Advice for Valparaiso (South Bend, Gary, Hammond: leasing, crime, house)

[domergurl]

Heroin????

[artemis]

Originally Posted by CHEROKEEROSEY1

Valparaiso has good schools,as far a heroin) chesterton had the worst, my best friend's (aka: track star) went to school there, and was in rehab for months.Portage has good schools , chesterton good schools, Drugs are everywhere so....... depends on the kids they hang with, valpo has a variety of nationalities of people, as far as peoples hangups on nationality thats their problem. church is prevalent here. we have alot of churches, and merrillville has a big mall its 20 min away, south shore rail is 20 min and toll road entrance easy to get to if you go early.
valparaiso university great, we also hav alternative school & ivey tech, a new campus off the new bypass49.
good luck hope this helped you! cherokeerosey1

Only 1 post so far by you. Did you register specifically to slam Valpo?

There are a lot of churches everywhere, I don't see an overabundance of them in Valpo.

Yes, drugs are everywhere, but I wouldn't say that Valpo has more than any other town.

[WildWestDude]

Originally Posted by domergurl

You don't want to live in Valpo and have to commute out to O'Hare ... believe me, it will be a killer. The south shore train is out, unless you want to take the hour long train ride in and then the blue line out to O'Hare.

I lived in Valpo and loved it. I have nothing against the place. The schools are absolutely top notch. If you want to live in Indiana and commute out to O'Hare, you may want to look at Munster. Their schools are every bit as good as Valpo's.

Good luck! Valpo is really nice and totally commutable if you were working downtown, but where you will be working, you'll be spending upwards of 4+ hours a day driving.

Agree, with above

Yes, Munster will be your next best closest option.

[ecuresident]

I agree munster is very good school wise as they were always one of Valpo's top competitors in academics and sports. I cant say too much about the town as I didnt live there, but I had a bunch of friends from there and they all liked it, and all came from good families. The only thing is that is is closer to some of the worse towns for crime such as Gary, Hammond, etc, so I dont know if some of that spills over to munster or not. Another town I would check out is scherriville, which is next to munster and was actually named one of money magazines top 100 places to live in the US.

[summer22]

I'd suggest any of the NW or far north suburbs of Chicago instead of living here and commuting to O'Hare.

From Chesterton it might be possible to get to O'Hare in 1 hour to 1:15... but if any part of the 70-mile route... is "having a bad day" - even if a one-mile stretch of I-94 is jammed - you are not going to be able to rely on making it in, or home, anywhere near on time.

Driving in 5 days a week would not be fun, from here, or even from Munster... although Munster, Griffith or any of the towns along Route 41 would be your best bet if you're set on living in Indiana.

I would look at any of the cities/villages in Illinois that have smaller school districts. Look into Cary, Algonquin, Fox River Grove, Barrington... an IL native could tell you more about those suburbs in detail... but all of those areas in general have good reputations.

[Iggs]

I love living in Valpo but the commute would be ridiculous to the O"Hare area. We moved here from a Western suburb of Chicago because the commute was too long. I would also look at Frankfort or Tinley Park Illinois.

[CJHunt]

Originally Posted by jimijames58

Please help. I am being relocated to Chicago for work and do not want to live in Chicago. We are looking at Valpo. Can someone give us some good advice on Valpo. How are the schools, community, etc.? Also how far is the drive from Valpo to Chicago? (In traffic)
Thank you

Valp has a homepage that might have the information that you are looking for.Do a search on Valpor?,Indiana here

[tekka-maki]

Why Valpo? The NW suburbs are not Chicago [at all] and put you very near O'hara. Top notch schools, low crime, best shopping outside of the Mag mile (Woodfield/Ikea area); and a much better commuter than the South Shore (Metra). Try Schaumburg, Arlington Heights, Palatine, Barrington, Wheeling, etc. etc.; Valpo wouldn't even be a distant consideration in my book, unless you like long drives, less highway options to get into the city and filthy views outside your window (i.e. E. Chicago, Gary, Calumet etc.)

[gradyb]

Any thoughts on Chesterton/Porter vs. Valparaiso? I'll be commuting to downtown Chicago, my wife's staying at home with a 2 yr old and newborn - I want her to be able to meet up with other moms. We've narrowed our search down to these two areas, and can't decide...

[tekka-maki]

Commuting daily? If so, yeesh! 45 miles one way down town; minimum 1 hour (bad rush hour traffic will easily make that 2-2 1/2 hours). My 1st thought would be you are a glutton for punishment. For my own sanity, 25 miles max on way, and even that's pushing it with stop/go traffic.

Are you renting or buying? Other than that, I can't see what would be significantly cheaper in IN (as opposed to N or NW Chi burbs). If you like country and rural feel, tray Grayslake or Lake Villa. Same distance, but much better area; quaint, but things to do (arts, festivals, shopping etc.) and Metra is around the corner. Best of both worlds: North Shore... if you can afford it.

I suppose I'm getting ahead of myself though... what area will you be working around, specifically? Is S or SE Chicago, than IN doesn't sound so bad. I have a friend staying in Palos Heights, not too bad.

To answer your question though, that's a tough one. Little closer to HW with Chesterton and you have IN dunes, but Valpo has a more consumerist feel and perhaps 130 is a good shortcut?

Edit: I see you would like to catch the train. I'm sure you then realize that S.Shore doesn't run the best schedules... in fact, pretty bad.