Chicagoland is a better place to LIVE than NYC area (Cicero: real estate, houses)

[sasie123]

[quote=C&B;48057944]Correct me if I'm wrong but is the nearest beach attraction to Manhattan the one in Ocean City MD which is 5 hours away? Chicago has its beaches within the city and less than an hour away at Indiana Dunes Beach.

And for skiing, its over 5 hours to Vermont when Chicago families have skiing and other attractions in The Dells just a couple of hours away.[/QUOTE

NYC has beaches in the Bronx, and Long Island.

[pureistheword]

Former NYC resident living in Chicago, I agree with the OP. My quality of life increased so much coming here I will never go back to NYC (to live anyway)

[sasie123]

[quote=sasie123;48061415]

Originally Posted by C&B

Correct me if I'm wrong but is the nearest beach attraction to Manhattan the one in Ocean City MD which is 5 hours away? Chicago has its beaches within the city and less than an hour away at Indiana Dunes Beach.

And for skiing, its over 5 hours to Vermont when Chicago families have skiing and other attractions in The Dells just a couple of hours away.[/QUOTE

NYC has beaches in the Bronx, and Long Island.

How can I forget: Staten Island..........a borough of NYC also has beaches=Island.

[sasie123]

Originally Posted by C&B

People I know on the East Coast always fly to MD for beaches. For whatever reasons they skip any around NYC. Maybe I should research the quality of them
.

New Jersey and New York has one of the best shorelines.....how little some people know.

[JTE1969]

Originally Posted by sasie123

You are looking at the surrounding beauty, or in this case, the ugliness. But, no place in the world has what NYC offers.......one has to live here to see the choices, there is too much to do. Most likely you have not experienced what it has....it can be costly, but worthy. NYC has lots of opportunities and ''frebbies,'' for its residents, health-care is outstanding, and it has the best of everything.......however, if one has not been exposed much in life, how can one judge....

What does NYC offer that so exclusive?

You can now almost get nearly everything shopping online, no NYC Downtown needed to shop for everything. NYC - too expensive to get a big Apt or what pad you want. Cheaper in a small town though, like Rockford IL.

Are there big grocery stores in NYC?

[sasie123]

Originally Posted by sasie123

You are looking at the surrounding beauty, or in this case, the ugliness. But, no place in the world has what NYC offers.......one has to live here to see the choices, there is too much to do. Most likely you have not experienced what it has....it can be costly, but worthy. NYC has lots of opportunities and ''frebbies,'' for its residents, health-care is outstanding, and it has the best of everything.......however, if one has not been exposed much in life, how can one judge....

For those people who are not aware: NYC is the CENTER of the WORLD. The United Nations, Statue of Liberty, The Media, The Stock Exchange, The LARGEST library in the world, and the largest store in the world: Macy's. it has more culture and museums, than any other country or state in the world. Over 200 languages are spoken daily in NYC, and let's not forget BROADWAY, plus all the billionaires that live here, etc., etc, etc.

[Trade Winds]

To OP: DUH

[Justabystander]

Originally Posted by FAReastcoast

Ok, I guess I would consider someone who starts a thread to just say how city a is better than city b has insecurities, but whatever.

Are you familiar with the tri-state area? Hoboken is not really a suburb, I suppose if you call anything outside the city of New York a suburb, sure, but then Jersey City, Newark are suburbs too, which is crazy.

Saying "suburbs are suburbs" is just plain stupid. Are you trying to imply they are all the same and indistinguishable? So Plainfield, IL is no different than East Hampton, NY? or Winnetka, IL is the same as West Orange, NJ???

There are plenty of fantastic suburbs out there, I just happen to think that outside of Chicago's northshore, there are not many that appeal to me. For me, the towns/hamlets of NYC are, on average, superior to Chicago's suburbs.

I think that you haven't explored enough of Chicago's suburbs. Outside of the Northshore, there are a line of suburbs from Riverside to Naperville which are beautiful ( Hinsdale, Western Springs and LaGrange are very nice ) , the Fox Valley Villages of Geneva and St. Charles, Palos Park, Lemont and Orland Park on the southside with hills, woods and lakes, Barrington and Inverness on the Northwest, Wheaton ,Glen Ellyn and Elmhurst, Oak Park and River Forest with great architecture and history, and great shopping in such places as OakBrook and Schaumburg. I too, am a transplant, but at least I gave it a go and discovered all that Chicago has to offer. I would stack many of them against NYC's any day, not to say that Alpine NJ, Greenwich and Rye aren't nice, but there is also Mt. Vernon, numerous NJ burbs and Bridgeport etc. which I could take or leave. I even found Hoboken tough to like, since I didn't think it was all that attractive and just didn't get its reputation.

[VA All Day]

Originally Posted by JTE1969

What does NYC offer that so exclusive?

You can now almost get nearly everything shopping online, no NYC Downtown needed to shop for everything. NYC - too expensive to get a big Apt or what pad you want. Cheaper in a small town though, like Rockford IL.

Are there big grocery stores in NYC?

Unique built environment, more diverse, more institutional legacy, etc. Regardless of anyone's preference for living there, it's definitely on its own level both nationally and globally. If you've ever spent time there, is it really that hard to get?

Yes, NY has large grocery stores. There's a Whole Foods right across from Union Square, for instance. There just typically aren't large parking lots attached to them like you'd see elsewhere.

As for Ocean City...of course this is completely anecdotal but I never heard of anyone outside Maryland or the DC area going there. Have heard of people from NY or Jersey going to VA Beach though, which I've always found odd since that isn't where most people in VA even go.

[BigLake]

Originally Posted by sasie123

For those people who are not aware: NYC is the CENTER of the WORLD. The United Nations, Statue of Liberty, The Media, The Stock Exchange, The LARGEST library in the world, and the largest store in the world: Macy's. it has more culture and museums, than any other country or state in the world. Over 200 languages are spoken daily in NYC, and let's not forget BROADWAY, plus all the billionaires that live here, etc., etc, etc.

This is generally true, but being reminded of this fact constantly by New Yorkers is tiresome. NYC residents have a right to be proud but comments like this reek of provincialism and are counter-productive, which is the antithesis of what NYC people should be trying to espouse.
NYC - ALONG with London and Tokyo - can defensibly be called capitals of the world.


NYC is an amazing place, great to visit, but also incredibly expensive (to the point of being not worthwhile), dirty and crowded. Chicago is smaller but is much more affordable and frankly, approachable and friendly. Chicago culture, while not having as many amenities, compares *very* favorably to NYC. I can certainly understand the comments in this thread, re: Chicago being the better place to live, NYC being the better place to visit (but both are strong in both areas)


I also agree with a previous poster that Chicago's suburbs (at least many of them) are pretty meh, many homogenous. I think NYC's surrounding area has Chicago's beat by magniitudes.