Moving to Champaign Il help please! (Decatur, Bloomington: mortgage, maintenance, apartments)

[M TYPE X]

That's Champaign-Urbana alright: extremely dangerous and so expensive! It's like California here in metropolitan Champaign, Illinois.
I can't stand the traffic! THREE Wal-Marts?!?! Overdevelopment!

[sonicreducer]

Originally Posted by MollyM

I wouldn't characterize the city as a "dump" and I'm speaking as a native Portland, Oregonian. It just isn't a showpiece. You'd never come here to see the city, per se, and neither Champaign nor Urbana has any historical center to speak of although there are lots of historical homes scattered around throughout sections of both towns.

I grew up in a rural area near C-U (Homer), and agree with your assessment. I have always got the inkling that neither city had much of a sense of preserving history, and this has made both towns a little bland. They tend to favor the very American "tear it down and build something new & shiny" aesthetic. There are exceptions, sure---I like that they preserved the old train station downtown, and have mostly resisted tearing down interesting buildings in that general area as well. The U of I has FANTASTIC architecture though, and is simply one of the nicest college campuses in the US. It's too bad that it lacks some kind of natural beauty to anchor in it (like how UW-Madison has the lakes, etc.). You can only do so much with flat prairie.

Depending upon your income, you might also want to consider one of the fastest growing small areas in the state, which abuts Champaign--Savoy. Lots of brand-new services (including, of course, Wal-Mart), restaurants, a 16-screen theater, the best bookstore in town, two or three banks, and several nice subdivisions that have very reasonably priced homes.

I have relatives who moved to Savoy some time ago (maybe 15 years ago), and have watched it grow and grow and grow. They lived in one of the developments off Curtis Rd. I remember when all that was there was Skateland, but now there are actually many reasons to go there and shop. Pages for All Ages is a fantastic bookstore, and Friar Tucks is a great booze shop.

Savoy really does have a suburb feel though, which I never liked. The town lacks a character of its own.

The small towns generally made up of Ill. locals, many of whom commute to work on the U. of I. campus, which has a huge work force. These numerous small towns (with, yes, fantastically low property taxes and affordable houses) are not retreats for artsy types, as I had expected, coming from where I'd lived previously--in Rhode Island, Vermont, Mass. and Conn. (Got my doctorate from Brown, then worked a while in the East before taking a job here at the U. of I.) They are also almost entirely lacking in racial or ethnic diversity, which I found a real drawback.

I think this may be changing a bit for the better, from what I'm hearing. But being from one of these small towns, I always get the feeling when I go home to visit that they are definitely dying out, losing more population than they are gaining. Homer (as an example) has lost a lot of businesses, but has gained a few. They at least have gas stations, a grocery, and a restaurant, which is better than a lot of other towns nearby. I do know of some U of I employees who have moved to town and done fabulous things (the new pres. of the historical society is a former east coast resident who restored a wonderful old mansion, as well as an old Woolworth's store downtown), but you are right about the nearby small towns not being "artsy retreats" by any stretch. When I was a kid in the 70s/80s, there was very little diversity. We had a couple black, asian, and hispanic kids at my school. But I honestly think that most people there are open to diversity....they just don't get "diverse" populations because the area is so entrenched in farming. New families don't tend to move in. It tends to be the same families sticking around generation after generation as the land gets handed down.

There are two main hospitals--one that "owns" the town (Carle), and a smaller one with a more personal touch (Provena). If you plan on using an HMO, feel free to e-mail me about one versus the other. I've used both, and recently lost my dear dad to a medical error at Carle--but I'm also a cancer patient and Carle has an excellent cancer center.

I also lost my grandfather due to a medical error at Carle, and know of several other people who have as well. I'm very sorry to hear you went through the same situation. It makes me sick, as our whole family generally went to Provena; he was only sent to Carle to see a "specialist".....

All the state parks (Homer Lake is my favorite) have lakes with fishing, boating, and frequent deer sitings.

I am partial to Homer Lake myself. They have the only sledding hill I knew as a kid. My grandfather helped build/develop the forest preserve. The other forest preserves in the system are worth a visit too (Mahomet and Middle Fork in Penfield). But Allerton Park is gorgeous.

It took quite a while, but I've come to love the sunrises and sunsets on the prairie horizons and the beautiful "cloudscapes"--and that's coming from a person who grew up spending weekends at Cannon Beach and skiing at Timberline and Mount Hood Meadows!

It is a different serene kind of beauty that I can now appreciate as an adult. A a kid, I wished I lived somewhere more geographically interesting, with mountains (or at least HILLS!), rivers, and lakes, etc. My husbands aunt and uncle now live in Cannon Beach, and I can't wait to go visit them.

I would not recommend anything in the North Prospect area. Yes, it's growing fast, but is near all the big box stores and about a jillion chain restaurants, and is the only place in town with real traffic jams. The natives complain constantly about it North Prospect Ave. traffic.

Agreed. It seems like everytime I am home for a visit, there are new stores opening out there, and the traffic only gets worse. I think the city is attempting to deal with this a bit, but it still seems bad to me. I can't imagine living out in that area. I noticed they are building new apts or condos in the cornfield right by Market Place Mall. Very weird.

