Rockford is horrible (Chicago, Roscoe, Madison: crime, property tax, living)

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by 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.

Yeah, from those towns its probably only 45 mins or so to Rockford. Makes sense.

[Havasu]

Thanks for the input. I have seen the northern parts of Rockford grow but the city itself has not grown and there are more and more empty run down buildings on the west side and the south side of town. I will give a list of the few things i thought were nice.
1 It has Rock cut state park very nice park along with a neat lake
2 During the winter the ice sculpture alot of talent there
3 It has the Rockford Speedway cant beat the trailer races for a good night out.
4 Rock River has some potential but needs work. Beloit has done a nice job with this
5 It was very nice to see right after a snowfall but after a day it looked not so nice.
6 I will be honest i was never a victim of any kind of crime of any sort.
7 If you had a snowmobile, there are miles and miles of trails for you all you need is a good snow year and a snowmobile.
There you go i guess its not so bad
I still believe my bad things about Rockford are a problem for the area.

[MirthMenace]

I was born here in 1959 and have never really felt like I needed to leave. Indeed, I love my hometown. Is it perfect? Of course not. But each time I visit Chicago or Milwaukee I'm really glad to get back home. It's nice being within easy striking distance of both (and Madison, too), but with the verifiably lower cost of living.

The crime rate in Winnebago County is the highest per capita in Illinois. Yeah, that needs improvement. The root of that problem goes back generations and the sins of the father are still being visited upon the sons. There is, sadly, a huge element that still feels it's owed something by its oppressors of yesteryear and who have made a career out of working the system for the sustenance it's owed. This mindset is handed down through generations. But, hey, we have a brand spanking shiny new jail that has been accurately described by one upright citizen as a $142 million monument to a city's failure to properly educate and gainfully employ a huge segment of its population. We're paying for it with a 1% sales tax, but that's not apparently enough to fully staff the 1,212-bed facility.

Thankfully, the areas of Rockford that are prone to problematic behaviors are fairly easy to avoid and the rest of the town can actually be a lot of fun. Gunplay, rampant drug traffic, and prostitution are fairly isolated within certain areas. If you need directions to those areas I'll be glad to assist you.

The school district here is still reeling from the devastating financial effects of the desegregation lawsuit that ended poorly for Rockford and its taxpayers. The resulting property taxes make most people feel like they're renting their own homes from the city. But, hey, "Controlled Choice" has ended and we're back to the old neighborhood school system. Hopefully the grossly unequal distribution of school district resources and talent is an historical issue now. Time will tell.

Seriously, though, on the plus side, there are some amazing restaurants in Rockford. Our personal favorite is called The Irish Rose Saloon and it's worth the drive from Chicago, Milwaukee, or Madison just to have dinner there. It's not the cheapest place in town, but worth every penny.

There are some very cool things to do here, too! The Burpee Museum of Natural History is a great destination. The art museum rocks! The Discovery Center Museum is something the kids won't forget. Starlight Theatre is awesome! The Rockford Park District and the Winnebago Forest Preserve District and their golf courses are probably our most valuable treasure and their care and development are taken very seriously by the taxpayers.

In my opinion, Rockford's biggest flaw is that it lacks a four-year public university. I can't think of a city larger than Rockford that doesn't have one and that has been Rockford's ball-and-chain since Rockford actually voted against NIU being built here long ago. Sure it has a terrific two-year community college (Rock Valley College) and it has a very expensive small, private, liberal arts college (Rockford College), but they are largely inconsequential when one considers Rockford's cultural, academic, and vocational voids.

All the same, I'm staying put. I like living in a town that is like a forgotten stepchild surrounded by many interesting places and yet still surrounded almost entirely by corn. We're big enough and small enough. A diagonal trip across the city map during rush hour will take you no more than 35 minutes most of the time. The roads will do a number on your car, but we're paying to fix that, too, with another 1% sales tax.

