Why don't Chicagoans consider NWI part of the Chicagoland area? (Hammond: house, places to live)

[Pandamonium]

Originally Posted by rrah

One further thought: because it doesn't share the same tax and government issues as IL, it is different.

I think that is why.

Although, I meet lots of people that live between Chicago and Lake County. Or kids rather, with one parent in Chicago and one here.

[bluidmc]

I'm from Hammond orig. lived in Southern Indiana for years and then moved to Cook County. Everyone I knew in the burbs considered Chicagoland to be Northern Indiana as well as Chicago.

[SJaye]

I met a few people that don't consider NW Indiana towns part of Chicagoland. It seems to me that most people like that are just extremely fixated on state borders for some reason. I kind of find it annoying when people don't recognize that Munster, IN is actually closer to downtown than Naperville.

[tb4000]

NWI is to Chicago as New Jersey is to NYC, as mentioned. I work in the Loop, and when people find out where I'm from they're like, "you really like living over there? You should move downtown, etc."

[Pandamonium]

People get very fixated on borders because of things like taxes, laws, and schools. Your a juvenile in Indiana until the age of 18. Your a juvenile in Illinois until 17. Nothing really, unless you have kids that age or have to deal with the schools or have to pay taxes, or deal with the repercussions of the cap on property taxes, or deal with social services having been taken over by IBM-and failing miserably.

Not much, just the world we live and die in. This is not Illinois. This is Indiana. There is a huge difference.

Do we care if Daley has decided not to plow the side streets of Chicago?
Do we care if there is not enough salt in Cook County?

No, we want to know where the heck the salt is at when your cruising down 41 or 30 when it is -5. We want to know why Main Street in Crown Point is still jacked up after an ice storm. We want to know why it is Jewel Osco has a parking lot that is perfectly clear but the roads right next to it are horrible.

[simplydanielle]

You have to understand the history and politics that go with this unique area. Up through 1970, Northwestern Indiana residents didn't have their local weather reported on a daily basis by Chicago television or radio stations and Indiana stations were unavailable. It wasn't until the early 80's that the name "Chicagoland" became acceptable and mostly by Indiana residents. Chicago businesses widened their eyes realizing Indiana people had money but this did not change acceptance. With the time zone dividing most of Northwestern Indiana from the rest of the state, we became orphans. Chicago treated us like step children and even our own neighbors to the east felt we were people of a different kind. With hope of a new airport and resulting jobs in the mid '80's, competition, fear, and disparity grew. Talks of building an annex to O'hare Airport in Indiana raised the greedy hairs of the powerful Chicago area representatives which had already seiged most of the states budget for themselves leaving the rest of Illinois to fend quietly. If you want the celebrity of living in Chicago, you must cross the western border. Otherwise accept the step child roll and when ever someone from the other side of the "Illiana" border asks where you are from do like many union workers do, find an Illinois town to claim-Salk Village, Hoffman Estates, Oak Park-just be sure to choose a town that is north of route 30.

As for opinion that Northwestern Indiana residents are rude, it's most likely this step child phenomena besides the fact that the weather is wretchedly harsh and most people travel a good distance to work. Most of the farm lifestyle is gone yet there isn't any other real identity to cling to. The people are considered "red neck farmers" yet most don't live on a farm. Prudential and other huge corporations took advantage of the recession of the '80's and pillaged the land years ago. As a group, Northwestern Indiana residents are stoic individuals with strong conviction. When studying the interior of this population, you will find yet another division between commuters and farmers which has a sharp division of it's own. If you want to live in Northwestern Indiana I suggest you get some grit in your teeth.
Danielle Love 2009

[Chuckity]

Two things - one, Sauk Village is not north of 30 and two, the weather is not any more wretchedly harsh than any other part of Chicagoland - except for perhaps a couple of days here and there in the winter with lake effect snow. And even then, the farther east in NWI you go, the more you get - so it's not even the entire Region.

Actually three ... I have never heard anyone in my huge union family replace their NWI home town with an Illinois one. Or anyone who lives in NWI for that matter - it's not NWI residents who have a problem with the Region ... it's Chicagoans & their suburban cohorts who look down their nose at us. Truth be told, as someone who was born and raised within the city limits (and not in a suburb - where most people who say they're from Chgo are technically from) I could give a crap what the people across the border say.

Maybe that's not the NWI in me - but the south sider. I couldn't care less.

