Why are SO many Illinois folk attracted to Arizona? (Chicago: apartment, condos)

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by desert student

Mmmmm, beautiful.

LOL

What a joke. Peoria, IL has a nicer downtown. LOL

You should be ashamed of yourself for posting that pic.

[desert student]

Originally Posted by Steve-o

Mmmmm, beautiful.

LOL

What a joke. Peoria, IL has a nicer downtown. LOL

You should be ashamed of yourself for posting that pic.

What are you talking about? That cabin fever due to the Chicago ice storm must be getting to people.

The picture is in reference to a post that you weren't even involved with. The other member was saing that they think Chicago is booming because they see cranes everywhere. I posted a picture that showed the same happeing in Phoenix. Why would I be ashamed of that? (Cabin fever for sure). That picture isn't even of the downtown area! Nice try though. You have just convinced me that you have no knowledge of Phoenix, and have spent little time here. If someone that lives here and pays taxes to the city or the surrounding area hates it, that's fine! They have a right to that opinion. They are paying for an area that they are not happy with. But for someone to say that Phoenix has anything substandard to that of a tiny 'blip on a map city', when they have never lived here, is ignorant and really shows how little they are aware of Arizona in general. I find that Midwesterners often don't leave their towns and explore other areas, and therefore have limited knowledge with other places.

Yes, and I am sure a city that has over a million poeple has so much less than a city with a population of 120K! Maybe I'm crazy, but that is not a very intelligent thing to state. You have made your hatred for Phoenix VERY clear. I can't understand for the life of me why someone would hold a grudge aganist a whole area of the country. It is time to move on! I have answered the question to the best of my ability and I am not here to convince anyone else that already has their ears(and minds) closed. You called me dumb when I first came in, and followed me all the way to the Arizona forum to discredit me. I don't care what you have to think. Why? Because the numbers speak for themselves. Thousands upon thousands are leaving Chicago for the life they really want in Arizona. Even more thousands from Chicagoland have homes here and patronize our buisness and tourism districts more than that of the city of Chicago. These are rock solid facts that you can't discredit, or attack.

[collected_eve]

Originally Posted by desert student

Sorry for the offense. When you live in Chicago your whole life it gets hard not using the names Chicago and Illinois to describe the same area.

Maybe for you, but I've lived in Illinois for 10 years & been to Chicago once. I was much more connected to St. Louis. So, maybe for someone who has spent most of their time in Chicago, but there is ALOT more to Illinois than JUST Chicago, considering most of the talk here has been about just that.
I lived in a quaint little town called Greenville. Just as country as it gets! The winters were lovely, blankets of snow would come down, but never once did I experience a snow storm that had us locked in our house all week.
So, NO, Chicago and Illinois do NOT describe the same area.

[Steve-o]

Desert student...For your info, I spend ALOT of time in Phoenix and the surrounding area (several weeks a year). I know what I see and I know what Im talking about. Downtown PHX IS BORING, whether you see that or not. In all seriousness, Peoria, IL, has a better downtown. If you think Im kidding, well thats your problem. There is NOTHING to do in PHX unless youre taking in a game or going to that joke that you call a symphony hall.

Here is a shot of PHX I took in June (from Camelback):


Here is Peoria (not my photo):

[Chicago60614]

Originally Posted by desert student

I don't know how to really respond to this considering the 80s where when the western suburbs of Chicago grew by leaps and bounds and have never quit since. Maybe you missed that!! The city may have been struggling, but jobs were abundant enough to create a population explosion in the entire area. A bad economy doesn't turn two simple 'burbs' into the two largest cities in Ilinois outside of Chicago!