Sales tax here stands at 8.25%, but I hear downtown Chicago may top out at over 10%, perhaps as much as 11.5% in the not-too-distant future. I guess if you're out to spend some serious jack, the difference would damn near pay for your fuel to get here AND you could visit The Irish Rose Saloon while you're here. You won't be sorry!

[GoHogsGo]

Rockford is a rustbelt town, and has been on the decline a lot this decade (Ingersoll-Rand closed it's factory of 135+ YEARS in Rockford in 2003 or 04, as did Hamilton-Sundstrand, or so I heard.)

just be on the watch. It may not be in my lifetime, but possibly in my child's lifetime, the Chicago Suburbs will reach Rockford. Then the boom will begin anew. You know how there's Chicago, then the anchor suburbs of Joliet, Elgin, Aurora, and more will have expanded Rockford's way and may build back up again.

oh, and Steve-O, How're the Blackhawks gonna do now that Dollar Bill Worse has kicked the bucket? Maybe the Red Wings will only beat em 6-3 instead of 9-2...

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by GoHogsGo

oh, and Steve-O, How're the Blackhawks gonna do now that Dollar Bill Worse has kicked the bucket? Maybe the Red Wings will only beat em 6-3 instead of 9-2...

lol

If the Hawks keep playing like they have been (ie last night), you can expect a 13-3 final score against the Dead Wangs. Dollar Bill's death wont make the team any better, all it will do is hopefully allow televised home games. The Wirtz family has made it clear that they will not sell the team, so in other words the team will still stay in the Wirtz's hands. Im just praying to God that Peter isnt anything like his father. Oh, and Pulford needs to be fired too.

[miss220]

Originally Posted by Havasu

Rockford to me is one of the worst places i have been to. I only lasted 3 years there i was a sales rep there so i saw the entire city.The thing that stands out the most is it is a First of the month city that means that its seems like 50% of people are on welfare there.Ive never seen a place become so busy for the first 3 days of any given month. It also seems to have very bad roads and very very high properety taxes i was paying $4000 a year on a home value of $140,000
And why is it that you had to pay to use an interstate that was in bad shape? As soon as you cross the broder to wisconsin the I 39 was very nice to drive on and no tolls either.And whats with all of the Stop lights which i will call RED lights.It seemed like every single intersection had a Red light.
I moved away and have no desire to ever return. They took enough of my money. One more thing winter is coming so make sure they put down alot of salt on the roads when it even shows any sign of snow.

AMEN, AMEN, AMEN

[exberwynite]

Neighbors house was appraised for $190K, they put it for sale at $185 (they hoped to sell quickly) Sold just recently, about 7 months later, for $167K. And, realtors take their 6% from that... That's sad... good ol' Rockford.

[Havasu]

Im surprised it sold for $167,000. The taxes will be about $5000 a year on that place.

[Havasu]

Originally Posted by Havasu

Thanks for the input. I have seen the northern parts of Rockford grow but the city itself has not grown and there are more and more empty run down buildings on the west side and the south side of town. I will give a list of the few things i thought were nice.
1 It has Rock cut state park very nice park along with a neat lake
2 During the winter the ice sculpture alot of talent there
3 It has the Rockford Speedway cant beat the trailer races for a good night out.
4 Rock River has some potential but needs work. Beloit has done a nice job with this
5 It was very nice to see right after a snowfall but after a day it looked not so nice. It snowed alot this year must be pretty
6 I will be honest i was never a victim of any kind of crime of any sort.
7 If you had a snowmobile, there are miles and miles of trails for you all you need is a good snow year and a snowmobile. And it snowed this year
There you go i guess its not so bad
I still believe my bad things about Rockford are a problem for the area.

Just so others know I dont always bash ROCKFORD!!!

[exberwynite]

We live in a subdivision of about 55 homes, mainly vinyl sided ranches. There's 4 homes for sale in the subdivision now, had one more but they took it off the listing since not many people are buying right now!!!

Most our neighborhood taxes are from $4,700 - $6000 a year.

Our streets are plowed once every time it snows, but never get a repeat plow.... I think we've seen a cop car go down our street maybe 3 times a year (unless we're just not out when they go down the block).