Is there a cool, liberal, urban-like Western suburb near Metra? (Chicago: limousine, house)

[chitown85]

It's pretty easy to generalize, as I do myself at times. I would not mistake Cook County Democrats for necessarily being liberal like you find in Norcal or West Hollywood. People in Chicago and surrounding suburbs are not necessarily accepting, but they are tolerant, whereas in California, they are both.

Likewise, I would not mistake DuPage County Republicans for being as conservative as you would find in the rural south. DuPage County is probably classified as tolerant, but not accepting as well, whereas in the rural south, they are neither.

I would not discount an entire County because of the way people tend to vote. Oak Park and Evanston are probably the most accepting communities, but that said, I think the OP will find a sense of community in Arlington Heights, Palatine, Downers Grove, or wherever they choose to live in Chicagoland.

We have plenty of Whole Foods and I notice a lot of people driving Toyota Prius's around town.

[slow_nerve_action]

Originally Posted by Doglover5

I agree with Chet that it's silly to rule out an entire county!

SNA -- Would you mind elaborating on your specific experiences in DuPage County and how you came to the conclusion that it's not the right place for someone liberal-minded? I'm asking because my family is considering communities in DuPage and we consider ourselves to be very open-minded and generalizations like this just make me nervous... yet they seem to be all over these boards, and we often hear claims that certain places are "liberal" or "conservative" (often without explanations of what those labels even mean to the people making those claims, and they can mean different things)... If you could elaborate on your own specific experiences with DuPage, that might be more constructive... I'm truly very interested how your opinion was shaped because the sane part of me knows that there are good and bad people everywhere, open-minded and narrow-minded people everywhere, so on and so forth... But there's so much in the way of generalizing that goes on, that it really confuse those of us in the process of hunting for a suburb.

Thanks!

Its not a generalization. Its an observation.

I've known a good number of people that moved out to the western burbs in DuPage County that could be classified as "liberal", and felt frustrated by the local politics out there. Lawn signs were stolen, bumper stickers ripped off cars, just petty harassment. And, there are always the stories of what happens on polling days, such as uneven ID policies. However, things there are evening out, if you take a look at the 2008 election results- Obama won 53-46. However, 15 of the 18 DuPage County Board members have an (R) after their name. Its the county that elected Henry Hyde year after year.

In the end, local politics don't matter much to me where I live. Schools do, safety does, as well as a viable economic engine. DuPage County has a lot of those, and I could make a home there. What I am saying is that there are increased odds that at a cocktail party, you will run across someone that will want to talk your ear off about Sean Hannity's latest book. And this person put "liberal" as almost a prerequisite as living in a town....

[chet everett]

I don't think it is a bad thing that the folks that truck over to Oak Park are selling the "left overs" from a restaurant that gets $15 for a plate of fancy lettuce. Its tasty lettuce, but they can't grow enough of it our climate to stock Whole Foods locally. And they grow too much for a high resturant to fill up the fridge when the stuff wilts in 3 days. Makes sense that it is hit or miss, but makes it pretty much impossible to actually plan to live off the stuff you get there...

If the OP is gonna work in Schaumburg area they'd go completely bonkers with a commute from Oak Park -- roads are in horrendous shape right now, commute times are through the roof. God bless the desire to drive down unemployment...

[Tex?Il?]

I was going to write "two words: Oak Park". However if commute to Schaumburg is an issue, I might recommend Elmhurst as the best place within commutable distance.

I'm from the Arlington Heights area, and I think its a bit overrated. Its downtown development involved a lot of tear downs which makes it feel a bit sterile. Plus Elmhurst has Elmhurst College. A college always makes a town feel more "hip" Except for Wheaton maybe.

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by oakparkdude

Oak Park is the stereotypical cool, urban western burb, but the commute to Schaumburg would probably be painful.

This took 6 posts. Inexcusable.

[lh2010]

The only two that really stick out are ones others have mentioned oak park and evanston.

I also agree with others that can you can find likeminded people anywhere. People say dupage county is really conservative, i really dont see it, I doubt you would notice.

You can find likeminded people in any burb though. Naperville has some community garden plots you can rent. They also have a community farm type thing where you pay a small fee each year nad are able to go pick up vegetables once a week. There's also plenty of people into green stuff.

[Lookout Kid]

I can't believe that "OAK PARK!!!!" wasn't mentioned in the first response. People are more interested in attacking the premise of the original post, I suppose.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by BRU67

This took 6 posts. Inexcusable.

I guess we had the same thought.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by oakparkdude

...but the commute to Schaumburg would probably be painful.

Woud it really be that bad? It's about a half-hour without traffic on 290 (so maybe an hour at rush hour?). And most of the employment in Schaumburg is pretty close to 290.

[chet everett]

As of last night my normal commute that is from north of Schaumburg to a point south east of there that had been running a pretty consistent 35 minutes for the past two years or so has shot up to about an hour, and as Oak Park is still a solid 25 + minutes further east I can't imagine that what should be about a 40 minute or so commute is not nearly 90 minutes. Not is it not green to sit in that kind of traffic, it'll fry the nerves awfully fast. The average speeds are below 20 mph and the massive "do it all once" nature of things has also created havoc in getting to many alternative surface streets.

This is truly awful traffic that I have not seen since the Dan Ryan was rebuilt...