What are the Chicago suburbs lacking? (Naperville, Arlington Heights: neighborhood, dangerous, vs.)

[prairiestate]

Originally Posted by Aiden11

Chicago lacks good Mexican food restaurants. We lived there for 1.5 years, and being originally from Texas, we were very dissatisfied with the Mexican food. Oh well.

Huh? Chicago has the 2nd largest Mexican population in the country.

http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/3753/
https://collegeadmissions.uchicago.e...tlife/chicago/ (two of many sources confirming this).

Try more then one place. In many areas there's almost one on every corner.

[MozartSt]

I think maybe they're thinking of the huge neon-lit Tex-mex palaces like in Dallas and Houston. Those places are awesome, good times, hot women, good margaritas. Like a Pappasito's or a Chuy's. Texas babes everywhere. Unlimited basket of chips. There really are no places like this anywhere in Chicago, that Uncle Julio's being a seriously lame version.

[almost3am]

Originally Posted by gardener34

They ALL lack a safe way to walk around. Many have NO sidewalks up to and around the malls. The car drivers act like if you're a pedestrian you are inconveniencing them if they have to wait for you to cross the street in front of them.

No way for any bicyclists to travel around in any safe manner.
There are good bike trails but I am talking on main roads.

No wonder we're all obese. WAY too car centric.

My area has excellent sidewalks, I am pretty satisfied with that. But, after 2 months of biking to the train station, I group people into three buckets when it comes to bikers.
1. Respectful - I believe the majority of people are respectful of bikers in my area, as they have kids that ride their bikes around the neighborhoods.
2. Oblivious - There are a group of people that drive their cars and just don't pay attention to anything.
3. Jerks - There is a group of people that believe their car is the only important thing on the road. I believe they are jerks to cars, bikes, and pedestrians alike. Two times now I have had a car pass me on my bike within a few feet of them making a right turn directly in front of me...that is really insane and quite stupid. The # within this group is small, but they stand out.

Sometimes people can switch buckets. For example, some Respectful people can become Oblivious for various reasons. I am almost always in the first bucket, but I have to admit that I have found myself in the 2nd bucket a few times on particularly stressful days.

I am never in the 3rd bucket, as those people have some type of inferiority/superiority complex, in my view...or they aren't very smart.

In any case, riding a bike means REALLY knowing my surroundings.

[almost3am]

Originally Posted by lakecountylifer

Are there suburban locations throughout the U.S that have amenities that we are missing out here in the Chicago suburbs?

I think they only things missing can't be changed...mountains, ocean, more days of 70+ degree weather.

[oakparkdude]

Originally Posted by gardener34

They ALL lack a safe way to walk around. Many have NO sidewalks up to and around the malls. The car drivers act like if you're a pedestrian you are inconveniencing them if they have to wait for you to cross the street in front of them.

No way for any bicyclists to travel around in any safe manner.
There are good bike trails but I am talking on main roads.

No wonder we're all obese. WAY too car centric.

While mostly true, if you look at the suburbs that were built before cars were king you have a pretty good built environment for bikes and pedestrians.

[cubssoxfan]

Originally Posted by gardener34

They ALL lack a safe way to walk around. Many have NO sidewalks up to and around the malls. The car drivers act like if you're a pedestrian you are inconveniencing them if they have to wait for you to cross the street in front of them.

No way for any bicyclists to travel around in any safe manner.
There are good bike trails but I am talking on main roads.

No wonder we're all obese. WAY too car centric.

Depends on the suburb.
As Lookout mentions:

Most of the older North Shore suburbs are quite walkable, as are many of the older suburbs along the other Metra lines (places like Oak Park, River Forest, La Grange, La Grange Park, Cicero, Berwyn, Hinsdale, Flossmoor, etc.). And many suburbs have older sections or downtowns that are walkable, even though much of the newer development is not (places like Elmhurst, Arlington Heights, etc.)

One correction: except for a few neighborhoods, ALL of Arlington Heights has sidewalks. Our newer (for AH) 1987 neighborhood and the ones I have seen built after, all have sidewalks and good to reasonable walking distance to parks. Buffalo Grove is also well planned for walking and biking. They usually have sidewalks and have a well planned network of biking trails connecting many parks and neighborhoods. Out here, Palatine, Wheeling, Mt. Prospect, Northbrook, Glenview, Park Ridge, Des Plaines, Elk Grove, Schaumburg generally have sidewalks and marked bike routes as well.

We could use better biking infrastructure with interconnection between towns. The Twin Cities offers a good example. Lake Co. is doing this, with the Des Plaines River trail and the circular Millenium Trail connecting it to other parks and paths. We should also have dual paths like they do in the Twin Cities area. One path for walkers/runners seperated by another path for bikers/bladers. Much safer for everyone.The on-street bike lanes should be seperated from vehicles by metal posts (like in parts of Madison, WI) to provide safer biking. Should require ALL new roads to have safe walking and biking right of ways built in. The bike lanes that are actually the shoulders of exisitng roads should also have some street sweepers clean the debris off so they can be safely used. Also could use more walkable neighborhood shopping-this is a drawback to a newer car-centric area vs. an older public transit area like Evanston.

If I could go "unrealistic" I would say a shorter winter, warmer spring; more recreational/wilderness areas closer by; more forests and some mountains nearby also.

[JustJulia]

Originally Posted by Aiden11

Chicago lacks good Mexican food restaurants. We lived there for 1.5 years, and being originally from Texas, we were very dissatisfied with the Mexican food. Oh well.

I don't know about Chicago itself, but I agree about my area (Naperville). I haven't found any great Mexican food yet. There have to be some good hole-in-the-wall places, but I don't know where they are.

[SJaye]

Originally Posted by Aiden11

Chicago lacks good Mexican food restaurants. We lived there for 1.5 years, and being originally from Texas, we were very dissatisfied with the Mexican food. Oh well.

Have you tried the Mexican food in some of the heavily Hispanic neighborhoods in Chicago. I live in Logan Square and have had plenty of good skirt steak lately- yum. I bet you would like Fuegos, it just opened up on Milwaukee Ave. just west of Western.

[SJaye]

As far as what the suburbs are lacking- it depends on which suburb you are talking about. I feel like the northwest suburbs lack bicycling infrastructure, but the west suburbs (DuPage Co.) has a great system of bike paths (Prairie path with all its' spurs). Some of the outer suburbs lack a community feel, but inner ones like LaGrange, Park Ridge, etc. have that. In general what they are lacking is trains that return from the city after bar time (so you need not drive home drunk), and enough trains on Sunday to accomidate all the people that take advantage of that kids ride free program. Mountains and some outdoor activity is also lacking, but you probably won't find a place that isn't lacking at least one thing.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by Aiden11

Chicago lacks good Mexican food restaurants. We lived there for 1.5 years, and being originally from Texas, we were very dissatisfied with the Mexican food. Oh well.

If you're looking for Tex-Mex, you won't find great places in Chicago. But if you want authentic Mexican food from various regions in Mexico, Chicago is wonderful for that. You just have to know where to look (and it's not Lincoln Park, Naperville, or Downers Grove).