A+ Bloomington/Normal! Smartest City in Illinois! (Chicago, Peoria: homes, job market)

[BUalumni]

It seems that Forbes magazine has rated Bloomington/Normal as not only the smartest city in Illinois, but 20th in nation. There is no doubt that both Normal and Bloomington have morphed in the past 20 years into a city that would attract these kinds of minds on both a economic front, and an academic. They are also growing these minds right in their own schools. What do you think? When will Bloomington/Normal stop growing, and when will the city stop being ranked so highly? Do you think it will ever stop? Do you see a day when people start calling the area Peoria/Morton/Bloomington, instead of keeping the metro areas different. Personally, I think it will take many more decades before that time will come, if ever. But at this rate, all it would take is for one more world headquarters to pop up in the area and we could be looking at a combined MSA instead of an extended CSA of 'central' central Illinois . The conditions are right, and stranger events have shaped other cities. The I-74 line between the two is drawing more and more attention as the years go on.

[M TYPE X]

CSA would not bother me. I think midstate would benefit if the areas started to 'merge' due to growth and development.

[Maintainschaos]

Link to the article?

[NYrules]

B/N is truly a great town I have to admit. My time there in the late 90s and early 00's proved to me what it is like to be in an atmosphere that is constantly changing (tons of construction everywhere you looked). I could not believe the changes that took place just while I was there.

True the towns have a bit of problems to solve; one of them being when I was down there was the fact that about 75% of the street lights in the town were burned out and nobody ever bothered to replace the bulbs, which to me seemed a bit hill-billy-ish, and their garbage pick up program plain out sucked; you never knew when your garbage day was, so everyone just left their crap out all week long (you would see sofas, chairs, and other junk just lining all the streets in town, so that was a bit tacky), but other than for that it was a great place to live and if I wasn't such a city boy at heart, I would move back down there. There is a strong retail presence in the town, and plenty of bars to go to at night which if you are young is alot of fun.

The towns now just need to focus on making themselves great with something unique other than for State Farm and ISU. B/N needs some character. Wal Marts and Super Menards'
are great and all, but not really unique, and more trailer parks only seem to attract the wrong type of people. Some high rises in downtown Bloomington would be nice to create a downtown atmosphere like Peoria has.

[rgb123]

I love BloomingtonNormal!!!!!!!!! I have often thought of moving there to stay.

[linicx]

Bloomington and Peoria are 60 miles apart. Peoria Metro Area in Peoria County includes (I think wrongly) two larger cities in Tazewell County that are less than 10 miles from Peoria County. Morton is a small village that is popular for its Pumplin Festival.. Peoria is one of the five counties of central Illinos. Bloomington is on the western edge of eastern central Illinois.

Bloominton-Normal IS the Metro Area; it always was.

I don't know that Normal or Bloomington has a superior school system to Peoria. Normal has a state university; Peoria has Bradley University. Bpth prroduce some very bright candidates. Fpr my money, the number one school in Illinois is IU at Champaign. I'd like to know where Forbes got his information.
Illinois is home to the two oldest zoological parks in the nation. Bloomington hosts the one at Miller Park. Chicago hosts the one at Lincoln Park. When this was decided it was based on age and population. B-N was then under 50k. Normal is the original home of Steak 'N Shake.

I lived in Bloomington and I worked there with some wonderful people. I wish I had the money to buy one of the beautiful turn of the centurry homes there. and I have in-laws who still live there. .

The areas of Central Illinois and Eastern Central Illinois as a whole are both just big farming communities. What sets them apart from each other is not the gleaming new buildings, or number of hospitals, or zoos or schools or Interstate roads that move traffic around and through the cities, it is the
way the cities govern and plan for future growth.

Peoria has always been progressive and forward thingking.

[BUalumni]

Originally Posted by linicx

Bloomington and Peoria are 60 miles apart. Peoria Metro Area in Peoria County includes (I think wrongly) two larger cities in Tazewell County that are less than 10 miles from Peoria County. Morton is a small village that is popular for its Pumplin Festival.. Peoria is one of the five counties of central Illinos. Bloomington is on the western edge of eastern central Illinois.