Well my definition of boom is far from yours. But let's just have some fun and use yours anyway. Take a walk though the Phoenix area and new development is happening everywhere, including "CRANES!" Besides, when has cranes and buildings being built been considered big time progress. I don't see anything like Chicago's skyline in California, but somehow they are capable of having the sixth largest economy in the world!! I don't see much of skyline in Silicon Valley either that compares to Chicago's! Many of those proposed new constructions are more than likely heavy residential. Why? Well it comes down to the fact that the suburbs can no longer fit people in, so new residents are being forced back into the city. But then again the west burbs never boomed, so their goes my lame theory! Phoenix is a city that builds out instead of up. If something new comes into landlocked Chicago then it has no choice but to build up. SUPRISE!! Maybe these 'crane' sightings are unprecedented for Chicago, but take a stroll through New York, Houston, or almost any city in Flordia and you won't be to amazed by Chicago's. While all this "unprecedented" growth is good, meanwhile there are huge areas with buildings that have been condemned for years and look like they are going to fall apart anyday. Too bad the builders there can't see this and renovate these areas again. But the poor builders must have breathed in that filthy Chicago air for too long, because every other builder in the nation would look at this as an opportunity. There are parts of Chicago that look like a third world country!! Heaven forbid the city bring something that would help reguvinate these neighborhoods, bring money into those areas, and cut down on waste. But Chicago doesn't need to worry about waste. They will just ship it out to the suburbs were they will bury it and thousands of cheap plastic houses that all look like the next will be built right on top. Home sweet home to me!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8411119/

http://www.gdi-solutions.com/fdi/200...SA/phoenix.htm

Are you 12 years old? I'm so confused by a lot of the "facts" people are writing about.

The Chicago metro area did VERY poorly in the 1970's and 1980's. I've never heard anyone say Chicago "boomed" during the 1980's. The turnaround since the mid 90's has been far and away a much bigger boom for Chicago than anyone would have imagined.

The population grew by 453,319 during the 20 years from 1970 to 1990.

The population grew by 1,377,723 people during the past 17 years. That's a growth rate the past 17 years that's well over 3X the growth rate of the 20 years before that...

Anyway, none of this is really worth fighting about because it's all so random and rediculous.


Is that really downtown Phoenix? I guess I imagined it to be much different/established. Chicago has 175 buildings that are under construction/approved/proposed right now. 63 of those are going up as we speak. I think that's a pretty fairly decent sign of a good economy.

Phoenix has 32 buildings under construction/approved/proposed, with 7 buildings going up right now. You can't even compare...

[Chicago60614]

Also just to point out the city isn't this decaying hunk of crap that's just festering, I think it's a fairly attractive city. Sure it obviously has bad areas, but people are putting it in a very negative light....

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by Chicago60614

Is that really downtown Phoenix? I guess I imagined it to be much different/established. Chicago has 175 buildings that are under construction/approved/proposed right now. 63 of those are going up as we speak. I think that's a pretty fairly decent sign of a good economy.

Phoenix has 32 buildings under construction/approved/proposed, with 7 buildings going up right now. You can't even compare...

Yes, that is really downtown Phoenix. Pathetic, I know. Anyways, I think desert student is the same troll we've had problems with in the past, with a different user ID. Let them think PHX is some mecca that outshines Chicago. They couldnt be further from the truth. In fact, there are only a handful of cities (that are dives) that I can think of that PHX actually bests, and thats not saying much.

[Steve-o]

Great shots, Chicago 60614! I love Bill Cobb's images. Anyways, that 4th photo down shows the Oglesby Trans. Center in a way which Ive never seen it before, very cool!

[ITChick]

Originally Posted by shadow91

Everyday dead bodies being found, shootings of innocent people.

That was another very odd thing that I kept seeing over and over again on the news and in the newspapers during all my stays. Very creepy.

I did alot of research on AZ before I MOVED HERE and let me tell you, nothing on the internet prepared me for what we are living here.

That is exactly how I felt. There are many defenders of the 'great life' they found someplace in Arizona, and the only thing I can come up with that's good about the place (with the exception being the upper north region of Arizona) is no snow to shovel.

[ITChick]

Are you a professional photographer? If not, you should be (I'm assuming they are not all Bill Cobbs photos). Thanks for sharing those photos.