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Looking for great high schools. Low crime. Things to do. Low crime. Upscal-ish neighborhoods. Can live in either direction but having trouble with which would be better for our family. Suggestions are appreciated and why! Thanks
It is a matter of opinion. U-High in Normal is arguably one of the best in the state; it had a waiting list of about 2 years the last time I checked. It's owned by ISU and many students matriculate at ISU. Normal residents are accepted first, Bloomington second, and the rest of the state third.
I lived and worked in Bloomington, sent my kid to school there, and moved. Mostly I found it humorless, stiff, and boring.
I also lived and worked in Peoria. The two towns are 35-40 miles apart. The Peoria MSA is approaching 400,000. Let's talk about your needs. Things to do in/near Peoria.
Performing Arts: There are two groups both over 100 years old; one is the 4th oldest in the nation. Last year the Broadway Series sold out. Wicked! was a hit with good reviews. You might even ballet or opera.
Music: Symphony, Community Chorale, Orchestra, Baroque, and more
Fine Arts: The Peoria Arts Guild hosts the annual Juried Art Fair. The second largest outside of Chicago and draws 40-50K visitors every years. It features artists from around the world and 150 Illinois artists and artisans..
Visual Arts: Artists lofts and studios are located very the museum. There is also a Jazz club in the mix.
Museums: This is very brief of overview of the two new museum will open in about 15 days near the Riverfront Plaza. The Block Museum brings all the museums around the city under one roof. The the Arts & Science mueum will feature a new planetarium. Unfortunately the Wheels O' Time Museum is far too large, so it will stay in place; Kids love it. If "it" has a wheel of any kind, the kids find it. The other museum is the CAT Experience and visitor center will rotate antique machinery displays, and feature the newest tractors. My best guess is most kids should love it too.
Riverfront Plaza is a gathering place with restaurants and city events. There is also a state-of-art fitness center that be used by day, weekly, annual, single or family pass. It includes pools, walking track and exercise equipment. There is also a fountain outside are invited to splash in; bring towels. It is the access point for the Spirit of Peoria river cruses that features a short ride or week long excursions. You can also find pedway, segway, and horse-drawn carriage rides.
The Riverfront Plaza area is in downtown Peoria close to a boutique hotel, upscale dining, the Civic Center (it just expanded 12,000 square feel), and the federal and county courthouses. It is within walking disance of church, main library, Medical District and Research District.
The Peoria Park District is the largest in the state and manages 10,000+ acres. You'll find nearly every sport know to man in Peoria from bowling to water sports to hockey. It includes the Peoria Zoo, Botanical Garden, free Saturday night G rated family movies, softball, amphitheater, summer stock, marina, and three large parks that average about 400 acres. There is space for model airplanes.
About a mile north from the zoo you'll find an 187' lookout towers with viewers. On a clear day you can see the Illinois River Valley forever (not quite). And it's right around the corner from what President Teddy Roosevelt called the World's Most Beautiful Drive. Grandview Drive follows the crest of the bluffs for a few miles. You'll find cut outs and picnic tables. This street is where you find some of the most beautiful homes in the city. It's Peoria Heights.
Tours: There are 19 designated historical districts in Peoria. In nice weather the Historical Society offer trolley tours.
Shopping: Within five miles of Peoria Heights is more shopping than your wife will want to tackle. There are 9 grocery stores, 8 shopping centers a couple of malls, scattered restaurants, doctors offices, book sellers, retail stores, permanent Farmer's Market, computer, Vet and pet supply stores, dry cleaners, movieplex theaters, and an after-hours medical clinic that closes at 11pm most nights. In this area you will also find a furrier and upscale NY style ladies wear. If you expand out a few blocks you'll find meat and fish markets, specialty vendors and more.
There are a ton of family events in Peoria that range from the Chili Cook-off to the oldest Santa Claus Parade in America, to the TT Finals, to the grueling 4K Race, and some pure silliness like the Rubber Ducky Race. They may still have the Hot Air Balloon show in the fall, too. If you are bored, you can board the Par A Dice and try your luck.
Peoria hosts an annual Regional State Fair that features a wildly popular Menonite breakfast. There's the ITOO annual dinner, and also a Fireman's Ball.
If you expand to East Peoria you'll find a Water Park, more shopping and one of American's largest night time Christmas Parades and larger than life Displays build on semi-truck flatbeds that are placed throughout the city. The City Park normally has a large drive through display.
If you drive to Eureka you find a top 25 ranked Liberal Arts College. Within the halls is the Reagan museum which features one-of-a-kind articles found nowhere else from President Reagan. The Peace Garden is dedicated to his memory. It is a very petty drive through the hills and hollers of a not flat and boring Illinois.
OTOH if you drive out toward Farmington you find a Wildlife Zoological Park where you can spend the night.
Schools in Peoria range from Montessori to religious to private to autistic to gifted. Two Universities, a medical school, community college, two schools of nursing and trade schools. It is possible to expand an education without leaving Peoria.
Religion: Peoria is a religiously diverse as its politics. It is not one note or one flavor. You'll find a Christian Church next to a Jewish Temple which is up the street not too far from a Ba'Hai meeting place. You can fine Anglican or Federalist as easy as Eastern and Western Catholic or AME.