Bloominton-Normal IS the Metro Area; it always was.

I don't know that Normal or Bloomington has a superior school system to Peoria. Normal has a state university; Peoria has Bradley University. Bpth prroduce some very bright candidates. Fpr my money, the number one school in Illinois is IU at Champaign. I'd like to know where Forbes got his information.
Illinois is home to the two oldest zoological parks in the nation. Bloomington hosts the one at Miller Park. Chicago hosts the one at Lincoln Park. When this was decided it was based on age and population. B-N was then under 50k. Normal is the original home of Steak 'N Shake.

I lived in Bloomington and I worked there with some wonderful people. I wish I had the money to buy one of the beautiful turn of the centurry homes there. and I have in-laws who still live there. .

The areas of Central Illinois and Eastern Central Illinois as a whole are both just big farming communities. What sets them apart from each other is not the gleaming new buildings, or number of hospitals, or zoos or schools or Interstate roads that move traffic around and through the cities, it is the
way the cities govern and plan for future growth.

Peoria has always been progressive and forward thingking.

Well, the distance is actually more like 40 miles, but with the massive improvements with 74 it takes around 35 minutes for me, and I am driving the speed limit (most of the time.) Even though Tazewell county seperates them, Peoria, the city, is almost in Tazewell except for the river, so it isn't as if it is a whole county and then some seperate the two. There are CSA's throughout the country that have even farther distances between the two hubs.

You are correct. East Peoria and Pekin are the two largest cities outside of Peoria in the metro area. This is why I think that the chances of a complete 74 merger are inevitable. First off, East Peoria has grown at a good pace for the past twenty years, and shows no sign of slowing any time soon. Driving through on the interstate, you wouldn't notice it because of the landscape of the area. Pekin has kept up at a good pace, but because of location, I don't think it stands a very good chance at helping in the merger. Most people I know from Pekin work directly in the Peoria metro. In East Peoria you see a much larger group that interact with both Peoria and Bloomington on a daily basis. Morton may be classified as a village, but so is Pekin. Morton has a booming population, and very healthy job market. Not to mention the best location for commutes within the metro area. One spouse can go to Bloomington, and the other can work in Peoria. Because Morton is landlocked with East Peoria on the west, they have had no choice but to build towards the east, which is closer to Bloomginton. No doubt that Morton, as of today, has a significant, and lasting relationship with Peoria's regional economic strength. But more and more you see people that live in Morton, Washington, heck, even Metamora that commute to Bloomington.

In terms of comparing schools, it just comes down to what you are comparing. If you are looking at public schools overall I would no doubt give the award to Bloomington/Normal. But if start comparing high schools things change. I would put BHS, NCHS, and NWCHS far and above both Manuel and Woodruff. Central (Peoria) needs to do some improving, but as of now it isn't a bad school. Of course there is Richwoods, Limestone, and Dunlap that are just as good if not better than Normal's. I hate when people compare ISU to Bradley. Two different schools, two different cities, and two different student body types. Both are excellent and challenging.

As for Bloomington being the smartest in city in Illinois, it intrigued me, but didn't suprise. Champaign has the much larger university, but that is it. Almost every person that I have met from Champaign/Urbana was either a student, instructor, or had a job that directly related to the campus. It influences the entire area. While Bloomington/Normal has the smaller campus, the job market is far larger than that of Champaign.

[linicx]

Morton is not classed as a city due to the popularion. It is a Village according to the Village Clerk. Pekin and East Peoria are both cities.

[BUalumni]

Originally Posted by linicx

Morton is not classed as a city due to the popularion. It is a Village according to the Village Clerk. Pekin and East Peoria are both cities.

Good find. I always thought that Pekin was a village, and by default just assumed that EP was as well. In either case EP has a decent urban feel to it, while most of Pekin and all of Morton have a much more suburban feel.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by linicx

Morton is not classed as a city due to the popularion. It is a Village according to the Village Clerk. Pekin and East Peoria are both cities.

Size does not determine whether a municipality is a village or a city. It is determined by the structure of government. Arlington Heights and Schaumburg are both villages and they are each almost the size of Decatur. Chester IL, by contrast, is 1/3rd as populous as Morton but is a city.