differences between kenosha and racine (Milwaukee, Bristol: crime rate, live, dangerous)

[scottyr]

i know racine is a bit bigger and has more homicides, but do the cities feel any differant? in architecture, planning, culture, store types, general vibe???

where i live there are two cities of similar size that are close together, but one has more industry and its buildings are more plain-looking and utilitarian. the other city is more victorian in its past architecture and is more upscale, ie-more boutiques, white collar offices, etc.....are kenosha and racine anything like this?

[pirate_lafitte]

I know that Kenosha is growing population-wise and Racine has had a decrease in population.

[Tex?Il?]

Although Kenosha might have grown while Racine has not, thats just because Kenosha is closer to the rest of Chicagoland, and thus has become more of a less expensive option to many Lake County, IL towns.

However, personally I think Racine is nicer. I think Racine seems a little more vibrant, a little more things to do, and generally more upscale and white collared. (SC Johnson headquarters, maybe a couple others.

Kenosha on the other seems more blue collared, industrial, and comparitively "rustbelty" (if thats a word). (Power plants, auto factories?)

Not to rip on Kenosha, they have parks and mansions, etc.

At least thats my observations having gone through those towns.

Anyone care to agree/disagree?

[Tex?Il?]

Originally Posted by scottyr

i know racine is a bit bigger and has more homicides, but do the cities feel any differant? in architecture, planning, culture, store types, general vibe???

where i live there are two cities of similar size that are close together, but one has more industry and its buildings are more plain-looking and utilitarian. the other city is more victorian in its past architecture and is more upscale, ie-more boutiques, white collar offices, etc.....are kenosha and racine anything like this?

As my post said:

Yes, Kenosha is the more industrial/plain looking one.
Racein the more Victorian boutique and upscale one.

The difference isn't THAT striking but it is there.

[pirate_lafitte]

Wow, few comments about Kenosha.

[KJZ 91]

[SIZE=3]I would disagree with the previous posts. Racine would be the more blue-collared city instead of Kenosha. Racine is one of two cities in Wisconsin with actually hard-core inner city. Racine traditionally has had the largest Danish community in the United States along with many Germans, blacks and hispanics. Kenosha was mostly an Italian, German, and Polish city with a new influx of people from Lake country and some Hispanics. Kenosha does have a small bad area that people fom their call the ghetto even though its not even 5 blocks long and isnt really that dangerous.[/SIZE]

[bluemozez]

I prefer Racine, however I may be biased being a former resident of Racine. My reason is due to diversity. It's considerably more diverse than Kenosha. As said in some earlier posts, Kenosha has seen a growth spurt making the city larger than Racine. However the Racine metro area is the larger of the two as Racinians have moved out to Mt. Pleasant and Caledonia (both towns approximately 25,000 people). Kenosha has become a northern anchor for the Chicago metro area which has been a cause for growth. Racine is/was historically an industrial city trying to reinvent itself.

[pirate_lafitte]

One thing that is getting to me is that there are so many thing known about Racine(and more so for Milwaukee), but relatively, less is known about Kenosha. Kenosha doesn't come off(to me) as a bad place from what some of the forums say, at the same time, it is like Kenosha is some kind of jaded secret or a place that alot of people know very little about(or will speak of). Why is that?

[klechner]

Don't know where to start. Kenosha has a larger population than Racine. Growing up it was the opposite. Racine has a higher crime rate than Kenosha. Growing up in Racine I experienced many diversed cuisines, My favorite pizza was from Durangos on Douglas Ave. And the best kringle was O and H. also on Douglas Ave. (can you tell I was a north sider?) Racine's metro area includes Mt Pleasant, Calendonia, West Racine, and Wind Point to name a few. Both Kenosha and Racine border Lake Michigan. Kenosha has great sport fishing and is close to many fun activities. Including closer to Chicago. Great festivals, the Renaissance Faire (Bristol) and great shopping. Racine offers a historcal museum downtown, a zoo, art museum (Wustum). Kenosha to me seems to be a cleaner city than Racine. As noted in a earlier post Racine does have a true Inner city. If one is deciding to move to either Kenosha or Racine...Being from Racine I would still pick Kenosha as the city to move to.