Favorite Downstate Illinois City (Chicago, Rockford: buying, to live, shop)

[PerseusVeil]

Originally Posted by linicx

The US Census Bureau falsely identifies some areas, while it totally ignores others for Bureau convenience. How it identifies an area reflects the type of federal and state aid a specific area receives.

Rural America is a hodgepodge of crops, community, hunting, fishing, industry, boarded up buildings, wealth and poverty. And is isolated, one from the other. It is criss-crossed by miles of fence, hills, railroad tracks, groves of trees, forests large and small, dusty unmarked farm roads, and it stretches for thousands of miles.

Trying to merge East St. Louis Illinois and six other Illinois counties with one Missouri city is silly. The City of St. Louis is NOT that large, and it is NOT in Illinois.; .

Metro is a Bureau word used to define an area of many with one dominate city. The Bureau does the same thing to the Quad Cities. The population of the counties in Illinois in the area around SL is nearly the same as the City of St. Louis.

It will take decades, if ever, of work to pull E.S.L. out of the mess it created. From my perch it seems like Edwardsville and Collinsville have the most to offer their residents. The Bureau falsely identifies MSA, too.

As someone who was born and raised in the Metro East, I can honestly tell you that you're flat out wrong. Many areas in the Metro East are actually closer to downtown St. Louis than many suburbs in St. Louis County, and if you don't believe that St. Louis, a city that once had 850,000 residents at its peak, remains the anchor for the whole area, then all you have to do is drive through St. Louis' morning rush hour traffic. The bridges across the Mississippi are jam packed with residents from Illinois commuting into St. Louis for work. Hell, it's not uncommon for St. Louis' prestigious Catholic high schools to have students commute in from the Metro East as well. They even extended St. Louis' light rail train, the MetroLink, all the way out to Scott Air Force Base in St. Clair County.

Also, what does it matter that St. Louis is not in Illinois? No one is trying to add it to Illinois' population, or the Metro East to Missouri's. The state line is the Mississippi, and downtown St. Louis is sitting right on the river. It's not surprising in the slightest that there's suburbia in Illinois in addition to Missouri.

As for East St. Louis, it's been a disaster for decades at this point, and it's not the anchor of the Metro East, let alone the county that it's located in. Belleville is the seat of St. Clair County, and Belleville is the largest city in the area. Belleville only has 44,000 people, however, and it does not anchor the whole Metro East. That's St. Louis' job.

Even smaller town's aren't immune to the pull of the other side of the river. Look at Columbia, IL, for example. The closest mall, Target, and Walmart to Columbia are all across the river in South County. It takes about the same amount of time to get to downtown Belleville or Waterloo from Columbia as it would to get to downtown St. Louis.

[linicx]

You made my point exactly. Take Missouri out of the equation. What is left? East of the Mississippi. As I said, the Census Bureau creates these areas for their own use: It does drive federal money. I've never found East Metro Area on an Illinois state map, but I did find East St. Louis once.

Originally Posted by Maintainschaos

Not really...the city of St. Louis is only some 318,000 people whereas the Metro East is some 700,000 residents and includes the following counties:

Clinton
Jersey
Madison
Monroe
St. Clair
Bond
Calhoun
Macoupin
Washington

It is the second-largest urban area in Illinois.

[Maintainschaos]

Originally Posted by linicx

You made my point exactly. Take Missouri out of the equation. What is left? East of the Mississippi. As I said, the Census Bureau creates these areas for their own use: It does drive federal money. I've never found East Metro Area on an Illinois state map, but I did find East St. Louis once.

I've never found the "western suburbs" of Chicago on a map, but they exist sure as the sun sets. The Metro East is a firmly established urban area anchored by St. Louis.

[linicx]

Apples and oranges. The western suburbs of Chicago is on the border of Cook County. It is as much a destination as Union Station. Chicago is all about direction, time, and naming areas for convenience due to its size. IE: inner ring suburbs.

The western suburbs in Chicago is not the same as nine individual counties in Indiana, nor are they separated by a large river. That some of the people who live in those nine counties work, shop or go to school in St. Louis is immaterial to everyone except to the US Census Bureau.

St. Louis is the dominate city on the east-north-eastern edge of Missouri, just as Chicago is in NW Illinois. Chicago is an anchor city that would be a state. Chicago anchor's the busiest airport, the largest general cargo port in America, NASDAC, CBOT, 30 Fortune 500 Companies, 5 pro sports teams, 5 universities, a number of colleges, two law schools, 46 hospitals, the second largest public transit system in the nation, eight interstate routes, nine museums, and the largest Polish community in America. The Chicago Park District manages 8100 acres.

Now explain again to me why urban St. Louis is an anchor city for a US Air Force Base and five farming counties? I think it is more interested in the million plus residents in St. Louis County Missouri. Combined it is less than half the population of Chicago. FYI: The single largest community amongst the Illinois counties is the City of Belleville with a population of 45,000 in a county of 9400..

