Quincy Illinois (Galesburg, Jacksonville, Rankin: attorney, real estate, showing)

[tlw]

Originally Posted by Rosinante

A big Thank You, tlw, for painting this less-than-rosy picture of Quincy. It will certainly help my wife and I to think more clearly about the steps we'll need to take to make the move back a more palatable experience. I hope those grand old homes being torn down that you mentioned aren't the ones that graced both sides of Broadway.

As for the "cookie cutter" persona that the chain stores and restaurants bring to the city, I recall seeing something in the Herald-Whig Answer Book noting that the prospects of having a Red Lobster in Quincy weren't very bright. "Thank Heavens for that!" I thought after reading this. I prefer to do my dining out where there's a potential to have something that exceeds the expectation of standardized institutional food.

But the cookie cutter mentality in all of us enables the big box stores to encroach on our lives by offering a lower price on a lower quality product -- probably made in China, too, so this is a fact of life that appears inescapable wherever we are.

A few other thoughts have come to mind since the last posting: I rented an apartment at 24th & Chestnut, and recall that the city did not salt the streets in town after a snowfall. Is this still the case?

Secondly, by comparison, it appears as if property taxes are much higher in Quincy than here in Baton Rouge. I pay an annual tax of $187 that also includes fees for fire and crime prevention here, and my home is well above the statistical median value. City-Data's site says that the median property tax in Quincy is about $1600 on an average home, which is said to hover around $80K. Did I misread this, or would a $200K home be subject to several thousands in real estate taxes?

I don't mean to be too negative with my comments. I think it is my being angry/sad in regards to the potential being wasted there. The strip mall mentality just robs cities of their individual character, history, and beauty. The fact that they have done very little with the riverfront is just shameful. Quincy could have had a casino on the riverfront a few years back and didn't do it. It ended up going to Canton/Lagrange Mo., a town a fraction the size of Quincy a few miles away. Granted casinos can be a hot button issue for alot of folks but the instant tax revenue, higher than entry level jobs, thousands more tourists, would have done ALOT for the tax base and improvements for the town. I would have much rather they had done something tasteful with that than what is going on on East Broadway.

It's funny you mention the Red Lobster question. For as long as I can remember that Red Lobster question keeps appearing everywhere!! I don't know why folks there are so stuck on getting a Red Lobster of all things........................the "Bonanza Steakhouse of seafood". I just laugh and shake my head everytime I hear someone asking that.

Yes, many of the homes on Broadway have been changed to businesses/offices. Lots of ugly signage and a particularly nasty electronic billboard at 24th and Broadway that is quite obnoxious and fairly new. Also these properties never had the parking or entrances to be businesses. The really grand homes though were never on Broadway. They are on many of the other streets from about 12th out to about 24th. There are also some between 12th and the river, many of which are rather hidden by the trees. I have been in many of them and they are absolutely stunning and such a sense of history. Some had tunnels from their basements to the river for the underground railroad.

Quincy does do some sort of salt/rock/ash type of mix for snow. Might take a day or two longer for side streets but they are pretty quick about it.

I would say your property taxes sound about right. The thing many people forget to check though is making sure you have the owner resident exemption intact. If the house was previously occupied by anyone other than the owner the city will still have the taxes at the higher rate. You're not going to come anywhere close to $187 though.

Quincy does have a symphony and fine arts for a small town. Again, not what it was at one time. That probably would offend folks but sadly it is true.
Quincy University is a lovely campus and a great school. However their enrollment is a fraction of what it was in it's heyday. Just bad direction and planning by the city in my opinion. Asleep at the wheel............Red Lobster mentality.................just makes me angry and sad.

[kuan]

I was just there, and you can traverse the length of Broadway in ten minutes on a busy day. There's a new Thai restaurant in town next to the Panera, that's the big news I guess. There are no good restaurants in Quincy, that's sad. Roberto's, that Busy Bistro, and the Pier are the only places. Roberto's pounded out a piece of pork and called it veal, the Pier served me a NY strip when I ordered a ribeye, and the duck at the Busy Bistro is always overdone.

That said, Quincy is the place to live for professionals who live in Hannibal MO.

