Why would people choose Chicago over other major cities? (Evanston: camping, living)
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I think a freshwater great lake is way superior to the atlantic, just purely in terms of beach enjoyment. We had a 4 or 5 year run of staying on the ocean in north carolina, and the water can just be nasty, not to mention full of freaky creatures that will bite or sting you.
Yes, true.
Although if you are a marine biology teacher, it would be more difficult making the subject matter engaging and relevant for your students.
I teach earth science, but same thing. If you can't show students the stuff that is in the textbook on a fieldtrip, or at the least point to them where they can see stuff, the educational experience can never be the same. That's primarily whey I left Chicago, despite that my roots are in the region.
The Shedd Aquarium is one of the most awesome aquariums, but its teases you if you are seriously interested in that stuff.
New York City leads the country in terms of parkland as a percentage of city area, coming in at 38,000 acres, or 19.5 percent of the city's land. Some of this is federal, some state and some city. New York has 4.5 acres of park land per resident.
Not getting into it at all, but since it's come up in many other threads about NYC, over half that park space is on the city's northern edge in the Bronx and the area around Jamaica Bay on the southeast corner.
NYC certainly has a lot of parks, but those two areas increase the parkland by well over over half and are miles from most of the residential areas of the city.
The largest parks in centralized areas of NYC's residential areas are Forest, Flushing Meadows, Central Park and Prospect Park. Those large parks comprise 3,221 acres total, or around 8% of the total parkspace when you throw in Jamaica Bay in the corner of NYC that has tens of thousands of acres....
Regardless.....Chicago has 12,000 acres of open areas, or 4.5 acres per 1,000 residents. The exact same as NYC. Where on earth did you find 182 square feet??
Last edited by Chicago60614; 05-16-2012 at 11:23 AM..
I have lived in both. I will be completey honest with you: The only factor better in Chicago for me is the cost. That is a HUGE one though, which outweighs everything else that is "better" about NYC in my opinion. I just cannot have the type of lifestyle I want in NYC. My husband and I are both lawyers each pulling in low six figure salaries, but even that would be stretching it to live in a nice part of Manhattan. We'd probably get a tiny 1br for the amount we paid for our 2 br 2ba condo on the lake in Chicago. If I was single making my salary in NYC it wouldn't be a problem. Once you have kids though, it's a whole different story. Don't even mention the crazy competition of having to "apply" to preschools! That just makes me want to vomit. If it was just my husband and I, we would rather live in NYC. I can go out any time of day or night in NYC and the city is alive and bustling. That just is not the case in Chicago, where some parts of the city are completely dead at certain times. I live in the suburbs now, but when I lived in the city for several years, I was always surprised by this.
NYC has everything you can possibly want at any time. More world class museums, awesome restaurants (again, Chicago has good restaurants too but NYC has more variety since it's much larger). You want to see a live braodway show? There are 50 choices in NYC. Not true here. You want to hear live music--- Middle Eastern, Far Eastern, Irish, Punk, Blues, any type of music at any time? There will be something in NYC to satisfy you.
However, personally, the thing that makes it hardest for me living in the middle of the Midwest is the geographic location. For example, where do people here go on weekend getaways...Indiana, Wisconsin?? That just doesn't cut it for me. In NYC, on a long weekend we would go to Maine, Vermont, Boston, Washington DC, Pennsylvania, Upstate NY, etc. Plus, most of Chicagoland is flat and quite frankly not very pretty. It cannot compare to the East Coast in terms of natural beauty and outdoor activities. The only thing that comes close to the natural beauty of the East Coat is the Northern suburbs in my opinion.
Again, despite the above list I just made about all the things that are "better" about NYC----if you don't make at least six figures (and if you have kids, at least 300k), and you want to have a full life in the nicer parts of Manhattan, you should not (imho) move to NYC.
How much time do people really spend in museums anyway? I visit them when I travel but I seldom visit the ones in Chicago. We lived at 14th and Michigan for three years and visted the Art Institute twice and never went to the Aquarium (a huge tourist trap), Field Museum or Plantarium. We used to walk and ride bikes over there but how often are you really going to visit a museum?
I haven't been to the Historical Society in years given that I thought their presentation of local history was lousy. Maybe it's better now.
How much time do people really spend in museums anyway? I visit them when I travel but I seldom visit the ones in Chicago. We lived at 14th and Michigan for three years and visted the Art Institute twice and never went to the Aquarium (a huge tourist trap), Field Museum or Plantarium. We used to walk and ride bikes over there but how often are you really going to visit a museum?
I haven't been to the Historical Society in years given that I thought their presentation of local history was lousy. Maybe it's better now.
I have a young child, so we invested in a membership to the Aquarium. So far, in the past three months, we've been 6 or 7 times.
However, personally, the thing that makes it hardest for me living in the middle of the Midwest is the geographic location. For example, where do people here go on weekend getaways...Indiana, Wisconsin?? That just doesn't cut it for me. In NYC, on a long weekend we would go to Maine, Vermont, Boston, Washington DC, Pennsylvania, Upstate NY, etc. .
My wife (who is from Philadelphia) and I were talking about that just yesterday. We're retired and like to jump in the car and take off but places we find interesting are at least a long day's driving away; Memphis say or Chattanooga, Mackinac or Niagara, and east coast things even farther. Whereas if one lives in Philly so many things are within a day's drive--the Outer Banks, DC, much of New England, the Shenandoah Valley, the OCEAN---you know the story.
My wife (who is from Philadelphia) and I were talking about that just yesterday. We're retired and like to jump in the car and take off but places we find interesting are at least a long day's driving away; Memphis say or Chattanooga, Mackinac or Niagara, and east coast things even farther. Whereas if one lives in Philly so many things are within a day's drive--the Outer Banks, DC, much of New England, the Shenandoah Valley, the OCEAN---you know the story.
If you mean the Chicago Historical Museum/Society on Clark, it's not bad; quite a bit on the Haymarket Riots ...
Yes, there's a bit more on the East Coast, but Chicago also has Milwaukee, Madison, Door County, the ever-present Lake Michigan, Minneapolis-St. Paul, etc. There's certainly enough to do there..
It's not all peaches and cream on the Eastern Seaboard, either. Baltimore, outside of Federal Hill and the Inner Harbor, is quite dumpy, and many sections of Philly are no better. I will admit that NYC is a must, and the scenery in New England (esp north) is fantastic..
If you mean the Chicago Historical Museum/Society on Clark, it's not bad; quite a bit on the Haymarket Riots ...
Yes, there's a bit more on the East Coast, but Chicago also has Milwaukee, Madison, Door County, the ever-present Lake Michigan, Minneapolis-St. Paul, etc. There's certainly enough to do there..
It's not all peaches and cream on the Eastern Seaboard, either. Baltimore, outside of Federal Hill and the Inner Harbor, is quite dumpy, and many sections of Philly are no better. I will admit that NYC is a must, and the scenery in New England (esp north) is fantastic..
SW Michigan and Traverse City are not too shabby either.
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