What Illinois town of at least 100,000 residents has progressed the most in the last 15 to 20 years (Chicago: loft)

[IlWesleyanGuy]

I started this post to encourage praise for some of Illinois' most maligned larger towns. There's a thread on the Illinois forum that focuses on Rockford but somewhere along the way posts comparing Central IL, Southern IL, and Chicagoland cities begin to pop up. When I saw Joliet's name mentioned, negatively of course, I got a little offended because I've spent most of my life there and know that many views about the city are misconceptions. Joliet and most of the other larger cities have impressively progressed in the last 15 or 20 years. I want to know what others think about the progress in these towns. This was my response to one of the posts in the thread about Rockford:

I've lived in Joliet and have enjoyed the city; naturally I'm going to defend it. Sooner or later the eyes of the people of Illinois are going to be opened. No Joliet is not the most aesthetically pleasing city but it is a decent one. Everything that is said about Joliet is based on perception. Take a look at the statistics on this very site. Since we are comparing these Illinois towns, Joliet has a lower crime rate than Decatur, Springfield, Bloomington, Champaign, Rockford ect. Joliet also has a lower poverty rate than most of these towns. If you want to talk about entertainment -well there is no contest Joliet wins (Chicago is the exception). Joliet is progressing day by day. It is not the same town that it was in the late 80's/early 90's. Even the median household income in Joliet is higher than the Southern and Central Illinois towns that are mentioned. Yeah, I know it's because is in Chicagoland. OK, its also higher than Aurora and Elgin and Waukegan, near Evanston's and so on. Joliet is on the upswing contrary to what many Illinoisans believe. I can't wait until it reaches its potential. A lot of you will be surprised. People, please take the time to do your homework. A lot of you will say that you've been to the town before. That does not account for much. Live in the town and/or look at statistics. There are no better alternatives. Probably no person will respond to this post. That's fine.

OK what do you guys think about these towns. Oh yeah, I was thinking that areas such as Champaign-Urbana and Bloomington-Normal would apply.

[Lookout Kid]

Joliet is certainly booming right now, but I'd still have to say that Naperville is the 100K+ wonder child of Illinois. The downtown is actually something worth visiting, which is more than you can say about most other mid-sized cities around here. But take away the Chicago wealth-generating machine, and Naperville would cease to exist as we know it.

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

But take away the Chicago wealth-generating machine, and Naperville would cease to exist as we know it.

Yeah, because a good chunk of Naperville is made up of ex-Chicagoans anyways.

[NYrules]

Outside of Chicago, hands down Bloomington/Normal would be the next winner of a booming community. It has all the key ingrediants needed to boom. Great schools all the way to the doctorite level, easy access to other larger neighboring cities (Chicago, Peoria, Decatur, etc) via freeway, rail, even airport too now, it has rail running right through the city for frieght, a nice mix of blue collar and white collar jobs to offer, is safe, plenty of room on all 4 sides to keep sprawling, roads can handle large amounts of traffic as they have been designed with the thinking of years down the line in mind vs. Chicago's method of always playing catch up with the roads leaving many of them 30-40 years behind times (ie; Harlem Ave, Cicero, Pulaski, Touhy, Fullerton, Kedzie, need I even go on?).

The B/N metro area is being led by two mayors, both of which want both towns to prosper and are doing everything in their power to keep them booming. Taxes are low, while housing prices are also low, yet the housing stock is plentiful meaning there is plenty of opprotunity for many new people to flood to the area and jobs pay decent. The B/N metro area also has plenty of parks and recreation for families, and lets not forget to mention that the entire area is layed out very smart with the road system being set up grid style, while a large loop goes around its perimeter/center (I-55 and Veterans Parkway)

All around it is the next poster child in Illinois of a boom town.

[IlWesleyanGuy]

I am currently in Bloomington-Normal and can attest to everything NYrules said about B-N. Also both communities have been working relentlessly on their downtowns (Normal calls their downtown 'Uptown'). The plan for Uptown is pretty impressive and they have already completed a significant portion of the project. A huge Marriott Hotel is nearing completion and the Children's Museum was finished a few years ago. New mixed-use buildings are going up. Upscale shopping has come to the area in the past few years, ex. Von Maur, Ann Taylor Loft ect. The community has been rated as one of America's best golf cities and one of America's smartest cities by Forbes.

[NYrules]

Originally Posted by IlWesleyanGuy

I am currently in Bloomington-Normal and can attest to everything NYrules said about B-N. Also both communities have been working relentlessly on their downtowns (Normal calls their downtown 'Uptown'). The plan for Uptown is pretty impressive and they have already completed a significant portion of the project. A huge Marriott Hotel is nearing completion and the Children's Museum was finished a few years ago. New mixed-use buildings are going up. Upscale shopping has come to the area in the past few years, ex. Von Maur, Ann Taylor Loft ect. The community has been rated as one of America's best golf cities and one of America's smartest cities by Forbes.

Yup smartest city, yet by far MOST STUPID drivers. Does everyone still stop right at the white line when waiting to make a left hand turn and just sit there like a bunch of dumb @sses until the green left turn arrow comes on regardless of the fact that they could have pulled out into the center of the intersection and waited until there was a break in the oncoming traffic and then completed their turn, or legally completed their turn when the light turned red since they were already in the center of the intersection yeilding to oncoming traffic? This used to drive me nuts down there as people almost looked forward to getting a chance to just sit and wait. They would just get into the turning lanes, and even though the circle green light was on, they would just sit right at the white line and wait, even if there was no red arrow or sign saying to turn only on green arrow. IDK, maybe it was like nap time to them or something. Then of course the attitude down there was just because the speed limit says 45 on Veterans Parkway doesn't mean you have to drive that fast. Most people would do more like 30 on that thing and I swear I was ready to go Gacy on those dip $#!ts down there when I'd be in a hurry. Life definitley moves MUCH slower than up in Chicago, which is why I had to get the hell out of there. I couldn't take it anymore.

[MannheimMadman]

+1 for the Joliet love. I love teaching here, going to school here, etc.

However, the downtown leaves much to be desired.

[Avengerfire]

Why did you post this in Illinois forum and the Chicago burb forum?

[rosscountry]

Elgin by FAR