[jessiegirl_98]

I would disagree regarding the restaurants. The Busy Bistro is always good, as is the Patio and Tony's. There isn't always a ton of options, but there are some.

[liza92685]

I'm 22 years old, and I've lived here my whole life.

Finding a nice apartment in Quincy is easy! I had a wonderful one bedroom apartment on the southside for only $225 a month! I found mine through Quincy Real Estate, which you should definitely check out!

I actually do love it here in Q-Town, although it sometimes seems a bit boring. Don't get me wrong, though, there are tons of stuff to do! Great bars (and lots of 'em) and we even have a few nightclubs such as Backwaters, Main Street Tap, Triple S, and Starlight.

I have ALWAYS felt safe here, never see too much crime happen. I suppose the worst crime going on is drugs and DUIs - cops are everywhere! The cops around here act like "big city cops", so be careful and follow the speed limit.

The city is BEAUTIFUL, especially down by the river and downtown. Definitely a gorgeous place to live.

Bottom line - a great place to raise a family, and have some fun along the way!

[Clint_Noname]

I'm surprised at how many people think that Quincy is actually a safe place to live when the statistics prove otherwise.

Many people I've talked to say that Quincy is a really "nice and safe" town. That's what it might feel like, at least in certain areas of the town (the areas near downtown are very industrial and do NOT feel safe IMO), but remember that crime can happen anywhere. It doesn't have to feel unsafe to even have a whole bunch of crimes being committed per capita. All it needs is some people who are determined to commit crimes. While a more stable economy and a stronger police force would make people less likely to commit crimes, those aren't guaranteed to be deterrents. The violent crime statistics prove that Quincy is actually more dangerous than L.A. per capita...not very believable, but true.

I think the reason why Quincy has such a high violent crime rate is because of the drug problem and the lack of manpower in the police force (Quincy has 1.91 officers per 1,000 residents, where the U.S. average is 3). While you're supposed to avoid crime by staying out of the bad parts of town, residents have to go to the same part of town to do their eating and shopping. So someone could get beat up at the Quincy Mall by someone from the bad parts of town, especially if the victim looks wealthy. This, combined with the high number of sex offenders per capita in Quincy, leads me to have the opinion that it's just not a safe place to raise a family.

[Rosinante]

Wow, Cliff, if what you say is true, then Quincy really has changed since I left. We never locked our doors, and rarely read of any crimes in the paper back then. But if you think that crime is bad there, just check out the cities here in Louisiana.

But in the process of house-hunting via the internet, it does appear that things aren't like they used to be there. Ultimately, the high property taxes in Illinois got my wife and I to re-thinking the move back to Quincy. We want to get out of here, but retirement income isn't such that we could afford to live there again.

[jessiegirl_98]

Originally Posted by Clint_Noname

I'm surprised at how many people think that Quincy is actually a safe place to live when the statistics prove otherwise.

Many people I've talked to say that Quincy is a really "nice and safe" town. That's what it might feel like, at least in certain areas of the town (the areas near downtown are very industrial and do NOT feel safe IMO), but remember that crime can happen anywhere. It doesn't have to feel unsafe to even have a whole bunch of crimes being committed per capita. All it needs is some people who are determined to commit crimes. While a more stable economy and a stronger police force would make people less likely to commit crimes, those aren't guaranteed to be deterrents. The violent crime statistics prove that Quincy is actually more dangerous than L.A. per capita...not very believable, but true.

I think the reason why Quincy has such a high violent crime rate is because of the drug problem and the lack of manpower in the police force (Quincy has 1.91 officers per 1,000 residents, where the U.S. average is 3). While you're supposed to avoid crime by staying out of the bad parts of town, residents have to go to the same part of town to do their eating and shopping. So someone could get beat up at the Quincy Mall by someone from the bad parts of town, especially if the victim looks wealthy. This, combined with the high number of sex offenders per capita in Quincy, leads me to have the opinion that it's just not a safe place to raise a family.

HA!! I've never heard of anyone being beat up at the Quincy mall. Is Quincy perfect? No! But overall, it's a very safe place to live! If you think the downtown area of Quincy is bad that you must not have been in a very large town before!!!!! The majority of crime in Quincy are thefts (non-violent). I can also tell you that in 27 years, I've only known 1 person who has had their car broken into in Quincy and no one I know has ever been impacted by any other type of crime. Most people I know don't even lock their doors.

