Possible move to Springfield.... (Peoria, Quincy: fit in, credit, high schools)
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I drove through the east end on my first visit to Springfield. I didn't find the Simpsons, I found the ghetto. This is similar to the first time I ever visited Grand Rapids or Lansing or Toledo or Akron. I always find the nice areas! Take a guess ... what kind of neighborhoods will I find on my first visit to Fort Wayne?
I was not impressed by Springfield. Veterans Parkway has a mall and shopping, like Bloomington-Normal (which on the whole feels safer than Springfield). Peoria has more to do. UIS is like "what?" compared to UIUC here. The best you can say about Springfield is that it is not Decatur.
I always thought that, driving up from the Detroit area, that Lansing was a backwater. Nahhhh... Springfield is a backwater's backwater. Plus, it is closer to St Louis than Chicago.
The Peoria area is relatively nice. Of course, it does not have the stability of government sector employment.
I have mixed opinions of the earlier reveiews. Yes, Springfield is not a very metropolitan city nor is it a blue collar friendly city. If you want to find a blue collar city go to Decatur or Jacksonville about 45 and 30 minutes drive respectively on opposite sides of the capital city, or travel into truly southern Illinois. I don't know why there aren't more factories and such in the city; however, I don't think the lack of blue collar jobs a huge deterent just know that if you don't plan to work for the state you probalby won't find a job at least not that pays well with out a college degree and even then it can be hit or miss. The city is the state capital and most of the people here are state employee's and I think your impression is pretty close to accurate on their level of enthusiams. One thing if you are looking for a different type of community is what many state employees do which is to live in one of the outlying towns, there are a lot of people who drive from Jacksonville into Springfield daily as well as from the town north & south on I-55 as well as the smaller towns on the various highways but the smaller the towns the less there is to do in them.
I am a first year graduate student at UIS; however, I lived in Jacksonville for 4 years during my undergraduate days and I have many friends who live and work in Springfield so I've been in most of the areas. Springfield really isn't be the best place to be if your in your late teens or twenties, the city is very much geared towards the state employee's and the older upper middle class residents; although I do enjoy the area.
The shopping is a little better than so-so but it depends on what type of shopping you like to do and what you are used to, coming from a very rural area my family loves to come up and will spend the whole day 'visiting' with me at the chain stores, but there are smaller stores downtown and tucked in various places throughout the city. I will agree the mall is over priced and is normally full of teenagers because its just about the only place they can go.
The public transportation here is reasonable, but it does only during the day Monday - Saturday and Saturday has a different schedule. The service routes end around 6 but if you work 9-5 you can generally use the transportation, I've noticed that a lot of students seem to use the busses to get around, and I've found it works well for meeting friends for lunch or to get out to the mall.
The east side of the city may offend some people's sensibilities but its no worse than the economically depressed areas in the rest of downstate Illinois and is not really a 'ghetto' either, rednecks and suburbanities might feel that way but its not like you'll be carjacked or knifed driving through the area.
UIS is not UIUC, also its not a 'branch' campus it was actually annexed by the U of I system, and all in only the red tape & of course email & web addressed are truely Univeristy of Illinois, just as UIC and UIUC are unique so is UIS. UIS is rather seperated from the rest of the city however, it is rather diverse there are a lot of international students who go to school here, many live on campus but we do interact with the city, so unlike Jacksonville or points south of Springfield in Illinois; you will see racial diversity at the mall and other public areas.
I have a cousin who lives with her husband and kids in Sherman and they like the neighborhood, she works for the state and he is a white collar worker which is very typical of the area. I also have a friends on the north end of town and while its a nice neighborhood the high school up there isn't the best (I believe its Lanphier but I could be wrong). If you are looking for nice family areas just about anywhere in the city you can find them and there are several private schools at least 2 catholic high schools & a lutheran high school.
One thing I've noticed missing from the other reviews is Sangamon Auditorium which is out at UIS, they have a reasonable number of professional theater productions as well as nationally known speakers: Garrison Keillor was just here and last year David McCullough.
cstan2... Thanks for your reply, and again thanks to doll lady. Very informative!
I appreciate your comments. I must admit that I was taken aback by the comments of m type x, I think, on this thread and another recent thread about Champaign, where I currently live...references to the "ghetto" or whatever.
On the Champaign thread, folks are writing in and urging the original author not to look at any places in Champaign north of University Ave, or Bradley Ave, especially west of Prospect Ave. People are writing in and suggesting that one needs to "lock their doors" when driving through these areas. These types of ignorant comments really get me down. They're clearly racist, without coming right out and openly saying what they really mean. They assume readers will "understand."
I realize that Springfield lost a lot of its industry in the 1980s and has had a hard time recovering since then...it's a government town, predominantly. There are people there without jobs...but even in the poorest sections, it's not a "ghetto." And for M Type X to suggest it, or to be looking for the Simpsons...well, he must be a cartoon character himself. A very 2-D response.
