Which town? Evanston, Wilmette, Highland Park or Deerfield? (Winnetka: high school, moving)

[chitown85]

There are some parts of Buffalo Grove (namely on Lake Cook), that are quite close to downtown Deerfield .

[agelva]

Originally Posted by ahava

Actually, Deerfield has a very nice downtown with several shops and restaurants, a Barnes & Noble, and a Whole Foods. Waukegan Rd & Deerfield Rd, just east of the Metra station.

Actually, no. That's not a "downtown". It's a mall. It's called "deerfield square". if it was downtown it would be called "downtown". Like how they call it "downtown Highland Park", or "downtown chicago". There's no "Downtown deerfield" - that "downtown" was built 10 years ago.

[agelva]

Originally Posted by ahava

Plus a Metra station and a nice fountain... Regardless of opinion there is a difference between Deerfield and someplace like Buffalo Grove which really does not have any downtown area to speak of.

"plus a metra station and a nice fountain..." Classic. A strip mall, with a fountain, near a train station = "downtown".

[edsg25]

Originally Posted by agelva

Actually, no. That's not a "downtown". It's a mall. It's called "deerfield square". if it was downtown it would be called "downtown". Like how they call it "downtown Highland Park", or "downtown chicago". There's no "Downtown deerfield" - that "downtown" was built 10 years ago.

agelva, i see your point. Deerfield square is not downtown Deerfield. But it is very much "in" downtown Deerfield with the corner of Waukegan and Deerfield Road arguably being the center of downtown Deerfield.

It's no different than Renaissance Place being in DT Highland Park or Block 37 being in the heart of the Loop.

[chet everett]

I have to disagree about the Ren Place and Block 37 being similar to "Deerfield Sq" -- the first two account for definately only a fraction of the "core" of those towns as both have robust pedestrian scaled traditional urban style downtown's. Deerfield has a very lopsided car centric development.

The fact is that all those cars are not giving residents / buyers / visitors the same sort of "get out and walk around" experience that happens in many other true "main street" type towns.

That said I do like Deerfield a lot, the towns has a lot going for it and values are now better than they have been in a long time. If you are looking for something that is "north" but not technically "shore" it might be your best bet.

[edsg25]

Originally Posted by chet everett

I have to disagree about the Ren Place and Block 37 being similar to "Deerfield Sq" --

chris, where did I say that any of the three are alike other than that they all had downtown locations in their respective towns. Other than that, I made no comparison and, of course, I would totally agree with you that all three have little in common.

[Toto2prairystate]

Why is New Tier HS a negative? I am moving from NC, and the school sounds great in paper, but please elaborate

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by Toto2prairystate

Why is New Tier HS a negative? I am moving from NC, and the school sounds great in paper, but please elaborate

...who, whether out of some feeling of "sour grapes" or jealousy or misplaced egalitarianism or who knows what feel a need to make crititiques of what is inarguably the best performing non-selective admission peplos high school in Illinois.

That said, no school, public or private, admission tests or "show up and enroll", is without problems.

If you care to discuss the advantages and downsides of living in the New Trier school district that has been covered in many threads...

[Toto2prairystate]

Mr. chet Everett,
Most of the posts are old from the year 2009 and years below, and so I wonder if I missed any updated information. Love to hear all points of view, bad, good, and downright ugly. If I missed any new threads, and you are able please post a link.

[SonySegaTendo617]

It sounds like with all the things the TC has said they prefer, Evanston, or one of the suburbs that feed into Glenbrook North(IIRC, they are Northbrook, Northfield, and Glenview. correct me if I missed one, and I wouldn't be surprised if the very tiny suburb of Golf also feeded into GNHS) would be your best bets. If you go with one of the communities along the lakefront north of Evanston(and end up not minding the New Trier factor), Wilmette would be your best choice. For whatever reason, both Highland Park and Deerfield have a snobby factor that I've never been a fan of, so I all but don't care about either community. Ditto with almost all communities(excluding Highwood) north of Wilmette, and east of the Edens Expwy.

If you're looking for diversity, Evanston is your best bet by far. It has by far my favorite downtown of any north suburb. Safetywise, the best part of town to check out would be the northwest side of town, and anywhere west of Green Bay Road, and anywhere within a few block radius of Central Street. And of course, anywhere near the Evanston/Wilmette or Evanston/Skokie border on Golf Rd., but not so much the border along the North Channel of the Chicago River, those areas are probably the sketchiest part of Evanston to live in). If you don't mind a slightly elevated crime risk(but it still is nowhere near as bad as the far south and far west sides of Evanston are), check out some of the residential areas just off of Ridge Ave, and north of Oakton St. My favorite part of Ridge is probably inbetween Main and Dempster. I also enjoy the neighborhoods on Evanston's lakefront anywhere from South Blvd up to Davis St., but imagine those areas are among the most expensive Evanston neighborhoods to live in.

Just my $0.02, I wish you luck in finding an area that'd work for you to live in.