City vs suburbs living

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by ChicagoMeO

I'd rather see Ned Flanders kind of lifestyle than a bunch of robberies and shootings kind of lifestyle in a street that i live on.

False dichotomy. Almost every place in America falls between these two extremes.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by oakparkdude

Even if they buy a house in the walkable zone, how easy will it be for the spouse to get around town w/o driving? If I was living in downtown Wheaton without the ability to drive, I'd imagine it would be pretty socially isolating.

I didn't even like going car-less in the city. I found that isolating in Chicago's densest neighborhoods. I wouldn't want a car in New York or Paris, but Chicago is still just a bit lacking in terms of public transit connective tissue.

Wheaton has "neighborhood elementary schools" like Oak Park and Glen Ellyn, so you could exist within a small area without a car when your kids were small. The middle and high schools bus kids for free who live more than a mile away. Childcare could be an issue in terms of drop offs depending on where it was located... Groceries and entertainment would be alright, and it sounds like they would have the ability for Aleking to drive on weekends if they wanted more options. Libraries, parks, pools, etc would all be easily walkable. Things like clothes shopping would have to be done by car or downtown in Chicago. But Aleking is probably too judgemental to live in Wheaton. I was too judgemental to consider Wheaton when we moved to the burbs, but now realize that was probably based on some silly misconceptions.

[ChicagoMeO]

Hey holingsworth, dont forget the Lincoln Marsh and the Farm over there on Jewel St you can visit!

by the way, have you ever been to the DQ on Liberty? What is it about that DQ that makes you feel like you're in the most Mayberry sweetest place on the face of the earth?

[MovingtoUSA]

I will be moving to Chicago this summer from Istanbul/Turkey with my 2 kids at elementary/middle school grades. I was more aimed to live close the city (around Roscoe village&North Center) since I found some public schools with very good ratings and facilities and also I thougt changing the country after living in a very crowded city (Istanbul) I would feel lonely at a suburb lacking social environment. I would prefer finding grocery stores, dining and shopping for daily needs at a walking distance. But thanks to a home suggestion of a realtor since the homes close to city I was searching at Zillow are really in bed condition and two small for a family with high rental/selling price, I discovered Oriole Park and Edison Park area and had a great interest as I read most of the positive comments . I need to know 1. How long does it take to drive to downtown Chicago and/or by public transportation ? 2. If there are working mothers among you, what is the way of taking care of the kids after school , is it a safe location that kids can stay home alone till I will be coming from work ? I could't see any afterschool programs at greatschools.org web site for Oriole Park Elementary . Your comments will be really highly appreciated since changing a country to live for my kids' future is quite a difficult decision . Thank you.

[chet everett]

The data about relative school performance is available at the Illinois Interactive Report Card site. I prefer the "classic" version as it does less to sugar coat just how awful many schools are.

Secondly if you are satisfied with the density of Oriole Park or Edison Park you would be nuts not to look at schools in Evanston or Oak Park that perform much better especially when you get to the high schools. There are plenty of walkable shopping areas even in these suburbs. If you really are making the decision based on high quality schools you ought to look long and hard at the data. It is incontrovertible that the schools in desirable suburban areas blow away all but the selective admissions options in CPS. With kids already in elementary / middle school it would all but impossible to get into a selective admissions school. With high school just a few years away there are depressingly few option that any sane parent would choose. If you did not yet kids in school I might not be so adamant but give the enormous gulf between outcomes at CPS selective admissions high schools and the neighborhood option it is not at all wise for anyone with kids already in middle school not to give strong preference to suburbs.

Chicago neighborhoods like Edison Park and Oriole Park are mostly safe largely becuase they have lots of cops and fire fighters. Many of the city workers send their kids to PRIVATE schools. Most folks who live in those areas do have a car or two. It is possible to rely on Metra or CTA for transit to city but speed of service is largely not as fast as from a suburb with express service. Driving to / from the Loop during rush hour is not pleasant, the relative short distance does not make up for the fact that airport traffic and traffic from the suburbs all has to squeeze along the Kennedy. Travel times often approach an hour. An express train is less than half that. CPS has very few after school programs. Only the most active schools have enough families nearby to support such things. Lots of working dads need aftercare for younger kids too. You might find something at a nearby church though it is more common for neighbors that stay at home to run an informal type thing. As kids get older it is pretty common ( though technically not legal) to leave them unsupervised...

There is no shortage of ethnic groceries in the suburban areas and there are numerous small businesses with roots in Turkey and other such Mediterranean / ancient Euro-Asian places.

[chet everett]

It is simply FALSE that EVERY suburb will require you do "drive to almost everything". UTTER NONSENSE!

Depending on where one lives there are MANY suburbs that would allow one to be FAR LESS DEPENDENT ON CARS than parts of 'the city'.

The core of towns like Oak Park, Evanston, Park Ridge, Arlington Heights, Elmhurst, Desplaines, Naperville and many others have plenty of shopping in a walkable distance from the transit stations. There are similarly options for dining and nightlife that are more varied than in places like Oriole Park or Edison Park.

Depending on what EXACTLY the OP finds desirable about "density" there are range of options that should be explored given the FACT that their children are already in middle school and decisions about high school are going to be hard to avoid. Even if the OP does decide to risk the facing only poor choices in the CPS high schools or spend their money on private schools as many folks in the fringe areas of the City of Chicago end up the reality of our harsh weather and far from 'blanket" transit options would very likely mean a whole lot of time spent in a personal car. Nearly every home on Chicago's NW side has a garage because it is simply nuts to rely on buses and the El in the daunting weather conditions we often face. Even if one was hardy as an arctic explorer it would be nuts not to DRIVE to something that might just take ten minutes of easy motoring vs waiting 3x that long for connection to public transit and goodness knows how long for the actual trip relying on a poorly coordinated combination of surface running busses an not very rapid transit.

There are MANY threads written by folks that wrongly assumed that they would never enjoy life outside of the densest neighborhoods in Chicago that have found many of their suburban neighbors are actually MORE LIKELY to be friendly, outgoing people always ready to share a some libations with those that like them want high quality schools for their children's success.

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by MovingtoUSA

I will be moving to Chicago this summer from Istanbul/Turkey with my 2 kids at elementary/middle school grades.

Oak Park or Evanston. It's where all the diversity must go! (is it just me or is this starting to sound like steering?).

[Fighting Fungus]

I grew up in the city for 30 years of my life and I personally wouldn't raise my family there.

[Ace Rothstein]

Originally Posted by Fighting Fungus

I grew up in the city for 30 years of my life and I personally wouldn't raise my family there.

Also grew up in the city for the first 30 years of my life and I feel the same unless I was banking $300k+/year.

[Fighting Fungus]

Originally Posted by Ace Rothstein

Also grew up in the city for the first 30 years of my life and I feel the same unless I was banking $300k+/year.

Even than I would probably move to wilmette or park ridge. The only way I think I would move to the city would be if I was single or me and my wife are empty nesters.