The worst thing about Chicago is... (Springfield, DeKalb: schools, gated community, living)

[Irishtom29]

Originally Posted by Venom

Irish

Nah, there were never many Irish in Pilsen and Humboldt Park. Maybe my point was too obscure.

[johnm68]

Irishtom--not obscure at all. Good point. It's somewhat hypocritical to decry the impact of gentrification (that is, the residents of a community being forced out due to rising property taxes, change in culture, etc.) without recognition that those residents (or their parents or grandparents) moved into these neighborhoods 30-40 years ago and displaced the residents then (due to declining property value and change in culture). The main difference--and it is an issue that merits discussion--is the economic positions of the folks moving in are reversed. To take Humboldt Park as an example, the Scandinavians were there first, then the Poles, then the Puerto Ricans, and now younger professionals of all races. The difference is that the new people aren't defined by ethnicity, but by socioeconomic status.

[ajolotl]

Everything in the world is in a constant state of change. Things exist at a certain place and for a very small slice of time. No one owns any particular neighborhood and the neighborhood doesn't have any "right" to be a certain way. The change is usually a natural reflection of demographic and economic shifts, immigration patterns, etc. My childhood home is in a 100% haitian neighborhood now. It might as well have been nuked it is so unrecognizable. Just take a lot of pictures and be happy for the memories.
No sense it fighting it, hoping too much, or complaining.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by surlycue

I guess it isn't for everyone but I live in a city so that I can be a social being. I talk with my neighbors everyday and we walk our dogs and watch the kids play and discuss what's going on the neighborhood and just shoot the s**t. That kind of relation is important to me.

Funny -- I live in the city so that people will leave me the hell alone.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by Irishtom29

Who says he would survive as mayor in such a scenario? Incorporating Cook County into the City would probably shake up city politics a great deal, doncha think? Incorporating a huge new group of middle class people into the city would serve as a stimulus to improve the public schools too, all of them. Especially since improving the schools is a matter of will not of money.

But yeah, I don't think it will ever happen.

You're also assuming that huge new group of middle class people would tolerate being roped into the city. If Chicago were to annex Cook County, I promise the populations of Kane, Kendall, McHenry, Will, and maybe even Kankakee and Grundy Countys would all probably double in 5 years. And since DuPage is already pretty built out, the price of DuPage County real estate would probably double.

If you think exurb sprawl is bad now, wait and see what happens when you try to force a bunch of people into a city that many of them deliberately fled in the first place. The only way a cook county annexation/merger/whatever is even remotely feasible is if the current school districts and their taxing bodies were allowed to remain and operate completely independently of CPS.

[pw72]

Many don't realize that the Chicago suburbs rival Los Angeles. Compare the metro populations and break them down to main city and suburbs. Yes, L.A. is overall bigger, but the ratio is similar.

My question is where do the suburbs stop? It seems every decade this area becomes wider and wider. Example: Huntley. Used to be an outpost, now a new suburban area west of Crystal Lake/Algonquin. Where do we draw a line? Or do we at all?

[Drover]

Originally Posted by pw72

My question is where do the suburbs stop? It seems every decade this area becomes wider and wider. Example: Huntley. Used to be an outpost, now a new suburban area west of Crystal Lake/Algonquin. Where do we draw a line? Or do we at all?

The line has been moving for a hundred years or more.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by sukwoo

One problem is the disparity in federal funding for highway versus transit. For highways, Feds pay 80% of costs with a 20% local match. For transit, the Feds pay only 50% of costs. I can't think of any GOOD reason for the disparity but it effectively means that highway building get a significant funding advantage versus transit construction.

It has to do with the federalist structure of government. The interstate highway system is more explicitly "interstate commerce" in nature for which there is clear federal purview and responsibility; while regional public transit implicates interstate commerce but is more local in focus. Hence from a strictly government function and structure standpoint, it makes sense that the feds disproportionately fund what are essentially federal highways even if the outcomes don't often make sense from an urban planning standpoint.

[Chicagoland60426]

Originally Posted by pw72

Many don't realize that the Chicago suburbs rival Los Angeles. Compare the metro populations and break them down to main city and suburbs. Yes, L.A. is overall bigger, but the ratio is similar.

My question is where do the suburbs stop? It seems every decade this area becomes wider and wider. Example: Huntley. Used to be an outpost, now a new suburban area west of Crystal Lake/Algonquin. Where do we draw a line? Or do we at all?

I usually only consider the original 6 counties as Chicago suburbia. It be way too much sprawl to stretch it even further.

[pw72]

Originally Posted by Chicagoland60426

I usually only consider the original 6 counties as Chicago suburbia. It be way too much sprawl to stretch it even further.

Yes, agreed, but if areas like Huntley and even Gilberts become new suburbs then don't they become part of the metro? I don't think you can stop this sprawl, and why shoud the definition of the metro stop? Chicago used to define the suburbs as "near" and "far", I guess that will contnue, but the far seems to be getting "further", (for lack of a better term). I suppose they were saying the same thing back in the 1960's.