that ex-burbs are wasteful on many levels, encourage racial segregation. I also think their appeal is going to diminish over time as more and more minorities discover their benefits. QUOTE]

I wonder how much racial segregation is really racial in nature and not cultural.

No one questions when a Puerto Rican person wants to live in Humboldt Park or a Mexican person wants to live in Cicero. Quite often that person will say he/she wants to move there precisely because their group dominates the community and they want to contribute to their ethnic community. Why is it considered wrong when white people feel the same way?

Many young white ethnics have moved to exurbia because they no longer felt safe or welcome in their former communities. Whatever happened to freedom of association?

Is it morally wrong for people to choose to segregate based on race? If so, why are elite subdivisions in suburban Atlanta filled with black professionals considered desirable when towns like Naperville that are racially integrated but majority white criticized? Why is it that when whites choose to live together they are almost universally condemned as racist but when Asian, Black or Hispanics choose to do the same they are applauded?

As a person who has lived in major cities my entire life, I am NOT advocating discrimination in any form. I have spent most of my life in mixed communities. However, I believe that something is lost when people are not allowed to live where and with whom their conscience dictates.

I believe that many people move out, not because of color, but culture. It is not my culture to graffitti buildings, throw trash around, and race my car in the alley. This happens in my town. This is a culture of lawlessness which is encouraged by a certain segment of society. I have no further desire to work to "improve" my community when the majority like it just the way it is.

How many others move out for just the same cultural issues?

We had a discussion about this in one of my classes (a few year ago). One of my classmates was talking about Humboldt park (I think) and how white people were coming in and buying houses. Some people were saying that it wasn't right for white people to come in and change their neighborhood. So I asked if it was ok for white people to get mad if minorities came into their neighborhoods. She said it was different but couldn't tell me why it was different.

[bungalowdweller]

Yeah, there's never an explanation why it's different for white ethnics. Most of the current residents of Humboldt are too young to remember when it was Their ethnic group that came in and displaced the people who lived there before them. My great-uncle owned a Beautiful house directly across the street from Humboldt. I visited often as a kid and it was, most assuredly, Not Puerto Rican. EVERY ethnic group gets displaced by another. . .the beat goes on.

[j33]

[quote=prinsessa;2227140]

Originally Posted by prinsessa

We had a discussion about this in one of my classes (a few year ago). One of my classmates was talking about Humboldt park (I think) and how white people were coming in and buying houses. Some people were saying that it wasn't right for white people to come in and change their neighborhood. So I asked if it was ok for white people to get mad if minorities came into their neighborhoods. She said it was different but couldn't tell me why it was different.

I know a guy who live in Humboldt park and is in his 50's, he wanted to move back the the neighborhood his father was born in and has been given a hard time by a few of the people who live there now because of his ethnic background (he's white and his family is German, his grandparents were the ones that came over and were part of the reason it was called 'Humboldt Park to begin with ... it is a bit of a sore spot with him that he feels so unwelcome in his family's old neighborhood).

Neighborhoods change.

[supernerdgirl]

Originally Posted by via chicago

Its definitely long range. If we can somehow snag the Olympics, hopefully that will get on the fast track, as well as the Circle line for the L.

Now the Star line (and any more suburban transit expansion) is in even more jeopardy:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...ck=1&cset=true

The legislative deadlock over state funding for mass transit may jeopardize federal dollars for major commuter rail improvements in the Chicago region, two Illinois congressmen and the head of Metra warned Tuesday.

Illinois could lose up to $1.5 billion for the proposed expansion of Metra service, including the suburb-to-suburb STAR line; SouthEast Service to South Cook and Will Counties; and expansion of the Union Pacific Northwest and West lines into McHenry and DuPage Counties, U.S. Reps. Mark Kirk and Melissa Bean said.


YAY!

[aragx6]

Springfield bastards.

[j33]

I feel like this state is hell-bent on cutting of its nose to spite its face.

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by j33

I feel like this state is hell-bent on cutting of its nose to spite its face.

Thats a good way to put it, and rightly so!