Beating Rockford a little more... (Chicago, Peoria: how much, homes, luxury)

[BUalumni]

Originally Posted by Steve-o

While they ignore the ever-so-wonderful Danville, piece-of-junk Cairo, and the fantabulous, sexy East St. Louis, right?

Well lets be honest, what represents the state more, little tiny Cairo or Joliet. I'll let you take your pick. Central Illinois will galdy take Decatur, Danville, and Macomb, any day over the combined ills of Rockford, Elgin, Aurora, Joliet, Gary, and the south AND west sides of Chicago. That is before we take into affect many of the other towns in the northern Illinois area that are less than "fantabulous", and long before we take into the account the other Chicagoland 'burbs that have little room to speak.

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by BUalumni

Well lets be honest, what represents the state more, little tiny Cairo or Joliet. I'll let you take your pick. Central Illinois will galdy take Decatur, Danville, and Macomb, any day over the combined ills of Rockford, Elgin, Aurora, Joliet, Gary, and the south AND west sides of Chicago. That is before we take into affect many of the other towns in the northern Illinois area that are less than "fantabulous", and long before we take into the account the other Chicagoland 'burbs that have little room to speak.

My point was that southern IL has its fair share of delapidated ghettos, too. So laugh all you want at the Chicagoland ghettos, but dont laugh too hard, your region also has them. The difference is that places like Aurora, Elgin, Joliet, etc, are home to many corporations that actually contribute to the economy, unlike the ghetto southern cities, which are being abandoned and left to literally rot, you wont find that up here. In fact, unlike places like East St. Louis, Danville, etc, troubled suburbs up here are cleaning up and revitalizing, turning things around. And Aurora, while it has its problems in areas, is more important than your Danvilles, East St. Louis', Cairos, etc.

[rocky12345]

There is lots of really neat old housing stock in the downtown area.[/quote]

Sure but do you have the money to put up bullet proof glass


For some reason I associate pick up tricks strongly with everything red neck, especially here in Rockford.

[BUalumni]

Originally Posted by Steve-o

My point was that southern IL has its fair share of delapidated ghettos, too. So laugh all you want at the Chicagoland ghettos, but dont laugh too hard, your region also has them. The difference is that places like Aurora, Elgin, Joliet, etc, are home to many corporations that actually contribute to the economy, unlike the ghetto southern cities, which are being abandoned and left to literally rot, you wont find that up here. In fact, unlike places like East St. Louis, Danville, etc, troubled suburbs up here are cleaning up and revitalizing, turning things around. And Aurora, while it has its problems in areas, is more important than your Danvilles, East St. Louis', Cairos, etc.

Steve-O. I really don't won't to argue with you, yet again. I know you are determined to defend Chicagoland till the death, but in this case, you have almost no arugment. You can not justify that northern Illinois cities, (not actual suburbs like Elmhurst), are better places to live than central Illinois cities. I specify central, because Illinois has three distince regions, and while all are essentially the same, they are unique in their own way. This "your" buisness is ignorant. We all have Illinois license plates, do we not? You talk about Cairo as if it is just as much a major vocal point for the state just as Joliet and Aurora are. I'm sorry, but Cairo is a nothing more than a blip on map and matters little in the greater Illinois outlook. The same can not be said for places like Elgin. Sorry, but that is just the way it is. Every small region, in almost every corner of the world were society is, has at least one place like Cairo. Comparing it to the likes of Gary is beyond me. For those that live in the impoverished and crime filled south end of Chicago, or even in the suburban areas of Harvey, Cairo would be a resort town! Yes, Danville is dying, if not already dead. Yes, Decatur was not my first choice of places when looking into downstate locations to move. But they are far from the version of ghetto that you are using. Besides, ESL Cairo, and Danville are geographically very far apart in terms of Illinois miles. Meanwhile "your" northern cities are much closer together, and it stands to reason that they would feed off each other far more than the likes of what we have down here. Your attempt at making it appear that the majority of Illinois' problems did not originate, or till this day still remain in the northern and north east sector of the state, is just as odd as your trying to explain that Illinois doesn't have corn! Everyone knows the truth, why even try to make it sound the other way around? Have a good evening.

[Drover]

Great, just what we need, another smug self-righteous downstater 'snickering' at Chicago's slums, as if Chicago invented poverty and downstaters cured it. Be thankful we've let the rest of the region dump its poor on us for so long; it's what gives you the luxury of waxing moral superiority over your tidy little downstate cities compared to our upstate slums. Though I can't help but notice that when some of our slum rats move into your downstate cities in an effort to bring a marginal improvement to their quality of life, you downstaters suddenly stop snickering and start whining and begging us to take them back. Karma sucks, don't it? Too bad. Time to start sharing in the problem you've helped to create, whether you want to acknowledge it or not.

[phl76]

This summer, my family is moving to Rockford and my brother-in-law is moving to Carbondale. So what everyone is saying is we're basically S.O.L.

[Drover]

Guess it depends on where you're moving from. If you're moving from, say, Springfield, its more of the same. If you're moving from San Francisco, you'll probably want to kill yourself within weeks.

[phl76]

We're from Philadelphia. My brother-in-law is moving from Bumble-F Missouri, though he lived in Philly for a while as well.

We're used to walking to the grocery store and taking the bus/train to get to places. I walk to work everyday. We visited Rockford this past weekend to find an apartment. Definitely a change from where we're coming from but we're determined to give Rockford a fair shot.

The only reason we're moving is because my wife got an offer that was pretty hard to turn down and I was able to stay with my current company and work from home.

[aragx6]

Originally Posted by phl76

We're from Philadelphia. My brother-in-law is moving from Bumble-F Missouri, though he lived in Philly for a while as well.

We're used to walking to the grocery store and taking the bus/train to get to places. I walk to work everyday. We visited Rockford this past weekend to find an apartment. Definitely a change from where we're coming from but we're determined to give Rockford a fair shot.

The only reason we're moving is because my wife got an offer that was pretty hard to turn down and I was able to stay with my current company and work from home.

Good luck. My knowledge of Rockford is pretty slim, but I know you are going to have a major culture shock.

My suggestion would be to have your wife start looking for employment in the Chicago area as soon as you feel you aren't digging Rockford. being stuck somewhere you hate is unpleasant to say the least.

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by phl76

This summer, my family is moving to Rockford and my brother-in-law is moving to Carbondale. So what everyone is saying is we're basically S.O.L.

Depends on where youre coming from, as Drover stated. If youre coming from, say, Nogales, AZ, youll LOVE it (except the winter, perhaps lol). But if youre coming from, say, Seattle or Boston, youll probably despise it.