Rockford is horrible (Canton, Ina, Ohio: living in, restaurants, stores)

[Havasu]

Nice first post
How much is your house? What part of town? Age of the house? And my favorite question How much are taxes for your house?

Originally Posted by jer2911

ROCKFORD IS SO AWESOME! BUY OUR HOUSE so we can leave

[gottagetouttaillinois]

Originally Posted by IcantSELLmyHouse

I have to agree that Rockford is not the best place to live,the roads are the worst I have ever been on. The property tax rate is out of control. I see lots of sad faces, why do people not smile in this town? It might be due to people very unhappy with the way the place is run. To me the cost of living is very high compared to other parts of USA.
There must be better places. I will be moving away soon from the area,where though? im not sure yet. It might be time for another dart throw. This time I am keeping my eyes open when I throw the dart at the USA map. Any ideas??
Please make it stop snowing its MARCH!!

You just described that last two cities I have lived in, Rochelle and Aurora, IL. We travel to Rockford often for shopping. It is pretty clear to see the areas that you would want to avoid. For the most part, it seems like Rockford would be a good choice to move to. The housing on the SE, far East and NE sides seem to be newer and affordable. If you think Rockford is expensive take a look at the DuPage and Kane County areas. A house you could buy in Rockford for 200 - 250k would cost you at least 350K+ closer to metro chicago. The same goes for taxes, if your property taxes are under 9% don't complain. I would love to leave Illinois all together but due to custody reasons, I am trapped here for another 14 years until my kids are 18. I'm gonna be looking at Boone Co. and east rockford.

[Jeff Hill]

Originally Posted by gottagetouttaillinois

You just described that last two cities I have lived in, Rochelle and Aurora, IL. We travel to Rockford often for shopping. It is pretty clear to see the areas that you would want to avoid. For the most part, it seems like Rockford would be a good choice to move to. The housing on the SE, far East and NE sides seem to be newer and affordable. If you think Rockford is expensive take a look at the DuPage and Kane County areas. A house you could buy in Rockford for 200 - 250k would cost you at least 350K+ closer to metro chicago. The same goes for taxes, if your property taxes are under 9% don't complain. I would love to leave Illinois all together but due to custody reasons, I am trapped here for another 14 years until my kids are 18. I'm gonna be looking at Boone Co. and east rockford.

I live in Boone County and love it. I lived in Chicago and the Chicago Suburbs for over 30 years......I moved to Boone County in 06 and haven't looked back. It's wonderful.

[Orwelleaut]

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.

Appeal of Akron??? The little village of Akron, NY, maybe, which is a nice Buffalo suburb, but surely not Akron, Ohio. I live 50 miles from the crime-ridden cesspool city of Akron, Ohio, and have also spent some time in Rockford. THere is no comparison. Rockford is far nicer. Akron is a trash pit full of drug addicts with no jobs, and has a far higher crime rate than Rockford, a more stagnant economy, and highways that are in far worse shape than ROckford. Canton, Ohio, just down the road, is a little better, but Rockford is still far nicer than Canton. Before comparing ROckford to a trash pit like Akron, at least visit both cities and take a realistic look at each. Akron is, by midwestern standards, a scary, trashy, dump of a city. Rockford looks fairly decent.

[Drover]

I think you missed his sarcasm. Which is easy to do, because he's often not that good at it.

[Michaelck193]

Has anyone realized how terrible the pubic schools are in rockford? Has ANYONE looked up up the performance rate? schools in chicago are allowed 7 classes while rockford can afford only 6 classes for highschool students. THe only reason my family wants to move out of rockford is because of the schools. And why must the Gifted Academy be so far west? It takes me 25 minutes to drive there to pick up my kids EVERYDAY, and it takes them an hour and a half on the bus EVERYDAY. I am really steamed about this, the gifted academy should be in the MIDDLE of the city.

[Traderx]

Originally Posted by Michaelck193

It takes me 25 minutes to drive there to pick up my kids EVERYDAY, and it takes them an hour and a half on the bus EVERYDAY. I am really steamed about this, the gifted academy should be in the MIDDLE of the city.

Not to make light of your pain, but 25 WHOLE minutes????..LOL!

I can't drive my kids to school in 25 minutes either and the school is only 3 miles away. Coming home is at least 45 minutes due to afternoon traffic.

And you must live a heck of a long ways away too. I drove from downtown WInnebago to Rock Valley College at 3pm in the afternoon on a weekday in 30 minutes.

But your right, putting the gifted program in the middle of the city makes sense.

[karlsch]

Originally Posted by Michaelck193

And why must the Gifted Academy be so far west?

The answer to that is easy:

The Board of Education lost anti-discrimination lawsuits costing the city more than 100 million dollars (some say 250 million).

A judge gave the order to "eliminate all vestiges of discriminating against black and Hispanic students."

Knowing this, the board has to choose a high school in which to locate the gifted academy. Do they choose a high school in the parts of town where all the white people live, or do they choose the high school in the part of town where the minorities live.

I don't think you have to be gifted to figure out the correct answer.

[Havasu]

Originally Posted by Drover

Holy crap, this thread is still limping along?

Someone help me find the plug for the life support machine...

[Fearringtonflash]

I enjoyed Rockford back when I lived in DeKalb and taught a graduate level course in Rockford at the public library. There was a good restaurant downtown called (I believe) the 4 Jacks. Of course, that was in 1978, and things may have changed since then