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I'd agree with what most people have said here. I lived here 22 years and until I left for Florida for 6 months, didn't realize how great of a town C-U really is. The traffic in Champaign is laughable, and my family and I's favorite thing to do is listen to 97.5 on game days (both basketball and football) when they do the traffic report. This basically consists of a guy saying, "well, there's a bit of a back-up right now on First Street, but the light just changed, so we're moving again". Haha, it cracks us up every time.
Both cities are built on a grid, so you can literally learn these towns in a weekend without the aid of a map. The 3 "major" interstates run into or around C-U, but not through, so you don't have to take the interstate everywhere you go!
It's true that both cities are made up of subdivisions. When I ran into people I knew from Champaign in Florida, the first question they asked was where do you live? And we both answered with our subdivisions. There are a lot of good neighborhoods in the Champaign area, and with a little research you'll find that most of them are not cookie-cutter, by actual cookie-cutter standards (there are a few exceptions...Cherry Hills for one). Most people are moving out further to places like Trails at Brittany or Iron Wood, but it really depends on what you like.
I would have to half agree with the poster who said the cities weren't much into historical preservation. The City of Champaign recently applied to become a Main Street Community, who's major purpose is to preserve downtowns, etc. While there has been building going on in downtown Champaign (M2, etc), the majority of downtown is held onto by owners who refuse to let them tear down the old buildings. Plus, most of the area just West of downtown, in the West Side Park/Central High School/Holy Cross area is full of beautiful old homes and you can even find cobblestone streets, if that is what you like. I won't even touch Urbana, because, yeah, it's like pulling teeth to get anything done in that city without going through a gazillion hoops first. And I actually worked for a subsidiary of the City of Urbana for a year, so I know this first hand. You can't really compare the two, however, because their governances work completely different.
I went to public school in Champaign (Westview, Robeson, Jefferson and Centennial) and then went on to the University of Illinois, and I have little to nothing bad to say about the school system. I was in middle school when school of choice came into play, but unless you are trying to get into Barkstall, I've heard you normally get your #1 if you choose the "neighborhood" school. The high schools are similar in size (about 350 per graduating class) and both offer a wide variety of classes including AP and extracurricular offerings. Both band programs are widely recognized, as are the drama departments. The vast majority of students either go to Parkland Community College or the University of Illinois after they graduate. There were over 60 going to the U of I in my sister's graduating class alone. If you prefer private schools, St. Matthews, Holy Cross, and St. Johns Lutheran have K-8 programs along with Countryside and one or two more I'm sure I'm missing. Judah Christian offers K-12 and the High School of St. Thomas Moore is growing in population as well. University High School located on the University of Illinois campus is annually ranked as one of the best schools in the country based on ACT score. The year I graduated high school, their ACT average was a 31 or 32.
Crime, like any other community, is present here. The vast majority of it occurs in small pocketed areas that you will learn quickly or in the University District. We don't leave our cars or or doors unlocked, but there are very few places that do anymore. If you are smart and observant you'll be fine here. Shopping and Dining abound, and while we have a lot of chains, there are some great family owned places, too. The University presence means there are a lot of opportunities to do things here that you won't find in other towns of this size. We have live theater at the Assembly Hall and at the Krannert Center. Rarely a weekend goes by that something isn't going on.
Both Champaign and Urbana have wonderful park districts, though both are complete opposites of one another (surprise, surprise). Kids can get involved in all sorts of activities through them. Oddly enough, swimming is a popular activity kids do here. There are a number of public pools and two private swim clubs: Indian Acres and Windsor Swim Club. If you like to swim, but also like golf there are 3 country clubs: Lincolnshire Fields, Champaign Country Club and Urbana Country Club. Urbana also has Stone Creek Golf Club, which is open to the public and Champaign recently opened a small golf course on the south west side of town with a covered/heated driving range. I don't know much about it, but I know that it is public as well. Along with swimming, soccer and baseball are popular activites for kids, with the Little Illini Soccer Club (LISC) being a popular traveling team. Baseball seems to be played almost all year round here, but I don't know much about it. People here are friendly and most get to know their neighbors.
Oh, and one more thing. If you don't already, get to LOVE the color Orange, it's everywhere! Go Illini!
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04-25-2008, 08:16 PM
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