I would also say that unlike places such as LA, the majority of crime in Quincy is actually reported. Thus, the crime stats I feel are more accurate, whereas larger cities often have a good portion of unreported crime.

[Clint_Noname]

Originally Posted by jessiegirl_98

If you think the downtown area of Quincy is bad that you must not have been in a very large town before!!!!!

Actually, I've been to downtown Seattle and downtown NYC. Both felt safer than downtown Quincy. A comparison between Quincy and a large city isn't really appropriate, but a comparison between Quincy and other towns the same size (which is exactly what I'll do in this post) is.

I compared Quincy to four other towns in Illinois with the same population: Danville, Freeport, Galesburg, and Kankakee. Since Danville and Kankakee are economically depressed areas, they not surprisingly had higher violent crime rates than Quincy. But Freeport and Galesburg, which are both perfectly normal small towns, had much lower violent crime rates than Quincy.

Danville - 1,336.6 violent crimes per 100,000 residents
Kankakee - 979.6 violent crimes per 100,000 residents
Quincy - 757.9 violent crimes per 100,000 residents
Galesburg - 537.2 violent crimes per 100,000 residents
Freeport - 460.8 violent crimes per 100,000 residents

And you know how Quincians think that their town is so safe and Hannibal, Missouri (across the river 15 miles south) is so dangerous? Hannibal actually had a lower violent crime rate than Quincy (551.3 violent crimes per 100,000 residents).

I've been to many small towns in Illinois and elsewhere, and for a town its size, the crime, pollution, and blight in Quincy is terrible. Sidewalks are often polluted with trash and lit cigarettes (a punch in the face to someone who doesn't smoke), and the closer you get to downtown, the more ugly the housing starts to look. The northwest side of town has blight and crime comparable to that of Detroit. And like I said, some lower-class person from the bad parts of town could very easily go to the Quincy Mall or Wal-Mart and commit an assault on some wealthy person that they find. Like you said, it probably hasn't happened yet, but it could definitely happen (because of the mix of lower-class and middle-class/upper-class individuals), and the crime rate proves that the risk of it happening is much higher than in Galesburg, Freeport, or Hannibal. Still don't believe me about Quincy's crime rate? Check out the local news. It doesn't matter if you watch KHQA or WGEM; they both paint the same dark picture of Quincy: a high-crime town struggling with illegal drugs and senseless crimes (such as when 5 kids got killed when their house was burned down for no reason).

Originally Posted by jessiegirl_98

The majority of crime in Quincy are thefts (non-violent).

The majority of crimes in almost every city with a population of 20,000 or higher are non-violent thefts. It doesn't mean that it's a safe place to live. Heck, the majority of crimes in St. Louis and even Detroit are non-violent thefts, and they're two of the most crime-ridden cities in the nation!

Originally Posted by jessiegirl_98

I can also tell you that in 27 years, I've only known 1 person who has had their car broken into in Quincy and no one I know has ever been impacted by any other type of crime.

But that's only considering people you know. There are still about 40,000 other Quincians you don't even know yet, at least some who have been victims of violent crime.

Originally Posted by jessiegirl_98

Most people I know don't even lock their doors.

The decision to lock doors or not is largely based on someone's judgment. A town can feel safe and look safe, even if it's not safe at all. Like I said, all it really takes for a town or city to have a high crime rate is people who are willing to commit crimes against other people.

Originally Posted by jessiegirl_98

I would also say that unlike places such as LA, the majority of crime in Quincy is actually reported. Thus, the crime stats I feel are more accurate, whereas larger cities often have a good portion of unreported crime.

That sounds legitimate, but the local news and the comparison of Quincy's crime statistics to those of other Illinois towns with the same population both prove that Quincy is not a safe town at all. If the city government can work on improving the drug problems and the police force, Quincy may eventually have a low crime rate and end up being a good place to raise a family. That is not Quincy as it stands today.

