Matteson Illinois (Chicago, Chicago Heights, Harvey: apartment, to rent, car insurance)

[Humboldt1]

Matteson may be as good as it is going to get for the south suburbs apart from areas such as Tinley Park and Orland Park.

It is certainly doing much better than many other communities that have transitioned from white to black, perhaps as most of the folks moving in are not poor, but middle class. I am on the fence about whether the influx will continue to be middle class blacks or lower class folk from the projects.

It will be interesting to see what an established community such as Matteson looks like in 5-10 years. I just hope it doesn't turn into Calumet City as I stated before. I see the probability of this happening as about 50/50.

What is the per capita income in Matteson compared to say Tinley Park and Orland Park? Tinely Park is probably more fair of a comparison.

Most of the new home developments we looked at financing were tract developments south of Matteson closer to Kankakee and Bourbonais.

[vester72]

Regarding Matteson, I am in the area and have been around the area for the past 20-25 years and it is not what is used to be. Lincoln Mall is dying, trying to be revived with the Target and JC Penney (even though they are not part of the mall itself), but it is a wreck.

The Toys R Us is a disaster and the Menards can't keep cooper in stock due to thefts - the repeatedly catch people throwing cooper pipes over the back wall trying to steal them. The Home Depot had a few brand new lawn mower tractors (the big ones) stolen right off the loading dock - this is not an isolated incident and theft is very high there.

Go down Lincoln Highway - a little East of the mall and those strip malls are a total disaster - depressing to see.

The new subdivisions West of I-57 - I forget the names - have foreclosure rates in the 25%-35% range.

It is really unfortunate - has potential but there are just so many problems it will never be what it aspires to be.

Maybe we all have different ideas of what "nice" is - I consider Orland Square Mall and the surrounding retail nice places, along with the obvious Oak Brook, Northbrook, Old Orchard, Woodfield, etc. Matteson is not even close.

[ParkForester]

Vester

A foreclosure rate of 25%-30%? Did not know that.

The only thing I can't stand about Matteson is it's city council. It seems like they hate each other. Other than that, I've got no beef with the area.

[vester72]

In all fairness, foreclosure rates are insane in a lot of places, not just Matteson. There were about 170 in Orland last year and about 150 in Frankfort so that statistic is not all that telling - but point to a bigger issue in banking that we have all seen the results of, and some people will feel for years, which is terrible.

[Humboldt1]

Vester,

I agree with your assessment of Matteson from what I have seen during my business meetings there.

The whole housing thing is not going to help outlying communities as foreclosures rates climb and people with 100% financing walk away from properties rather than make their payments.

All outlying communities, regardless of race mix will suffer because of the liquidity crunch in banking due to subprime mortgages, ARM resets, and declining equity in homes.

However, I saw declines in Matteson 2-3 years ago, long before the whole housing recession. The housing recession certainly isn't helping things but I would argue there are other issues in Matteson bringing the area down besides housing recession.

[vester72]

Originally Posted by Humboldt1

I would argue there are other issues in Matteson bringing the area down besides housing recession.

That is very true - I did not mean to make it sound as if housing issues were the cause - the decline started a long time ago.

True leadership needed at Matteson school board meetings :: The SouthtownStar :: Editorials (broken link)

Craziness - issues like these help to destroy communities. - without good schools and leadership, who wants to live there?

[JerichoHW]

Don't blame African Americans for the crime in Matteson. Blame the white flight, It seems that if white people to the time to get along Matteson would be a real great place. It does make me real sad to see these people move like once a year because someone from a minority moves into the neighborhood.

[Humboldt1]

I don't blame the white people who are moving out for increases in crime. This is silly.

I blame those who are committing the crimes for the crime.

I am not familiar with the crime stats on Mattesson though I am sure someone can produce them.

If the criminals committing the crimes are white I blame them. If the criminals committing the crimes are black I blame them. If the criminals committing the crimes are hispanic I blame them. I would blame the asians if they were the ones committing the crimes.

Who is committing most of the crimes? I honestly don't know this statistic.

[vester72]

Originally Posted by JerichoHW

Don't blame African Americans for the crime in Matteson. Blame the white flight, It seems that if white people to the time to get along Matteson would be a real great place. It does make me real sad to see these people move like once a year because someone from a minority moves into the neighborhood.

Why are white people needed to make it a real great place? Regardless of race, places can be nice or not so nice - it is not the color of people's skin, it is the community leadership, involvement, school administration, parent involvement, pride in your home and neighborhood - and vigilance with close relations with the police to keep criminals out of the area. Black, white, yellow, brown - everyone can do this and lack of one race or the other should not make a difference.

[JerichoHW]

Originally Posted by vester72

Why are white people needed to make it a real great place? Regardless of race, places can be nice or not so nice - it is not the color of people's skin, it is the community leadership, involvement, school administration, parent involvement, pride in your home and neighborhood - and vigilance with close relations with the police to keep criminals out of the area. Black, white, yellow, brown - everyone can do this and lack of one race or the other should not make a difference.

Thank You, Why cant we all just get along!!