Tell me about Park Ridge

[bicycleguy]

Originally Posted by linicx

Moderator: Please Stay on TOPIC! The OP did NOT ask for racial or political comments. Let's keep it friendly and informative.

True, the OP didn't ask about "race." But the OP asked if Park Ridge had an "urbanish" feel.

It seems fair to assume that some people might expect ethnic diversity in a typical urban area in the U.S. And it seems fair to assume that some people might consider euro-american ethnic homogeneity relatively anomalous in a typical urban area in the U.S.

But no argument about keeping it friendly and informative...

[pvande55]

It may seem obvious, but it is noisy being very close to O'Hare. New runway configuration might help. Flooding in certain areas was once a concern.

[suburb snob]

I realize this thread was started a while ago but wanted to add my pros and cons re: Park Ridge, a town that doesn't seem to be discussed much on this forum, despite being a very popular option for young families that want to settle close to downtown but don't want to live in the city.

First off, just in light of the racial makeup of the town, it is almost completely caucasion. If diversity matters to you and you want to raise your children in that kind of environment PR is not the town for you.

PR is an urban suburb. It directly abuts the NW side of Chicago and you can't really tell the difference between when you leave Chicago and enter PR. The housing stock is old. As in smallish, and usually not remodeled. Not like the homes in Western Springs, Hinsdale, or Wilmette, Winnetka etc., that are old but have had money put into them. You will find every era of decor, from original 1920s, 1970s, bad 1980s when you look. The newer tear down homes have more to offer but you will pay a lot for them and not get anything special, except a $20 grand tax bill. Also, in PR, you can have a two car garage, but not a yard. It's kind of either or because the lots are all 50 ft. wide.

The town is pretty safe. The traffic is terrible. You have to take Greenwood to get out of town going north and it is congested. The intersection of Dee/Oakton and Busse is a complete nightmare. Getting to downtown Chicago is a breeze especially when the express lanes are heading your way.

The downtown is very nice. It has quite a few fast food restaurants that do well and the Pickwick Theater is the number one best thing PR has to offer its residents. If you want to go to a mall you will be driving 25 minutes to half an hour to get to Old Orchard or Woodfield or Oakbrook. There is not much retail in PR, if you want big box stores you will be shopping in Morton Grove, Niles, NW Chicago. In fact so much of what you need in PR has to be found outside of it that I recommend you check out Morton Grove and Niles to make sure this is your idea of suburbia.

Park Ridge is not the north shore. There are people who wish it was and act like it, but it will never be that. Homeless people are not allowed. There was a huge brouhaha over PADS setting up a site in PR a few years ago and the fight got so ugly that PADS said forget it, we'll go somewhere else.

The real estate boom years in PR were insane. Now the prices are falling, falling, falling due to the bad economy and the lack of value vs. price.

Schools are good but not north shore/western suburb good. Only one grade school from PR made the top 50 school list from the trib/sun times (don't remember which paper). Maine South is a good high school, not New Trier or Hinsdale good, but good enough. They are great in football, winning the state championship routinely, but the coaches got their hands slapped this year for dubious tactics so there is a little bit of a win at all costs mentality there. Football, cheerleading, soccer are big in PR. The downtown is great for kids/teenagers, and much more fun than your typical winding street subdivision has to offer. It's a great town to walk in.

Finally, the two biggest issue to PR residents are the flooding and O'Hare. I would be extremely cautious buying a home that did not have a flood control system installed. I am not talking about seepage here but total loss-of-everything-in-the-basement type flooding. Drive around town after a heavy storm and the number of garbage bags and discarded carpets is telling. It is becoming a very big problem. Not only are people installing flood control but now they are shelling out 8 to 10 grand to install generators that will keep sump pumps going when the power goes out, which usually happens when a storm hits.

The O'Hare expansion has had a negative affect on PR. Not every neighborhood gets planes on every day, so it's a little bit of a crapshoot. But you can get to O'Hare in less than ten minutes, which is great.

[chet everett]

The above post adds little new / useful info. In some cases it is flat out wrong -- there is a decent variety of lot sizes / widths, as not all of the town is uniformly gridded. Portions of the towns have some lots that are quite wide, and in the sections of towns where tears downs were hottest there were some folks that combined multiple lots to give a very nice sized parcel. Of course you will pay quite premium for this both upfront and in annual property taxes.

For folks that need to be conveniently located for dual careers, especially where one job is downtown and the other is in Lake Co Park Ridge is hard to beat...

Similarly the available data in the SunTimes about elementary schools is based solely on the weak Illinois state mandated test. The majority of desirable schools have results that differ by so little that "top 50" highlights the weakness of the test more than anything else ( and the abymsal results of some schools shows just how wide the gap can be ...).

[thePR]

Originally Posted by chet everett

The above post adds little new / useful info. In some cases it is flat out wrong -- there is a decent variety of lot sizes / widths, as not all of the town is uniformly gridded. Portions of the towns have some lots that are quite wide, and in the sections of towns where tears downs were hottest there were some folks that combined multiple lots to give a very nice sized parcel. Of course you will pay quite premium for this both upfront and in annual property taxes.

For folks that need to be conveniently located for dual careers, especially where one job is downtown and the other is in Lake Co Park Ridge is hard to beat...

Similarly the available data in the SunTimes about elementary schools is based solely on the weak Illinois state mandated test. The majority of desirable schools have results that differ by so little that "top 50" highlights the weakness of the test more than anything else ( and the abymsal results of some schools shows just how wide the gap can be ...).

Yes, I held my tongue due to the numerous glaring mistakes. Addressing every wrong statement would take too long.

[suburb snob]

In some cases it is flat out wrong -- there is a decent variety of lot sizes / widths, as not all of the town is uniformly gridded. Portions of the towns have some lots that are quite wide, and in the sections of towns where tears downs were hottest there were some folks that combined multiple lots to give a very nice sized parcel. Of course you will pay quite premium for this both upfront and in annual property taxes.

The sections you must be referring to are Hodges Park near the city hall, the area next to Lutheran General Hospital, the two or three streets on the west side of town by Maine South, and the Prospect/Edgemont area that fronts the golf couse. Any house newly built on a double lot or more on those streets has an asking price over $1 million and an accompanying large tax bill. The rest of the town is typically 50 by 150 or 50 by 130 sized lots.

There is no section of town where teardowns were the hottest. Teardowns are scattered evenly around town and combined lots are few and far between. The average buyer in PR does not have much of a choice.

Similarly the available data in the SunTimes about elementary schools is based solely on the weak Illinois state mandated test. The majority of desirable schools have results that differ by so little that "top 50" highlights the weakness of the test more than anything else ( and the abymsal results of some schools shows just how wide the gap can be ...).

Still, 48 schools were able to score higher than the Park Ridge grade schools on the weak test.

As for the other glaring inaccuracies why not point them out? The traffic info is correct, the flooding is happening, the airport is noisy and a source of concern, and there are a lot of dated, unimproved houses on the market.

[otters21]

How is the walkability and access to mass transit?

[suburb snob]

There is metra to downtown Chicago, the trip is approx. 28 minutes and goes to Ogilvie Station. You can drive to and park at the Blue Line Cumberland station just south of Higgins, the ride is approx. 40 minutes to downtown, (I believe). It's not too hard to walk to the two metra stations if you are centrally located or live near the Dee road station. You need to live in southern park ridge to walk to the blue line, otherwise drive.

[PRdad]

I really like living in PR. It's a great town if you have children and like a 1950's feel. Very little diversity except economic. A comfortable place where middle class people live side by side with the wealthy. If you're looking for total peace and quiet and large lots and winding roads, look elsewhere!