Quote:
Originally Posted by mackinac81
Wow, these postings are so negative. I'm looking at moving to Illinois, and I saw some open teaching positions in the smalller towns outside Decatur. (Mattoon, Clinton, etc...) It looked like a decent sized city and thought I'd use it as a commuting base if I ever got any jobs in the area. But I guess I'll look more at Champaign/Urbana than Decatur.
Decatur sounds like Flint, in my home state of Michigan.
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Pretty much. It's deindustrialization, my man. When most people had jobs making stuff in the factories, all of these central IL towns were on a pretty even playing field. Then the economy totally ceased to be based on mass production and some towns adapted, and some lost. So you're right on. Decatur lost, and Flint lost, for similar reasons.
Those downstate IL towns that had something else going on or were able to transition to the knowledge economy are still largely pretty nice places. This includes the C-U, B-N and Peoria helped by U of I, ISU and State Farm, and Caterpillar, respectively.
We in Illinois are also all fortunate that Chicago made it through that transition better than almost any large Midwest industrial city.
Other posters mention these middle-class enclaves on the edges of Decatur that sound like fine places to live and raise kids. But as far as living in Decatur to take advantage of the opportunities that usually go along with a city that size, you probably won't find what you're looking for there at the present time.
BTW, I live in the C-U right now. I like it a lot. I really think you can't do too much better as far as urban and cultural amenities for an area of its size (210K). Some would say Bloomington-Normal is right up there too. A lot more has been written about Champaign-Urbana that you can find by searching the forum.
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