Peoria was built on the back of Black, white, yellow, red and brown labor generations ago. Everyone gets along except people who think fighting is the answer to every little problems. Peoria is not perfect; it has it's issues, but so does Bloomington and Normal and every other town in the United States. Peoria is the largest MSA south of I-80 and north of East St. Louis. If you include B-N because of the short distance the combined MSA is close to 500,000.
Hospitals: Peoria has four; Bloomington and Normal have one each. The only hospital that treats more kids than Children's Hospital of Illinois in Peoria is in Chicago. It has the only children's critical care tertiary level 1 unit in Central Illinois. It is pre-birth to age 18, and it is located in the Medical District. Critical care children in Bloomington are sent to Peoria.
IMHO, the Village of Peoria Heights is one of nicest communities with good services and good K-12 schools both public and Catholic. There is a new Catholic High that, I believe, is under construction now. Almost all Illinois public high schools are on the States Watch List because a percentage of students in every school cannot pass the federal and state mandated pass/fail Science and Math classes.
Peoria Heights, specifically Prospect Road is 1 light from Proctor Hospital, and less than 10 minutes or 4 lights from Children's Hospital. It is 2 lights from major shopping, 5 minutes from the zoo and about 20 minutes or less from everything else.
What I particularly like about is the school system does not bus out of district. The kids that start pre-k will graduate with the same group from high school. It's walkable. It has a nice mix of food, boutique shops, and small bars. Cops are responsive. They are polite, part tourist guides and part parent. They know who the kids are, where they live, what they're up to and who the parents are. It is inside the City of Peoria, therefor it has the same cable, phone, and internet services, and presumably the same light and gas provider.
Peoria also has an airport. They just added or expanded runway and added a number of new gates. i believe it can accommodate the wide body Aerobus. You'll find car rental, taxi, national bus services at this location. Peoria is a STEM hub. It is a port city. Peoria offers businesses air, water, land and rail service. What it does not offer and probably will not, is passenger rail. Normal has rail and bus. Bloomington has air and bus. Neither are on water.
The biggest difference is the weather. According to NOAA Bloomington and McLean county has had over 100 reports of tornadic activity in 50 years. Springfield follows with over 70 reports and some very serious direct hits. Peoria and Peoria County are much lower. Peoria Heights has no incidences. When I can find the map, I will send it to you so you can track the path of each strike in central and east central Illinois.
Can't speak much to Bloomington/Normal, though it is closer to Chicago and served by Amtrak, and they're in the process of implementing high-speed rail and a new transit hub center. I believe Bloomington/Normal hosts a very well-regarded Shakespeare festival every year.
Peoria is a great place to live and raise a family. Lots to do, as mentioned above, and a diversity of people make Peoria their home. There's a civic center, the activities mentioned by the poster above, and a rather unique summer community theater called Cornstock. There are many nice neighborhoods. I particularly like the north side of Peoria (some nice neighborhoods are High Point, Hawley Hills, Edgewild, Thousand Oaks), but there are charming neighborhoods throughout. The Knolls is very pretty, as is the Grandview Drive area (in fact, no visit to Peoria is complete without driving down Grandview Drive; it's pretty breathtaking). Richwoods High School is likely the strongest public high school in Peoria, though in recent years there has been a lot of interest in Dunlap High School (Dunlap is a small community just to the north of Peoria and one that you'd probably want to check out, too.). If you're serious about either Peoria or Bloomington/Normal, I'd drive around and even consider contacting a realtor who can spend a couple of hours with you, showing you some highlights, neighborhoods, and so on.
I don't have any skin in the game here but am curious why two of the prior posters insist Bloomington over Peoria so emphatically.... any particular reasons?
As far as I can tell because one has a sister who lives in B-N, and other drove thru it. Go read the Moving to Quad City thread, and then look at the posting history before you hit the ignore button. Neither has lived in Peoria or spent enough time in Peoria to make a statement. It's like saying I hate Arlington Heights because I picked the wrong horse. And I am not sure one of our pet pests didn't slip past the fly swatter. I can check on that.
Personally I've spent a lot of time in both. Peoria is prettier and hillier. It's also bigger and accordingly there is probably more to do, overall. B-N is a very white collar college town. ISU does give it some vibrancy. Much flatter and boring landscape IMO, but relatively low unemployment and a very stable economy. It's easier and quicker to get to Chicago from B-N, if that matters to you. I would choose Peoria by a slight margin if I had to live in one or the other.
I would definitely go Bloomington over Peoria, cleaner city, college town, lots to do, not far from to drive for other things to do. Personally I think Peoria is a dirty city, always looks grey and dark and the only thing I've seen there of any interest was the Casino Boat if it is still open and a wonderful main street in Peoria Heights. I do know that Peoria has a Cub Foods though and we got there when we are passing through that area to pick up Cub Foods Brand Lite Cool Whip for my neighbor.........LOL
Bloomington is not a college town. It's a County seat, a business town. If it offered so much the kids from ISU wouldn't be in Peoria doing things they like, they would be doing things they like in Bloomington.
The Casino has not been docked in Peoria for several years.
No Main Street in Peoria Heights, never was.
The only time Peoria is gray and dark is when a storm front is building in the West.
Cub Foods changed hands again, now it's back to being SV once more -- for the 3rd or 4th time. Jerry needs to figure out what he wants to be when he grows up.
Last edited by linicx; 10-11-2012 at 03:19 PM..
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