Rockford IL good or bad (Schaumburg: private school, tornado, taxes)

[theitalian3721]

I just graduated from a certain Rockford public high school. I know the ins on how students acted, how teachers taught, and how Rockford just can't seem to create decent funding for its schools while it goes off and rebuilds a metro center they can't even fill. I would never, ever suggest anyone send there child there. Unless you've gone to a Rockford public school, how can you really have much of a say?

[Steve-o]

I hear that Cherry Valley is a great alternative, I hear only good things about that place. Id tell you more, but my experience with the town is very limited.

[Havasu]

Rockford is very bad. No growth at all and lots of crime do a search on crime in Rockford Illinois ( did i spell that right)I sure hope so!! Here is the latest on crime there
http://www.rrstar.com/homepage/x1091759336 No thanks!!!

[Drover]

Rockford may have its problems but no growth is not one of them. According to the most recent census estimate (2006), the population of Rockford Proper has grown by 3.3% since the 2000 census -- from 150,115 to 155,138 -- while the metropolitan area population has grown by 8.8%, from 320,204 to 348,252. Considering all the building that's happening on the east side, I have no particular reason to doubt these figures.

Sources:

http://www.census.gov/popest/cities/...EST2006-01.xls

http://www.census.gov/population/www/estimates/metro_general/2006/CBSA-EST2006-01.xls (broken link)

[Chicago60614]

^ I was gonna say, the Rockford metro has grown by 70,000 people since 1990.

I'm sure that growth will pick up now that the Rockford and Chicago spraw areas are getting very close together.

[Doug Bergren]

Hi Again-Since leaving Rockford 13 years ago, I can honestly say that my wife and I never made a smarter move. We moved to a small town an hour, 15 minutes away (southwest) called Mt. Carroll, (pop. 1900) the county seat of Carroll County. Considering that Carroll County has voted Republican since the Civil War, the townspeople are surprisingly liberal. We have some mixed race families in town, and one of the few African-Americans living here is actually the president of the new West Carroll School Board. A note of caution regarding the schools, though. Mt. Carroll, Thomson, and Savanna have all merged their school systems into what is now the West Carroll School District.
Some parents I've talked to (especially here in Mt. Carroll) feel that the curriculum has been "dumbed down" to accomodate the students from Thomson and Savanna. Personally, I don't know if that's true, but they may also be a bit bitter over the merger. Back to the racial issue, we have a few African-Americans living here in Mt. Carroll, there are probably more in Savanna, but I don't know about the acceptance of a racially-mixed family in Savanna. There is a very large Hispanic population in Savanna, but I don't know about the outlook there regarding black/white families. I can honestly say that here in Mt. Carroll, we have one family that has white parents, a couple of their own children, they've adopted a couple of little girls from China, and have just adopted an adorable little African-American girl. Also in Carroll County we have what is called the Carroll County Haiti Mission Project where a couple of times/year volunteers will go to Haiti (at their own expense), and work on a clinic that they're building out in the countryside. Consequently, people from town have adopted some Haitian kids, and there seems to be another one after each trip. I know that I probably haven't helped solve your problem, but it's a little food for thought. Doug Bergren

[FormerStocktonian]

Just a question. Why would you move to Rockford, send your children to private schools where you pay tuition and still pay taxes for the public schools. Please look elsewhere. Rockford is not really that great of place to live. Trust me, I live here, not by choice. I live here because of my partner and his family. I have to commute to Downers Grove in order to make a living. There are no jobs here that will pay what the companies in Chicagoland pay. Yes, the housing is cheaper, but there is a reason for that. like the old saying goes, you get what you pay for. Rockford is just a place to live, not really a place to go out and enjoy life. I apologies to any Rockford residence that have a love for the town, but that is how I feel.

Taxis won't even go into the downtown area in the middle of the night to pick you up from a nite club. The police totally suck and do not care. I know from first hand experience. I had a situation where I had to call the police and they said that they had no available patrol within the hour. Now, what if you and your family were in extreme danger and the Rockford PD told you that? Luckily, the situation calmed down and the person ran away. You don't hear most of the crime reports about Rockford because they are still trying to attract people to this town.

Yes, downtown Rockford is nice to take a stroll, unless you want to be surrounded by bums and panhandlers. Even walking to the library, you at least encounter 4 people that need "gas" money. I have experienced this first hand where I am just simply returning a book and have a couple of people come up to me asking for money. GET A JOB!!

Yes, the East side of Rockford, near I-90 is decent, but that is the only place where you would want to do your shopping. God forbid you would ever have to go downtown to city hall for any needs.

Let me tell you, I do all my shopping near my work in Downers Grove to avoid all these panhandlers, even fill up on my tank before I ever would in Rockford.

On the other hand, Loves Park and Machesney Park are still quite decent to live and raise a family.

[ripsterone]

The thing about Rockford and the crime in the city is it leaders want to keep the residents living in fear. If you read most of the story on RRSTAR you'll begin to see a pattern. It's a police city and in the next couple years will become an even bigger police city.
Rockford was for a long time the second largest city in Illinois behind Chicago. Compare those two city and you will see that the crime is a lot less than should be expected. For the pass 15 years the city has been trying to rebuild it's jail system. This is why you have heard about so much crime in Rockford. Once they had the fund and built a brand new jail, the crime rate has a major drop.

Don't believe the hype!

[Drover]

Small nit to pick: Rockford hasn't been the second-largest Illinois city for a while now. Aurora passed it up years ago.

[karlsch]

Originally Posted by Drover

Small nit to pick: Rockford hasn't been the second-largest Illinois city for a while now. Aurora passed it up years ago.

It happened in 2003 - most people wouldn't consider that "years ago."