I've lived in a small town of 900 (Sidney) where my husband and I bought our starter house (warning: We discovered after we moved there that, although the locals were very welcoming, there was not one single person of color in the entire town and a lot of people had gunracks in their pickup trucks, but that was 1985);

Sidney is a nice town; I always thought it was prettier than Homer (more trees!). My aunt just bought an affordable little cottage there that abuts a very wooded area on the edge of town. Very cute. I am not aware of large numbers of gunracks in pickups, but wouldn't doubt it. I wouldn't be frightened of it either. There are a lot of hunters (deer, pheasant, etc.) in the area, including my stepdad, and people tend to be very pro-gun/rifle. I never felt this was in any way a menacing thing though, and can not remember any gun crimes occurring in any of the small towns around that area in my lifetime.

P.S. If you're interested in books, the U. of I. library has the third largest academic library in the country, behind Harvard and Yale, and the Urbana Public library has been voted the best, or one of the best, small-town libraries in America. C-U is also one of the most wired cities in the country. Hope this helps! Good luck!

I recently graduated from library school, and am looking for jobs. I can't tell you how much I would LOVE to come home and work for the U of I and its fantastic library. It really is an awesome place, and I encourage all residents to use it (it's not just for students!) Urbana Public is also a great place, including their local history section.

The C-U area is not perfect in all areas, but it has a lot going for it. I definitely miss living there (I've been away 7-8 years), but am always happy to visit when I can.

[M TYPE X]

My professor lives out in the woods in Sidney. His wife (also a professor) told me "it was his idea." Nice house ... long drive to office/class when you have ice storms. I think she would prefer to live in Urbana proper.

[k8uiuc]

It's all about perspective:
Pluses for C-U:
U of I library (the best public univ library), cheap living (compared to New England, where I am from), pretty safe as long as you live south of University Ave west of Philo (in Urbana), Urbana Public library (it's wonderful), the Farmer's Market (urbana).

Minuses:
Terrible driving on campus: of all 3 campuses I have lived on UIUC is the WORST for pedestrian safety, I am amazed every day at how people will run stop signs and not stop for a ped when in a cross walk. And I am from MA, where the driving is horrible (MUCH worse than IL, even in Chicago). And I hate to say it, but to me, it is boring here. I realize it is all about perspective, and for me, it is very boring here (which is good for getting work done). It's flat and I miss the ocean, the mountains, and the music scene in MA/Boston/CT. Very limited shopping (I wait til I go home). Also, I continue to be awed at the number of fast food places here. And the number of cookie cutter homes, too, I guess I expected more from a college town area, but again, just my perspective.
Overall, I think it's a decent place to go to school, and UIUC has an excellent grad school, good benefits and highly rated. The school is worth being semi-bored for a few years.

[Katiana]

k8uiuc:

it is very boring here (which is good for getting work done).

LOL! My DH went there for grad school, and his advisor said the same thing. The advisor turned 80 last yr, spent virtually all of his career at UI. My DH and I finally got too bored, though, and went to CO. And guess what? About all we do is eat, work, sleep; just like in ILL. Weather is much better here, though. The weather in Champaign is absolutely horrendus: humid, hot in the summer when you can see the steam rising from the cornfields; bitter cold sometimes in winter; very short spring and fall. Winter isn't always too long either, it just seems long sometimes.

[Drover]

The major problem with Champaign-area winters is that they're not cold enough to do your standard winter activities (sledding, XC skiing, snowmobiling, etc.) but it's cold enough that you don't want to do anything else outside either.

The summer days may suck, but sometimes nothing beats a summer night spent on my mother-in-law's deck looking over the corn fields drinking a beer and basking in the silence while the fireflies decorate the night sky.

[M TYPE X]

I second the comments made about 'bowling for pedestrians,' the crappy winters (ugly, in addition to the usual Midwestern chill), and the nothing-to-do existence you will live if you don't have time to drive up to Chicago. Summers here are hot, but the town looks nice when the trees bloom and the corn is growing.

It's not Ann Arbor, but I have seen worse.

[Katiana]

Drover:

The major problem with Champaign-area winters is that they're not cold enough to do your standard winter activities (sledding, XC skiing, snowmobiling, etc.) but it's cold enough that you don't want to do anything else outside either.

Not usually enough snow on the ground for snowmobiling or XC skiing either. Crystal Lake lagoon usually freezes hard enough to ice skate on for a few weeks, anyway, but that's about it, in my experience.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by pittnurse70

Drover:

Not usually enough snow on the ground for snowmobiling or XC skiing either.

Uhm... yeah, that's kind of part-and-parcel of the "not cold enough for standard winter activities" situation.

[Rioghnach]

Originally Posted by Switch625

It's an urban legend. Monticello sounds a siren at noon every day. That's a signal it's lunch time.

My fiance is originally from Villa Grove, and I first went to visit the town and started learning some of the history of the town, one of the things I learned was that there actually was a siren that would go off before dark back in the dat to tell any african-american workers, or anyone else who wasn't white, that they needed to leave. As ridiculous as I think something like that is, I just wanted to say that it was NOT an urban legend....Unfortunately. It is still in place but thankfully they do NOT sound it any longer.