Bloomington Vs Chicagoland (Geneva area) (Aurora, Naperville: apartments, rental, mobile home)

[llama214]

Originally Posted by jenrik2714

llama214
Yes certain parts of Aurora are bad, just like Chicago and Champaign-Urbana,and other big cities, but don't bash the whole town. I live in a good section of Aurora, IL--the DuPage County portion which is served by the Naperville Schools.

I get the best of both worlds--I am close to Naperville and Aurora.
Yes I have walked in Downtown Aurora and GUESS WHAT---I WASN'T EVEN HARRASSED. They are going to keep in safe because of the Casino. I patronize some of the stores in the area, the bridal stores on Broadway, Galena and Downer street, yes they are hispanic owned, but they treat you well and they give you good deals. I also go to the ethnic grocery stores down there and the flea market----it is not scary as people think. Ask me, I will tell you

Whoaa....sorry for the confusion!! I have no problem with Aurora. I meant the last statement as I really don't care much for Naperville. Sorry for the offense. Certain parts of Aurora are beautiful. Nice history too. Wish my city could say that it was the first in the state to have lights.

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by llama214

Ok, you keep putting claim that you live Chicago. Whenever I listen to your radio stations this seems to be hot button issue up there. Perhaps you should flip the station tomorrow on your way to work. People from Chicago don't put claim to towns like Aurora and Naperville, but the opposite seems to be recipricated constantly. And to tell the truth, if I lived in some nice Chicago highrise, I would laugh if someone from Geneva that said that they lived in Chicago. Unless you are visiting Florida and someone asks you where you live, maybe it works then, but even then, I don't think I would won't to put claim to the city. I've known people that lived in the 'burbs' their whole lives, but never once stepped foot in the city. They are not the same. All of those pics you put up are nice, but are not where you live. If that is the case then I'll go back to Indy and take some pics and post them as if I am part of the city. That would be like someone from Champaign saying, yeah we live in Bloomington. It just doesn't work that way. Everything you described, that wasn't in Chicago proper, we have. So please, don't insult my intelligence when my argument was that we have the easier way of life then lets say a Naperville, but have the same stuff. Of course we don't have Chicago, but that wasn't the argument. I would stop while you are ahead with putting claim to the city. Unless you live there, then you honestly can't say that.

Never said I lived there, but I love the city and usually end up downtown once or twice a month because Im close and because I can. Ive lived all over the area (Wheaton, West Chicago, St. Charles, Naperville, far out in Sycamore and Dixon/Oregon). Would I want to live in Chicago? Only if I worked there. Im in the city every chance I get, whether it be Cubs games, Bears games, Hawks games, Art museums, M of S and I museum, Venetian Night, fireworks, etc... I dont live there but I go there enough to bring it up. I also spend quite some time photographing Chicago as well, hence the pics.

As for the small towns out here that I suggested, theyre not surrounded by other suburbs! Wasco and Elburn and small country towns on the faaaaar western edge of the burbs (look em up), and are far smaller than B-N, which is why I brought them up because Nather might be interested.

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by jenrik2714

llama214
Yes certain parts of Aurora are bad, just like Chicago and Champaign-Urbana,and other big cities, but don't bash the whole town. I live in a good section of Aurora, IL--the DuPage County portion which is served by the Naperville Schools.

I get the best of both worlds--I am close to Naperville and Aurora.
Yes I have walked in Downtown Aurora and GUESS WHAT---I WASN'T EVEN HARRASSED. They are going to keep in safe because of the Casino. I patronize some of the stores in the area, the bridal stores on Broadway, Galena and Downer street, yes they are hispanic owned, but they treat you well and they give you good deals. I also go to the ethnic grocery stores down there and the flea market----it is not scary as people think. Ask me, I will tell you

Downtown Aurora has alot of Hispanic stores/eateries, and theyre always more than happy to serve a gringo like me. The casino is nice as is Sci-Tech or whatever its called. I also like the newer waterway they put in there, it looks nice. BUT, would I walk east of downtown under the tracks? Not really, its a shady part of town, no doubt. Oh yeah, Walter Payton's roundhouse has GREAT food, I highly recommend that place.

