Does Chicagoland's huge population kill democracy for downstate IL? (Rockford: luxury, college)

[linicx]

As far as I know there has always been two vaudeville gags about Illinois. This happened long before the Mother Road or 1-55 ever existed.

1- Anything south of State and Madison is Southern Illinois.

2- Will it play in Peoria?

If you dig around in enough records you will find Peoria is in Central Illinois and Champaign is in Eastern Central Illinois.

[Maintainschaos]

Originally Posted by aus10

Forgive me... this whole topic, while interesting, is a mute point till everyone in the state can finally figure out just where downstate is. I grew up in the northern most part of Little Egypt, and hardly consider Peoria and Springfield downstate. Peoria to me is north, and Springfield North Central. I always thought that downstate was south of Hwy 50 or I-64.

I think you mean "moot" point...and there's a difference between southern IL and downstate...just like there's a difference between central NY and upstate.

[HeadedWest]

Originally Posted by jfre81

Sorry, but that's just the way it works. Just like how California, Texas and New York have more seats in the U.S. House of Representatives than Vermont, Delaware and Alaska. Most of the population in Illinois lives in and around Chicago, just like most of New York's population lives in and around NYC.

And upstate NYS hates NYC at least as much as downstate IL hates Chicago.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by HeadedWest

And upstate NYS hates NYC at least as much as downstate IL hates Chicago.

Which is why educated young people flee upstate NY and downstate IL. Job opportunities and job growth is limited in both areas.

[Markxxx]

There are a lot more divisons than Chicago / Downstate.

It kind of boils down to Chicago, Chicago Suburbs and rest of state.

Even then you have issues, like Chicago versus Cook County. I don't know why the rest of the cities in Cook County don't leave it or at least try to. There have been a few proposals in the past to partition parts of Cook County to their own county.

[doll lady]

I want to set the record straight. I live in downstate and I DO NOT, REPEAT, DO NOT HATE CHICAGO AREA NOR IT'S PEOPLE. Nor am I jealous of anything that area has.

It does however seem that Chicago persons make a lot of comments about their knowledge of downstate people and their beliefs and what we like and dislike. It makes me wonder how they know what we think or like or dislike. If they once lived here things change on a daily basis so how does a person removed from the area know? Just speaking out.....

[Durian Beach]

Well I think the kind of garbage Illinois has been sending into the US Senate in recent years proves that Chicago has too much influence on Illinois politics. I wish we still had the wise restrictions put on the voting franchise the Founding Fathers gave us, then maybe we wouldn't be in this mess.

[oakparkdude]

Originally Posted by Durian Beach

Well I think the kind of garbage Illinois has been sending into the US Senate in recent years proves that Chicago has too much influence on Illinois politics. I wish we still had the wise restrictions put on the voting franchise the Founding Fathers gave us, then maybe we wouldn't be in this mess.

You mean only allowing property-owning (white) males to vote? I don't think many people would agree with you.

[trailerguy]

That would only really be the case if everyone in Chicagoland agreed with each other. Politics in the five county area is so fractious, forming coalitions with like-minded people in other regions is likely to be much more effective. Highway construction is largely determined by the federal government, so actually is pretty equitable, although advocates in both regions claim the other gets too much. Overall, I think the whole Chicago v. Downstate thing is manufactured and not a real issue.

[Chicagoland60426]

Originally Posted by HeadedWest

And upstate NYS hates NYC at least as much as downstate IL hates Chicago.

At least Buffalo have around 1 million people in the metro. I admit, Illinois is one of the most centralized states in the union. Out of 12.9 million in the state, Cook County by itself counts 41% and Chicago proper with 22%. For such a large state(5th largest in the US), Illinois is very centralized towards one big city and metro/county. I wish Illinois was more balanced out like Ohio.