Rockford is horrible (Chicago, Aurora, Joliet: for sale, renting, crime rate)

[Havasu]

The topic is Rockford is horrible.
Question is why is it so horrible?
And i asked why the interstate was so bad until you crossed the wisconsin border?
My question i have is how can a city with problems like i noted be fixed?
At one time Rockford was number 2 largest city in Illinios,everbody with some ambition has left for a much better life.The place has not changed with times.
I give Steve O credit for sticking up for Rockford and expressing his opinion about where i chose to live. I can take the beating up of my town its not perfect and most things that were said are correct about Havasu,its just that those things do not bother me and others are entitled to an opinion including yours Chicago60614
Thats why this does not get deleted

[Steve-o]

Rockford has its bad parts and nice parts, just like most cities in the USA. The problem is that its so far out from Chicago. Had Rockford been in Kane or DuPage County Im almost 100% sure the town would be AOK. Its Rockford's location that is holding it back, IMO, kinda like LHC.

[gardener34]

Good things I have experienced in rockford:

Rockford has a very nice children's museum. And they have that "on the waterfront" music festival every year that is great. Also sinnissippi gardens is there. And Klehm arboretum is very nice.

[Steve-o]

I forget the name, but there are also some beautiful Japanese gardens also.

[M TYPE X]

I drove north on I-39 this summer to go to Madison. Crossing over from Rockford into the Beloit/Janesville area was a better stretch of road, better maintained, and the cars on the road were in better shape. Rockford is another rustbelt city, without the appeal of Akron or truly wrecked state like Flint or Youngstown.

Originally Posted by Steve-o

I forget the name, but there are also some beautiful Japanese gardens also.

Hmm, I should visit those.

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by M TYPE X

I drove north on I-39 this summer to go to Madison. Crossing over from Rockford into the Beloit/Janesville area was a better stretch of road, better maintained, and the cars on the road were in better shape. Rockford is another rustbelt city, without the appeal of Akron or truly wrecked state like Flint or Youngstown.



Hmm, I should visit those.

Anderson Gardens is the name (I Googled it):
Anderson Japanese Gardens

[gardener34]

Yes, anderson japanese garden is really worth a visit. I have been there several times.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by Steve-o

Rockford has its bad parts and nice parts, just like most cities in the USA. The problem is that its so far out from Chicago. Had Rockford been in Kane or DuPage County Im almost 100% sure the town would be AOK. Its Rockford's location that is holding it back, IMO, kinda like LHC.

On the contrary, one of Rockford's strengths is its proximity to the Chicago metro area. While Rockford's core is struggling, the outer ring is booming, and believe it or not, Rockford proper's population is growing fairly rapidly. I doubt it would be growing as rapidly (or at all) were it not reasonably close to Chicago. Rockford may be an unmanageable distance from Chicago proper, but it's a perfectly manageable distance from the edge of suburbia (particularly the northern Fox Valley area). I had mentioned in the beer thread that when I lived on the western edge of St. Charles, it was often easier for me to get from there to Rockford than from there to downtown when I wanted to hit a solid brewpub. That becomes particularly true when you factor in rush-hour traffic loads. And while there is still a high concentration of jobs in downtown Chicago, there are plenty enough job opportunities in the suburbs that one can generally commute from Rockford to the outer suburbs just as easily as any of us who live in one part of the Chicago metro can commute to another part.

Then throw in that real estate is MUCH cheaper than in the Chicago area, and you've got more and more people beating a path to Rockford; not because they're in love with the place, but because it's much cheaper and still provides access to at least a portion of the Chicago-area job market and amenities. Plus you can easily tap the Beloit/Janesville market from Rockford too.

[Steve-o]

Good point. I still think its a bit far out, especially for those who'd need to commute to Chicago. Yikes.

[Drover]

Well, like I said, it's not attracting people who are commuting to Chicago so much as people who are commuting to Elgin, Carpentersville, Hoffman Estates, Huntley, Dundee, etc.