As for the stereotype of the govt employee...I just don't know if that job is for me.... But then again, these folks must need to retire soon! Perhaps the office needs new blood. Just don't know if I have enough to give them, they need a real shot in the arm in that office!
For shame for shame! Yes Sherman does have a lone elementary school ....but Sherman does not have a school system....the elementary school is the Williamsville School District. And Williamsville does house grade, middle and high school students as stated. I forgot this school was here but have been there many times and know exactly where it is.
I am not here to discuss the merits of a particular school. Small towns have good school systems...if someone is moving to a specific location, it is always in their best interest to check out statistics and ratings. To google for information is not always what the locals would say about things.
To the others who have made positive comments about Springfield. Thank you.....it is a typical midwestern city .... crime is good compared to what I have been seeing on the crime rates of one neighboring similar sized city to the east. On the east side, I can actually say I would not be afraid to go drive down the east side streets in the daytime or nightime....and I am a woman. IT IS NOT A GHETTO IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM. As I stated before, there may be a small impoverished part of the east side that houses need repair. Last years tornado got rid of the abandoned ones. Any city has areas such as this.
Also thank you to those who strive to keep our forum one which abounds in positive comments about subjects. Of course it is always correct to state the negatives but should be done in a manner which is not detrimental. This forum is not here to start arguments about a subject. It is for people to learn about cities and topics that a particular person actually knows something about.
Last edited by doll lady; 03-05-2007 at 06:59 AM..
I like a lot of things about Springfield, but there are some things people should think about if they are considering moving here. Unfortunately, one negative part of living in this city is that many in this community aren't willing to acknowledge social problems like crime, poverty and homelessness. After all, if a community is going to solve the problems it has, it first needs to acknowledge them. For many, it is easier to pretend these problems don't exist, and ignore the victims.
Amusingly, in a tragic sort of way, it also took the city days to acknowledge that an exchange of gunfire in a movie theater between two organized groups of people was gang related. That's right police in Springfield were afraid to use the g-word.
Overall, Springfield is a pretty nice place, it has affordable housing, people are usually polite, and traffic problems are practically nonexistent. This, combined with quick rail and interstate access to two major metro areas makes this a nice place to live. But it isn't without it's problems, and frankly I'd like to see city leaders deal with them. I think we have the potential to do a lot better than the "typical midwestern city."
Quote:
Originally Posted by doll lady
To the others who have made positive comments about Springfield. Thank you.....it is a typical midwestern city .... crime is good compared to what I have been seeing on the crime rates of one neighboring similar sized city to the east. On the east side, I can actually say I would not be afraid to go drive down the east side streets in the daytime or nightime....and I am a woman. IT IS NOT A GHETTO IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM. As I stated before, there may be a small impoverished part of the east side that houses need repair. Last years tornado got rid of the abandoned ones. Any city has areas such as this.
I never said "ghetto" over in the Champaign thread. I said the area around the Bradley avenue corridor was "blighted." It is blighted compared to the rest of the city. I drive down Bradley avenue quite a bit and I'm hardly in fear of my life. But the thread opener was asking for areas that were upscale and Bradley avenue does NOT fit the bill.
I grew up in Chicago until about 25 years ago when my parents and I moved to Spfld.. It took alot of adjusting to the slower pace, old people on the road,stupid ass accents(like it's 200 miles from little rock instead of Chicago). There are plenty of police to go around. State police, springfield police and Sangamon county police. Once you can adjust to those things and settle in, it's not too bad. I live 4 miles south in Chatham, very family oriented place where kids can play in the streets even after dark without problems.
Can someone please provide me with family friendly areas?...this includes any neighborhoods that welcome diversity, private and public schools..and any headsup that you may have.
yes, I lived there and find the Northwest area snobby - go straight North around fairgrounds for common type folk.
I am from the Springfield area and spent a lot of my teenage years there and while I now live in Peoria I still have close family who reside in Springfield. (Don't ask about the pre-teenage years there isn't enough space on this board for all them.)
The first thing that comes to mind as soon as I hear "Springfield" is hope you work for the state or one of the hospitals and can afford to send your kids to Private School.
Now I'm not saying that Springfield is a bad place to live. There are lots of things about it that I miss such as the State Fair and the tourism related businesses. BUT I would defiantly look at living in one of the small surrounding towns if you have kids. Of all the surrounding towns we lived in (Chatham, Riverton, Greenview, Sherman, Rocherster, Athens, Petersburg) Greenview had by far the best schools and the friendliest people. It's a little bit of a drive (1/2 hour 45 minutes depending on weather) but it's more than worth it.
By the way, one of the two Catholic High Schools in Springfield, Ursuline Academy, closed down this past May. They are/were located on the North end of town and the less affluent Catholic High School in town. Sacred Heart Griffin is the only Catholic High School left in town and I can say with complete honesty 98% of the kids who go there are snobs. But hey it beats getting stabbed or shot at one of the three public high schools in town!
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