Springfield......a nice place to live?

[caliguy92832]

I heard that Springfield has a very high violent crime rate, alot of assaults.

[linicx]

The only Trader Joe's I ever frequented were in Oceanside, CA and in St Louis. The last time I looked at a Trader Joe's map, which was about a year ago, my nearest choices were St Louis or Denver, Las Vegas or Reno. There was no store listed in Chicago or Kansas City.

Trader Joe's tends to open compact stores in densly populated areas. The metro areas are not near each other, and they do not sell online - which is a pity. It would save me a 350 mile trip every 6 months..

[aragx6]

There's 15 Trader Joe's in the Chicago metro, but you're right that they are none in Kansas City.

[Maintainschaos]

Originally Posted by linicx

The only Trader Joe's I ever frequented were in Oceanside, CA and in St Louis. The last time I looked at a Trader Joe's map, which was about a year ago, my nearest choices were St Louis or Denver, Las Vegas or Reno. There was no store listed in Chicago or Kansas City.

Trader Joe's tends to open compact stores in densly populated areas. The metro areas are not near each other, and they do not sell online - which is a pity. It would save me a 350 mile trip every 6 months..

There are tons in Chicago as well as (at least) one each in Milwaukee and Madison. If I'm not mistaken, there are also a few in Michigan and Indiana...Don't go too far without checking the map first!! --> Welcome to Trader Joe's - Your Neighborhood Grocery Store - Locations

[linicx]

Springfield is the state capital. It is as nice as any other Midwestern city of the same size. It has no more crime than any other Midwesternn city of the same size. In Springfield there are parks, zoo, Springfield Lake, mall, airport, State Fair, and I-55. It's 90 miles from St. Louis. It's a political city. Abraham Lincoln Museum and Presidential Library is there, so is the State Archives and the State Police. It isn't far from Salem, where Lincoln lived. The Frank Lloyd Wright house is in Springfield and so is Knight's Park - which is great if you have kids that like water.

Mother and I went to Springfield to shop and eat once a week for two years. What I don't like about Springfield is the endless parade of one-way streets and the Springfield Clinic. As a whole I think the city is a boring tourist stop - and the traffic is LA horrendus until after midnight most of the time. It's worse in the summer because there are very few ways to get into or out of town without using I-55 unless you don't mind narrow two-lane roads that go the long way around.

If I wanted the benefits of Sprinfield without the headaches I would take a serious look at Lincoln which is about 15 miles north. It is slower paced, yet I-55 is very near. Housing is still reasonable, schools are good, and it's a safe area to roost. Major grocery stores, WalMart and, Walgreens pharmacy - national chains, great restaurants with very good food, and a nice hospital. Friendly people who are willing to help newcomers live here.

My personal favorite is Peoria because it offers many opportunites for learning or expeiencing new things. The Peoria Park District has no rivals for a city its size for it offers classes all year round. Most of the teachers are average folks with exceptional skills that get paid to teach others what they enjoy doing. The PPD has over 50 parks with thousands of acres for public use. There is also River Front Park, summer theater, Civic Center, museums, two malls; one inside and one outside, several strip shopping areas, Upscale dining, three country clubs, airport AAA ball club, swimmng holes and ice skating rink, symphany, beautiful scenery, Heart of Illinois Fair, Casino, etc. Peoria also has a nice mix of private and public schools to choose from. It also has an interesting mix of religions not found in many cities of its size. And there are seven bridges that cross the Illinois river to connect Peoria County to the outside world. The Civic Center has a national acit at least once a month. I think April features The Blue Menm but it might have been lin March. What Peoria doesn't have is endless one-way streets, an abundance of politicians, and nothing to do on a weekend with your kids.

It all has to do with what you are looking for. Don't pass up a diamond in the rough while you are look for a gold mine. Illinois has all kinds of nice surprises waitng for YOU! .

[lesueuj]

I have lived in nearby Decatur, IL (God help me) for the past four long years. I have a sister who lives in Springfield (zip code: 62711) and compared to Decatur, Springfield is pretty decent!

There are TONS of restaurants and shopping opportunities, and the housing appears to be quite reasonable. It definitely has a "smaller-town" feel for a city of its size (especially does not really feel like a state's capital). Overall, even though Springfield may have its issues, it's a LOT better than nearby Decatur!

[supernova9]

It doesn't take much to be better than Decatur! *laughs* Springfield is nothing exceptional, and there are more advantageous options for housing with a faster turn-around potential in Bloomington-Normal and Champaign-Urbana. Springfield really isn't much of a "destination" town, even with it's captial city staus. Head further north to Peoria for something comparable, or Bloomington-Normal or Champaign-Urbana to the northeast.

[Talentscout217]

Originally Posted by Clint_Noname

Nope. Springfield is a crime-ridden wasteland, with gangs and drugs being a huge problem almost everywhere in the city (maybe except for some secluded areas with lots of open space, but you would still have to go into the city to eat and shop). When the city government demolished the hay homes where many of Springfield's poor residents lived, these residents flocked to areas of Springfield that used to have low crime...and now they're robbing and assaulting middle- and upper-class people in these areas. And guess what they demolished the "hay homes" in favor of? Luxurious homes for the rich people! Now just how crazy is that?!?

No im pretty sure they replaced them with much nicer section 8 duplex's. hell the projects look nicer than some neighborhoods lol

[breer23]

Originally Posted by Talentscout217

No im pretty sure they replaced them with much nicer section 8 duplex's. hell the projects look nicer than some neighborhoods lol

You're right, the old brownstone type buildings were replaced with cookie-cutter type affordable housing. The idea was that it would help increase the value of the area, and that other homes in the areas might follow suit.

While those homes were being built, a lot of former Hay Homes residents were relocated to various areas of town, and many of them never returned, for one reason or another. Unfortunately, that did cause mini-spikes of crime in some (but not all) of those relocation areas.