Originally Posted by simplydanielle

You have to understand the history and politics that go with this unique area. Up through 1970, Northwestern Indiana residents didn't have their local weather reported on a daily basis by Chicago television or radio stations and Indiana stations were unavailable. It wasn't until the early 80's that the name "Chicagoland" became acceptable and mostly by Indiana residents. Chicago businesses widened their eyes realizing Indiana people had money but this did not change acceptance. With the time zone dividing most of Northwestern Indiana from the rest of the state, we became orphans. Chicago treated us like step children and even our own neighbors to the east felt we were people of a different kind. With hope of a new airport and resulting jobs in the mid '80's, competition, fear, and disparity grew. Talks of building an annex to O'hare Airport in Indiana raised the greedy hairs of the powerful Chicago area representatives which had already seiged most of the states budget for themselves leaving the rest of Illinois to fend quietly. If you want the celebrity of living in Chicago, you must cross the western border. Otherwise accept the step child roll and when ever someone from the other side of the "Illiana" border asks where you are from do like many union workers do, find an Illinois town to claim-Salk Village, Hoffman Estates, Oak Park-just be sure to choose a town that is north of route 30.

As for opinion that Northwestern Indiana residents are rude, it's most likely this step child phenomena besides the fact that the weather is wretchedly harsh and most people travel a good distance to work. Most of the farm lifestyle is gone yet there isn't any other real identity to cling to. The people are considered "red neck farmers" yet most don't live on a farm. Prudential and other huge corporations took advantage of the recession of the '80's and pillaged the land years ago. As a group, Northwestern Indiana residents are stoic individuals with strong conviction. When studying the interior of this population, you will find yet another division between commuters and farmers which has a sharp division of it's own. If you want to live in Northwestern Indiana I suggest you get some grit in your teeth.
Danielle Love 2009

[hellothereIN]

I was once told it was due to most of us not having teeth. (by a family member who added he was surprised I had mine).

[Markxxx]

I used to live in Hammond on State Line Road back in the early 80s when it was a red light area and for some reason Indiana seemed to just have a different "Feel" to it

It also helps that most of Chicago touching Hammond is not terribly populated. I also lived in Hegwisch as well.

Historically NW Indiana had it's own industry not overly dependent on Chicago and that helps to make people notice the different "feel" to Indiana

[summer22]

Originally Posted by simplydanielle

You have to understand the history and politics that go with this unique area. Up through 1970, Northwestern Indiana residents didn't have their local weather reported on a daily basis by Chicago television or radio stations and Indiana stations were unavailable.

With hope of a new airport and resulting jobs in the mid '80's, competition, fear, and disparity grew.

This is the best explanation I've read. Thanks... that makes sense.

I grew up in Chicago but in the 1980's the ads for Chevy and other companies on TV were always for "Your Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana Chevy Dealers." So I grew up knowing that NWI existed and never had any pre-existing stigmas about it.

But its going to be 20 more years before the MAJORITY of Chicago residents grew up hearing that. We're still dealing with stigmas that were planted several generations ago.

And even though we have a sizeable population, we don't have any television media of our own. Instead of "thinking big," thinking regionally, branding our region, and building a strategic plan for the future during the 1960's, 1970's, and 1980's, NWI leaders were tied up in power and control issues, and a reactionary building boom related to white flight.

As far as metro centers, the downfall of Gary contrasts completely with the thriving atmosphere of Naperville.

Many Illinoisans first impression of Indiana is the hulking refinery and steel plants, or the unseemly border where people go for cigarettes, fireworks, lottery tickets, and gas. No one has paid much attention to improving the areas where we meet Illinois and provide first impressions.

The other problem is that NWI high school and college graduates escape to Chicago and don't have many good things to say about NWI. That's because NWI forgets to provide for its culturally minded, upwardly mobile, or college graduate population. Its the brain drain problem that affects all of Indiana. Our college grads leave because NWI has not built a social or cultural infrastructure to support and sustain them during their young adulthood (ages 20s and 30s, before having families). Living here you get the feeling that this area puts families first and everyone else second. So of course when these kids move, they don't have positives to talk about with their social groups. They're not excited about bringing their college friends over for a visit, because there's nothing to do here except go to Chicago.

If NWI was to truly develop its lakefront and outdoors activities as an attraction, we would have some hope. That would be a focal point to be proud of. If we had our own state university (another thing that NWI was left out of) we would have some additional momentum and energy.

But otherwise we're just a boring, industrial, and suburban bedroom community type of region.

On top of that, we often have lower wages in Indiana. Less unionization, less favorable laws, and less benefits. Indiana can be a harder place to work and earn a living, with less opportunities.

There's no particular reason to move or visit here. We do offer a nice family atmosphere in a lot of our communities, with nice schools and strong sports programs. Convenience is a huge plus as its easy to get around and shop and get errands done. We offer safe neighborhoods and towns. For the most part our people are friendly and kind. We have hidden gems like the State Park and other natural features. But there's nothing on this list that differentiates us. You can find all of the above in a lot of other regions that offer more culture, better education, a more welcoming atmosphere, more job opportunities, and more vibrancy.

And we're competing for recognition with communities on the other side of the border that have done everything right over the years (or had God's graces fall up on them in droves.) Mount Prospect just won another award, Naperville just won another award, New Trier Schools just won another award, even Berwyn has an image campaign and has a presence at Chicago festivals... we're competing with communities that had a positive attitude toward growth, development, and change. As a result we're thirty years behind.