Suburban decline (Chicago, Arlington Heights, Union: suburbs, transit, best)

[Chicago60614]

Well obviously some suburban areas have declined in the past 40 years.....but what about the hundreds of square miles of new/nice suburban areas that didn't even exist 40 years ago?

the poor population grew.....the rich population grew.....the middle class population grew. Obviously you're going to physically see more square miles or suburbs or whatver you want to call it containing run down areas. Same with rich/middle class.

I mean McHenry County is almost entirely "nice" areas. Back in 1960 the area had less than 85,000 people....today it's nearing 350,000.

Lake County is mostly good, as well as Will County outside the trouble spots in Joliet that have been trouble spots for awhile.

The population of those two counties has increased from a combined total of 485,000 to roughly 1,400,000.

That's a HUUUUUGE increase in the suburban population. For every place like Maywood or the southern Cook suburbs - there are hundreds of thousands of people living in newer areas that were farms back when Maywood and southern Cook were fancy.


Although I feel like many of these areas are "bad" because they now contain "mexicans". I know a lot of people in the suburbs of Mexican decent, and I would be proud to have them as neighbors. They're awesome people with awesome work ethics, have nice houses and a good sense of humor.

[oakparkdude]

Originally Posted by ChiLubeck

The net is negative, not zero sum. Too much anti-culture out there in America these days, I feel sorry for the youth actually. We need to take all the kids' hip-hop clothes out of the closets, outside, and burn them, then press the reset button on American culture before it's too late and too far gone.

I think people were saying the same thing when Elvis, the Beatles, and even Sinatra first became popular.

[ChiLubeck]

Originally Posted by oakparkdude

I think people were saying the same thing when Elvis, the Beatles, and even Sinatra first became popular.

Sinatra? Beatles? anti-culture? Not even close. Not compared to the degenerate, thug, and borderline pornographic stuff out there today. Most of the young women today look like washed up hookers.

[via chicago]

Originally Posted by ChiLubeck

Sinatra? Beatles? anti-culture? Not even close. Not compared to the degenerate, thug, and borderline pornographic stuff out there today. Most of the young women today look like washed up hookers.

The entire jazz movement was seen as immoral at the time. People called Elvis pornographic. The establishment berated hippies and experimental music of the 60's. Get over yourself. Every generation thinks the one that comes after them is going to be the downfall of humanity. And yet somehow we keep plugging away.

[via chicago]

Originally Posted by Unitrin

I was watching a Partidge Family rerun for about 5 minutes yesterday, boy have suburbs in America declined, and the quality of life of the kids too.

Yes, because fictional, scripted TV shows are accurate representations of life at any given point in time. Hey, i read some books about King Arthur, I bet life in the middle ages was swell. How far we've fallen

[MozartSt]

Originally Posted by via chicago

The entire jazz movement was seen as immoral at the time. People called Elvis pornographic. The establishment berated hippies and experimental music of the 60's. Get over yourself. Every generation thinks the one that comes after them is going to be the downfall of humanity. And yet somehow we keep plugging away.

That has to be the stupidest post I've ever read, comparing Elvis with today's stuff. Obviously, you've heard of XXX porn, was that around in the Jazz Age for public consumption? Videos of glorified drive-by shootings? Obese people everywhere. Men and women dressed up in the Jazz Age. Get real. Hippies were idiots, nobody even defends them today. Who is going to defend the garbage out there today? I guess people like you!!

Someone brought up the Middle Ages, they definitely represented a decline in everything from Roman times, so yes declines do happen, yes they do. We're in one.

[via chicago]

Originally Posted by MozartSt

That has to be the stupidest post I've ever read, comparing Elvis with today's stuff. Obviously, you've heard of XXX porn, was that around in the Jazz Age for public consumption? Videos of glorified drive-by shootings? Obese people everywhere. Men and women dressed up in the Jazz Age. Get real. Hippies were idiots, nobody even defends them today. Who is going to defend the garbage out there today? I guess people like you!!

Someone brought up the Middle Ages, they definitely represented a decline in everything from Roman times, so yes declines do happen, yes they do. We're in one.

Ironic you mention Rome as a high point in "moral" history, seeing as how Pomepeii produced more erotic and sexual art than any other culture up to that point. In fact, it shocked the Victorians so much when they discovered the ruins that they locked it away and barred the public from viewing it. It was soon thereafter that the first obscenity laws were passed in England.

And no, ancient Rome didnt have drive bys (although Chicago certainly did. Ever hear of a guy called Al Capone? The Chicago Outfit? What about John Dillinger? Bonnie and Clyde? All were glorified in their times. Not to mention gangs in other parts of the world, such as the Russian/Italian/Irish mobs, Order of the Assasians, Chinese Triads, old American west outlaws, etc etc). Rome just enslaved the lower classes to build their empire and fed prisoners to lions for public entertainment.

Enjoy those rose colored glasses.

/end OT rant

[Irishtom29]

Actually the Western World started the decline we're now in after the Great War, I think the Great War is THE defining event of modern history. It's hard to see when you're in the middle of it, more distance will give better perspective.

[lakecountylifer]

Ok--- most people don't refer to War World 1 as the great war here in the U.S---- We aren't british subjects anymore. I'm not following how the western world declined after WW1? You have unprecendented advances in fact..... Care to explain your logic?

[MozartSt]

Originally Posted by Irishtom29

Actually the Western World started the decline we're now in after the Great War, I think the Great War is THE defining event of modern history. It's hard to see when you're in the middle of it, more distance will give better perspective.

Oh, I'm glad you agree on that. The two World Wars were the worst thing that happened to the West, Western Christendom, and white people. They were really civil wars where whites killed themselves and their racial kin. Many argue that the hundred million lost in those two wars has set us on our current course and downfall. Even in England, where they supposedly won the wars, things are very bleak for English, their people, their culture, etc. Communism (and its little sister Liberalism) won WW2, that's a given we all can see today.

lakecounty, look at it this way....up until WW1 the West was in a period of expansion, and since that war, and also after WW2, the West is in retreat everywhere, even in England itself! Retreat (decline) can be seen everwhere, within Europe itself, from SoCal, out of South Florida, many inner cities, and now the decline/retreat has reached large proportions, even in the suburbs, that's the point of the thread I think. The retreat on the culture front is going on full-bore, just turn on the TV to see it.