[jessiegirl_98]

Originally Posted by Clint_Noname

Actually, I've been to downtown Seattle and downtown NYC. Both felt safer than downtown Quincy. A comparison between Quincy and a large city isn't really appropriate, but a comparison between Quincy and other towns the same size (which is exactly what I'll do in this post) is.

I compared Quincy to four other towns in Illinois with the same population: Danville, Freeport, Galesburg, and Kankakee. Since Danville and Kankakee are economically depressed areas, they not surprisingly had higher violent crime rates than Quincy. But Freeport and Galesburg, which are both perfectly normal small towns, had much lower violent crime rates than Quincy.

Danville - 1,336.6 violent crimes per 100,000 residents
Kankakee - 979.6 violent crimes per 100,000 residents
Quincy - 757.9 violent crimes per 100,000 residents
Galesburg - 537.2 violent crimes per 100,000 residents
Freeport - 460.8 violent crimes per 100,000 residents

And you know how Quincians think that their town is so safe and Hannibal, Missouri (across the river 15 miles south) is so dangerous? Hannibal actually had a lower violent crime rate than Quincy (551.3 violent crimes per 100,000 residents).

I've been to many small towns in Illinois and elsewhere, and for a town its size, the crime, pollution, and blight in Quincy is terrible. Sidewalks are often polluted with trash and lit cigarettes (a punch in the face to someone who doesn't smoke), and the closer you get to downtown, the more ugly the housing starts to look. The northwest side of town has blight and crime comparable to that of Detroit. And like I said, some lower-class person from the bad parts of town could very easily go to the Quincy Mall or Wal-Mart and commit an assault on some wealthy person that they find. Like you said, it probably hasn't happened yet, but it could definitely happen (because of the mix of lower-class and middle-class/upper-class individuals), and the crime rate proves that the risk of it happening is much higher than in Galesburg, Freeport, or Hannibal. Still don't believe me about Quincy's crime rate? Check out the local news. It doesn't matter if you watch KHQA or WGEM; they both paint the same dark picture of Quincy: a high-crime town struggling with illegal drugs and senseless crimes (such as when 5 kids got killed when their house was burned down for no reason).



The majority of crimes in almost every city with a population of 20,000 or higher are non-violent thefts. It doesn't mean that it's a safe place to live. Heck, the majority of crimes in St. Louis and even Detroit are non-violent thefts, and they're two of the most crime-ridden cities in the nation!



But that's only considering people you know. There are still about 40,000 other Quincians you don't even know yet, at least some who have been victims of violent crime.



The decision to lock doors or not is largely based on someone's judgment. A town can feel safe and look safe, even if it's not safe at all. Like I said, all it really takes for a town or city to have a high crime rate is people who are willing to commit crimes against other people.



That sounds legitimate, but the local news and the comparison of Quincy's crime statistics to those of other Illinois towns with the same population both prove that Quincy is not a safe town at all. If the city government can work on improving the drug problems and the police force, Quincy may eventually have a low crime rate and end up being a good place to raise a family. That is not Quincy as it stands today.

We are definitly going to agree to disagree. I lived in Chicago for 6 years and Quincy for 18. I've never, ever felt unsafe in Quincy. Ever. Even in the downtown area. It is a nice town, is not littered with garbage. I've noticed several negative postings about the area. If you aren't happy with it then I would suggest finding someplace that makes you happy or getting involved with the historic district that is making changes for the best. Have some Quincians been victims of crime? Absolutely. Is the city still safe? Absolutely. You are also making it sound like all this random crime is happening. The case with the 5 children having their house burnt down. They were unattended and a relative did it. Bad things happen in every city, but all in all, Quincy is pretty good. You also can't base this in the Quincy news. Have you ever read the book "the culture of fear?" You should.


Here is where I am finding my info (from the State of IL, and you can view everything for the state here) http://www.isp.state.il.us/docs/cii/...g27_to_198.pdf

According to this, you will find very comparable crime between Quincy and Galesburg, with Galesburg having slightly more burglarys and Quincy slightly more batteries. Galesburg's crime index is 1821 and Quincy's is 1889, so pretty comparable. Galesburg also has 10, 000 less people. DeKalb, which is pretty similar in population, is slightly lower in the crime index, but is the same in rape, murder, DeKalb is higher in robbery, but Quincy has more battery, burglary, and theft. Point being, Quincy isn't so far off from other cities of it's population in the state. You will also see that crime in Quincy is actually falling, not rising. You say it's not fair to compare Quincy to bigger cities, but you are comparing Quincy to Hannibal (which is 15K smaller) and Freeport (which is 15K smaller). Even with that, Hannibal still had more robberies and almost as many thefts (in numbers) as Quincy.

