what suburb could easily be its own city (Chicago, Rockford: insurance, credit)

[hsw]

Cities and suburbs are rather interdependent....

Can't think of a major city in world where the upper-middle-class can afford a newly-built, latest-tech 3K sq ft house on 0.4 ac in a safe area w/similar upscale houses and w/safe, competent public schools....that's what suburbs like Naperville (and Irvine, CA, Plano, TX, Cherry Hill, NJ, etc) are for....and suburban office parks near such suburbs make a lot of sense for most guys w/<$1MM/yr paychecks...

Conversely, aside from the upscale SiliconValley suburbs just West of Stanford and BeverlyHills (w/UCLA and Cedars-Sinai adjacent), most suburbs anywhere, incl LkForest and Greenwich, have simply awful local healthcare, esp for any time-sensitive issues like heart attacks, etc....most smart, talented physicians tend to want to practice in quasi-academic settings (a lucrative private group practice) near a major academic med center, not the intellectually-deadening community hospitals, even in upscale suburbs....

[lakecountylifer]

Waukegan is to Gurnee as Aurora is to Naperville as Joliet is to Plainfield.

[Chicagoland60426]

I say Aurora, IL can survive its own city. Aurora, IL almost have a population of 200,000 and can easily survive on its own, since it have a casino. Aurora, IL popualtion is growing fast and soon to past cities similar in population like Jackson, MS.

[At1WithNature]

Joliet...they have everything from NASCAR to Casinos plus a rapidly growing population in the fastest growing county in America that does not reside in the Sunbelt (will).

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by Careless

But a place like Naperville would not exist as anything close to what it is now if you made Chicago and 5 million or so other metropolitan citizens move someplace else

Same can be said for every suburb of every major city in the country for the most part.

[cdc3217]

Oakbrook - has lots of professional commerce, retail and residential.

[Anthera]

Originally Posted by hsw

Cities and suburbs are rather interdependent....

Can't think of a major city in world where the upper-middle-class can afford a newly-built, latest-tech 3K sq ft house on 0.4 ac in a safe area w/similar upscale houses and w/safe, competent public schools....that's what suburbs like Naperville (and Irvine, CA, Plano, TX, Cherry Hill, NJ, etc) are for....and suburban office parks near such suburbs make a lot of sense for most guys w/<$1MM/yr paychecks...

Conversely, aside from the upscale SiliconValley suburbs just West of Stanford and BeverlyHills (w/UCLA and Cedars-Sinai adjacent), most suburbs anywhere, incl LkForest and Greenwich, have simply awful local healthcare, esp for any time-sensitive issues like heart attacks, etc....most smart, talented physicians tend to want to practice in quasi-academic settings (a lucrative private group practice) near a major academic med center, not the intellectually-deadening community hospitals, even in upscale suburbs....

Au contraire. Suburban community hospitals have predominately insured patients and a doctor at Lake Forest Hospital or Northwest Community might make twice as his/her counterpart at UC or Northwest Memorial. MD's are no longer highly paid compared to other professions, unless they are at a community hospital.

Sukwoo - any comments?

[Lookout Kid]

Maywood could survive on it's own as a ghetto town with little economic opportunity. After all, squalor hasn't stopped places like Benton Harbor, MI from existing on their own.

But to survive as a healthy community, you would need a good mix of housing, retail, and employment. Perhaps a town like Elgin would survive on it's own without too much trouble. Or Rosemont with all of those offices near O'Hare.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by Anthera

Au contraire. Suburban community hospitals have predominately insured patients and a doctor at Lake Forest Hospital or Northwest Community might make twice as his/her counterpart at UC or Northwest Memorial. MD's are no longer highly paid compared to other professions, unless they are at a community hospital.

Sukwoo - any comments?

I think most MD's work in private practice, and even an internist in a small town makes close to $200,000 (a family member is one of them). That's still a pretty good salary for 97% of us!

[Anthera]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

I think most MD's work in private practice, and even an internist in a small town makes close to $200,000 (a family member is one of them). That's still a pretty good salary for 97% of us!

Small town doctors will make more than MDs at NU or UC. Major medical centers have a huge population of medicad and uninsured patients. There are certainly some very talented doctors working at NU/UC, but its because tehy love the life, not for the money.

Many doctors were making $200k in the late 1980's. With managed care, real salaries for doctors have gone down in the past 20 years. MD's were like investment bankers before managed care.

Sukwoo or any other docs care to comment?