Originally Posted by Maintainschaos

I've never found the "western suburbs" of Chicago on a map, but they exist sure as the sun sets. The Metro East is a firmly established urban area anchored by St. Louis.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by linicx

Apples and oranges. The western suburbs of Chicago is on the border of Cook County. It is as much a destination as Union Station. Chicago is all about direction, time, and naming areas for convenience due to its size. IE: inner ring suburbs.

The western suburbs in Chicago is not the same as nine individual counties in Indiana, nor are they separated by a large river. That some of the people who live in those nine counties work, shop or go to school in St. Louis is immaterial to everyone except to the US Census Bureau.

St. Louis is the dominate city on the east-north-eastern edge of Missouri, just as Chicago is in NW Illinois. Chicago is an anchor city that would be a state. Chicago anchor's the busiest airport, the largest general cargo port in America, NASDAC, CBOT, 30 Fortune 500 Companies, 5 pro sports teams, 5 universities, a number of colleges, two law schools, 46 hospitals, the second largest public transit system in the nation, eight interstate routes, nine museums, and the largest Polish community in America. The Chicago Park District manages 8100 acres.

Now explain again to me why urban St. Louis is an anchor city for a US Air Force Base and five farming counties? I think it is more interested in the million plus residents in St. Louis County Missouri. Combined it is less than half the population of Chicago. FYI: The single largest community amongst the Illinois counties is the City of Belleville with a population of 45,000 in a county of 9400..

So much of this post is so incoherent, irrelevant, or just plain incorrect, that one hardly knows where to begin addressing it. So here's the bottom line: the city of St. Louis is the economic, social, and cultural center of gravity of a broader region that includes Metro East -- which indisputably exists whether you can find it on a map or not.

[Maintainschaos]

Originally Posted by linicx

Apples and oranges. The western suburbs of Chicago is on the border of Cook County. It is as much a destination as Union Station. Chicago is all about direction, time, and naming areas for convenience due to its size. IE: inner ring suburbs.

The western suburbs in Chicago is not the same as nine individual counties in Indiana, nor are they separated by a large river. That some of the people who live in those nine counties work, shop or go to school in St. Louis is immaterial to everyone except to the US Census Bureau.

St. Louis is the dominate city on the east-north-eastern edge of Missouri, just as Chicago is in NW Illinois. Chicago is an anchor city that would be a state. Chicago anchor's the busiest airport, the largest general cargo port in America, NASDAC, CBOT, 30 Fortune 500 Companies, 5 pro sports teams, 5 universities, a number of colleges, two law schools, 46 hospitals, the second largest public transit system in the nation, eight interstate routes, nine museums, and the largest Polish community in America. The Chicago Park District manages 8100 acres.

Now explain again to me why urban St. Louis is an anchor city for a US Air Force Base and five farming counties? I think it is more interested in the million plus residents in St. Louis County Missouri. Combined it is less than half the population of Chicago. FYI: The single largest community amongst the Illinois counties is the City of Belleville with a population of 45,000 in a county of 9400..

There's a lot of completely unnecessary non-sequiturs here. However, if you can't understand how a city that was once the fourth-largest in the United States that happens to be on the border of Missouri and Illinois could be the anchor city to its own suburbs in Illinois, then I can't help you. Suffice it say, it is, and it's a pretty well-established fact: Metro East - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[linicx]

You live in Chicago suburb.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by linicx

You live in Chicago suburb.

You live in Bumblenuts.

[Maintainschaos]

And I definitely do NOT live in a Chicago suburb.

[PerseusVeil]

Originally Posted by linicx

You made my point exactly. Take Missouri out of the equation. What is left? East of the Mississippi. As I said, the Census Bureau creates these areas for their own use: It does drive federal money. I've never found East Metro Area on an Illinois state map, but I did find East St. Louis once.

Take St. Louis out of the equation the area would look more like Cairo, IL, and less like the second largest urban area in the state of Illinois.

Originally Posted by linicx

You live in Chicago suburb.

And I lived in the area you claim is not anchored by St. Louis. You are wrong.

The Metro East's broadcast channels are coming out of St. Louis, most radio is coming out of St. Louis, St. Louis' public transportation agency, Metro, operates the MetroBus and MetroLink train system in Illinois, people commute from Illinois to the city daily for work, etc.

All you have stated is that you don't think that the Metro East should be apart of Greater St. Louis because it's in a different state, because there's a river in between the Metro East and the city, and because the people of the Metro East live in "farm counties." I'm happy to tell you that St. Louis isn't the only city with suburbs in another state, that there are various bridges you can take to get over the river, and that the Metro East isn't just full of farmers. Many of the people living in the area instead live in towns that look like typical suburbs. Many of said towns are virtually identical to the same types of suburbs you'd find in Missouri. The Metro East area isn't as dense as St. Louis County, of course, but large parts of it still are suburban, and even the parts that aren't still fall within St. Louis' influence.

It would take the same amount of time for someone driving from downtown St. Charles, MO to get to downtown St. Louis as it would for someone coming from downtown Belleville, IL. Does that mean the person coming from St. Charles also isn't in St. Louis' metro area? After all, they too would have to cross a river to get to St. Louis. See how odd that sounds?

Have you even spent any time in the area?