All of this being said, we are not going to agree. Sure, downtown isn't the most beautiful place, but I still don't see it as unsafe and they are really re-doing it. Again, if you are really concerned, I would get actively involved in the Historic District. They have regular meetings.

[Clint_Noname]

Originally Posted by jessiegirl_98

We are definitly going to agree to disagree. I lived in Chicago for 6 years and Quincy for 18. I've never, ever felt unsafe in Quincy. Ever. Even in the downtown area. It is a nice town, is not littered with garbage. I've noticed several negative postings about the area. If you aren't happy with it then I would suggest finding someplace that makes you happy or getting involved with the historic district that is making changes for the best. Have some Quincians been victims of crime? Absolutely. Is the city still safe? Absolutely. You are also making it sound like all this random crime is happening. The case with the 5 children having their house burnt down. They were unattended and a relative did it. Bad things happen in every city, but all in all, Quincy is pretty good. You also can't base this in the Quincy news. Have you ever read the book "the culture of fear?" You should.


Here is where I am finding my info (from the State of IL, and you can view everything for the state here) http://www.isp.state.il.us/docs/cii/...g27_to_198.pdf

According to this, you will find very comparable crime between Quincy and Galesburg, with Galesburg having slightly more burglarys and Quincy slightly more batteries. Galesburg's crime index is 1821 and Quincy's is 1889, so pretty comparable. Galesburg also has 10, 000 less people. DeKalb, which is pretty similar in population, is slightly lower in the crime index, but is the same in rape, murder, DeKalb is higher in robbery, but Quincy has more battery, burglary, and theft. Point being, Quincy isn't so far off from other cities of it's population in the state. You will also see that crime in Quincy is actually falling, not rising. You say it's not fair to compare Quincy to bigger cities, but you are comparing Quincy to Hannibal (which is 15K smaller) and Freeport (which is 15K smaller). Even with that, Hannibal still had more robberies and almost as many thefts (in numbers) as Quincy.

All of this being said, we are not going to agree. Sure, downtown isn't the most beautiful place, but I still don't see it as unsafe and they are really re-doing it. Again, if you are really concerned, I would get actively involved in the Historic District. They have regular meetings.

I'm not saying that you have to agree with me; I'm just trying to make a point. I looked at the link that you gave me, and it's the exact same data that's on this site. "Overall" crime indexes can be misleading because a lot of petty thefts or other property crimes can make a city look worse than another city that actually has problems with violent crime. This is exactly the case with Hannibal, which has a high theft rate and low rates of almost everything else. Wouldn't you rather have some of your stuff stolen or even your house broken into than become a victim of violent crime? Galesburg and Quincy have similar "overall" crime indexes because they each have strenghths and weaknesses in different categories. What really matters is what categories the strengths and weaknesses are in. Quincy had twice as many aggravated assaults (a violent crime) as Galesburg (not "slightly more" as you say), while Galesburg had twice as many burglaries (a property crime) as Quincy did. Galesburg also had twice as many robberies (a violent crime), but Quincy has always had a extremely low robbery rate to begin with. I think that looking at the number of violent crimes per 100,000 residents (a violent crime is classified by the FBI as murder, non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, and attempts to commit those crimes) is the most accurate measure of crime in a city or town, as well as the best way of measuring the actual chances of becoming a victim of violent crime. If a city or town has more population, of course there's almost always going to be more total crime. If you measure a city or town's crime by total crime instead of per-capita crime, New York City is obviously going to have the most crime because it's the largest city in the United States. In fact, New York City has one of the lowest crime rates for a city its size (although, like you said earlier, there may be a good deal of unreported crime in such a big city).

Again, as an American citizen, you have the right to disagree with me. I just think that since Quincy's weakness is in violent crime, and particularly aggravated assaults, it's currently not a safe place to raise a family.