[llama214]

Yeah, but do they offer what Bloomington does? No. So I am going to end this before it becomes way out of context. Bloomington-Normal can offer everything that the suburbs can, minus Chicago, obviously. But when you take in to account the GREAT education, small town feel and actions, quick commutes, little to no pollution, a zoo, an amazing library system, water parks, festivals, a top ranked Children's Museum, voluntering for the Special Olympics, having two amazing nationally known univeristies in town, everything in shopping, tons of parks and lakes, and I could go on, and on forever, it just far outweighs Chicagoland. And that is way more then my opinion, that is a fact, and the reason so many move here from Chicagland looking for a fresh start. My neighbors are from the area, and have started call themselves the "enlightened refugees" because they can't believe they had to settle for that, for so long, when they could of have the same thing so much easier here. Go ahead and put claim to Chicago, but just know that we have three HUGE cities that are all only just a few hours away so we can enjoy more then just whatever Chicago can give. Afterall, doesn't that get boring??

[llama214]

Originally Posted by Steve-o

Downtown Aurora has alot of Hispanic stores/eateries, and theyre always more than happy to serve a gringo like me. The casino is nice as is Sci-Tech or whatever its called. I also like the newer waterway they put in there, it looks nice. BUT, would I walk east of downtown under the tracks? Not really, its a shady part of town, no doubt. Oh yeah, Walter Payton's roundhouse has GREAT food, I highly recommend that place.

Ok, so you bash it, but when your bashing is confused with me, then it is an awesome place to be?

[Steve-o]

**shakes head**

Id like for you to just name ONE thing that B-N has that we dont. K?

B-N has a population of what? 150K or so Id imagine? Whats "small town" about that? Visit Wasco, Elburn, Wayne, Winfield, Long Grove and youll understand what small towns are with tight communities. I understand if someone moved down there from Oak Park or Schaumburg to "get away", but most far western suburbs are much quieter with more to do than B-N and easy access to the rest of Chicagoland and its ENDLESS variety of things to do.

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by llama214

Ok, so you bash it, but when your bashing is confused with me, then it is an awesome place to be?

Noooo, I bash certain areas for certain reasons. Downtown is ok, but needs more work. North Aurora is ok I guess, East Aurora (up to Eola) sucks and is too dangerous for my tastes. Aurora has some decent spots that I like, never said it didnt. But on a whole I wouldnt want to live there, plus the new areas I just cant afford.

[nick_archer]

I had to add my .02, having grown up in Chicago and living in B-N for 13 years.
--Yes, it's clean and safe.
--Yes, the schools are good.
--Yes, it has two major universities
But then, many Chicago suburbs are clean, safe, have good schools and have access to good universities and colleges.
In Bloomington-Normal:
--The cultural options are limited. Yes, they are getting better with the opening of the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts but that's a very recent development.
--It's a good place to raise a family, but a lousy place to be single. Male, female, straight, gay or in between, unless you're college age, forget it.
--The public transit is crummy. True, it only costs .75 but the buses only run every half-hour, stop at 9PM and do not run at all on Sunday.
--The media sucks. The newspaper is a joke, the local news is amateur hour. WJBC interesting? Sure, if you like Rush Limbaugh and ag reports. And as long as I live here, I'll never get used to high school sports on the 10 o'clock news.
--Sure there are a lot of restaurants (I often wonder if anyone in this town cooks) but the vast majority are chains and franchises, Lucca Grill and Michaeleo's notwithstanding. And it's a tragedy when Papa John's is considered good pizza.
--The area is still very conservative and local politics are still dominated by the Good Ol' Boy Network.
--People aren’t proud of their ethnicity like they are in Chicago. There aren’t any ethnic clubs. You don’t see bumper stickers that say PROUD TO BE IRISH or YOU BET YOUR **** I’M POLISH. This has been getting better in the last five years or so with a large influx of Mexican and Indian immigrants. New Indian and Mexican markets have sprung up. Still, I refer to BN as the White Bread Capital of the World.
And on a lighter note:
--Someone really ought to tell the Chinese restaurants that fried rice should be brown and not white.
--What's the deal with personalized license plates down here? I just don't get it.
--Please, White Castle, build a store here!

[Steve-o]

Holy crap!!!!!!!! They STILL dont have a White Castle in B-N? Just goes to show.....

[jenrik2714]

Is Bloomington Normal a nice city? I have a daughter who might check out Illinois State...

You might want to check out Sugar Grove, it is a cute town west of Aurora.

I didn't mean to get defensive, but there are people who all they think about Aurora is the bad parts, when in reality there are some nice parts. It is some people on this board who think Naperville and that is it and they look down upon others ( I shall not name names). We share school districts with Naperville and we are seeing the effects---they don't want their kids attending Waubonsie Valley b/c it is more diverse--both racially and socio-economic wise. Neuqua Valley has more rich people than Waubonsie. The issue with the referendum is another example. The people look down on Aurora